Mirrorfox

Getting started with Mirrorfox

A complete walkthrough — no technical knowledge needed.

Mirrorfox puts your iPhone screen on your computer so you can record it, screenshot it, and draw on it while you explain. You never install anything on the iPhone. Mirrorfox shows and records your phone — it cannot tap or control it.

1. Download the right version

Go to the download section and pick the one that matches your computer:

Mirrorfox is in free public beta, so there is nothing to pay and no account to create.

2. Install it

On a Mac: unzip the download and drag Mirrorfox into your Applications folder. The first time you open it, macOS may say it cannot verify the developer — right-click the app, choose Open, then click Open again. This warning appears because beta builds are not yet code-signed; it will disappear in the final release.

On Windows: open the downloaded file. If a blue box says "Windows protected your PC", click More info → Run anyway — same reason as above.

On Linux: extract the .tar.gz, then install the video libraries your system needs once (Windows and macOS ship these already):

sudo apt install gstreamer1.0-plugins-good gstreamer1.0-plugins-bad \
  gstreamer1.0-libav fonts-noto-color-emoji

Then open the extracted folder and double-click mirrorfox.

The first time it runs, Mirrorfox walks you through the permissions it needs. On a Mac it asks for Camera access — that is because macOS treats a cabled iPhone as an external camera. Mirrorfox is not using your webcam.

3. Connect with a USB cable (most reliable)

  1. Use a data cable — the one that came with your phone, or any cable you have successfully copied photos with. Cheap charge-only cables do not carry video, and this is the single most common problem.
  2. Plug the iPhone into the computer.
  3. The iPhone asks "Trust This Computer?" — tap Trust and enter your passcode. If you miss it, unplug and plug in again.
  4. In Mirrorfox, your iPhone appears in the list. Click Connect.

Your screen appears within a few seconds. USB is available on macOS today; on Windows and Linux please use Wi-Fi for now — USB is coming.

4. Connect over Wi-Fi

First, the one thing that matters: the iPhone and the computer must be on the same Wi-Fi network — both connected to the same router or home Wi-Fi box. If the iPhone is using mobile data (4G/5G) it will not work. A computer plugged into that same router with a network cable is fine.

  1. Open Mirrorfox and go to the AirPlay (Wi-Fi) tab. It shows a name like "Mirrorfox – yourcomputer". Remember it.
  2. On the iPhone, swipe down from the top-right corner to open Control Centre.
  3. Tap Screen Mirroring.
  4. Pick the name you saw in step 1.

The first time on Windows, a firewall box may appear — click Allow. Some public, office and hotel networks block this feature; use a USB cable there.

Important: one iPhone can mirror one way at a time. If it is already mirroring by cable and you start Wi-Fi mirroring, the picture freezes. Turn the first one off, wait about 20 seconds, then connect again.

5. Watch and arrange

6. Record video and take screenshots

7. Draw on the screen while you talk

Click the pen button to start drawing. You get:

Your marks are included in recordings and screenshots — which is what makes this useful for tutorials, lessons and support replies.

The saved file, played back — the arrow, highlight and note are part of the video.

8. Free, Premium, and how to buy

The free edition is yours forever: one device at a time, full quality, no time limit. Recordings and screenshots carry a small watermark.

Premium — $29, paid once, not a subscription — adds up to four devices at once, removes the watermark, records several devices simultaneously, and unlocks the annotation tools and pop-out windows. Buying once covers every update in that major version.

To activate: buy on this site, receive a licence key by email, then open Settings → paste the key → Activate.

Right now Mirrorfox is in free beta and every feature is unlocked, so there is nothing to buy yet.

9. If something goes wrong

Still stuck? Write to support@mirrorfox.app and tell us your computer type and what you see — we answer within a couple of days.

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