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No. Omninput runs on Windows, macOS and Linux in any mix, including only Macs or only Linux computers. A licence bought on any of them covers the others on your network.

Install Omninput on every computer you want to use:

• Windows 10 and 11: from the Microsoft Store, which also updates it.
• macOS 13 or later: download it, double-click the file to unpack it and drag Omninput to Applications. Or paste this into Terminal:

curl -fsSL https://omninput.app/install | sh

• Linux (x64 and arm64): the same Terminal command, or a .deb, .rpm, Flatpak or archive. See Omninput for Linux.
• From a computer that already has it: open omninput.local in a browser on the new computer and follow the step for its system. The first computer you install serves this page; on Windows, turn it on or off under Settings › General › Install on other computers.

The .deb and .rpm add it for you. To add it yourself on Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora or openSUSE, follow Package repositories. The signing key’s fingerprint is 3D3B 1600 263B F0DC 9217 F9F5 90A8 1D23 0CC5 BEFC.

A short setup asks whether your computers share one monitor, sit side by side with their own screens, or both. Then it finds your other computers on the network.

• macOS asks once to let Omninput use the keyboard and mouse (Accessibility and Input Monitoring). Turn Omninput on in each list; the setup page updates by itself. If macOS asks to find devices on the local network, allow it.
• Linux needs one command, run once, so Omninput can share the keyboard and mouse and talk to the monitor. The setup page shows it with a Copy button; run it in a terminal, then log out and back in. The .deb and .rpm do most of this for you.
• Windows needs nothing extra.

Your computers talk to each other directly on your local network. Omninput goes online to check your licence (with the Microsoft Store, or with Polar for a licence key), to check omninput.app for a newer version about twice a day, and to download an installer from omninput.app when another computer asks for one or you choose Update now. See the privacy policy.

Choose a computer in any of these ways; Omninput changes the monitor’s input and moves the keyboard and mouse to it.

• Tray or menu bar: click the Omninput icon and choose a computer.
• Taskbar or dock: on Windows, right-click Omninput on the taskbar or in Start; on Linux, right-click it in the dock or app grid.
• Keyboard: Ctrl+Alt+S goes to the next computer, and each computer can have its own shortcut (Ctrl+Alt+1, 2…). Change them under Shortcuts on Windows, or Settings › General on a Mac and Linux.
• Screens page: each input of the monitor has a Switch button.

Yes, if the monitor has DDC/CI, the standard way a computer asks a monitor to change input. Many monitors have it, and some ship with it turned off in their own menu. Moving the pointer between computers that each have their own screen works with any screen.

It doesn’t switch blindly. The first switch to a computer teaches Omninput which input it’s on. Until then, it asks you to press Space on the new computer to keep it; if you don’t, the monitor switches back after about six seconds.

Drag the screens on the Screens page to where they sit on your desk. Then move the pointer off the edge of one screen and it appears on the next computer at the same height, with the keyboard.

• The pointer crosses only where two screens touch.
• Scroll Lock keeps the pointer on this computer until you press it again, which helps in games and drawing apps. Change the key under Screens › Options.
• The pointer doesn’t cross while a mouse button is held or near the corners, unless you turn those options off.

Yes, on GNOME 45 or later and KDE Plasma 6.1 or later. The desktop asks once for permission to pass the pointer on; if you refuse, restart Omninput to be asked again. On other Wayland desktops the Screens page says why the pointer can’t cross, and monitor switching still works. Under X11 nothing extra is needed.

Copy on one computer and paste on another. Text keeps its formatting, images paste as images, and files and folders paste as files and folders, with their progress shown. Copied files can be pasted for 8 hours.

Turn it on or off with Share clipboard: on the Sharing page on Windows, under General on a Mac and Linux.

On the computer with the speakers, turn on Play sound from the computer on screen. To send a computer’s sound somewhere else, use Play this computer’s sound on. Sound uses about 1.5 Mbit/s on your network while it plays. Sending sound from a Mac needs macOS 14.2 or later.

On the Folders page of one computer, choose Share a folder…. The others list it under Shared by other computers: choose where to keep it and click Sync here. Changes copy across a few seconds after you save.

• Whole drives, your whole user folder and system folders can’t be synced. Temporary files, .git and node_modules are skipped.
• Stop syncing leaves the files where they are.

A file another computer replaces or deletes is moved to Recovered files on that computer and kept for 30 days; a row on the Folders page opens it. If two computers change the same file, the newest wins and the other version goes there too.

Turn on Automatic SSH on the SSH page. Omninput sets up keys so ssh name works between your computers. Both computers must allow folders and SSH for each other on the Computers page. On Windows, turning it on installs the OpenSSH server and asks for administrator approval; on a Mac you may be asked to turn on Remote Login.

Yes, on a Mac or Linux computer: while it shows its sign-in screen, you can type its password from the computer in front of you. Only computers you trust can type there, and only while the sign-in screen shows.

• Mac: turn on Settings › General › Sign-in screen › Type at the login window (macOS asks for your administrator password once). Then turn on omninput-agent in System Settings › Privacy & Security › Accessibility; Omninput shows you the step.
• Linux: turn it on under Settings › General › Sign-in screen. The .deb and .rpm install the helper it needs.
• Windows: not available. Use the computer’s own keyboard at its sign-in screen.

Omninput tells you when a newer version is out, on omninput.app or on one of your computers, and marks any computer running an older one.

• Windows: the Microsoft Store updates it.
• Mac, and Linux installed with the install command: Settings › General › Update now.
• .deb and .rpm: your system’s software updates, from the omninput.app repository.
• Flatpak: flatpak update.

It’s best. Older and newer versions work together, with one exception: on a network with a Site licence, computers running Omninput 1.4 or earlier can’t switch or type on computers running 1.5 or later.

Each computer gets every feature free for 14 days from the day Omninput first runs on it. Settings › General › Licence shows the days left.

Switching, keyboard and mouse sharing, folder sync and SSH pause until a licence covers the computer. Nothing is deleted. One licence, bought on any of your computers, covers the rest.

Buy on any one of your computers; the licence covers the others on the same network, whatever they run. You pay once, with no subscription.

• Windows: Settings › General › Licence › Buy licence opens the Microsoft Store’s purchase window. The licence belongs to your Microsoft account.
• Mac or Linux: Settings › General › Licence › Buy… opens our checkout in your browser. When you’ve paid, Omninput enters the licence key itself, and the key is emailed to you.
• Website: buy.omninput.app shows your licence key when you’ve paid, and emails it. Enter it in Omninput on any computer: Licence › Enter a licence key… (Windows) or Enter a key… (Mac and Linux).

Licence keys work on every system, Windows included. Purchases outside the Store are handled by Polar, our payment provider, which adds sales tax and sends the receipt.

The Home licence covers up to 12 computers and 4 monitors. The Site licence has no limit on its network.

• Home licence, US$14.99: a household or one person’s office. Up to 12 computers and 4 monitors, every feature, and anyone can use any computer.
• Site licence, US$99.99: an office, studio, lab or classroom on one network. Every computer and monitor, and each person keeps to their own desk, so nobody can switch or reach someone else’s screens. Separate networks need one each.

On the computer that holds the Home licence, in the shop it came from. It costs the difference: US$85, or US$84.99 in the Microsoft Store.

• Home from the Microsoft Store: on that Windows computer, Licence › Licence options › Upgrade to the Site licence.
• Home licence key: on the computer with the key, Licence › Upgrade… (on Windows, Upgrade to the Site licence).
• On any other computer, the Licence row names the computer that holds the Home licence.

To keep Home at home and cover an office too, buy a Site licence on a computer in the office. Each licence covers its own network.

No. The Microsoft Store and our checkout can’t see each other’s purchases, so each upgrades only its own Home licence. Upgrade in Omninput on that Windows computer.

The Store and the checkout show your local price and tax.

Yes.

• Microsoft Store: sign in to the Store with the same Microsoft account.
• Licence key: on the old computer, Licence › Remove next to the key, then enter the key on the new one. If the old computer is gone, free its place with Manage…, which opens the customer portal from your receipt.

The computer that holds the licence lists them under its Licence row. Remove beside a computer frees its place.

Yes, for 30 days. Omninput checks the key about once a day when it can.

Under the Site licence, each person keeps to their own desk: the computers that share their monitor or sit beside it on their Screens page. Nobody can switch, cross to or share with another person’s desk. There is nothing to set up.

• Joining a desk: a computer that Omninput can see is on your monitor joins your desk by itself. When it can’t check (some monitors don’t answer), you’re asked: Add NAME to your desk? Choose Add to my desk or It isn’t mine.
• Arranging screens: the Screens page shows your desk, and computers not on anyone’s desk yet.
• Locked desks: if the administrator has locked desks, a new computer shows waiting to join your desk until they let it in.

The computer that holds the Site licence. Its Desks page (Windows) or section (Settings › General on a Mac and Linux) shows every desk on the network:

• Lock desks: only you let computers join a desk. Off, people add their own computers.
• Rename: name a desk, such as Anna’s desk.
• Let in: admit a computer waiting to join a desk.
• Remove: take a computer off a desk.

Computers prove who they are to each other with keys Omninput makes itself, so there is nothing to type or manage.

Turn on DDC/CI in the monitor’s own menu, often under System or Others. Some docks and adapters don’t pass it through; try a direct cable. Moving the pointer between computers with their own screens works without it.

That computer is asleep, off or has its screen turned off. Wake it and try again.

Choose it once on the Screens page.

Both computers must be on the same network with Omninput running. On a Mac, allow Local Network access in System Settings › Privacy & Security. On Windows, Omninput tells you if Windows treats the network as public, which blocks your other computers, and opens the setting to change it.

Check that the screens touch on the Screens page, and press Scroll Lock in case the pointer is held on this computer.

For a Microsoft Store purchase, sign in to the Store with the Microsoft account you bought it with. For a key, enter it under Licence › Enter a licence key… (Windows) or Enter a key… (Mac and Linux).

Contact support. Omninput keeps a log on each computer, which we may ask you to attach.