Does Apple Remote Desktop Work Over the Internet?

Short answer: not out of the box. Apple's built-in Screen Sharing and the Apple Remote Desktop app both work great on your local network, but the moment you leave the house, they stop reaching your Mac unless you do extra networking work yourself.

Why it doesn't just work

Your Mac sits behind your home router. The router gives it a private address that means nothing to the outside world, so a connection coming from a coffee shop has no way to find it. Apple used to solve this with a service called Back to My Mac, but they shut it down in 2019 and never replaced it.

So today, Screen Sharing and Apple Remote Desktop over the internet require one of these:

Option 1: Port forwarding (please don't)

You can log into your router and forward port 5900 to your Mac. This technically works, but it exposes a VNC server to the entire internet. Bots scan for open VNC ports constantly. Unless you know exactly what you're doing, this is the option to avoid.

Option 2: A VPN

Run a VPN like Tailscale or WireGuard so your devices act like they're on the same network no matter where they are. Then Screen Sharing works as if you were home. This is a solid setup, but it's a whole extra system to install, configure, and keep running on every device.

Option 3: Screen sharing through Messages

Lesser known trick: the Messages app on macOS can share screens between two Macs over the internet, no setup at all. It's meant for helping a friend or family member, and for that it's genuinely good. It's not practical for reaching your own unattended Mac though, since someone has to accept the request on the other end.

Option 4: Skip Apple's tools

If what you actually want is to reach your own Mac while you're out, there are apps built for exactly that. Macky is ours. It connects your Mac and iPhone directly using WebRTC, the same tech video calls use, which handles all the router and firewall stuff automatically.

No port forwarding, no VPN. You install the Mac app, install the iPhone app, sign in on both, and connect. You get your full screen with mouse and keyboard control, plus a terminal if you're the command line type. Everything is end-to-end encrypted.

If you're still deciding between Apple's different remote tools, we broke down the differences in Apple Remote Desktop vs Screen Sharing vs Remote Management.