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Apple Alerting Customers to Upcoming Discontinuation of Back to My Mac in macOS Mojave

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Apple today began sending out notifications to customers letting them know that support for Back to My Mac is ending in macOS Mojave.

Back to My Mac was not present in the first developer beta of macOS Mojave and it has not been available in any subsequent beta, but many customers may have missed the news of its imminent sunsetting, which has now been confirmed by Apple.

backtomymacending.png

Back to My Mac is a feature that is designed to allow Mac owners to connect to one Mac from another Mac for file transfers and screen sharing purposes. It lets users set up a network of Mac computers with two or more Macs, but it can be complicated to set up and use, which may be why Apple has decided to discontinue it in favor of simpler measures.

Apple is directing customers to a support document that outlines the changes coming to Back to My Mac, instructing them on how to transition to iCloud Drive, screen sharing, and Apple Remote Desktop.
Back to My Mac will not be available on macOS Mojave. You can get ready now by learning about alternatives for file access, screen sharing, and remote desktop access.
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Apple's support document suggests customers can access all of their files across devices with iCloud Drive, operate other Macs with screen sharing, and manage Macs remotely with Apple Remote Desktop, software available from the Mac App Store for $80.

Many Back to My Mac users are likely to be unhappy with Apple's suggestion to transition to Apple Remote Desktop for remote management given its high price and the fact that it sees few updates, but there are other options like TeamViewer and LogMeIn.

Article Link: Apple Alerting Customers to Upcoming Discontinuation of Back to My Mac in macOS Mojave
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2018/08/21/apple-back-to-my-mac-discontinued-macos-mojave/
In the end this will save me some time. Seems I have/had to login again to keep it going anyhow. It's true too that mostly iCloud Drive has covered my needs. I would however like to see a plan between 200G and 2TB. Something about $4 would be ok I guess.
 
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Geezum, I didn't even realize Apple made a Remote Desktop app. And at $80 bucks, I can see why. I occasionally have the need to log into my home computer from work and vice versa, I'm guessing Screen Sharing will work sufficiently for this. But it's a bit vague on how to use this. I can open up the Screen Sharing app and type in my Apple ID in the Connect To: box, but I always get "{AppleID} is not available for screen sharing." Any pointers on how to get this to work reliably?
 
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dabrain13 said:
The fact they think ARD is a viable alternative at $80 is absurd.
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There are tons of remote desktop clients out there, many free. HOW DARE THEY SUGGEST THEIR OWN ENTERPRISE-LEVEL SOLUTION!
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blacktape242 said:
when was the last time ARD had a substantial update? its severely lacking these days.
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Compared to what? It's far more full-featured than Microsoft Remote Desktop, even the newest version 10.
 
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kepardue said:
Geezum, I didn't even realize Apple made a Remote Desktop app. And at $80 bucks, I can see why. I occasionally have the need to log into my home computer from work and vice versa, I'm guessing Screen Sharing will work sufficiently for this. But it's a bit vague on how to use this. I can open up the Screen Sharing app and type in my Apple ID in the Connect To: box, but I always get "{AppleID} is not available for screen sharing." Any pointers on how to get this to work reliably?
Click to expand...
Here's the support document: https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/set-up-and-use-screen-sharing-mh11848/mac - I use it for many years already.
 
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Just received the notification from Apple about Back to My Mac going away. The only way I use this feature today is opening finder and in the sidebar is my home iMac and I click that and click "share screen" to take care of remote tasks like exporting FCP videos or uploading videos to YouTube via screen sharing.

I see "screen sharing" will be an option but I won't be able to access my iMac via Screen sharing remotely without setting some sort of NAT pass through on my router, right? Back to my mac was so easy to use because it required no tech-ery to get it working.

ALcclfC.png
 
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Seriously, Apple? What the actual F. BTMM is great for users who need to seamlessly traverse NAT and basic firewalls to their remote machines. ARD and the built-in screen sharing cannot do this alone.

"but it can be complicated to set up and use" What? No, that is not the reason.
 
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Not really a big deal for me anymore. In order for it to be useful I'd need to be able to a different iCloud account.

I mean I hate that they didn't make it more useful, but what they had was useless to me.
 
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