One shortcut sends your Mac's keyboard and trackpad to an Android phone or tablet — no app on the device, no mirroring, no root.
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/samirsawarkar/handover/main/install.sh | bash
Press ⌘ + ⌥ + T and your typing goes to the tablet. Press it again and you are back on your Mac. You keep looking at the tablet's own screen the whole time — nothing is mirrored on your Mac, and nothing is installed on the tablet.
It is Universal Control, but for Android.
Open Terminal (⌘ + Space, type "Terminal", press Enter), paste the command at the top of this page, press Enter. It installs what is needed, finds your tablet, and asks you to switch on one macOS permission. That is the whole setup.
Requires Homebrew. If you do not have it, the installer says so.
Apple's Universal Control only talks to Apple devices. Logitech Flow only moves between computers, and needs Logitech hardware. Nothing shipped lets a MacBook keyboard type on an Android tablet sitting next to it — so this does.
| Handover | Universal Control | Logitech Flow | KDE Connect | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mac → Android | yes | no | no | limited |
| App on the Android device | none | — | — | required |
| Root or Developer options | none (USB) | — | — | not required |
| Mirrors a screen onto your Mac | no | no | no | no |
| Cost | free, open source | free, Apple only | needs their hardware | free |
USB cable — recommended. Nothing to enable on the tablet. Plug in, tap OK on the prompt the tablet shows, done. Survives reboots.
Wi-Fi. No cable, but the tablet needs Developer options → Wireless debugging, and Android switches that back off after every restart.
| USB cable | Wi-Fi | |
|---|---|---|
| Developer options | not needed | required, always |
| Survives a reboot | yes | no, switch it on again |
| Setup | plug in | pairing, IP address |
"Could not see your tablet"
- Use a data cable. Cables bundled with chargers are frequently power-only and cannot carry data — no software can work around that.
- macOS blocks unfamiliar USB devices: System Settings → Privacy & Security → Allow accessories to connect.
- Plug straight into the Mac. Hubs and docks break the USB accessory protocol.
The shortcut does nothing
System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility → Hammerspoon must be on. If it already is, switch it off and on again, then restart Hammerspoon. macOS sometimes keeps the checkbox lit after the permission has actually lapsed.
Typing works but the trackpad does not
Press the shortcut again to reconnect. The trackpad is captured when the connection starts; if that did not catch the first time, reconnecting fixes it.
Wi-Fi stopped working after a reboot
Switch Wireless debugging back on in Developer options. This is Android's behaviour and no tool can prevent it. Use a cable if you can.
Android does not let an ordinary app inject keystrokes — that needs a system-level permission no installable app can hold. There are exactly two ways in, and Handover uses both:
- USB: scrcpy's OTG mode speaks the AOAv2 accessory protocol, so your Mac registers as a genuine USB keyboard and mouse. The tablet simply thinks hardware was plugged in. No debugging, no permissions, no app.
- Wi-Fi: scrcpy's normal mode over adb, which is why Developer options are unavoidable there.
Hammerspoon supplies the global shortcut.
Why a window exists at all
scrcpy captures the trackpad only while one of its windows holds focus, and macOS refuses focus to a window too small to be real. So Handover lets a small window exist for a moment, clicks it to capture the mouse, then moves it far off-screen. The capture survives the move, so nothing is visible afterwards.
This was found the hard way: a 1-pixel window receives neither focus nor clicks, and no scrcpy flag forces mouse capture.
- macOS 13+, Apple Silicon or Intel.
- USB mode needs a real data connection — no hubs, no charge-only cables.
- Wi-Fi mode needs both devices on the same network with AP isolation off.
- The tablet's IP is stored at setup; if your router hands out a new one, run the installer again.
- Requires Homebrew, and Hammerspoon needs Accessibility permission.
Issues and pull requests are welcome — see CONTRIBUTING.md. Good first contributions are listed there, including an uninstall script, a configurable shortcut, and testing on devices other than Samsung.
Built on scrcpy by Genymobile and Hammerspoon. Handover is the glue and the setup experience; those projects do the hard parts.
MIT — see LICENSE.
Keywords: use Mac keyboard on Android · type on Android from Mac · MacBook trackpad on Android tablet · Universal Control for Android · Logitech Flow alternative for Android · share keyboard and mouse between Mac and Android · scrcpy OTG keyboard · control Android from macOS without mirroring · KVM for Mac and Android · Samsung Galaxy Tab with MacBook keyboard