Setting up Pad

Mac host — PadMac

Want to see it first? The tour shows PadMac with PadPad on an iPad and an iPhone, from the first stroke to the Set Up PadMac checklist.

1. Download the PadMac disk image and open it. Drag PadMac into Applications.
2. Launch it from Applications. The app is notarized by Apple, so macOS lets it run — if you see a “downloaded from the internet” prompt on the very first launch, choose Open. When macOS asks whether PadMac may find devices on your local network, choose Allow: that is how the tablet finds the Mac.

   

   

3. PadMac lives in the menu bar (a ring with a pencil, top right), not the Dock. Click it.
4. Grant the two permissions the popover asks for — both are required:
   • Screen Recording — so it can stream the display you choose.
   • Accessibility — so pen strokes become real tablet input. Without this, drawing does nothing.
   Each Grant… button opens the right page of System Settings; switch PadMac on there.

   

   

5. Quit PadMac and open it again after granting both.

If you ever reinstall the app and the permissions look granted but strokes do nothing, remove the PadMac entries in System Settings → Privacy & Security with the minus (−) button and add them again, then reopen PadMac — macOS ties them to the app’s signature. PadMac 1.1 and later detect this and offer Repair in the menu.

A Mac with no screen PadMac 1.3.2

PadMac can run a Mac nobody sits at, such as a Mac mini with no display attached. When the tablet connects and the Mac has no screen of its own, PadMac gives it one shaped like the tablet, makes it the main display (menu bar, Dock and new windows), and reshapes it when you turn the tablet.

1. Set PadMac up once as above, with a display attached or from another Mac with Screen Sharing (on the Mac mini: System Settings → General → Sharing → Screen Sharing). macOS lets you grant the permissions only at the Mac, in person or through Screen Sharing.
2. Open PadMac’s Settings… from its menu-bar popover. Under Use Without a Screen, turn on Keep this Mac available for your tablet, so it doesn’t fall asleep while idle, and Open PadMac at login, so it is there after a restart.
3. Turn on automatic login: System Settings → Users & Groups → Automatically log in as (PadMac’s Open Users & Groups Settings link, under Use Without a Screen, opens that page). Without it, a restarted Mac waits at the login window and PadMac can’t start. (macOS offers this only while FileVault is off.)
4. Unplug the display and connect from the tablet as usual. Plug a display back in and PadMac shows that one instead.

No one needs to be at the Mac for macOS’s periodic screen-recording reminder: PadMac from codonic.dev has Apple’s Persistent Content Capture permission, so macOS doesn’t keep asking whether it may still record the screen.

The tablet can’t unlock a locked Mac. If the Mac locks itself, unlock it with Screen Sharing, or lengthen Require password after screen saver begins or display is turned off in System Settings → Lock Screen. MacBooks: keep the lid open, because a MacBook with its lid closed and no display connected goes to sleep.

Windows host — PadWin beta

Want to see it first? The tour shows PadWin with PadPad and PadDroid, from the first stroke to the setup checklist.

1. Download PadWin Setup and run it. One installer covers Windows 10 (version 2004 or later) and Windows 11, on Intel and AMD PCs; ARM PCs need Windows 11. It installs for you alone, so Setup itself doesn’t need an administrator password. Windows asks for one later only to let PadWin through the firewall (the prompt below, or the setup checklist’s Fix… button).
2. The beta isn’t code-signed yet, so Windows SmartScreen may say it protected your PC: click More info → Run anyway.
3. Setup checks for what PadWin needs and fetches whatever is missing, straight from the source: the .NET 9 Desktop Runtime from Microsoft and ffmpeg (the video encoder) from gyan.dev. From PadWin 1.3.3 it also offers adb from Google, which an Android tablet or phone on a USB cable needs (Android over USB). Google’s Android SDK License Agreement applies to adb, so that one is up to you: tick Download adb from Google and Setup fetches Google’s own file and checks it. Leave Start PadWin when I sign in on unless you’d rather start it yourself.

   

   

4. When the Windows Firewall prompt appears, tick Private networks and click Allow — that’s how the tablet finds PadWin. Then check that Windows treats your home or studio network as Private: on a Public network Windows keeps PadWin closed even after you allowed it (PC not found on Windows shows where to change it). PadWin then sits in the notification area by the clock and tells you when it is ready, or, from 1.3.3, warns you and opens its setup checklist when the firewall or the network keeps tablets out.

   

   

5. Optional, for the USB cable: install the free Apple Devices app from the Microsoft Store. It carries the Apple device service PadWin uses to reach an iPad over the cable — the same requirement Duet, Astropad and Splashtop have. Apple Devices needs Windows 10 22H2 or later (Windows 11 24H2 on ARM PCs); on an older Windows, PadWin offers iTunes instead, which brings the same service. PadWin offers it on first launch and picks it up the moment it’s installed, no restart needed. The iPad side of the cable arrives with the next PadPad update on the App Store; until then PadWin connects to iPads over Wi-Fi.

Prefer a zip? The portable builds are still here: x64 for Intel or AMD and ARM64 for Snapdragon and other ARM PCs (Settings → System → About → System type tells you which). Extract it anywhere, install the .NET 9 Desktop Runtime, put an ffmpeg.exe from gyan.dev next to PadWin.exe, and run it. For an Android tablet or phone on a USB cable, open Set up PadWin… from the tray icon and click Download… next to Android over USB: PadWin fetches adb from Google for you.

The beta streams with software H.264 and injects real pen pressure and tilt through Windows’ synthetic pointer API. Rough edges are expected — telling us about them at support@codonic.dev is what moves it out of beta.

Drawing in Krita? Switch its tablet input once. In Krita choose Settings → Configure Krita → Tablet settings, select Windows 8+ Pointer Input (Windows Ink), click OK and restart Krita. With Krita’s default WinTab API it doesn’t receive PadWin’s pen input, so a stroke draws only a dot or has no pressure. Verified with Krita 6.0.4 on Windows 11.

The tablet client

PadDroid for Android is on Google Play. PadPad for iPad is available on the App Store. The clients connect to either host unchanged.

Connecting

• Wi-Fi — put both devices on the same network. The client discovers the host automatically and reconnects after drops.
• USB-C — plug the tablet into the computer and choose Trust. Lowest latency, and it charges the tablet. On a Mac the cable is used automatically. On Windows it needs the free Apple Devices app, or iTunes on an older Windows 10 (see the PadWin steps above); with an iPad it also needs the next PadPad update, so for now Windows connects iPads over Wi-Fi. Android tablets and phones use the cable through adb, Android’s USB tool, once USB debugging is on: see Android over USB.
• No router at all — the Apple platforms can also link device-to-device (the same radio AirDrop uses).
• Pairing — by default any device on your own network may connect, which is right for home. Enable Require pairing code in the host’s menu for a six-digit code flow with a remembered, revocable trust token.

  

Android over USB

A USB cable is the steadiest link for PadDroid: it doesn’t depend on Wi-Fi, the firewall or the network’s type. It runs over adb, Android’s USB debugging tool, so it needs USB debugging on the tablet or phone, and adb on the computer.

1. On the computer, nothing to install by hand. PadMac (1.3.3 and later) downloads Google’s adb when you first need it: plug in an Android tablet or phone with USB debugging on while PadMac is running, and its setup checklist opens with Download… next to Android tablet over USB (the button is there whenever you open Set Up PadMac… from the menu bar, too). It shows Google’s Android SDK License Agreement, which applies to adb, before it fetches Google’s own file and checks it. If Android Studio’s adb is in its usual place (~/Library/Android/sdk), or Homebrew’s is installed, PadMac uses that one instead and downloads nothing. On Windows, tick Download adb from Google in PadWin Setup (1.3.3 and later); with the portable zip, or if you left it unticked, open Set up PadWin… from the tray icon and click Download… next to Android over USB. Either way PadWin fetches Google’s own file and checks it. No Android Studio, no Windows developer mode, no other driver for most tablets and phones.
2. Turn on USB debugging on the tablet or phone. Open Settings → About tablet (About phone on a phone; on Samsung, About tablet → Software information) and tap Build number seven times, until Android says you are a developer. Then open Settings → System → Developer options (on Samsung, Settings → Developer options) and turn on USB debugging. PadDroid’s Help → Connect by USB shows the same steps on the device.
3. Plug it in and allow the computer. Use a cable that carries data, not only charge, and unlock the device. Android asks Allow USB debugging? with the computer’s key fingerprint: tick Always allow from this computer and tap Allow. If the prompt went away unanswered, unplug and plug in again.
4. Open PadDroid. It connects over the cable on its own; PadWin’s checklist shows the device under Android over USB, and the flyout shows a USB symbol instead of Wi-Fi.

No prompt at all? Look at Android over USB in PadWin’s setup checklist: it tells you whether PadWin has adb, whether USB debugging is off on the device it sees, and whether Windows lacks a driver for it. Some makers need their own USB driver on Windows, such as Samsung USB Driver for Windows for Galaxy tablets and phones; install it from the maker’s site and plug in again. A USB hub or a charge-only cable can hide the device: try a port on the computer itself.

Already use adb, with Android Studio say? PadMac uses your adb and shares its server when it finds it in ~/Library/Android/sdk, on the PATH or in Homebrew. PadWin, and PadMac with its own copy, each run their own adb server, on port 15037, so neither restarts or stops yours on 5037. A tablet or phone answers only one adb server at a time, though: if PadWin or PadMac doesn’t see it while your adb has it, run adb kill-server and plug it in again.

PC not found on Windows

When PadDroid or PadPad keeps looking and never lists your PC, something between them is keeping the tablet out. Go through these in order:

1. Open PadWin’s checklist. Right-click the PadWin icon by the clock (it may be under the ^ arrow) and choose Set up PadWin…. If Network and firewall has a Fix… button, click it and say Yes when Windows asks for permission: it removes rules that block PadWin and allows it on private networks.
2. Make the network Private. Windows keeps PadWin closed on a Public network, and often marks a new Wi-Fi or Ethernet network public. Windows 11: Settings → Network & internet → Wi-Fi (or Ethernet) → your network → Network profile type → Private network. Windows 10: Settings → Network & Internet → Status → Properties → Network profile → Private. Only do this on a network you trust, such as your home or studio.
3. Check the firewall. In Windows Security → Firewall & network protection → Allow an app through firewall, PadWin should be ticked for Private. A security suite with its own firewall (Norton, McAfee, Kaspersky, Bitdefender and others) needs PadWin allowed there too.
4. Same router, not a guest network. The tablet and the PC must be on the same router. A PC wired to it by Ethernet is fine. A guest Wi-Fi, or a router with “AP isolation” or “client isolation” on, keeps devices from seeing each other, and so do some office networks. Turn off VPNs on both devices.
5. Restart both apps. Quit PadWin from its icon’s menu and start it again; on the tablet, close PadDroid or PadPad from the recent apps and open it again. (PadWin 1.3.3 and later notice a network change on their own.)

Still nothing? An Android tablet or phone can use the USB cable, which skips the network altogether.

What to send us

If Pad still won’t connect, write to support@codonic.dev and include:

• a screenshot of the setup checklist (Set up PadWin… or PadMac’s Set Up PadMac);
• what the tablet shows: still looking, your computer’s name, or “Connecting…”;
• the tablet or phone’s model, and the versions of both apps and of Windows or macOS;
• on Windows, PadWin’s log: choose Open log folder from its icon’s menu and attach log.txt and log.old.txt (the run before). Take them right after a failed try. Before PadWin 1.3.3 there is only log.txt, in %APPDATA%\PadWin, and it starts over each time PadWin starts, so copy it before restarting.

If something misbehaves

• Strokes do nothing (Mac) — Accessibility permission is missing or stale. Re-grant it and relaunch.
• No picture (Windows) — ffmpeg.exe isn’t where PadWin can find it. It looks next to its own exe, then in an ffmpeg subfolder.
• Krita draws only a dot, or no pressure (Windows) — PadWin sends pen input through Windows Ink, and Krita defaults to the older WinTab API, which doesn’t receive it. In Krita open Settings → Configure Krita → Tablet settings, choose Windows 8+ Pointer Input (Windows Ink), click OK and restart Krita. Photoshop uses Windows Ink by default, which is why it works there without a change.
• Cursor lands on the wrong monitor (Windows) — with a second display to the left of or above the main one, strokes used to land one screen over. Fixed in PadWin 1.1.0; update if you see it.
• Client can’t find the host — same network? Some guest or office Wi-Fi blocks device-to-device traffic, and a USB cable sidesteps all of it. On Windows, see PC not found on Windows.
• Anything else: support reaches the people who wrote it (what to send us).