Windows users: a native companion app is now available (Preview)

Starting with this release, Windows users have one more path to connect the Tactic Remote iOS app: a native companion app.

How Windows users connected before

If you are on Windows, your previous options were:

• Run npx tacticremote in a Windows terminal (requires Node.js)
• Run the companion server inside WSL2
• Start the server on a separate Mac or Linux machine and connect from your phone

All of these work. The CLI path is especially suitable for developers, but for users who prefer a graphical interface, launching an npm command is not the most intuitive starting point.

The new path: a Windows companion app

The new Windows companion app offers the same graphical experience as the Mac companion:

• A main window appears on launch, with a start-server button and live status
• Shows the connection QR code, LAN address, and API key
• One-click Cloudflare Tunnel for remote access
• Localized interface, including English and Chinese
• The pairing flow with the iOS app is identical to the Mac flow

The app is built on Electron and node-pty, and has been tested on Windows 10 and Windows 11 (x64).

The CLI improves at the same time

Starting in 1.8.1, npx tacticremote also ships a native Windows binary, so you no longer need WSL2 to run it directly from PowerShell or cmd. If you prefer the command line, this path is smoother than before.

Both options exist in parallel — pick the one that fits:

• Want a graphical interface and one-click setup → Windows companion app
• Want to run in a server environment or prefer the command line → npx tacticremote

What "Preview" means here

We are marking this release as a Preview. A few things to keep in mind:

• We have covered the main use cases, but there may still be issues we have not seen
• In-app auto-update is not yet enabled; new versions require a fresh download and install
• We know that some long-running terminal sessions occasionally need a server restart
• If macOS is currently your primary platform, we recommend staying with the Mac companion app

We want to hear from Windows users so the next version can be more polished. Please file issues or suggestions on GitHub Issues.

Download

The Windows companion app v1.8.0 installer is available from the download page or as TacticRemote-Windows-Setup-1.8.0.exe on the GitHub Release.

The iOS app is available on the App Store.