Side Screen

Johnny Tran

About this app

Side Screen turns your Android tablet (or phone) into a second display for your Mac.

Plug in a USB-C cable or connect over Wi-Fi, and your tablet becomes an extra monitor: drag windows onto it, keep reference material or chat open on the side, and use touch or a stylus to control the Mac directly from the tablet.

HOW IT WORKS
• Install the free, open-source Side Screen host on your Mac (macOS 13 or later, Apple Silicon and Intel) from github.com/tranvuongquocdat/SideScreen
• Open this app on your tablet
• USB-C: connect the cable and the display appears automatically
• Wi-Fi: scan the QR code shown on the Mac once; the tablet reconnects by itself afterwards

FEATURES
• Hardware-accelerated H.264/HEVC video decoding for smooth, low-latency mirroring
• Native touch and stylus input back to macOS, including hover and pressure where supported
• Portrait or landscape, any tablet size
• Resolution and frame-rate controls, HiDPI support
• Automatic reconnection in wireless mode
• No account, no ads, no analytics, no internet connection required — everything stays on your local network

REQUIREMENTS
• A Mac running macOS 13 Ventura or newer with the Side Screen host app installed
• Android 8.0 or newer
• For USB mode: a USB-C data cable. For wireless mode: both devices on the same Wi-Fi network

Side Screen is open source under the MIT license. Report issues or contribute at github.com/tranvuongquocdat/SideScreen

What’s new

First public release.
- Use your Android tablet as a second display for your Mac over USB or Wi-Fi, with touch input.
- With Side Screen 1.0 for Mac, each tablet's settings (resolution, refresh rate, rotation, quality) are remembered and restored when it reconnects.
- Sharper picture on tablets whose decoder was under-used (Huawei MatePad, Honor Pad).
- Smaller download, updates install automatically from Google Play.
Needs the Mac app: github.com/tranvuongquocdat/SideScreen