Introducing Mata: Your iOS Simulator, Anywhere

Your build machine stays home. Your simulator follows you.

TL;DR: Mata streams your iOS Simulator from a Mac to your iPhone or any browser. Full touch interaction, simulator controls, no Xcode needed on the receiving end. One build machine, many screens.

The Problem

If you're an iOS developer using AI coding agents, you probably know this setup: a Mac Mini at home running Claude Code or Copilot, building your app around the clock. The agent writes code, Xcode compiles, the simulator launches. It works beautifully — until you leave the room.

Remote desktop? Laggy, wrong resolution, can't touch-interact with the simulator. VNC? Same problems, worse quality. Screen sharing? You're squinting at a desktop inside a desktop.

What you actually need is just the simulator. Live. Interactive. At the resolution of the device you're holding.

What Mata Does

Mata is two things:

A Mac host app that captures your running iOS Simulator and streams it
An iOS app + web client that receives the stream with full touch interaction

┌─────────────────────────────────┐
│           Mac Mini              │
│  ┌───────────┐  ┌───────────┐  │
│  │  Xcode    │  │  Mata     │  │
│  │  Agent    │  │  Host     │  │
│  │  building │  │  streaming│  │
│  └───────────┘  └───────────┘  │
└────────────────────┬────────────┘
                     │
          ┌──────────┴──────────┐
          │                     │
    ┌─────▼─────┐       ┌──────▼──────┐
    │  iPhone   │       │   Browser   │
    │  Mata app │       │   any device│
    └───────────┘       └─────────────┘

Your touches on the client are mapped 1:1 to the simulator. Tap, scroll, swipe, long press — it all works as if the simulator were running locally. The stream is resolution-matched to your device, so there's no scaling artifacts or wasted pixels.

Why Not Just Use Remote Desktop?

The short answer: remote desktop tools show you an entire macOS desktop. You don't need the desktop. You need the simulator.

	Remote Desktop	Mata
What you see	Full macOS desktop	Just the simulator
Touch input	Mouse cursor emulation	Native touch mapping
Resolution	Desktop resolution, scaled	Matched to your device
Bandwidth	Entire screen, always	Simulator frame only
Xcode required on client?	Yes (to interact)	No

Mata strips away everything that isn't the simulator. The result is faster, sharper, and actually usable from a phone.

The Workflow

Here's how a typical day looks with Mata:

Morning — Start Your Agent

At your Mac, kick off Claude Code in a tmux session. Tell it to build a new feature. Open Mata Host. Walk away.

Commute — Check Progress

On the train, open Mata on your iPhone. Your simulator is right there — the agent has been building while you traveled. Tap through the new screens, see what's working, what's broken.

Café — Give Feedback

See a layout issue? Open Moshi (our sister terminal app) in another tab. Tell the agent to fix the padding. Watch the simulator update in Mata.

Home — Keep Going

Back at your desk, open Mata in a browser on your laptop. Same simulator, bigger screen. Or just walk up to the Mac — the simulator was running there the whole time.

Features

Simulator Controls

All the shortcuts buried in Xcode menus — available from your phone:

Face ID — Trigger matching face or non-matching face
Location simulation — Set custom GPS coordinates
Orientation — Rotate portrait/landscape with a tap
Memory warnings — Test your app's response
Shake gesture — Trigger without physically shaking

Multiple Simulators

Running iPhone 16 Pro and iPad Air builds simultaneously? Mata sees all booted simulators. Switch between them instantly to compare layouts across device sizes.

iOS App + Web Client

From your iPhone when you're mobile, from any browser when you're at a laptop. The web client needs zero installation — just a URL.

Mata + Moshi: The Complete Remote Setup

Mata is designed to pair with Moshi, our iOS terminal app. Together, they give you everything:

Moshi — Terminal access to your Mac. Run commands, interact with your AI agent, get push notifications when the agent needs input.
Mata — Visual access to your simulator. See what the agent built, interact with it, verify it works.

┌──────────────┐
│   Mac Mini   │
│  Xcode +     │──────┬──────────────┐
│  AI Agent    │      │              │
└──────────────┘      │              │
                      ▼              ▼
               ┌────────────┐ ┌────────────┐
               │   Moshi    │ │    Mata    │
               │  Terminal  │ │  Simulator │
               │  commands  │ │   visual   │
               └────────────┘ └────────────┘

One Mac. Two windows into it. No Xcode needed on the device in your bag.

Getting Started

Download Mata Host on your Mac — the machine running your simulator
Start a simulator in Xcode (or xcrun simctl boot)
Open Mata on your iPhone or in a browser
Connect — you'll see your simulator, ready for interaction

Your MacBook stays cool. The café doesn't need outlets. The simulator follows you.

Mata is available for macOS (host) and iOS (client), with a web client for any browser. Get Mata →