Remote control on and off

Remote control is a switch on each computer. When it is off, connected phones and your other computers can still see the computer but cannot change anything on it.

Coming in M1

The switch lives in the Tealhand app on the computer, which has no installer yet. Tealhand Host enforces the setting and remembers it. On a headless computer you can turn remote control off with tealhand-host remote off (stop the Host first). The command has no “on” counterpart: that is in the Tealhand app.

What off means

Request from a phone or another of your computers	With remote control off
Show status, show running tasks, show rules	Allowed
Cancel a rule, cancel a shutdown, cancel a download	Allowed: they only lower risk
Everything else (add a rule, sleep, shut down, browse or read a shared folder, send a file, start a download)	Refused: “Remote control is off on Studio PC. Turn it on at the computer.”
An AI app on another computer reading this one	Status only: its shared folders can’t be listed or read
A shutdown or sleep rule set from a phone or another computer, firing (a notify rule still notifies)	Refused. The rule shows the state Refused, reason “remote control is off”
A rule set on the computer itself, firing	Runs as usual

A shutdown or sleep notice that a phone started is refused at its deadline if remote control was turned off during the notice. The person at the computer is never limited by this switch.

Turning it off and on

• Off is a normal change. It takes effect at once, even if the setting cannot be saved (then Tealhand Host answers with an error, because it could be on again after a restart).
• On lowers your protection. It needs a confirmation on the computer itself (Windows Hello in the Tealhand app), and it takes effect only once it is saved.
• Only the computer can switch it. The action remote.set is local only: no phone and no other computer sends it, so a stolen phone cannot turn remote control back on.

Defaults

• After a fresh install remote control is on, so a phone can use the computer right after connecting.
• The setting is saved in settings.bin in the data folder and survives restarts. tealhand-host remote off writes it from a terminal: it is refused while a Host runs on the folder, and it adds a journal line.
• If that file exists but cannot be read, Tealhand Host starts with remote control off and writes a line in the journal.

When to use it

• Your phone is lost or stolen: turn remote control off at each computer first, then forget the phone (Lost or stolen phone).
• You are working at the computer and do not want a rule from the phone to shut it down.