This is probably (hopefully) quite simple. I have an iMac in location 1 (which is always on and connected) and use a MB Air in location 2. I also travel a bit and mainly use iPad Pro. I want to be able to access the iMac from any location using MB Air and iPad. Is there something built into the OS of each device or, can anyone recommend an app to do it? Thanks
Iād recommend Jump Desktop. Itās a one-time purchase (though a separate one for the Mac and the iPad), not a subscription, itās not expensive (compared to Screens or TeamViewer) and works great.
You install Jump Desktop Connect (free) on all the Macs you want to access remotely and then use the clients for access. It will even stream sound (some other remote desktop software wonāt do that).
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If youāre familiar with SSH you can activate (and properly secure) remote access on the target machine and then create a tunnel and use screen sharing for free.
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Curious as to how you would do that?
How would you create a tunnel?
Another vote for Jump Desktop. If youāre a Setapp subscriber, you already have the Mac app. Last I checked, the iPad app isnāt included with Setapp and needs to be purchased separately.
I use:
-N -A -D 8181 -L 59000:192.168.1.95:5900
to create a background process, can use port 8181 as a socks to route web traffic and the the 59000 for screen sharing.
So in screensharing the computer name is localhost:59000
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Thanks. I think Jump Desktop is the way Iāll go for now.
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What are you passing those parameters too?
Oh sorry, SSH. Yes. I confused it with Jump. Thanks
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Another solution would be Tailscale.
You need to make an account, download the Tailscale application for your devices and use Appleās Screen Sharing application to remotely access your iMac .
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+1 for Tailscale, but this is why I followed up with @aardy. At some point it is a question of who holds the ākeysā. Your tunnel? You do! Good stuff @aardy!
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Yeah, Iām in control and itās worked well all over the world for me.
Use Tailscale. Much easier and you can set up your AppleTV as a 24x7 VPN node for subnet routing and an exit node.
In English: AppleTV can provide inbound secure access to all devices on your internal network, even if they arenāt running Tailscale themselves (āTailscale subnet routerā) and you can use your AppleTV to provide you with safe Internet access without paying for VPN service (āTailscale exit nodeā).
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Tried that but Iām more than happy running my tunnel on my Mac Studio 
For TailScale users, is there any iPad app equivalent to the Screen Sharing app on a Mac? Do people still use Screens for this? Or is there something better?
Isnāt that coming in iPadOS 18?
Do you ssh into an ip address? Does that mean you have a static ip?
And another vote for Jump Desktop, it even supports high resolutions so you can have Retina Remote Desktop if needed.
A free alternative is TeamViewer that will allow you to access one device without a license, however from time to time you may have issues with them saying you are using for commercial reasons (that you can ask to be reviewed).
One last option is AnyDesk, itās a little more fiddly, but is very free
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Mac Geek Gab did a segment on this on last weeks episode. You may want to give it a listen. I still use pre-subscription Edovia Screens.
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Been there, done that, gave up on TeamViewer for this reason. I used it to connect to a remote iMac once in a while, but after logging in a couple of times in a short timeframe one day (as I forgot to do something), I got the message that my account was locked as I was using it for commercial purposes.
I have not received a response from support, and I could not unlock my account, so I gave up. Iād be okay with this usage model if the ācommercialā rules were more transparent, but thereās no way of knowing when or why their system may automatically flag you for ācommercialā use.