[Solved] Can't connect two macs to Alfred Remote

[delputnam]

I have Alfred 3.7.1 running on two different MacBook Pros -- both running 10.14.2 (Mojave). I have the latest Alfred Remote app on my iPhone which is running iOS 12.1.2.

 

I can successfully add the iOS Remote to one Mac, but then when I try to add it to the second Mac using the "Add" link in top right of the connection screen on the Alfred Remote app, it will never connect. If I chose the "Direct" connection option from the "Looking for Alfred" screen, then the connection seems successful, but I still only see one of my Macs listed on the "Alfred Remote" screen.

 

The IP address of the Mac that is listed is that of the second Mac I connected (the one I connected using the "Direct" option), but sometimes the name listed above the IP address is the name of the first Mac and sometimes it is the name of the second Mac....even though the IP address is always the second Mac.

 

I get the same behavior no matter which Mac I connect first.

 

I have tried uninstalling Alfred on both Macs, uninstalling and reinstalling the Alfred Remote app. I have tried naming my computers thinking that they were too similar or that Alfred only used the first X characters to differentiate the computers (the names were originally "Del's MacBook Pro #1" and "Del's MacBook Pro #2"). I even bought a second Powerpack license thinking that perhaps I needed a second license to use the second computer with Remote.

 

Not sure what I'm doing wrong here. I've tried to follow the instructions very carefully, but it seems something still doesn't work correctly.

 

Oh...in case it's important, the second computer is a "copy" of the first that I used migration assistant to set up.  But I did uninstall and re-install Alfred on both computers as part of my troubleshooting...so I'm not sure if that is a relevant detail or not.

[Vero]

@delputnam Welcome to the forum and happy new year

 

Are you saying you are trying to connect both Macs at the same time to Alfred Remote, or individually? 

 

First, it's not possible to connect two Macs concurrently, since Alfred Remote's objective is to control your Mac and actions wouldn't work for multiple devices at the same time (e.g. Open Documents folder, turn the volume up, control iTunes) so you can only connect one Mac at the time.

 

However, you can have more than one Mac set up and available for connection. In other words, both MacBook Pros can be set up one at a time by going to the "Looking for Alfred" and Passphrase stage.

 

You'll see your Connections screen on your iOS device as listing both Macs, and will be able to choose one to connect to, from the list of Macs in white (a non-available device would appear in grey)

 

 

As I said above, only one Mac will be connected to your iOS device at a time, and you'll see in the top right which device you're connected to:

 

 

Hope this helps

 

Cheers,
Vero

[delputnam]

Hi @Vero. Thanks for the quick response.

 

Quote

Are you saying you are trying to connect both Macs at the same time to Alfred Remote, or individually? 

 

No, I'm just trying to add both macs to my Remote so that I can see two icons as you have in the first image you shared above. When trying to add m second mac, it seems to succeed, but I only see the icon of one mac...never two.

[delputnam]

Do you have any additional information for this issue? Any additional thoughts on how to troubleshoot this issue?

[Vero]

@delputnam Apologies for the delay - I had to have a chat with Andrew about this as it's an unusual issue.

 

If you restored the second Mac from the first, including all of your Application Support folder, it's possible that the server UID for each Mac is the same, resulting in Alfred thinking both Macs are the same device.

 

Here's how you can resolve this:

• Delete all devices from Alfred Remote
• Quit Alfred on both Macs
• Navigate in your user directory to ~/Library/Application Support/Alfred 3/ and delete the /Remote/ folder completely on both Macs
• Restart Alfred and re-connect your devices - each one should now be given its own server UID

Let me know how you get on

 

Cheers,
Vero

[delputnam]

You rock!

 

That did it. I figured it had something to do with using migration assistant.

 

Thank you so much!