Codonic
← Pad

Setup guide

Setting up Pad

Pad is two apps: a host on the computer you draw into, and a client on the tablet you draw with. Install the host below, open the client on the same network, and they find each other on their own.

Mac host — PadMac

  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.
  3. PadMac lives in the menu bar (an iPad-shaped icon, 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.
  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 and add them again — macOS ties them to the app’s signature.

Windows host — PadWin beta

  1. Download the PadWin beta for your PC’s architecture and extract the zip anywhere you like: x64 for Intel or AMD, ARM64 for Snapdragon and other ARM PCs. Not sure which you have? Check Settings → System → About → System type.
  2. Install the free .NET 9 Desktop Runtime from Microsoft — pick the “Desktop Runtime” installer matching the build you downloaded (x64 or ARM64) — if you don’t already have it.
  3. Get an ffmpeg.exe — PadWin uses it to encode the video stream. Download a Windows build from gyan.dev (the “essentials” build is fine), and place ffmpeg.exe next to PadWin.exe, or in an ffmpeg subfolder.
  4. Run PadWin.exe. Because the beta isn’t code-signed yet, Windows SmartScreen may object: click More info → Run anyway.
  5. When the Windows Firewall prompt appears, allow PadWin on private networks — that’s how the tablet finds it.
  6. 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. 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.

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.

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 (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 use the cable through PadWin’s bundled adb.
  • 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.

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.
  • No pressure in Krita (Windows) — PadWin sends pen input through Windows Ink, and Krita defaults to the older WinTab driver, so it ignores it. In Krita open Settings → Configure Krita → Tablet Settings and choose Windows 8+ Pointer Input (Windows Ink). 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. On a Mac a USB cable sidesteps all of it; on Windows, check that PadWin is allowed on private networks in the firewall.
  • Anything else: support reaches the people who wrote it.