A Review of Tuple for Screen Sharing

Pizza courtesy of Pizza for Ukraine!

Last Updated On: 2025-09-01 04:31:52 -0400

Yesterday I tweeted this out:

Dear @tuple. Earlier today when Slack miserably failed at screen sharing, you came thru like the astonishing, stellar champ that you are. I cannot appreciate you more. Best screen sharing tool ever.

I’m a wordy bastard and I don’t think I can express just how wonderful a piece of software Tuple is. But, in this blog post, I’m sure going to try. Here’s the tldr:

If you use a Mac -or- are willing to use beta Linux software and you do any type of screen sharing, run, don’t walk and get Tuple. It is just that good. https://tuple.app/

Let’s Set the Context

I’m a contract programmer who has now been screen sharing professionally since 2007, almost exclusively in a pair programming context. Over the years, I’ve used:

Apple Remote Desktop
VNC
Screen Hero
Google Hangouts
Google Meet
Screen Hero

And do you know the resounding commonality of all these products? They suck more and more over time. The problem historically has been one of business model. Screen sharing software is complex and hard to build and if you don’t have great engineers – which cost real $$$ – then your screensharing tool is just going to suck.

What is Tuple

Why is Tuple Magical?

Tuple is magical for a very, very simple reason: it works. I could talk about:

the attractive design
its compelling simplicity
the fact that yesterday I watched someone who had never used it before pair with me with zero effort and then use features that I’ve never found before

but the real magic is that Tuple simply works. And let me set the stage for you with that very simple statement. Yesterday, I had the project “we have regular morning downtime; FIX IT NOW” dropped on me unexpectedly. I’ve been on this project for 3 weeks now and