macOS ships with Screen Sharing, and for Mac-to-Mac control it's hard to argue with built-in and free. But there is no iPhone client, and the model is still the whole desktop: every window, at desktop resolution.
Apperture's Mac host is also free — and its iOS app streams a single app's window to your iPhone or iPad, with touch, keyboard, and rotation handled natively.
Side by side
| Apperture | macOS Screen Sharing | |
|---|---|---|
| What you see | One Mac app, full screen on your iPhone or iPad — no desktop, no panning | Your full Mac desktop |
| iPhone / iPad client | Yes — that's the product | No first-party iOS client |
| Interaction model | Touch-first: taps, scrolls, iOS keyboard mapped to the streamed app | Mouse and keyboard from another Mac |
| Cloud relay | None, by design — peer-to-peer on your private network, encrypted per session | Local network; iCloud-assisted options for some setups |
| Pricing | Free Mac host; first 15 connections free with full functionality, then a Pro unlock inside the iOS app (launch offer: one-time lifetime) | Free, built into macOS |
| Best for | Using a Mac app from an iPhone or iPad | Controlling one Mac from another Mac |
Bottom line
These two coexist happily: keep Screen Sharing for Mac-to-Mac sessions, and use Apperture when the screen in your hand is an iPhone or iPad and the thing you need is one app, not a desktop.