Voice Control Your Mac From Your iPhone
Published 2026-09-26 · Updated 2026-10-01
Voice control your Mac from your iPhone in Poket PC means two-way voice with Ask: you speak a task on the iPhone, the agent carries it out on the Mac, and the iPhone can read the result back to you.
Wake phrase
The app has one wake phrase:
- “Hey Mac”
It is off by default. Turn on Listen for “Hey Mac” in the app’s Settings. It keeps the iPhone’s microphone open while the app is open, which costs battery, and the phrase is recognized on the iPhone itself. When it hears the phrase, the app switches to Ask and starts dictating into the task box. It needs on-device dictation for your language, which iOS keeps under Settings › General › Keyboard › Dictation.
Two-way voice in practice
| Direction | What happens |
|---|---|
| Phone → Mac | Tap the mic in Ask and talk. The iPhone turns your speech into text, and when you stop talking it sends that as a task to the Mac. |
| Mac → Phone | With speaking turned on (the speaker button in Ask), the iPhone reads the result aloud with an iOS voice, then listens for your reply. |
Voice complements schedules (hands-off timed tasks) and live screen (when you need to see pixels). It does not replace tiles for instant lock or volume.
Requirements
- Ask provider on the Mac — Claude Code with your Claude subscription, or Ollama with a local model, as on Ask.
- Paired iPhone on iOS 18+ with the Poket PC app from the public TestFlight beta while the App Store release is in review.
- Microphone and Speech Recognition allowed for Poket PC on the iPhone.
- Helper running on macOS 14+ with permissions granted.
Privacy and connection
Your voice is turned into text on the iPhone. Dictation after you tap the mic may be processed by Apple; the wake phrase is recognized on the iPhone only. No audio goes to your Mac: the text of your task travels inside the same pairing-protected, end-to-end encrypted session as screen data, directly or through the encrypted relay. From there, Ask sends the task to the model you picked, as with a typed task. No account is needed.
Not in 1.0
- Face ID before opening a session (planned).
- Lock-screen voice access.
- Host audio from the Mac desktop through the live screen (planned separately).
Next steps
Set up Ask, try voice after pairing, and read control Mac from iPhone for how voice fits next to Screen, Trackpad, Keyboard, and Deck. Version 1.0 is free with no ads and no in-app purchases.
Frequently asked questions
Can I control my Mac with my voice from my iPhone?
Yes, through Ask. Tap the mic and say a task; your iPhone turns it into text, the agent carries it out on the Mac, and with speaking turned on the iPhone reads the result aloud.
What is the wake phrase?
Hey Mac. It is off by default: turn on Listen for “Hey Mac” in the app's Settings. It listens only while the app is open, and the phrase is recognized on the iPhone itself.
Does voice work without Ask?
No. Voice is how you talk to Ask, and Ask needs a model set up on the Mac: Claude Code with your Claude subscription, or a local model in Ollama.
Is voice available on the lock screen?
No. Lock-screen access is not available in 1.0.
Does my voice go to the Mac or through the relay?
No audio goes to the Mac. The iPhone turns your speech into text, and only that text travels to the Mac, inside the same encrypted session as screen and input, on the same Wi-Fi or through the relay.