Support

LazyMouse is two apps: one on your computer, one on your phone. Both have to be running, on the same Wi-Fi, and on the same version.

Getting started

1. Install LazyMouse on your computer and open it. A QR code appears.
2. Open LazyMouse on your phone, allow the camera, and point it at the code.
3. When the strip at the top turns orange and says Connected, the pad is live.

After the first time it reconnects on its own whenever you are both on the same network. No computer to hand? Try the demo without a computer on the first screen lets you try the pad, the keyboard and the volume.

The pad works like a laptop trackpad: drag to move, tap to click, two-finger tap to right-click, two-finger drag to scroll, and hold (or tap and then drag) to select and move things.

It will not connect

• Same network. Phone and computer must be on the same Wi-Fi. A guest network, a VPN, or “client isolation” on the router stops them seeing each other.
• Local Network permission. On iPhone, Settings → LazyMouse → Local Network must be on. Without it the phone cannot find the computer.
• Firewall. The first time the computer app runs, Windows asks whether to let it through. Allow it on private networks. If you pressed Cancel, open Windows Security → Firewall & network protection → Allow an app through firewall, and tick LazyMouse under Private.
• Same version. If the two halves differ, the app says so and refuses to connect. Update the one that is older.
• It says “Looking for…” for a long time. The computer's address changed (your router handed out a new one) and the phone is searching for it. Make sure the computer is awake. If it does not turn up, scan the code again.
• One phone at a time. A second phone is refused while the first holds the connection. Press Disconnect on the first.

Pairing

• The code changes after you pair. It is used up by the first phone to scan it, and a new one appears. That is on purpose: a photo of an old code is worth nothing. Always scan the one on screen now.
• It also changes when the computer app restarts. If a phone that was paired before cannot reconnect, scan the current code.
• Forget a phone. Press Forget on the computer to remove the phone it remembers, for example if you lose it. That phone has to scan again to come back.
• Change phones. Pair the new one by scanning. It replaces the old one.

The screen preview and sound

• Turn Screen on in the bottom bar to see the computer's screen. The buttons beside it choose the display and zoom in.
• Full screen. The expand button turns the phone sideways and fills it with the picture. Pinch to zoom, and drag to move around when zoomed.
• Sound. Turn it on in the full-screen bar to hear what the computer is playing. It follows your phone's volume buttons. If the bar says to tap the picture, tap it once.
• Touch. In the full-screen bar, Touch makes a tap on the picture click on the computer where you tapped, and holding a finger right-clicks. It is off each time you open the view.
• Nothing shows. Turn Screen off and on again. A computer that is not changing sends nothing, so a still picture is normal.

Keyboard and clipboard

• Open Keyboard and type: what you type appears on the computer. The key row has Esc, Tab, arrows, and the modifier keys, which latch so one thumb can do Ctrl+C.
• Paste in the key row sends the text on your phone's clipboard to the computer and pastes it, so text you copied in Safari or a message goes straight into whatever is open on the computer. iOS may ask you to allow the paste the first time.
• Copy does Ctrl+C on the computer and brings the text back to your phone's clipboard.
• In Files, Send text and Get text move clipboard text without pasting. Nothing is copied unless you press a button.

Files

• Phone to computer. Open Files, choose files or photos and videos. They arrive in the LazyMouse folder inside the computer's Downloads folder, and nothing is ever replaced: a second a.txt becomes a (2).txt.
• Computer to phone. Drop files on the computer app's window, or use Send a file. They appear on the phone with a Get button.
• A transfer that stops is cleaned up rather than left half-finished. Try again from the Files list.

Installing on Windows

• “Windows protected your PC”. The installer is new and not yet widely downloaded, so SmartScreen may warn. Choose More info, then Run anyway.
• Updates. The app checks for a newer version now and then and tells you at the top of its window. It installs only when you press Update now, and a phone that is connected is disconnected while it does. Check for updates at the bottom asks right away.
• Requirements. Windows 10 or later.

Using it safely

LazyMouse never sends its pairing secret over the network and a code can be used only once. The connection itself is not yet encrypted, though, so use it on a network you trust, such as your home Wi-Fi, and avoid shared or public ones. Press Forget on the computer for any phone you no longer have. There is more on the privacy page.

Compatibility

The phone app is for iPhone. The computer app is for Windows 10 or later; macOS and Linux versions are on the way.

Contact

Still stuck? Tell us what you were doing, what you expected, and what happened, along with the versions of both apps (shown at the bottom of the computer window).

Contact details are published here when LazyMouse launches.