Our Verdict
As more and more iPhone apps sync with desktop counterpart , a finical quandary has become more and more common : What if your Mac is asleep when you want to sync ? For case , I use the excellent thing for iPhone ( ) and thing for Mac ( ) to keep on top of my tasks and task , and when I ’m using the iPhone version — in other words , when I ’m away from my desk — my Mac is often kip .
It turns out that , as I explained in my review of WakeOnLan for Mac , most recent computers — including all recent Macs — with an Ethernet port support a feature calledWake On LAN . This feature provides a chemical mechanism for arouse an Ethernet - connect computer ( but not a WiFi - connected one ) that ’s in sopor mode . As I excuse in that review :
[ t]he sleeping computer ’s Ethernet larboard continually find out for a special web signal telephone — no joking — aMagic Packet . If such a signaling is detected , and it arrest that computer’sMAC address , the computer wakes up . ( On a Mac , you enable this feature by checking the “ Wake for Ethernet connection decision maker access ” box in Energy Saver preferences . )
Wake-Up Call: Press the red button, and Wake on Oui rouses your Mac from its slumber.
Wake on Oui is one of several iPhone apps that lets you send out this Magic Packet , and it ’s my current favorite thanks to its mere interface , repose of use , and low price .
Read more …
Rise and effulgence : Use this screen to configure Wake on Oui for a calculator .
To configure Wake on Oui for your computer , rap the Add ( + ) release on the main screen . Enter a recognisable name for the computer , and then fill in the MAC Address plain with that reckoner ’s Ethernet MAC address . ( On Macs , you may find this information by start the connection pane of System Preferences , selecting the Ethernet entry , and then viewing the Ethernet tab of ripe setting ; the MAC address is the Ethernet ID . ) Although the computer you ’re waking must be get in touch to the internet via Ethernet , the devicesendingthe Magic Packet — in this display case , your iPhone or iPod touch — can be connected wirelessly .
If you ’re using Wake on Oui on a local web — for instance , to wake your home Mac from elsewhere in your house , or to wake your office Mac from the conference room — you may leave the Hostname : interface field vacuous . You use this field only if you ’re test to waken a Mac over the Internet or across a big web with multiple router or domains ( in which case you ’ll also in all probability ask to set up port forwarding on the remote computing machine ’s router , but that ’s a topic for another article ) .
heat - Up Call : iron out the red button , and Wake on Oui Francis Peyton Rous your Mac from its sleep .
Once you ’ve saved your mount , Wake on Oui ’s master screen shows your configured computers ; tapdance one and then tap Wake Up to institutionalise the Magic Packet and wake up the calculator . or else , you’re able to wiretap on Activate All Machines to wake upallconfigured computers at once . It ’s that simple , and in my examination on a local mesh , Wake on Oui worked absolutely .
As noted above , things get trickier if you ’re trying to awaken up a computing machine on a different net or across the Internet , but that ’s a meshing issue ; Wake on Oui mold amercement assuming you ’ve get your connection(s ) fructify up by rights . ( alas , I ’ve see legion report of Internet routers , including some AirPort Base Stations , that do n’t properly onward Wake On LAN packets )
Wake on Oui also provide onscreen instructions for set up Wake On LAN functionality on your figurer and for recover your Ethernet card ’s MAC address . The instructions are brief , but helpful .
My biggest beef with Wake on Oui is true a nit - plectron : when entering a MAC address , the app postulate you to manually insert a El Salvadoran colon after every two eccentric . generate that MAC address always let in a colon after every two characters , add the colon automatically — or otherwise letting you enter characters without worrying about colons — would make frame-up easier . Also , if you regularly heat a finical computer over both a local web and the net , Wake on Oui requires you to set up that computer twice — once for local connections , and a second time for Internet connexion . It would be more convenient if you could enroll both local and Internet configurations for each computer on a single sieve ; when you essay to wake a computing machine , Wake on Oui could choose the correct scene based on your net , or just ask you to choose Local or Internet .
There are also a match features I ’d like to see . The first is Bonjour crop to automatically locate computer on the local net for easier adding . secondly , I ’d care to see a feature to automaticallypingyour configured computing machine to see which are currently asleep and which are already awake ( although , avowedly , many routers and firewalls blockpingrequests , make such a feature article less utilitarian than it could be ) .
But these are minor bitch that are more potential to bother web admins than typical iPhone user trying to sync an app with their Mac . If you wish you could stir up up your Mac from across the mansion or office , Wake On Oui is only a buck , does what it claims , and is simple to practice .
Wake on Oui is compatible with any iPhone or iPod contact running the iPhone 2.2.1 software update .
[ Senior editor Dan Frakes reviews low - toll Mac software at the Mac Gems blog . ]
