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Flect 0.8.0

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@HeutaLab HeutaLab released this 23 Sep 13:10
· 1 commit to main since this release
v0.8.0
5c3321b

When an iPad can't find Flect, Flect can tell you why.

What's new

Click "The iPad can't see Flect?" on the main screen, or choose Receiver ▸ Check the Network (⇧⌘N). Flect looks at the network around it and says, in plain English:

  • whether this Mac is on a network at all, and whether by Wi-Fi or cable;
  • whether Flect's own announcement is visible, which is what iPads look for;
  • whether the name has been taken by something else and given a number;
  • whether the Mac's firewall is on, which can stop an iPad that can see Flect from connecting;
  • whether macOS's own AirPlay Receiver is putting a second entry in the Screen Mirroring list;
  • which other AirPlay devices are visible, as a sign of how far Bonjour travels here.

Each finding that has a fix offers a button that opens the right System Settings page, and Copy Details for IT puts a summary on the clipboard to paste into an email: the name, port, addresses, what was visible, the firewall's state and every finding.

It tells apart the two failures that look identical to a teacher: nothing at all is visible, which means macOS is blocking Flect from the local network or this network doesn't pass Bonjour, and other AirPlay devices are visible but Flect isn't, which points at Flect rather than the network.

The one thing it can't see is the iPad's side. If your school keeps iPads and staff Macs on separate networks, they won't find Flect however healthy this Mac looks, and that's a question for IT: Bonjour (mDNS, UDP 5353) has to reach between them, exactly as an Apple TV needs.

Downloads

File For
Flect-0.8.0.pkg School IT. It installs Flect in /Applications; push it with Jamf, Mosyle or another MDM.
Flect-0.8.0.zip Trying it on one Mac. Unzip it and move Flect to Applications.

Both run on Apple silicon and Intel Macs with macOS 14 or later. SHA256SUMS has the checksums.

It still isn't signed

macOS blocks Flect the first time you open it. Within the hour, go to System Settings → Privacy & Security, click Open Anyway, and enter an administrator password. Installed through an MDM, it usually opens without these steps. See Installing on school Macs.

Since 0.7.0

Several waiting iPads share one card with Show All (⌥⌘A), and iPads you've let on are remembered between launches.

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