Audio, clipboard & peripherals

Shared clipboard (copy/paste)

• macOS Screen Sharing: enable Edit → Use Shared Clipboard. You can then copy on one Mac and paste on the other.
• Other VNC clients: clipboard sharing varies. RealVNC Viewer supports text clipboard sync; enable it in the client’s settings.

If paste stops working, reconnect the session — the clipboard agent can desync after sleep.

File drag-and-drop

Supported in macOS Screen Sharing (drag onto the remote desktop). For everything else, use file transfer over SFTP/scp.

Audio

Note

Standard VNC / Screen Sharing does not stream the remote Mac’s audio. If you need to hear audio from the remote machine (e.g. media testing), use a client/tool that supports audio forwarding, or run a remote audio solution. For most dev and CI workflows, audio isn’t required.

USB devices (iPhone, dongles)

USB isn’t forwarded by default. To use your iPhone or iPad with Xcode, forward it with VirtualHere or install your builds with TestFlight — see Connect your iPhone or iPad.

Keyboard shortcuts feel off

When the remote desktop is in a VNC window, your local OS may intercept some shortcuts (e.g. ⌘Tab). Use your VNC client’s “send keys to remote” / fullscreen mode, or the menu bar inside the session, to direct shortcuts to macOS.