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iMessage, and sharing it with another Mac

An iMessage bee reads the Messages app on your Mac, so iMessages and texts both appear. You can then share it with another Mac, such as a work laptop.

You’ll need Messages signed in on this Mac (Messages → Settings → iMessage). For texts (SMS) too, on your iPhone turn on Settings → Apps → Messages → Text Message Forwarding → your Mac.

1. Add the iMessage bee

  1. Click the hexagon in the menu bar → Add a Bee → iMessage.
  2. The bee asks for Full Disk Access, because macOS keeps your messages in a protected folder. macOS doesn’t pop up a question for this one: you turn it on yourself.

2. Give Waggle Full Disk Access

  1. In the bee, click Open Privacy Settings. System Settings opens at Privacy & Security → Full Disk Access.
  2. Turn Waggle on. Not in the list? Click + and choose Applications → Waggle.
  3. Go back to the bee and click Check again.

What success looks like: your conversations appear in the bee. If they don’t, quit Waggle (hexagon → Quit Waggle) and open it again.

3. Send your first message

  1. Open a chat and send a message.
  2. macOS asks whether “Waggle” wants access to control “Messages”. Click Allow (on some versions of macOS it says OK).

What success looks like: the message sends, and appears in Messages and on your iPhone too.

4. Group chats (Accessibility)

The first time you read a group chat, or a text from a name such as your bank, macOS says “Waggle” would like to control this computer using accessibility features.

  1. Click Open System Settings.
  2. Turn Waggle on under Accessibility.

What success looks like: the next time you read that chat, it’s marked read on your Mac and iPhone.

Apple doesn’t let other apps mark messages read, so Waggle shows the chat in Messages for about a second, then puts Messages back as it was. To change that: Settings → Behaviour → After marking read in Messages. To turn it off: iMessage: mark read on iPhone and Mac.

Share it with another Mac

The Mac signed in to Messages (your “home” Mac) shares its iMessage bee. Another Mac shows it in an iMessage from another Mac bee: chats, photos, replies and read status. It’s end-to-end encrypted through the Waggle Relay, with nothing to set up.

Keep the home Mac on. The home Mac must stay awake, online and running Waggle while you use the other Mac. When it can’t be reached, the other bee shows “offline” (within about 6 minutes, or sooner if you send something) and keeps showing the copy it already has.

On the home Mac

  1. Right-click the iMessage bee → Share with Another Mac…
  2. Turn on Share this Mac’s iMessages.

What success looks like: a Pairing code appears, with a Copy button. Keep it private: it’s also the encryption key.

On the other Mac

  1. Click the hexagon in the menu bar → Add a Bee → iMessage from another Mac.
  2. Type the pairing code and click Pair. Connecting can take up to 25 seconds.

What success looks like: the bee shows your chats from the home Mac. New messages arrive within a second or two. Photos and files can be up to 40 MB.

Keep the home Mac awake (about 5 minutes, once)

Do these on the home Mac. They matter most on a Mac that stays at home, like a Mac mini. Messages can only mark a chat read on an unlocked screen, so these keep the Mac awake and unlocked while letting its display turn off.

  1. Don’t lock when the display turns off. System Settings → Lock Screen → Require password after screen saver begins or display is turned off → Never (macOS asks for your password to confirm). Turn display off when inactive, in the same place, can be any time you like.
  2. Stop it sleeping. System Settings → Energy (Energy Saver on macOS 14): turn on Prevent automatic sleeping when the display is off and Wake for network access. On a MacBook these apply when it’s plugged in; on battery it still sleeps.
  3. Turn off the screen saver. System Settings → Lock Screen → Start Screen Saver when inactive → Never. A screen saver that asks for a password locks the Mac.
  4. Come back after a power cut. System Settings → Energy → turn on Start up automatically after a power failure, and in Waggle turn on Settings → Behaviour → Open at login. After a restart you still need to log in once yourself.

What success looks like: leave the home Mac alone for an hour with its display off, then send yourself an iMessage. It appears in the other Mac’s bee within a few seconds.

Only do this on a Mac at home that you trust: a Mac that never locks can be used by anyone who can reach its keyboard.

Good to know

If something’s not right

Next: Calendar bees and meeting reminders