Read and organize
Read HTML and Markdown, create or rename pies, and add files from the iPhone picker. Imports are copies in app storage; organizing them does not change the original documents on your Mac.
What it does
Create local pies, import files, and browse what your Mac shares or other people beam to you. Imported and received files are stored inside the iPhone app.
Pulls from your Mac
Open a device link created by the Mac app or agent plugin to fetch the file over an end-to-end encrypted connection. An encrypted relay can help when a direct connection is unavailable. The Mac must be awake with skypies running.
Receives Beams
Anyone with skypies can send you one artifact behind a skypies://receive link. You confirm before the phone fetches it.
Pairing
You pair once per device. The Mac shows a QR code; the phone scans it. Both screens then show the same six words.
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Start on the Mac
Settings → Devices → Pair a device…. The Mac shows a QR code and a pairing link. The invite expires after a short time.
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Scan on the phone
Scan the QR code with the camera, or open the link on the phone. skypies for iPhone opens the invite.
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Compare the six words
Both screens show six words. Read them on one screen and check them on the other.
orbitmaplecandleriverpixelharbor -
Confirm on both
Confirm only when the words match. From then on the phone appears in the Mac's device list and can pull files from it.
Why the words matter The six words are the fingerprint of the encrypted link. If they differ, the pairing identities do not match. Do not confirm; start again.
Receiving a Beam
From a stranger or a colleague
A Beam is one artifact served directly from the sender's machine for a limited time. The sender does not need to be paired with you.
- You open the
skypies://receivelink on the phone. - The phone shows the file name and size and asks you to confirm.
- The file is stored inside the app and appears in its Received pie.
- The sender can stop new transfers at any time. Copies already received stay on the recipient’s device.
Received content is untrusted
A beamed HTML file was written by someone else. The phone renders it in an isolated frame, separate from the app’s own interface, just as the Mac app does.
- The frame cannot directly access the app’s internal controls or other local files.
- Scripts still run, and the artifact can make web requests. Isolation does not mean it is offline.
- A “beamed” badge identifies received files.
Reading and comments
A sky of pies leads to file lists and the reader. The bottom controls take you back to the sky, through your tabs, or into comments; Settings and devices are in the title bar.
Comments go back to the Mac
Select text or tap a spot on an image and leave a comment. For a file pulled from a paired Mac, the comment syncs back to that Mac, so the agent that wrote the file can read it with list_feedback and mark it addressed with resolve_feedback.
- Comments are stored separately from the original document. The app also stores imported and received files locally.
- For a file shared by a paired Mac, comments sync while the file is open and both devices are reachable. Offline comments wait for reconnection.
What the phone shows
- Start screen: your local pies, a Received pie when it has files, and shared files from connected Macs.
- Tap a pie to open its file list; tap a file to read it.
- A tab pulled from a Mac says so under its title.
- Back and forward per tab, like the Mac app.
Availability
iPhone app: coming soon
- Status
- Coming soon. It pairs with the Mac app.
- Link
- Pending.
Get the Mac app now
- Download
- skypies for Mac (DMG)
- Runs on
- Apple Silicon and Intel, macOS 11 or later.
- Pairing
- Sharing from a Mac needs skypies running there. Local imports and received Beams do not require a paired Mac.