DeskLeap support

First-time setup

You need a Mac with macOS 14 or later and an iPad with iPadOS 17 or later, on the same network or both on Tailscale.

Start DeskLeap on the Mac. If you haven't yet, download it. It lives in the menu bar (a display icon) and has no Dock icon.
Grant two permissions on the Mac. If either is missing, the menu shows ⚠︎ Set Up Permissions…, which opens a window with live status and a button for each.
- Screen Recording shows the Mac's screen on the iPad. macOS may ask you to reopen DeskLeap after granting it.
- Accessibility lets the iPad's keyboard, mouse and touch control the Mac.
Allow Local Network access when macOS and iPadOS ask. It's needed to find the Mac.
Pair. Choose Pair New iPad… on the Mac; this allows pairing for 2 minutes. On the iPad, tap the Mac under Nearby (marked Not paired). Both screens show the same 6-digit code, and both show the iPad's ID. Confirm on both.
If the codes differ, or the Mac shows no code at all, choose Doesn't Match: something may be intercepting the connection or imitating your Mac. Each Pair New iPad… allows one attempt; after a cancelled or failed one, choose Try Again.
Optional: turn on Open at Login in DeskLeap's settings on the Mac, so it's always running.

You only pair once. After that, the Mac is in My Macs on the iPad: tap it to connect.

Using it

My Macs

Every Mac you connect to is saved on the iPad under My Macs, however you reached it. Each card shows the Mac's screen from your last session, how it can be reached right now, and when you last connected.

Tap to connect: over the local network if the Mac is nearby, otherwise by the address that last worked.
Long-press to connect by a specific route, rename the Mac (only on this iPad), or remove it, which forgets its pairing, addresses and snapshot.
To stop saving screen snapshots, turn off Settings › My Macs › Save Screen Snapshots. This also deletes them.

Touch

The toolbar switches between two touch modes. Trackpad is the default.

Gesture	Trackpad mode	Direct mode
One finger moves	moves the pointer	drags at that spot
Tap	clicks where the pointer is	clicks where you touch
Double tap	double-click	double-click
Tap, then touch and drag	drag (e.g. move a window)	—
Touch and hold, or two-finger tap	right-click	right-click
Two-finger drag	scroll	scroll
Pinch	zoom the iPad's view	zoom the iPad's view
Three-finger swipe	up: Mission Control; down: App Windows; left or right: next or previous Space
Three-finger drag, zoomed in	pan the zoomed view

Apple Pencil always points exactly where you touch: press to click, drag to drag. On iPads that support Pencil hover, hovering moves the pointer.

Keyboard, mouse and trackpad

Hardware keyboard: every key goes to the Mac, including ⌘ shortcuts, function keys and arrows.
Shortcuts the iPad keeps (⌘Tab, ⌘Space, ⌘H, screenshots): hold right ⌥ instead of ⌘. It acts as ⌘ on the Mac, so right-⌥ Tab switches apps just like ⌘Tab. You can choose a different key in Settings › Keyboard.
Mouse or trackpad: during a session the iPad's pointer is locked and moves the Mac's pointer directly. The lock button in the toolbar releases it. Three- and four-finger trackpad swipes stay with the iPad; use three fingers on the screen, or the toolbar's Mac Shortcuts menu, instead.

The toolbar has the touch mode, sticky modifier keys (⌃ ⌥ ⇧ ⌘), Escape, an app switcher, Mac shortcuts (Spotlight, Mission Control, Spaces, Screenshot), the on-screen keyboard, the display picker (when the Mac has more than one display), Paste, settings and Disconnect.

It folds into a bubble after a few seconds untouched. Tap the bubble, or press ⌃⌥⌘T on a hardware keyboard, to open it. Drag the bubble to move the toolbar to another corner or edge.

Clipboard

When sharing is on (the default, on both devices), text and images you copy on the Mac are ready to paste on the iPad. To send the iPad's clipboard to the Mac, use the Paste button in the toolbar. Passwords copied from password managers are never shared.

Fit Mac to iPad

On by default. It gives the Mac a desktop shaped like the iPad, so the picture fills the screen with no black bars, and follows the iPad into portrait. While you're connected, the Mac's own screen shows the same desktop with bars; it goes back to normal as soon as you disconnect. If the connection drops, the Mac waits 15 seconds for the iPad to reconnect first.

Choose a Desktop Size in the iPad's settings: Larger Text, Default, or More Space.

Fit Mac to iPad uses an undocumented macOS feature. If macOS refuses it, DeskLeap falls back to showing the Mac's screen as it is, with black bars (letterboxing).

Remote access (Tailscale)

DeskLeap has no relay server. Away from home, it connects over Tailscale.

Install Tailscale on the Mac and the iPad, and sign in to the same tailnet on both.
On the iPad, tap Connect to Address… and enter the Mac's MagicDNS name (e.g. macbook.tail1234.ts.net) or its 100.x.y.z address. The port defaults to 51920.
Once it connects, the address is saved with that Mac in My Macs. Next time just tap its card: it connects over the local network at home and by this address away.

Pairing is per device, not per network: a Mac paired at home is trusted over Tailscale too.

Over Tailscale, on cellular or at a public address, the iPad uses a lower video bitrate than on your local network. If the connection drops, the iPad keeps the last frame on screen and reconnects for up to two minutes.

Keep the Mac reachable

During a session DeskLeap keeps the display and the Mac awake.
Lid: a MacBook with its lid closed sleeps, unless it's on power with an external display. Leave the lid open.
Sleep: for dependable remote access, turn on System Settings › Battery › Options › Prevent automatic sleeping on power adapter when the display is off, and Wake for network access (on desktop Macs: System Settings › Energy). Whether a sleeping Mac wakes for a Tailscale connection varies.
Open at Login keeps DeskLeap running after a restart.

Troubleshooting

The iPad doesn't list the Mac

Check both are on the same network and DeskLeap is running on the Mac (look for its menu bar icon). If the list says Local Network access is blocked, allow it in iPadOS Settings › Privacy & Security › Local Network. You can always connect by address: the Mac's IP address, or name.local.

“The Mac isn't accepting new iPads”

Choose Pair New iPad… on the Mac first. Pairing is only allowed while that window is open (2 minutes), for one attempt. After a cancelled or failed attempt, choose Try Again.

“This Mac isn't paired” or “pairing was revoked”

Pair again. The iPad offers to.

Connected, but the screen says to allow Screen Recording

Grant it in System Settings › Privacy & Security › Screen Recording, reopen DeskLeap, and reconnect.

A banner says to allow Accessibility (clicks and keys do nothing)

Grant Accessibility in System Settings › Privacy & Security › Accessibility. The Mac's menu shows ⚠︎ Set Up Permissions… until it's on. The banner goes away once it is.

“The Mac has no display to share”

The Mac's lid is closed with no external display, or its display didn't wake. Open the lid or connect a display; the picture appears by itself.

The Mac's menu says it can't read its keys from the keychain

This is usually a keychain prompt that was denied. Choose Reset Identity… in the menu. Every iPad then needs to pair again.

DeskLeap asks to move to Applications

It's running from the disk image or a temporary copy, where permissions and Open at Login don't stick. Let it move itself.

“Another device is already connected”

One iPad can be connected at a time. If the other one just dropped, it frees up within about 3 seconds; the same iPad reconnecting gets straight back in.

“Can't connect yet: update DeskLeap on the Mac” (or “…on this iPad”)

The two apps are different versions. Update the one named: the Mac app from the download page, the iPad app from the App Store.

“Not your saved …: a different Mac with the same name”

A Mac nearby uses the name of one of your Macs but isn't it. Don't pair with it unless you know which Mac it is.

Choppy or blurry video

DeskLeap lowers quality when the network struggles. Try the Low resolution setting or a fixed quality in the iPad's settings. On Wi-Fi, a 5 GHz or 6 GHz network helps a lot. The stats overlay (the bar chart button in the toolbar) shows what the connection is doing.

“The Mac couldn't reshape its desktop”

macOS refused Fit Mac to iPad (see Known limitations); the Mac's menu shows why. The Mac's screen is shown as it is, with bars. Turn off Fit Mac to iPad to hide the notice.

The Mac's screen still has the iPad's shape after the connection dropped

It waits 15 seconds for the iPad to reconnect, so a brief drop doesn't reshape the screen twice. Quitting DeskLeap on the Mac puts it back at once.

A key or button seems stuck on the Mac

Disconnect: the Mac releases everything held when a session ends.

macOS keeps asking to approve screen recording

macOS 15 and later periodically re-confirm apps that record the screen. Approve it.

Known limitations

The login window and FileVault unlock screen can't be controlled: DeskLeap runs in your user session.
iPadOS keeps some shortcuts for itself (⌘Tab, ⌘Space, the Globe key and similar). Use the ⌘ substitute key (right ⌥ by default) for these. Media keys other than volume and mute aren't passed on.
Password fields may ignore typing from DeskLeap while macOS Secure Event Input is on.
Pinch zooms the iPad's view; Mac pinch-to-zoom gestures can't be sent.
Fit Mac to iPad relies on an undocumented macOS feature, so a macOS update could break it. DeskLeap then falls back to showing the Mac's screen with bars. With several displays, only the one being shown is reshaped.
DeskLeap shows one Mac display at a time; you can switch displays from the toolbar.
One iPad at a time. No audio. No file transfer.

Contact

Email [email protected]. It helps to include your Mac's macOS version, your iPad's iPadOS version, and what you see on each screen.

Support