Say you're pulling up your office desktop from home — grabbing a file, checking a build, running something you'd rather not do on your laptop. You connect, do what you need, and disconnect. The one thing you don't control from home is the room itself: coworkers walk past that desk all day. Remio keeps the physical screen dark and the computer locked while you're the one driving it remotely, not them.
Privacy Mode blanks the screen at the desk while you're streaming. A lock-on-disconnect setting locks the computer the moment you leave. And a remote-unlock setting decides whether anyone can type a password into that computer's lock screen at all. All three live in the host's settings, and none of them change what you see on your own screen.
Blank the screen at the desk
While a session is running, the host can keep its own physical display completely dark — so anyone standing at the desk sees nothing, while your stream keeps showing the real screen.
| Host | How it works |
|---|---|
| macOS | Automatic. The moment you start streaming, the built-in display and any external monitors go completely dark — the same behavior as Apple's own Screen Sharing — and they light back up on their own the instant the session ends. Nothing to turn on. |
| Windows | Turn on Privacy Mode in the host settings. The screen at the desk blanks while your remote view keeps working normally; turn the setting off to bring the desk screen back. |
| Linux | Turn on Privacy Mode to blank the physical screen for the duration of the stream, the same as on Windows. |
Whichever host you're on, streaming also keeps the machine from falling asleep mid-session — so the picture doesn't die just because nobody's touching the keyboard at the desk.
Lock it when you leave
Blanking the screen only covers you while you're connected. A separate host setting closes the loop after you disconnect: turn on lock-on-disconnect and the computer locks itself the instant the session ends, so it's never left open and unattended at the desk. It's available on macOS, Windows, and Linux hosts.
Want it locked sooner — say, the moment you're done, before you even close the connection? The client's streaming toolbar has a Lock button. Tap it and the remote computer locks immediately, whether you're mid-session or on your way out.
Who can unlock remotely
Locking a computer only helps if you can still get back into it. Connect to a locked computer and Remio shows you its lock screen, letting you type the password right from your device — see the full walkthrough in Remote unlock.
On a shared or public machine, you may not want that at all. The host has a setting to switch remote unlock off entirely. With it off, a client that tries to type on the lock screen is told plainly that remote unlock is disabled — instead of the keystrokes just quietly going nowhere.
Troubleshooting
- The screen at the desk stayed dark after the session ended — update the host to the current version. Recent host versions restore the display automatically the moment streaming stops.
- Privacy Mode blacked out my own remote view, not just the desk — this was a bug in older Windows host versions. It's fixed in current versions — update the host and Privacy Mode will only blank the physical screen, never your stream.
FAQ
Can people at the office see what I'm doing?
No. While you're streaming, the screen at the desk is blank — automatic on macOS, a toggle on Windows and Linux. Anyone walking by sees a dark screen, not your session.
Does the computer stay unlocked after I disconnect?
Only if you leave it that way. Turn on lock-on-disconnect in the host settings and it locks itself the moment the session ends — or lock it yourself mid-session with the toolbar's Lock button.
Can I disable remote unlocking on a shared machine?
Yes. Turn off remote unlock in the host settings and no client can type a password into that computer's lock screen — they'll see a message telling them it's disabled instead.
