The final piece of the iPhone Mirroring puzzle is now available with the release of iOS 18.1 and macOS Sequoia 15.1. iPhone Mirroring alone is a practical marvel if you’re in the Apple ecosystem: if your iPhone is nearby but unavailable, like in a bag or even just out of reach, use your Mac to connect and control it.

However, one feature was not available at launch: drag and drop between devices. You can now copy files and add them to current documents just like you would between two windows on your Mac desktop.

Besides just not having to pick up the phone, I’ve found several reasons to use iPhone Mirroring besides drag and drop. In fact, I find myself using it regularly on my iPhone16 now that iOS 18 and MacOS Sequoia have been released. Here are some situations where iPhone mirroring can also help you.

Learn more: How to Control Your iPhone from Your Mac Using iPhone Mirroring

iOS 18.1 and MacOS Sequoia 15.1 are now available, bringing many more features such as animated text messages and the ability to personalize your iPhone home screen — oh, and a little-publicized technology known as Apple Intelligence.

Watch this: iPhone Mirroring Comes to Mac with MacOS Sequoia

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When your iPhone is in a bag, purse, or other room

The simplest use case is when you want to access something on your phone but it’s buried in a bag, just out of reach, or you can’t get up (or you can, but chat or the dog sleeping on your lap would I don’t appreciate the disturbance). Connecting via iPhone Mirroring is much more convenient.

However, this feature doesn’t work over long distances, like if you accidentally left your iPhone at home and need to access it from work. iPhone Mirroring uses Apple’s Continuity technology to work, which means the iPhone and Mac must be within Bluetooth range of each other.

When you need to register on an iPhone app

Missed your daily Duolingo check-in and the phone isn’t within reach? If your Mac is, iPhone Mirroring can connect and make sure you continue your streak.

Or maybe you need to finish today’s Word a challenge, but it would be too obvious while working that you check your phone. The discreet iPhone Mirroring window can be easily covered or hidden if necessary.

When you want to use an application and not a web interface

Even today, some popular services work much better in apps than in web interfaces. Yes, we’re looking at you, Instagram. Publishing from an app often includes more options or a better user experience. Since iPhone Mirroring gives you almost complete access to the iPhone interface, you can post using the mouse pointer instead of your finger.

When you want to quickly transfer items between devices

I create a lot of screenshots for work and take even more photos personally, all of which end up in my photo library. These images are then synced via iCloud to my Mac – but sometimes this seems at a rate accurately described as “when the phone gets going.” When I immediately need something on my Mac, I find myself using AirDrop between devices, which works but is clunkier than I’d like.

Now, however, I’m able to drag and drop all kinds of files – not just pictures – between an iPhone and the Mac running the iPhone Mirroring app. It also goes both ways: drop a video or important PDF from a Mac Finder window onto the mirrored iPhone to transfer it to the phone.

When you don’t want to clutter your Mac with unwanted software

MacOS has a long history of supporting system extensions, startup items, and various background processes that you probably don’t realize are running most of the time. Some large application suites, for example, spread out these incidental files like an abandoned box of Legos. In many cases, resource consumption is negligible, but these items still consume storage and CPU power.

In contrast, iOS has always been built as a siled system, where each app has its own protected storage and strictly controlled routes for interacting with other apps. Especially for apps that you don’t use often but need to keep, you may want to install a mobile version and avoid app drift that occurs in MacOS.

iPhone Mirroring allows you to continue using an app like this on your Mac, without infecting MacOS with all the associated garbage that’s normally installed.

When you want to log in to your bank’s app instead of on the computer

Unfortunately, many of these suggestions focus on the theme of “an app is better than a website”, and there is often no better example than banking sites.

It may be easier and more secure to access your bank accounts or investments by using iPhone Mirroring to sign in with the iOS app instead of a web browser on your Mac. You still have to authenticate the iPhone app when you open it (since you can’t use Face ID or Touch ID on the device), but this might be a more convenient option.

When you want to access locked and hidden apps on your phone

In iOS 18, you can hide sensitive apps or require authentication (such as Face ID) to open them. If you prefer to use them on your phone rather than through an app or web interface on your Mac, iPhone Mirroring lets you access them when the phone isn’t nearby.

When you do this, the iPhone Mirroring app requires authentication through the Mac, as you would expect. Enter your Mac’s login password, use Touch ID, or authenticate with your connected Apple Watch to open locked apps or make the hidden folder visible on the phone.

When you’re giving a presentation and want to show what’s on the iPhone

Granted, this is a smaller subset of use cases, but if you need to demonstrate something on the iPhone during an online or in-person presentation, iPhone mirroring is a much simpler option than other methods.

Besides installing an overhead camera, the dominant method is to connect iPhone to Mac with a cable and use QuickTime Player to view the phone screen. You will then always have to use the phone with your hands.

Now with iPhone Mirroring, the phone can be connected wirelessly and manipulated using your Mac’s trackpad or mouse and keyboard.

The main limitation of this approach is that if you need to do something on the phone, enabling it pauses the mirrored connection.

And one streaming limitation we’d like to see changed

A little-known feature among Apple devices is the ability to stream media from an iPhone to a Mac using AirPlay. Time to relax and watch a movie or watch an episode of your favorite TV show? You can start it on the iPhone and choose the Mac – with its larger screen – as the destination.

Since iPhone Mirroring lets you control an iPhone out of range, it would be nice to start a movie that plays on the Mac’s screen. However, digital rights management crushes this idea in the context of iPhone Mirroring. Although you can open an app like TV and start a show, the picture remains black.

This black screen also applies if you use AirPlay to stream while iPhone mirroring is active. The only way for this to work is to physically control the phone and stream to the Mac.

iPhone Mirroring is just a new feature on iPhone and Mac with iOS 18 and macOS Sequoia. Don’t miss how to spice up your texts in Messages and how to work with it Updated Control Center.