AnyDesk for Mac

AnyDesk works properly on macOS in both directions — you can control a Mac and you can control other machines from it. The one thing that trips almost everybody up is that macOS blocks screen capture and remote input by default, so a fresh install connects, shows a black or frozen screen, and ignores the mouse until you grant two specific permissions.

What you need before you start

macOS 11 Big Sur or later. Older releases are no longer supported.
Administrator rights on the Mac, to approve the permission changes.
Both Apple silicon and Intel Macs are supported.

The permissions problem, and how to fix it

If somebody connects to your Mac and reports a black screen, or the pointer will not move, this is why. macOS requires explicit consent for two separate capabilities, and AnyDesk needs both:

Screen & System Audio Recording — lets the remote person see the screen. Without it: black or blank.
Accessibility — lets the remote person move the mouse and type. Without it: they can watch but cannot touch anything.

AnyDesk usually prompts on first launch. If it did not, or you dismissed it, set them manually:

Open System Settings and choose Privacy & Security in the sidebar.
Select Screen & System Audio Recording and switch AnyDesk on. If AnyDesk is not listed, click + and add it from your Applications folder.
Authorise the change with your password or Touch ID.
Go back and select Accessibility. Switch AnyDesk on there too, adding it with + if it is missing.
If prompted, choose Quit & Reopen. AnyDesk must restart before either permission takes effect.

That last step is the one people skip. Granting the permission is not enough on its own — macOS only applies it to a newly launched instance of the app, so a session started before the restart will still be blind.

If you only ever control other machines from your Mac, you can skip all of this. Both permissions govern incoming connections. Outgoing connections need neither.

Connecting

Install AnyDesk from the official site and open it. The Mac displays its own nine-digit AnyDesk address.
To control another machine, type that machine’s address into the address field and connect.
To let somebody control this Mac, give them the number shown on your screen and accept the request when it appears.

Give the number out only to someone you contacted yourself. Remote access software is the standard tool of technical support scams, and a caller claiming to be from Apple or your bank who asks for that number is the attack, working exactly as designed.

Mac-specific quirks

Keyboard mapping between macOS and Windows is imperfect. Controlling a Windows PC from a Mac, the Command key generally maps to Control — but shortcuts involving Option, and anything on a non-US layout, may not arrive as you expect.
The login window needs extra setup. A standard install cannot show the macOS login screen, so a Mac that reboots becomes unreachable until somebody logs in. AnyDesk’s installed service handles this; the portable app does not.
Multiple displays are supported, and you can switch between them from the session toolbar rather than seeing them stitched into one oversized image.
macOS updates can silently reset permissions. If a Mac that has worked for months suddenly shows a black screen after an update, re-check both settings before assuming anything is broken.

Licensing on macOS

The same rule applies as on every platform: the free licence is for personal use only. Using AnyDesk to support colleagues, clients or company machines requires a paid licence, and AnyDesk does detect commercial use. Only the person initiating the session needs the licence — the Mac being helped can run the free client.

Need free commercial use on a Mac? RustDesk is open source with a native macOS build and no licensing restriction. AeroAdmin allows business use for free but is Windows-only, so it is not an option here.

Verdict

AnyDesk is the best-supported remote desktop tool on macOS, and once the two permissions are granted it is fast and unfussy. Budget five minutes for the permissions on any new Mac, restart the app when prompted, and re-check after major macOS updates. Almost every “AnyDesk is not working on Mac” problem is one of those three things.

For the full review, licensing detail and the 2024 security incident, see the main AnyDesk page.

For a free alternative that needs nothing installed beyond a browser, Chrome Remote Desktop works across macOS, Windows and Linux with a Google account.

Researched against AnyDesk’s official macOS permissions documentation in September 2026. Apple relocates and renames privacy settings between macOS releases — the permission names above reflect current System Settings; on older versions look under System Preferences → Security & Privacy.