🔒 How Does Workbench Protect My Data?
Workbench uses 256-bit AES encryption, the same standard used for sensitive government and financial data. Your screen is never recorded, stored, or cached anywhere during a session. Once your session ends, nothing is retained.
Workbench connects directly between your devices when possible. If your network environment is more restrictive, Workbench will route through one of our 11 global relay servers instead.
Either way, your connection is end-to-end encrypted, we can't see your screen or what you're doing, regardless of the path your connection takes.
👤Who Can Access My Mac?
Workbench has multiple layers in place to make sure only you can access your Mac and that you always know when a session is running:
Only someone signed into the same Workbench account can connect, there's no way to initiate a session without those credentials.
The Workbench app must be running on the Mac for any session to be active, and it will always be visible in the Dock and app switcher.
You can disable remote access entirely at any time, which removes your Mac from appearing on any other device.
We recommend creating a secure, unique password for your Astropad Workbench account.
If you ever want to make your Mac completely unavailable for remote access, you can disable it at any time:
Open the Workbench app on your Mac
Click the ellipsis (•••) next to "This computer"
Select Remote Access Settings and toggle remote access off
🖥️ How Will I Know When a Session Is Active?
Workbench gives you a couple of clear indicators any time a remote session is running:
macOS Menu Bar Icon
When Workbench is in use, macOS displays a screen sharing icon in the macOS menu bar. This is a system-level security indicator built into macOS; Workbench cannot remove or hide it. If you see it, a session is active.
In-App Indicator
The Workbench app on your Mac will show "Sharing to [device name]" in the app window, along with a red Stop Sharing button you can click to end the session immediately.
Note: macOS may occasionally send a passive reminder about screen capture access. This is an Apple-generated notification, it's not a Workbench alert and doesn't mean anything is wrong or that someone has accessed your Mac. This is ensure to communication between apps on a macOS level.
🔐 Account & Sign-In Security
Workbench requires a dedicated account that is separate from your Astropad Studio account (if you have one). This separation is intentional, it's an added layer of security so that your remote access credentials are isolated from your other Astropad products.
Sign-in options at account creation:
Email and password
Sign in with Google
Sign in with Apple
If you choose to hide your email, Apple provides a private relay address instead. This is what will appear in our system if you ever need account support, so keep that in mind.
Note: Whichever method you use to create your account, you must use the same method every time you sign in on both devices. For example, you will not be able to change between Sign in with Email and Sign in with Google once your account is created.