Remote Rat
Your desktop, within reach
Free
iPad
Turn your iPad into a Retina-quality Mac display and full-screen trackpad, with native gestures, dictation, Apple Pencil and up to 90 Hz streaming.
Remote Rat turns your iPad into a fast, fluid window onto your Mac. Use the whole screen as a trackpad, type with Mac modifier keys, dictate complete passages and control your workspace with gestures.
REQUIRES THE REMOTE RAT MAC HOST
The iPad app is a companion to the separately paid Remote Rat Mac host and requires a Mac host subscription. Both devices must use the same iCloud account. The Mac must be logged in, running Remote Rat, and have Screen Recording and Accessibility permissions enabled.
AT HOME OR AWAY
Connect directly on your local network. Away from home, built-in peer-to-peer connectivity can connect your iPad to your Mac without a separate VPN app. Some networks prevent a direct connection; in that case, use another network or a separately configured tool such as Tailscale. Your Mac must remain awake and reachable.
RETINA-QUALITY, HIGH-REFRESH STREAMING
See your Mac workspace at Retina quality with streaming at up to 90 Hz on supported hardware. Actual performance depends on your Mac, iPad and network.
YOUR WHOLE IPAD IS THE TRACKPAD
Point, click, drag, right-click and scroll across the streamed display. Use gestures to enter full screen, tile windows and switch Spaces. Learn Remote Rat shortcuts in the interactive onboarding tutorial or revisit the gesture guide from the menu.
MAC KEYS, CLOSE AT HAND
Type with the iPad keyboard and dedicated Mac modifier and navigation controls. The streamed display moves to keep the active Mac text field visible while typing. Customise the floating controls and add your own shortcut buttons.
DICTATION AND APPLE PENCIL
Dictate into the focused Mac app, then stop to send the complete passage. Choose Apple speech recognition or download the optional Parakeet model for on-device transcription. Manage the downloaded model and the temporary Undo Dictation button in dictation settings. Use Apple Pencil for pointer input and handwriting with Scribble.
BUILT FOR YOUR WORKSPACE
• Hear Mac audio through the iPad
• Switch between multiple Macs on the same iCloud account
• Choose from four Mac workspace sizes
• Use supported MacBook setups with the lid closed on external power
• Dim supported physical Mac displays during a live session
PRIVATE BY ARCHITECTURE
Screen, audio and input travel directly between your Mac and iPad, not through a Rat Systems media relay. Cross-network discovery exchanges device and connection information with our infrastructure to help your devices find each other. Your Mac runs the apps and sends the stream. Saved Mac passwords remain in the iPad Keychain.
Ratings & Reviews
- This app hasn’t received enough ratings or reviews to display an overview.
The developer, David Wilkinson, indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy .
Data Linked to You
The following data may be collected and linked to your identity:
- Identifiers
- Other Data
Accessibility
The developer has not yet indicated which accessibility features this app supports. Learn More
Information
- Seller
- David Wilkinson
- Size
- 48.3 MB
- Category
- Productivity
- Compatibility
Requires iPadOS 17.0 or later.
- iPad
Requires iPadOS 17.0 or later.
- iPad
- Languages
- English
- Age Rating
4+
- 4+
- Copyright
- © 2026 David Wilkinson
