Astropad's New 'Slate' App Lets You Control Your Mac With Your iPad and Apple Pencil

After several months of beta testing, Astropad is today officially launching its Astropad Slate app for the iPad. Slate turns an ‌iPad‌ into a large trackpad for a Mac, complete with Apple Pencil control.

astropad slate
With Slate, you can use an ‌iPad‌ and ‌Apple Pencil‌ to perform several useful tasks. The ‌Apple Pencil‌ serves as a cursor for controlling the desktop mouse, and a tap on the screen is used as a click.

When you write on the ‌iPad‌, it is translated into typed text on the Mac, and there are two-finger gestures for actions like scrolling and zoom. If you have a newer ‌iPad‌ that supports ‌Apple Pencil‌ hover, you can use the hover gestures. For older iPads, Astropad added a simulated hover option.

In Mac apps that support drawing, sketching, and other creative work, you can use the ‌iPad‌ as a drawing tablet. It essentially serves as a no-screen interface for drawing, with the focus on the Mac.


You'll need an ‌iPad‌ that runs iPadOS 15 or later and a Mac that runs macOS 11 or later to use Astropad Slate. The devices can be connected over Wi-Fi, Peer-to-Peer networking, or an appropriate USB cable.

The Astropad Slate app is priced at $19.99 and can be purchased from the App Store. [Direct Link]

Popular Stories

iPhone SE 4 Vertical Camera Feature

iPhone SE 4 Production Will Reportedly Begin Ramping Up in October

Tuesday July 23, 2024 2:00 pm PDT by
Following nearly two years of rumors about a fourth-generation iPhone SE, The Information today reported that Apple suppliers are finally planning to begin ramping up mass production of the device in October of this year. If accurate, that timeframe would mean that the next iPhone SE would not be announced alongside the iPhone 16 series in September, as expected. Instead, the report...
iPhone 17 Plus Feature

iPhone 17 Lineup Specs Detail Display Upgrade and New High-End Model

Monday July 22, 2024 4:33 am PDT by
Key details about the overall specifications of the iPhone 17 lineup have been shared by the leaker known as "Ice Universe," clarifying several important aspects of next year's devices. Reports in recent months have converged in agreement that Apple will discontinue the "Plus" iPhone model in 2025 while introducing an all-new iPhone 17 "Slim" model as an even more high-end option sitting...
Generic iPhone 17 Feature With Full Width Dynamic Island

Kuo: Ultra-Thin iPhone 17 to Feature A19 Chip, Single Rear Camera, Semi-Titanium Frame, and More

Wednesday July 24, 2024 9:06 am PDT by
Apple supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo today shared alleged specifications for a new ultra-thin iPhone 17 model rumored to launch next year. Kuo expects the device to be equipped with a 6.6-inch display with a current-size Dynamic Island, a standard A19 chip rather than an A19 Pro chip, a single rear camera, and an Apple-designed 5G chip. He also expects the device to have a...
iPhone 16 Pro Sizes Feature

iPhone 16 Series Is Less Than Two Months Away: Everything We Know

Thursday July 25, 2024 5:43 am PDT by
Apple typically releases its new iPhone series around mid-September, which means we are about two months out from the launch of the iPhone 16. Like the iPhone 15 series, this year's lineup is expected to stick with four models – iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 16 Pro Max – although there are plenty of design differences and new features to take into account. To bring ...
icloud private relay outage

iCloud Private Relay Experiencing Outage

Thursday July 25, 2024 3:18 pm PDT by
Apple’s iCloud Private Relay service is down for some users, according to Apple’s System Status page. Apple says that the iCloud Private Relay service may be slow or unavailable. The outage started at 2:34 p.m. Eastern Time, but it does not appear to be affecting all iCloud users. Some impacted users are unable to browse the web without turning iCloud Private Relay off, while others are...

Top Rated Comments

tweaknmod Avatar
23 weeks ago
Imagine working hard on something then finally releasing it - and an accompanying media release - only to see the comments full of people mocking your product, even though they are in no way the target audience, would never be interested in such a product, and don’t understand it - yet they feel the need to tell the world how useless they think it is.

It’s a niche product. If this isn’t for you, and you “don’t get it”, ask about it respectfully or just move on with your life, maybe?

The widespread acceptance of disrespectful comments by people who don’t realize/care that people who worked on this stuff read them will never stop frustrating me. And I refuse to stop calling it out when I see it.

To the team who launched this - and I know they’re monitoring these forums, cause I do that for a living: Congrats on the launch! Good luck ?
Score: 23 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Jhonjhon236 Avatar
23 weeks ago

So … a Wacom tablet?
Pretty much, but great if you have an iPad but not a Wacom.
Score: 21 Votes (Like | Disagree)
turbineseaplane Avatar
23 weeks ago
So … a Wacom tablet?
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
gk_brown Avatar
23 weeks ago

Why not just a touchscreen Mac? Odd solution to, well I'm not sure.
I'm not an artist, but it seems like this would be much more convenient than drawing on my laptop screen.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Harry Haller Avatar
23 weeks ago

Why not just a touchscreen Mac? Odd solution to, well I'm not sure.
Apple wants to sell 2 devices instead of 1.
They believe the user experience is better with 2 highly focused devices instead of one lesser capable 2 in 1. I’ve used the windows 2 in 1s and they’re ok for what they are, but not nearly as polished as separate devices, imo.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
mister salty Avatar
23 weeks ago

Pretty much, but great if you have an iPad but not a Wacom.
What's the use case here?? "I have a tablet which is great for drawing, but I hate direct visual feedback and would instead prefer to use that tablet which is great for drawing as a slave device to a big monitor."

If that, why not just mirror the tablet's screen to a monitor?
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)