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Macro Deck Docs

Companion app

Macro Deck Companion is an optional, paid add-on to Macro Deck: a native app for Android phones and tablets, iPhone and iPad. Unlike Macro Deck itself, the app is closed source. It shows the same decks as the free web client, but draws them natively and adds what a browser on a phone or tablet cannot do. You do not need it to use Macro Deck: every device with a current browser can use the web client.

The same deck on an iPhone and an iPad: a music player, a clock, the weather, a volume slider, a CPU graph and four buttons

Reasons to buy

Section titled “Reasons to buy”
Reason What you get
Better performance The app draws the deck natively, without a browser in between. It reacts faster and uses less battery, most noticeably on older phones and tablets. See Compatibility.
Easier to set up It finds your computers on the network, and scanning the QR code signs it in without a password. The deck fills the screen and stays on without turning on HTTPS, trusting a certificate or installing a web app.
Extra features Gestures, several computers at once, USB without debugging, and actions and variables for the device itself. See the comparison below.
Supports Macro Deck Macro Deck itself is free and open source. The app’s license supports its active development.

App or web client?

Section titled “App or web client?”

Both show your decks exactly as you built them on the computer. The app adds:

✅ yes · ☑️ partly, see the notes below the table · ➖ no

Web client App
On the deck
Your decks, exactly as on the computer ✅ ✅
Drawn natively, no browser in between ➖ ✅
The deck fills the screen, no browser bars* ☑️ ✅
Keeps the screen on** ☑️ ✅
Swipe through folders and profiles ➖ ✅
Several computers open, a swipe apart ➖ ✅
Haptic feedback on every press ➖ ✅
Connection
Finds your computers on the network ➖ ✅
Several addresses per computer, the one that answers is used ➖ ✅
Connects over USB*** ☑️ ✅
In Macro Deck
Actions for this device: brightness, rotation, vibration, screenshots, and on Android turning the screen on and off ➖ ✅
Battery, network, memory and on iOS CPU of this device as variables ➖ ✅
Supports the active development of Macro Deck ➖ ❤️

* Only where the browser supports it, usually once the web client is installed as an app (PWA).

** Only where the browser supports it, usually only with HTTPS turned on in Macro Deck.

*** Only on Android with USB debugging: the device’s browser opens http://127.0.0.1:8193, and ADB forwards it to Macro Deck. The app connects over USB on Android, iPhone and iPad, also without USB debugging. See Connect over USB.

Requirements

Section titled “Requirements”
  • Android 6 or later, or iOS and iPadOS 15 or later. Phones and tablets both work, in portrait and landscape.
  • Macro Deck 3 on a computer in the same network, or connected by USB.
  • A license or the free 7-day trial. The license is a one-time purchase, and once one device bought it, your other phones and tablets get it from your computer. See License and trial.

Get the app

Section titled “Get the app”
The Connections screen on an Android phone and on an iPhone: a new computer on the USB cable and two saved computers, both connected

In this section

Section titled “In this section”