Installation & Setup

Change your location from anywhere, anytime

UseAlibi runs on your computer and changes your iPhone's location. Phone access is about how the computer reaches the phone — and, on the + Phone plan, letting you drive the whole thing from the phone itself, from anywhere.

Three ways to connect

They stack — each one builds on the last:

• USB — plugged in. Always works, nothing to configure. Both plans
• Wi-Fi — pair once over USB, then unplug. Works anywhere on the same network as your computer. Plus
• From anywhere — control the app from your phone's own browser, on cellular, miles away. Plus

How it works

Your iPhone plays two roles at once: it's the screen you tap and the device whose location changes. Your computer sits in the middle.

Both ends are the same phone — the remote you tap and the target that moves, at once.

Tailscale is a free app that puts your own devices on a small private network, wherever they physically are. Each device gets a permanent address that works over any Wi-Fi or cellular connection. UseAlibi uses it purely as the road between your two devices — we have no account with them and never see your traffic.

Once both devices are on it, UseAlibi finds your iPhone automatically — you never type an address or configure anything network-related. What loads on the phone is the real app: the same map, search, teleport, trips and saved places. Add it to your Home Screen and it opens fullscreen with its own icon, just like a native app.

Set it up — about 5 minutes, once

UseAlibi has a guided setup at Settings → Devices → Control from your phone that checks each step for you. Here's what it walks through:

1. Pair over USB once. This authorises your computer to talk to the phone at all. From-anywhere builds on it and can't replace it.
2. Install Tailscale on your computer — free, from tailscale.com. Sign in with any account (Google works).
3. Install Tailscale on your iPhone from the App Store, signed in with the same account. That shared account is the only thing linking the two devices.
4. Turn on phone access in UseAlibi — Settings → Devices. The app restarts, then shows a QR code, an address, and a 5-character code.
5. Scan and sign in on the phone. Point the Camera app at the QR code, or type the address and enter the code. Once per device — it's remembered after.
6. Add to Home Screen (optional). In Safari: Share → Add to Home Screen.

Requirements

• iOS 17 or newer, with Developer Mode on (same as USB)
• One USB pairing first — from-anywhere can't be set up from scratch without a cable
• Both devices signed into the same Tailscale account
• iPhone unlocked while connecting; once connected, a set location holds even when locked
• Your computer left on and running UseAlibi

What keeps running

A set location stays until the iPhone restarts (roughly 12 hours), even with the app closed and the computer off. Trips run on the computer, so they keep going while your phone is locked, the browser is closed, or you're in other apps — they stop only if the computer sleeps or the app quits.

Privacy

Your location data never touches a UseAlibi server. The connection is directly between your own two devices, over your own private network.

• Phone access is off by default and must be deliberately turned on
• The app refuses public-internet addresses — private networks only
• Every device must enter the 5-character code once; wrong guesses are throttled with increasing delay
• Switching phone access off cuts every device immediately

Troubleshooting