Remote sessions have their own idle timeout
When you connect to a Mac remotely using VNC, Screen Sharing, TeamViewer, or SSH, there are actually two layers of idle detection working against you. The first is macOS itself, which will put the host Mac to sleep if it doesn't see any input activity. The second is the remote desktop software, which tracks idle time independently and can disconnect your session even if the Mac stays awake.
This is why changing your Energy Saver settings to "Never" doesn't fully solve the problem. It prevents macOS from sleeping, but it doesn't prevent the remote software from deciding you've been idle too long. TeamViewer has its own timeout. Screen Sharing can drop connections after inactivity. SSH sessions close when the connection goes quiet.
You can tweak timeout settings in some of these apps, but not all of them expose those controls. And in corporate environments, your IT department may have configured the remote access tool with a mandatory idle timeout that you can't override.
Why mouse movement solves both problems at once
Remote desktop software monitors mouse and keyboard activity to determine whether a session is active. If it sees regular mouse movement, it treats the session as active and keeps the connection alive. At the same time, macOS sees the same mouse movement and resets its own idle timer.
This is the key advantage of a mouse jiggler over system-level sleep prevention for remote work. Shake It On generates real mouse input events that both macOS and the remote software recognize as genuine activity. One tool, both problems solved.
The same applies to Slack, Teams, and other messaging apps running on the remote Mac. They use mouse activity to set your online status. Without mouse movement, you'll show as "away" even though you're technically connected. With Shake It On running on the host Mac, your status stays active.
Setting up for remote access
For a Mac you're accessing remotely, you'll want Shake It On running continuously. Here's the recommended setup:
- Set it to "Always active." Don't use scheduling or conditions that might pause shaking when you're not physically at the machine. The whole point is that you're somewhere else.
- Launch at login. Make sure Shake It On starts automatically when the Mac boots. If the machine restarts for an update, you want it running again without manual intervention.
- Allow display to sleep. There's no reason to keep the display on for a remote session. Enable this option to let the screen turn off while the system stays awake and the connection stays alive.
- Keep the shake interval short. Every 2-3 minutes is a good default. Some remote tools have aggressive timeouts, and you don't want a gap long enough for the software to decide you're gone.