MiRed: connect your Windows computers and phone

MiRed connects your Windows computers and Android phone: share clipboard contents, files, links and windows through an encrypted tunnel, without your own server or administrator privileges.

A private link between your devices

If you work with two computers, you have probably needed a file stored on the other one—or, worse, access to a presentation already open on it—or wanted to move text between computers without sending yourself an email or a Teams message. This happened to me constantly, so I started building an application to solve it. The idea was clear: avoid depending on anyone else and be able to open a window from a computer I had been working on. I have needed this for a long time: at work I use a desktop and a laptop, and at home I have another desktop.

Working across several devices—your home desktop, your laptop, your work computer and your phone—means constantly sending things to yourself: a link through messaging, a file by email, text copied twice. MiRed removes that extra work. It connects your devices through a private link and lets them behave as one, in the ways you choose.

Clipboard and links

Whatever you copy on one computer is already copied on the others, with permissions for each device and a “Send now” option for those you prefer not to share automatically. Send a web page, or your current browser tab, to the computer where you want to keep reading.

MiRed on Windows: a shared clipboard across computers — Windows · shared clipboard across computers

Files and windows

Offer files to another computer, which asks you before accepting them; browse its drive if it has given you permission; work with two panels in the style of WinSCP; and resume interrupted transfers. In Windows File Explorer, “Send to” sends the selected items to any of your computers.

Open the same application on another computer, view and control it there with a mouse and keyboard as a remote window, or bring a window from another computer to yours. To send the active window, just use the system tray or the Ctrl+Alt+S shortcut.

MiRed on Windows: moving windows between computers — Windows · moving windows between computers

Folder synchronization (in testing)

Keep two folders on two computers identical without moving anything by hand: what you change in one appears in the other, including deletions and renames. Whoever receives the invitation chooses on their own computer where to store the folder, and files travel only over a direct connection between your computers, encrypted, without passing through any server.

If two computers change the same file at the same time, nothing is lost: one becomes a conflict copy and whatever was replaced goes to a versions folder. If a large part of a folder suddenly disappears, MiRed stops and asks you before propagating it, and if a computer runs out of space it tells the others and they resume on their own once you free some up. It is designed for tens of thousands of files.

Right now it is only in the Windows 1.14 beta (it is needed on both computers and the permission is off by default): it is not yet in the stable version or on the phone.

Devices

Pair them with an invitation, a code or a QR code; each device keeps separate permissions for every other device. On the same network, they communicate directly; outside it, they use an internet rendezvous point that can be your own server or one of your computers. If the connection drops or you switch networks, MiRed reconnects automatically, and anything copied to the clipboard during the outage is delivered when the connection returns.

With MiRed's online rendezvous point, the limit is 5 devices per network.

MiRed on Windows: a list of paired devices — Windows · paired devices

Your phone

The Android app joins by scanning the QR code shown on the desktop and shares the clipboard and links with your PCs.

Why it is such a useful tool

First, because it does not ask for anything unusual: it runs as a regular user, without administrator privileges, drivers, code injection into other applications or a dedicated web server to maintain. It installs per user, includes its runtime and updates itself with signed packages.

Second, because privacy is built in: your data travels through an encrypted tunnel between your own devices, rather than through someone else’s cloud. And third, because you are in control. Each feature is enabled separately for each device, potentially dangerous features are off by default, and every permission states exactly what it allows on screen.

MiRed on Windows: permissions for each device — Windows · permissions for each device

It is also designed for people who use their computer every day: a native Windows application (C#, .NET 10 and WPF), with a carefully designed interface, a system tray icon, light and dark modes, and ten languages—Spanish, English, Chinese, Hindi, Arabic, Bengali, Portuguese, Russian, Urdu and French.

The details of the security decisions are explained in the article “How I chose MiRed’s security architecture”.

MiRed for Mac (beta)

There is now a first beta version for Mac. It is a test version: it may fail and some things are missing, but it already pairs the Mac with your other devices, shares the clipboard, and lets you view and control its windows.

For it to work, macOS will ask for two permissions that you have to enable yourself, in System Settings › Privacy & Security: “Accessibility” (so another device can move the mouse and type on this Mac) and “Screen Recording” (so it can see its windows). Without them the Mac connects, but it does not let you see or control anything.

Because the application is not yet notarized by Apple, the first time macOS may warn that it cannot verify the developer: open MiRed with a right-click › Open and confirm.