Phone Remote Guide

SlyPilot Pro. This feature is part of SlyPilot Pro, the optional one-time purchase (the free SlyPilot works without it). It is locked until you enter a licence: tray icon > Help and Backup > SlyPilot Pro... opens the window with the Buy button and a box for your licence key. The key is activated online once (no account), and Pro then works offline for up to 30 days between automatic renewals; an offline licence file works too.

Everything about using your phone as a remote for your PC: setting it up, what each tab does, which permissions to give, and what to do when something does not work. For the short pitch, see the Phone Remote feature page.

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1. Before You Start

Nothing is installed on the phone, and no account or subscription is involved. The PC and the phone talk directly over your own network.

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2. Pair a Phone

1. On the PC, open the tray menu → Utilities → Phone Remote → Pair a Phone... The first time, SlyPilot explains what the remote does and asks whether you agree. Windows may ask once whether to let the helper through the firewall: allow it for private networks.
2. If the PC has more than one network address, choose the right one in the Network list.
3. Choose what this phone may do at the bottom of the window (see Permissions).
4. On the phone, point the camera at the code and open the link in Chrome (on Android).
5. Chrome says the connection is not private. That is expected: your PC made its own certificate, and no public authority has vouched for it. Tap Advanced, then Proceed. (This happens once per PC address.)
6. Give the phone a name. The page connects, and the PC shows a small "Phone connected" message.

The code works once and only for 2 minutes; while the window is open a new one appears by itself. To use the remote again later, just open the same page on the phone: it reconnects without a new code. Add the page to your home screen from Chrome's menu so it opens like an app.

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3. A Tour of the Tabs

The bar at the bottom has seven tabs. A tab only shows if the phone has the permission for it. The page opens on the tab you used last.

Home

• Command search: type any SlyPilot command ("snap left", "new desktop", "mute") and tap it. These are the same commands the command palette and the voice engine use. The last six you ran appear under the box. A risky command asks for Confirm, which only an unrestricted phone can press.
• Touch Bar buttons: your custom buttons for the program in front, updating as you change program. Hold-to-talk buttons stay pressed while your finger does.
• Volume slider, mute, play / pause / previous / next, microphone mute, desktop previous / next, Task view.

Pad

• A trackpad: tap = click; tap, then touch again and move = drag; two fingers = scroll (also sideways); two-finger tap = right-click; pinch = zoom; three fingers sideways = previous / next desktop; three fingers up = Task view.
• A scroll strip on the right edge scrolls with one finger.
• Trackpad settings: speed, pointer acceleration, scroll speed, pad height, scroll strip, natural scrolling, tap to click, pinch to zoom, vibration. They are remembered on the phone.
• Keys: sticky Ctrl / Alt / Shift / Win (tap once for the next key, twice to hold), Esc, Tab, Enter, Backspace, Del, F1-F12, arrows, Home / End / PgUp / PgDn, Copy / Paste / Cut / Undo / All / Save, Alt+Tab, Show desktop, Explorer, Snip, Task Manager.
• Presentation: big previous / next buttons, Start (F5), From here, End, and a timer.

Talk

• Choose Hold to talk or Tap to start / stop, and Dictate or Command.
• Dictate types what you say into the window in front on the PC with SlyPilot's AI dictation (with your word list, per-app rules and polish step, if you use them). Command runs what you say as a voice command.
• A text box whose contents appear on the PC as you type, and a second box to send a whole text at once. Google's keyboard microphone works in both.
• A line tells you which program the text will go to.
• Chrome asks for microphone permission the first time. If you decline, the keyboard microphone in the text boxes still works.

Win

• A list of the PC's windows and the desktop each is on. Tap one for a preview and a menu: bring forward, snap (left / right half, corners, thirds, centre, next screen), maximise, minimise, restore, or Show on screen.
• A phone never closes a window.

Screen

• The picture of a monitor, with Refresh, Live, and the three modes View / Touch / Mouse. See The Screen Tab in Detail.

AI

• Select text on the PC, then tap Fix, Polish, Shorten, Summarize, Explain, Draft reply, enter a language for Translate, or type your own instruction. The result appears on the phone and on the PC: Copy to phone, Replace on PC, Insert on PC or Discard.
• It uses the model you set up for AI actions (a model on your own PC keeps the text on your PC). Reading the screen with AI needs you at the PC.
• If you use AI agents through SlyPilot's agent API and the phone has the agent-approval permission, their requests show up here as a card with Allow once / Deny.

Tools

• Sent from the PC: text and links you sent with Send Clipboard to Phones (tray → Utilities → Phone Remote, or say "send clipboard to my phone"), each with Copy and, for links, Open.
• Clipboard: send text to the PC's clipboard, paste it there, or fetch what is on it.
• Send files and photos to the PC. They arrive in Downloads\From phone, up to 200 MB each. Programs and scripts (such as .exe, .bat, .ps1) are refused unless the phone is unrestricted.
• PC power: lock, screen off, sleep. Restart and Shut down wait 20 seconds and can be cancelled from the phone (or with shutdown /a at the PC).
• This phone: its name, its permissions, rename / forget, a latency test and a capability check.

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4. Permissions: What a Phone May Do

Every phone has its own list. Pick a preset when you pair, then fine-tune in Paired Phones (tray → Utilities → Phone Remote).

Changing permissions takes effect at once: a connected phone is told immediately and its tabs appear or disappear. You can also limit how long a phone is allowed, and remove a phone entirely (it is cut off at once).

There is also a tick: Stop the phone's mouse while I am using this PC's own mouse or keyboard. The trackpad then waits until you have been still for 2 seconds.

Always off-limits to a phone: SlyPilot's own windows (settings, approvals, the remote's own windows), Ctrl+Alt+Del, programs running as administrator, the sign-in screen and the lock screen.

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5. The Screen Tab in Detail

Modes

• View: pan and zoom the picture, nothing reaches the PC. Double-tap zooms in and out.
• Touch: tap clicks there; press and hold (or tap with two fingers) right-clicks; two fingers scroll where they are; with Drag on, one finger drags things.
• Mouse: a finger moves the pointer relative to where it was, tap clicks, tap-then-drag drags, two fingers scroll, two-finger tap right-clicks. Pointer acceleration applies.

Zooming and quality

• Pinch or use + / − / Fit. When you zoom in, the PC sends that part of the screen in more detail, so small text stays readable on a large monitor.
• Live keeps the picture current (up to five pictures a second; slower while nothing changes). It pauses when you switch tabs or lock the phone.
• Under Screen options: pick the monitor, the picture quality (Fast, Balanced, Sharp), whether the PC's pointer is drawn, and Save the picture to this phone.

Typing and keys

• Keyboard opens the phone keyboard and types on the PC; Keys opens a panel with Esc, Tab, Enter, arrows, Home / End, F5, sticky Ctrl / Alt / Shift / Win, Copy / Paste / Cut / Undo / All, Alt+Tab and Show desktop.

Full screen

• The full-screen button hides everything except the picture. Turn the phone sideways for the biggest view. The ⋯ button at the top right opens Mode, Keyboard, Keys and Exit.

Using the Touch Bar on the picture

The Touch Bar (and the Peek Pill, radial menu, snap card and window peeker) are pressed like real buttons in Touch mode: down when your finger lands, up when it lifts. A hold-to-talk dictation button therefore holds while you hold it, and a toggle button toggles on a tap. If your finger leaves the phone or the connection drops, the button is released.

What is hidden

Password-manager windows and similar protected windows are painted black in the picture unless the phone has the unrestricted permission. Clicks never land on a protected window or on a SlyPilot settings or approval window.

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6. Keeping Control

• Pause everything: press Ctrl+Alt+Shift+F12. Every phone (and every AI agent) is stopped at once. The phone shows "Remote control is paused at the PC".
• See who is connected: a small indicator shows on screen while a phone is connected; Paired Phones lists every phone and which are online.
• Switch it off: untick Phone Remote On in the tray menu. The helper stops, and nothing listens on your network.
• Forget a phone: in Paired Phones, remove it. It must be paired again to be used.
• What is logged: only that a phone connected or disconnected. Typed text, keys, audio and what was said are never written to the log.

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7. Troubleshooting

Start with the Check my setup window (tray → Help and Backup → About / Diagnostics → Check). Its Phone remote line says whether the helper runs, whether Windows treats your network as Public, and opens the Windows network settings.

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8. Frequently Asked Questions

Does it use the internet? No. Phone and PC talk directly over your local network. There is no cloud service, account, or relay.

Can someone else on my Wi-Fi use it? Only a phone that was paired with a code shown on your screen. Both sides prove they know the code, traffic is encrypted, and the PC only answers devices on private network addresses.

Does it work away from home? No: it is Wi-Fi-only, on the same network as the PC. (Connecting from outside your network is not offered.)

Can I use more than one phone? Yes. Each phone is paired separately and has its own permissions.

Is there a phone app, and does it work on an iPhone? There is no app: it is a web page that you can add to your home screen, tested only with Chrome on Android. iPhone and Safari are not supported yet.

Does it cost anything? The phone remote is part of SlyPilot Pro, the optional one-time purchase (US$39 for up to 3 of your own PCs, 1 year of updates included, 30-day refund). The free SlyPilot works without it.