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Set up a phone (the SablePhone app)

Each phone that should be controlled gets the SablePhone app. The phone then connects by itself over Wi-Fi or mobile data. No computer next to it, no cable.

Download the SablePhone app (Android)

1. On the phone, open this page and tap the download button. Open the file. Android asks to allow installs from your browser once: allow it, then Install.
2. Open SablePhone on the phone and sign in with your SablePhone account: username, password and the code from your authenticator app. Give the phone a name and press Sign in and add this phone.
3. Turn on Developer options: Settings, About phone, tap Build number 7 times.
4. In SablePhone press Open Developer options and switch on Wireless debugging. Allow it on this Wi-Fi when asked.
5. In SablePhone press Start pairing. In Wireless debugging tap Pair device with pairing code and keep that box open. Pull down the notifications, tap Enter code on the SablePhone notification and type the 6 digits.
6. Done. SablePhone says Ready, and the phone shows Online in SablePhone on your computer, for you and the owner.

Allow SablePhone to run in the background when asked (battery), or Android may stop it at night.

Install SablePhone as an app

It then opens in its own window with its own icon, like any app. Open the address you were given first.

Windows PC

• Chrome or Brave: click the install icon at the right end of the address bar (a small screen with an arrow). No icon? Open the browser menu and choose Cast, save and share, then Install page as app.
• Edge: menu (three dots), Apps, Install this site as an app.

Mac

• Chrome or Brave: same as on Windows.
• Safari: menu File, Add to Dock.

iPhone

• Open it in Safari, tap the Share button (square with an arrow), then Add to Home Screen.

Android phone

• Open it in Chrome, tap the menu (three dots), then Install app or Add to Home screen.

Firefox can't show the phone screen. Use Chrome, Edge, Brave or Safari.

Create your account

1. The owner sends you an invite code. Open sablephone.sabledesigns.com and press Create your account with an invite code.
2. Type the code, then pick your own username and password (10 characters or more).
3. Install an authenticator app on your phone: Google Authenticator, Microsoft Authenticator or 2FAS. SablePhone shows a QR code: in the app tap +, scan it, and type the 6-digit code it shows.
4. Done. From now on you log in with your username, password and the newest code from that app.

New phone or lost the authenticator app? Ask the owner to reset your 2-step code, then log in and scan a new QR code.

Using a phone

• Click or tap on the screen = a finger touch. Drag = swipe. The mouse wheel scrolls.
• Right click = Back. Middle click = Home. The buttons beside the screen do the rest.
• Typing: click the phone screen once, then type on your keyboard. On a phone or tablet, use the text box under the screen and press Send.
• Paste: click the phone screen and press Ctrl+V (Cmd+V on a Mac), or press Paste. Text copied on the phone appears under the screen and goes to your clipboard.
• Send file: or drag a file onto the screen. Pictures and videos land in the phone's Download folder and show in the gallery. An .apk file gets installed.
• Screenshot: saves a full quality picture of the phone screen to your computer.
• Phone screen off: the phone's own display goes dark; you keep seeing and using it here.
• Users: in the menu on the right. A phone can hold several accounts, each with its own apps, logins and its own proxy. Press Open on its own screen to work on several users at the same time, each on a screen of its own, or Switch to it to bring one to the phone screen. The owner can add and remove users there.
• Extra screens: each opens on a home screen with its user's apps, like the phone's own screen. Home brings you back to it, Recents lists the apps open on that screen. For a second copy of an app with its own login, make a clone space from Open app.
• Unlock: wakes the phone and enters the PIN for you when its screen locked itself (nothing is saved). After a phone restart, the other users on their own screens stay locked until you press Unlock there and type their PIN.
• Close all apps: closes every app on the screen you are on, like Clear all in the phone's Recents.
• More than one person can be on the same phone. The top of the page shows who else is there.

After a phone restarts

Phones with SableOS come back by themselves: SablePhone is built in and switches Wireless debugging back on. Someone holding the phone unlocks it once with its PIN after the restart: until then Android keeps every app closed, SablePhone too.

Other phones: a restart switches off the connection, and only someone holding the phone can switch it back on (an Android rule). For whoever is next to the phones:

1. Unlock the phone with its PIN. Nothing works until it has been unlocked once after a restart.
2. Open Super Proxy (the IP app) and check it is connected.
3. Turn on Wireless debugging: swipe down twice from the top of the screen and tap the Wireless debugging tile. No tile? Settings, System, Developer options, Wireless debugging, switch it on.
4. Leave it on its charger. The screen can go dark. The SablePhone app reconnects by itself: within a minute it shows Online.

Still Offline after 2 minutes? Check it is on the usual Wi-Fi, then tell the owner.

Adding the Wireless debugging tile (once per phone)

1. Settings, System, Developer options, Quick settings developer tiles.
2. Switch on Wireless debugging.
3. Swipe down twice, tap the pencil, and drag the tile into your tiles.

A phone shows Offline

• Is it switched on, charging, and on the usual Wi-Fi?
• Did it restart? Do the steps above.
• Is Wireless debugging still on? It switches off by itself when the phone leaves the Wi-Fi.