Use Mecmua on your phone.
Your notes live on your computer. Your phone reaches them through a private link that only your own devices can use. This page takes you there one tap at a time, and assumes you have never done anything like it.
How it works, in thirty seconds
Mecmua is a program on your computer, and it keeps everything there. A phone cannot open a program on another computer by itself, so you give both devices a small free app called Tailscale. It joins them into a private network, like a cable between them that goes through the internet but that nobody else can plug into.
Once they are joined, your phone opens a web address that leads to Mecmua on your computer. Nothing is uploaded to a company, and strangers cannot open the address: only devices signed in to your Tailscale account can.
Set it up
Do the steps in this order. It takes about ten minutes the first time, and never again after that.
On your computer
- Install Tailscale. Open tailscale.com/download, choose your system, and run what you download. Click Next through the installer.
- Sign in. Tailscale opens a web page asking you to sign in. Choose the account you want (Google, Microsoft or Apple) and press Connect. Remember which one you chose: your phone must use the same one. When it is done, a small Tailscale icon appears near the clock: at the bottom right of the screen on Windows, in the menu bar at the top on a Mac.
- Turn on HTTPS, once. Mecmua needs a secure address, and Tailscale makes one only after you allow it. Open login.tailscale.com/admin/dns and sign in. If MagicDNS is off, turn it on first. Then find the box called HTTPS Certificates, press Enable HTTPS, and confirm. This is the step people miss.
- Start Mecmua again. Close Mecmua completely (on Windows, right-click its icon near the clock; on a Mac, click its icon in the menu bar; then Quit) and open it again. When Mecmua starts and finds Tailscale signed in, it sets up the private address by itself. If Tailscale wants one more approval, Mecmua says so in a notification and adds Allow phone access to its icon’s menu: click it, press Enable on the page that opens, and Mecmua finishes on its own.
On your phone
- Install the Tailscale app. From the App Store (iPhone) or Google Play (Android), search for Tailscale and install it.
- Sign in with the same account you used on the computer. When the phone asks to add a VPN configuration, allow it: that is how Tailscale makes the private link, and it is not a paid VPN. Switch Tailscale on. Your computer should appear in its list.
- Find your computer’s address. In the Tailscale app, tap your computer in the list. It shows a name that ends in .ts.net, such as my-pc.tail1234.ts.net. Tap it to copy it. (On the computer, the Tailscale icon near the clock shows the same name.)
- Open it. In your phone’s browser (Safari or Chrome), type https:// followed by that name, for example https://my-pc.tail1234.ts.net, and go. Mecmua opens.
- Put it on your home screen. On an iPhone, in Safari, tap the Share button, then Add to Home Screen. On Android, in Chrome, tap the three dots, then Add to Home screen or Install app. From now on it opens full screen, like an app.
Marking up with a pen
On a phone or tablet, the PDF reader of the Library extension takes a stylus or a finger: choose Highlight, Underline or Strike, and a stroke over the text marks the words it crosses. The pen tool draws freehand. Pinch to zoom. The marks are written into the PDF on your computer, so they are there when you sit down at it.
If it does not work
The page does not open, or says it cannot connect
Check these in order. Is Tailscale switched on in the phone? Is the computer on, and is Mecmua running there (look for its icon near the clock, or in the menu bar on a Mac)? Does its icon’s menu show Allow phone access? Then click it and approve. Did you start Mecmua again after step 4? Is the address exactly your computer’s name, starting with https://, with nothing after .ts.net?
The browser warns that the connection is not private
That usually means HTTPS was not turned on (step 3), or has not reached your computer yet. Turn it on, quit Mecmua from its icon near the clock, and start it again. If it still does not work, try the next question.
I want to set the address up by hand
On Windows, open PowerShell (press the Windows key, type powershell, press Enter) and run this line:
& "C:\Program Files\Tailscale\tailscale.exe" serve --bg 4000
On a Mac, open Terminal (press Command and Space, type terminal, press Return) and run this line:
/Applications/Tailscale.app/Contents/MacOS/Tailscale serve --bg 4000
If Tailscale needs something from you, it prints a web link: open it, approve, and run the line again. When it works it prints your address, and it keeps working after restarts.
It still does not work
Mecmua writes down what Tailscale told it. Open its log: on Windows it is %APPDATA%\Mecmua\logs\mecmua.log, on a Mac ~/Library/Application Support/Mecmua/logs/mecmua.log. The lines that start with [tailnet] say what happened. Send us those lines and we will help.
Where is the address I should type?
In the Tailscale app on your phone, tap your computer. Or on the computer, open login.tailscale.com/admin/machines: the full name is under the computer’s name.
Can anyone else open my notes with that address?
No. The address answers only to devices signed in to your Tailscale account. Keep your Tailscale login to yourself, and remove a lost phone from the Machines page of the Tailscale admin console.
Does my computer have to stay on?
Yes: the phone reads from the computer, it does not keep a copy. Reaching your notes while the computer is off needs Mecmua on an always-on machine, which is one of the ways coming below.
Other ways, coming
Tailscale is the simplest way today. More are on the way: Mecmua running on a small home server or a rented one so it is always on, a guide for doing that yourself, and a phone app of its own. When they are ready they will be on this page.
Stuck? Write to us and say which step you reached.