Control Apple Music on Mac From iPhone
Published 2026-09-26 · Updated 2026-10-01
You control Apple Music on the Mac from your iPhone with Poket PC through media tiles, the Music tile that is already in the default deck, and the live screen when you need the full Music window.
Default deck: Music is one tap away
The shipped default tile set includes Music, which opens the Music app by its bundle ID. Next to it you get Play/Pause, Previous, Next, Vol −, Vol +, and Mute, plus Safari, Mission Control and Lock. That covers couch listening without opening the stream view.
See every tile type on action tiles.
Media and volume tiles
| Tile | Effect on the Mac |
|---|---|
| Play/Pause | System media play/pause |
| Previous / Next | Previous / next track |
| Vol − / Vol + / Mute | System volume |
The tiles send the same media keys as a Mac keyboard. macOS decides which app receives them, exactly as it does when you press those keys at the desk. More detail is in control Mac volume from iPhone.
Shortcuts, and why there is no tile for them yet
The Mac helper can run a macOS Shortcut by name, but the 1.0 deck cannot add a Shortcut tile. For now, a Shortcut that starts a playlist runs from the Shortcuts app itself: open it on the live screen and tap the Shortcut.
For something that takes several steps in Music, use Ask: describe it, and the assistant works the Music window on the Mac by clicking and typing. It uses your Claude subscription through Claude Code, or a local model in Ollama. With Claude, your request and the screenshots it needs go to Anthropic.
Live screen
When tiles are not enough, open Screen on the iPhone to see the Mac display and tap search, library or lyrics. H.264 streams the main display at 30 fps. There is no audio to the phone in 1.0.
Setup
- Install the Mac helper and allow Accessibility and Screen Recording.
- Pair your iPhone with the QR code and the six-digit code.
- Tap Edit on the Deck to remove tiles or add one from the list: Sleep, Screensaver, Show Desktop, Brightness + and −, and Notes.
Connection works on local Wi-Fi or through the encrypted relay without port forwarding.
What Poket PC does not do
- No now-playing view on the phone: to see the track or artwork, look at the Mac on the live screen.
- No Shortcut tiles in the 1.0 deck.
- No sound on the iPhone; the audio plays on the Mac.
Version 1.0 is free, with no ads and no in-app purchases. Get the helper from download. The iPhone app is in a public TestFlight beta while 1.0 is in App Review; join from the beta page.
Frequently asked questions
Does Poket PC play Music's audio on my iPhone?
No. The sound stays on the Mac in 1.0. Sending the Mac's audio to the phone is planned for a later version.
Is the Music tile included by default?
Yes. The default Deck includes a Music tile that opens the Music app. If you removed it, Reset in Edit mode brings the default deck back.
Can I run a Shortcut to play a playlist?
Not from a tile in 1.0. The Mac helper can run a Shortcut by name, but the 1.0 deck has no way to add that tile. Until it does, open the Shortcuts app on the live screen and run the Shortcut there.
Does this work on a Mac mini?
Yes. Tiles work as long as the helper is running on the Mac. It is a menu-bar app, so turn on Launch at login in its menu and it starts each time you log in.