Frequently asked questions

iTerm2 is a terminal app for macOS only, so it can't be installed on Windows directly. With Mac Depot you can still use it from a Windows PC: connect to your Mac through DeskIn remote desktop, install iTerm2 from iterm2.com or with brew install --cask iterm2, and use it exactly as you would on a local Mac. If you only need a command line on the Mac, Windows Terminal with SSH works too.

Install the version you need alongside your current one, either from Apple's developer downloads or with the open-source xcodes tool. Switch the active version with sudo xcode-select -s /Applications/Xcode-<version>.app, or set the DEVELOPER_DIR environment variable for a single command or CI job. Run xcodebuild -version to check which version is active.

A virtual machine (VM) is a software-based computer that runs on a physical host and shares that host's processor, memory and storage with other virtual machines. Mac Depot doesn't use virtual machines: every plan is a dedicated, bare metal Mac that only you use, so you get the machine's full performance.

A Mac server is a Mac that lives in a datacenter instead of on a desk. It stays switched on, sits on a fast network connection, and is used remotely over SSH or remote desktop to build and test apps, run CI pipelines or host services. Every Mac Depot Mac server is a dedicated, bare metal Mac that isn't shared with anyone else.

MLX is Apple's open-source array framework for machine learning on Apple silicon. On your Mac Depot Mac, install it with pip install mlx using a native Apple silicon build of Python, then import it with import mlx.core as mx. For large language models, pip install mlx-lm adds ready-made tools to run and fine-tune them. MLX uses the Mac's unified memory, so the CPU and GPU work on the same data without copying it.

Yes. Building, signing and uploading an iOS app to the App Store requires Xcode, which only runs on macOS. You don't have to buy a Mac, though: you can rent a Mac online, build and sign your app in Xcode, and upload it to App Store Connect, all remotely.

Use DeskIn for the full macOS desktop, or SSH for the terminal. Your login details appear in the dashboard as soon as your Mac is ready.

Yes. SSH is enabled on every Mac, so the terminal, VS Code Remote-SSH, rsync and scp all work out of the box.

Yes. You get a full administrator account with sudo, so you can install and configure anything.

Dedicated. You rent a whole physical Mac mini or Mac Studio, not a virtual machine, and nobody else uses it while it's yours.

Choose by memory and workload. The Mac mini M6 (24 GB) handles everyday development, testing and App Store uploads. The Mac mini M4 Pro and M5 Pro (24 GB) add more CPU and GPU cores for larger Xcode builds and CI. The Mac Studio M5 Max (36 GB) is for the heaviest builds and machine learning work. Stock varies by region, so check Configure a Plan.

No. The Mac is in a datacenter, so USB devices can't be plugged in. Use the Simulator, or wireless debugging where your setup supports it.

Macs come with macOS 27. Contact us if you need a different version.

Contact us at support@macdepot.net and we'll look at your case. Full terms are on the Terms page.

Yes. Rentals are month to month with no long-term contract. Your Mac stays available until the end of the period you've paid for.

Every Mac comes with a 512 GB built-in SSD, including the Mac mini M6, M4 Pro and M5 Pro and the Mac Studio M5 Max.

The Mac is fully erased before anyone else uses it. Copy anything you want to keep before your plan ends.