The short answer. OpenDisplay turns a spare iPhone or iPad into a second display over USB or Wi-Fi, with touch input, which is the most substantial thing in this pool. AirServer receives AirPlay and mirroring from a phone, a tablet or a console, which is the presentation and recording case. Type2Phone makes the Mac a keyboard for an iPhone, iPad or Apple TV, which is the answer when typing on a television. TouchBridge uses the phone’s fingerprint sensor as an authentication method for the Mac. Hyperduck receives links from iOS and visionOS devices, which is the smallest and most frequently useful of the five. The dividing question is what the phone has that the Mac does not: a screen, a camera, a fingerprint sensor, or simply a link you were reading.
This guide covers 5 iphone and ipad companion apps for macOS. Every fact below is drawn from the same verified records that back each app’s own page. The recommendations are our editorial judgment, not payment.
Quick comparison
| App | What it is | Pricing | Licence | Version |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AirServer | screen mirroring app | not published | not published | 7.3.3 |
| Hyperduck | Mac utility | Free | not published | 1.3.0 |
| OpenDisplay | Mac utility | Open source | GPL-3.0 | 1.25.0 |
| TouchBridge | security tool | Open source | MIT | 1.1.2 |
| Type2Phone | Mac utility | not published | not published | — |
What actually decides this
- What the phone contributes. A display, a sensor, an input method and a clipboard are four different resources. Each tool in this pool borrows exactly one, and the one you need decides the tool.
- Whether it is wired or wireless. A USB connection is stable and charges the device. Wi-Fi is convenient and adds latency. For a second display used all day, the cable matters more than the marketing suggests.
- What the touch input does. A second display with touch can act as a control surface. One without touch is a monitor. The difference is a feature of the app and a property of the hardware, and only some iPads support the same gestures.
- Whether it survives a locked phone. A phone that locks stops being a display, a keyboard target or a sensor. Any workflow that depends on the device staying awake needs a setting that keeps it awake, and that setting costs battery.
- What the latency is for the actual task. Reading a document on a second screen tolerates latency. Drawing on one does not. The same connection quality is fine for one job and unusable for another.
- Whether it needs the same network. Most of these work over the local network and fail on a guest network that isolates clients. A wired connection avoids the problem entirely, which is why the cable is a feature.
Our picks
- OpenDisplay — Its record describes using a spare iPhone or iPad as a second display over USB or Wi-Fi with touch input, which is the display case. Choose it when you want a spare iPad to be a real second display.
- AirServer — Its record describes screen mirroring reception for Mac, PC and Xbox One, which is the mirroring case. Choose it when you need to receive a phone or console mirror.
- Type2Phone — Its record describes using the Mac as a keyboard for those devices, which is the input case. Choose it when typing on an iPhone, iPad or Apple TV is the problem.
- TouchBridge — Its record describes authenticating with a phone’s fingerprint as a Touch ID alternative, which is the authentication case. Choose it when you want the phone’s fingerprint sensor to authenticate on the Mac.
- Hyperduck — Its record describes receiving links from iOS and visionOS devices, which is the link-handoff case. Choose it when you just want the link you were reading to appear on the Mac.
The apps
AirServer
AirServer is a screen mirroring app for macOS. Most advanced screen mirroring software receiver for Mac, PC and Xbox One. Its pricing is not published.
What it does. Download AirServer for Windows 10 and Mac.
AirServer is listed with current version 7.3.3.
Full profile and verified facts for AirServer →
Hyperduck
Hyperduck is a Mac utility for macOS. Receive links from your iOS & visionOS devices. It is free.
What it does. Send links from your iOS & visionOS devices to your Mac. For example, share a link from Safari on your iPhone, iPad, or Apple Vision, and have it open in the….
Hyperduck is listed with current version 1.3.0.
Full profile and verified facts for Hyperduck →
OpenDisplay
OpenDisplay is a Mac utility for macOS. Use a spare iPhone or iPad as a second display for your Mac, wired (USB) or over WiFi, with touch input. It is released under GPL-3.0.
What it does. True display extension — macOS treats the device as a real second. USB-wired for lowest latency — streams over the Lightning/USB-C. WiFi with zero config — the iPhone advertises itself via Bonjour. Retina / HiDPI — the virtual display matches the device panel.
OpenDisplay is listed with current version 1.25.0.
Full profile and verified facts for OpenDisplay →
TouchBridge
TouchBridge is a security tool for macOS. Authenticate with your phone’s fingerprint as a free Touch ID keyboard alternative. It is released under MIT.
TouchBridge is listed with current version 1.1.2.
Full profile and verified facts for TouchBridge →
Type2Phone
Type2Phone is a Mac utility for macOS. Use Your Mac as Keyboard for iPhone, iPad & Apple TV. Its pricing is not published.
What it does. Share your Mac.
Full profile and verified facts for Type2Phone →
How to choose
- Free of charge. Hyperduck — no payment is required.
- No licence fee, source available. OpenDisplay and TouchBridge — the source can be read and, under the terms of each licence, reused.
- Pricing not published in our data. AirServer and Type2Phone — check the developer’s own site before assuming anything about cost.
Open source: OpenDisplay and TouchBridge (2 of 5).
Common mistakes
- Expecting a locked phone to keep working as a display.
- Using a wireless second display for drawing and blaming the app for the lag.
- Trying to mirror over a guest network that isolates devices.
- Installing a full remote-desktop stack for a job that needed one link to open.
How this guide was put together
Each app’s facts come from its own record: the developer’s own pages and repository, the App Store listing where one exists, and the documentation, each with a source grade and an access date. Where a fact rests on the developer’s own statement rather than on something we verified independently, the sentence says so. Where our data has no value for something, the guide says “not published” instead of guessing.
A price appears here only where the record carries one from a stated source; the guide never estimates one, and it records the pricing model alongside so the two can be read together. Prices change and vary by region, so each app links to its own page for the current detail.
The facts and the recommendations are kept apart on purpose. Everything in the app entries, the comparison table and the answers above is composed from the records. The short answer, the criteria and the picks are our editorial judgment: they reflect what we would choose and why, and they are not paid for. Where we make a recommendation we name the condition it applies under, because we do not call anything “the best” without explaining the criteria.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I choose between these iphone and ipad companion apps?
There is no single answer — it depends on what you need. This guide covers 5 iphone and ipad companion apps: AirServer, Hyperduck, OpenDisplay, TouchBridge and Type2Phone. They differ mainly in pricing model, licence and the trade-offs each one carries. Pick by the trade-off you care about rather than by rank.
Are these iphone and ipad companion apps free?
Pricing across this group: not published (AirServer and Type2Phone), free (Hyperduck) and open source (OpenDisplay and TouchBridge). Where we list pricing as not published, the developer does not state a model we could verify — check their own site before assuming anything about cost. We quote a price only where the record carries one from a stated source, and we never estimate one. Prices change and vary by region and by store, so always check the developer’s own page for the current figure.
Which of these iphone and ipad companion apps are open source?
OpenDisplay (GPL-3.0) and TouchBridge (MIT) are open source.
Do these iphone and ipad companion apps support Apple Silicon?
Our data does not carry an explicit Apple Silicon statement for any app in this group, so we do not claim one. The absence of a statement is not the same as the absence of support.
How do I choose between them?
Start with how you pay: the guide groups these apps by pricing model, because the budget is the constraint most people actually have. Then check the trade-offs listed for each app: the limitations are the part that decides most people’s choice, because they describe what the app will not do for you.
