Phosphor
Direct Touchscreen Mode
Tap directly on buttons, drag windows, draw, or select text on your iPad. Phosphor precisely recalculates touch coordinates to match your host screen geometry in real time.
Phosphor Pro Feature · Public Beta · macOS & Windows
Turn your iPad into a touch screen for Mac and PC. Beta
Interact directly with your computer through your iPad display. Tap, click, drag, and navigate your Mac or Windows workspace with effortless touch precision and full trackpad gesture support.
Download Phosphor Touch
Free desktop companion utility. Choose your platform below to start controlling your computer with touch gestures.
Public Beta · v0.1.1
Phosphor Touch is currently in public beta. We're actively testing and refining multi-touch gestures, display coordinate mapping, and network discovery. Version 0.1.1 fixes a device detection issue from the initial release. Found an issue or have ideas? Share feedback on GitHub Issues or contact us via Phosphor Support.
Apple Silicon & Intel
Phosphor Touch for macOS
Version 0.1.1 (Beta) · Universal (Apple Silicon & Intel)
Native menu bar utility for macOS 11 Big Sur, Monterey, Ventura, Sonoma, and Sequoia.
Windows 10 / 11 (64-bit)
Phosphor Touch for Windows
Version 0.1.1 (Beta) · 64-bit Windows
Lightweight system tray companion for Windows 10 and Windows 11.
Engineered for instantaneous interaction
Precision Trackpad Mode
Transform the iPad surface into a giant low-friction trackpad with smooth 2-finger scrolling, right-click secondary taps, click-and-drag, and precision pointing.
Zero-Config LAN Pairing
Automatic mDNS Bonjour discovery connects your iPad to your computer across your local network in seconds. No IP addresses to type, no cloud servers, and no latency bottlenecks.
The Architecture
How Phosphor Touch works behind the scenes.
Standard HDMI and UVC video capture cards are strictly one-way video pipes. They cannot send touch signals back up the HDMI cable. Phosphor solves this elegantly:
- Pristine 60 fps Video: Your computer feeds crystal-clear, uncompressed video to the iPad over the wired HDMI capture cable.
- Sub-Millisecond Input Stream: Touch gestures and trackpad movements are captured at 120Hz on iPad and broadcast via an ultra-low latency local WebSocket stream to the Phosphor Touch daemon.
- Coordinate Matrix Inversion: Even when you pan, zoom, or apply Phosphor Pro auto-crop, touch taps land on the exact target pixel on your host computer.
Phosphor Touch signal pipeline
Simple 4-step setup
Up and running in less than two minutes.
- 1 · Install Phosphor Touch Download and launch the app on your Mac or Windows PC. It runs silently in your menu bar or system tray.
- 2 · Connect to Wi-Fi Ensure your iPad and computer are connected to the same local Wi-Fi or wired network.
- 3 · Open Phosphor on iPad Tap the Touch Controls icon in the Phosphor toolbar. The app automatically discovers your computer.
- 4 · Tap to Connect Select Touchscreen or Trackpad mode and start controlling your desktop directly!
Platform setup & permissions
macOS Accessibility Setup
macOS protects system input. The first time you connect, grant permission:
- Open System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility.
- Toggle on Phosphor Touch.
- The app runs unobtrusively in your top menu bar.
Windows SmartScreen & Firewall
On Windows 10 and 11, running the app is quick:
- If SmartScreen appears, click More info → Run anyway.
- Allow local network access when prompted by Windows Defender Firewall.
- The app docks quietly in your system tray.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need Phosphor Pro to use Touch Controls?
Touch Controls is a premium Phosphor Pro feature. You can download the desktop companion app for free, and unlock Pro inside the iPad app with a single one-time purchase.
Does touch data go through the cloud?
Never. All touch events stream directly over your local Wi-Fi network via an ultra-fast peer-to-peer WebSocket connection. No internet connection is required and no data ever leaves your local network.
Does it support Apple Pencil or stylus input?
Yes! You can use your finger or Apple Pencil / capacitive styluses to tap, click, drag windows, and interact with desktop applications.
What if I zoom or crop the video on my iPad?
Phosphor includes an intelligent viewport mapper. When you use pinch-to-zoom, pan, or auto-crop black bars, Phosphor automatically transforms touch coordinates so your tap lands on the correct host screen pixel.
What does the Public Beta status mean for Phosphor Touch?
Phosphor Touch is currently in active public beta (v0.1.1). Core touch gestures, window dragging, and trackpad navigation are fully functional. During the beta period, we are continuously enhancing multi-monitor configuration handling, custom display scales, and zero-latency Wi-Fi stability. If you run into any quirks or have suggestions, please let us know via GitHub Issues.