X11 let anything watch
Under X11, any application could read the whole screen, including other apps' windows. That made screen capture trivial — and made it trivial for malware too. Every classic capture tool was built on that assumption.
✦Linux host
Your distro switched to Wayland. Your remote tools did not. Wayland is the default now. Remio streams it.
You upgraded Ubuntu, and your remote desktop started streaming a black rectangle. Nothing is broken: Wayland simply does not let an application read another application's pixels the way X11 did. Remio's Linux host goes through your desktop's own secure sharing service — approve the prompt once and it is remembered.
Wayland
and X11, both
1
grant, remembered
4K 60
hardware encoded
Free
AppImage or .deb
✦Why the black screen
Wayland changed the rules under everyone's feet.
This is the single most common Linux remote-desktop complaint of the last few years, and it is not a bug in any one app — it is a deliberate security property of the display server that most tools were never rebuilt for.
Wayland closed it
Wayland isolates applications from each other's pixels. Tools like x11vnc cannot capture a Wayland session at all, which is why you get a black stream instead of an error — nothing failed, the pixels were simply never handed over.
The supported path
Modern Wayland screen sharing goes through xdg-desktop-portal and PipeWire: the app asks the desktop, the desktop asks you, and you approve. That is the road Remio takes, so it works with your desktop instead of around it.
✦How it works on your machine
Grant once. It remembers.
Remio Host shows screen sharing as an explicit setup step rather than letting a system prompt appear out of nowhere at launch — so "Ready to stream" always means it genuinely is.
One clear step
The host status reads "Screen sharing needs setup" until you press Grant screen sharing. Approve your desktop's share prompt once and the choice is remembered — no logging out into an Xorg session, no black stream to debug.
Terminal installs too
Running headless or over SSH? Grant it from the command line with remio-host --grant-screen, then connect from any client the same way you would on a desktop install.
X11 unchanged
Xorg sessions keep working exactly as before. Remote mouse and keyboard control work on both session types, so you do not have to pick your display server based on your remote tooling.
✦What you get
A full Linux desktop, not a compromise.
The Linux host ships the same feature set as the Mac and Windows hosts, with the same free-forever terms.
Dynamic resolution
The Linux desktop resizes to match your device — rotate a phone or resize a window on your Mac and the remote desktop follows, sharp at any size.
Clipboard, files, apps
Copy on one side and paste on the other, send files during a session with a desktop notification on arrival, and launch apps from the client's dock.
Multi-display and gamepad
Pick which monitor to stream when the machine has more than one, and play with a game controller. Typing works in Vietnamese, CJK and emoji.
✦Questions
Questions about Linux and Wayland
Which distributions are supported?
The portable AppImage runs on virtually any modern distribution — Ubuntu 22.04+, Debian 12+, Fedora 36+, Arch and derivatives. There is also a .deb package for Ubuntu 24.04 and newer.
Do I have to log out into an Xorg session?
No. That was the old workaround and it is no longer needed. Remio streams Wayland directly through your desktop's screen-sharing service. Xorg sessions also keep working if that is what you run.
Why do other tools show a black screen on Wayland?
Because they capture the way X11 allowed — reading the screen directly. Wayland does not permit that, so the capture returns nothing and you see black. There is usually no error, which is what makes it confusing to diagnose.
Does remote mouse and keyboard control work on Wayland?
Yes, on both Wayland and Xorg sessions.
Is there a Linux client?
Not yet — Linux is host-only today. You control a Linux machine from an iPhone, iPad, Mac, Android device, Windows PC, or Apple Vision Pro.
How mature is the Linux host?
It is newer and less field-tested than the macOS and Windows hosts. It streams up to 4K 60 fps with the same QR pairing, and we would rather say that plainly than oversell it.
Stream the desktop you actually run.
Wayland or X11, Ubuntu or Fedora or Arch — one grant and your Linux machine is reachable from every device you own. Free, no account, no card.
Free foreverNo accountWayland & X11