Two halves, one of them free

The Mac host is free and you download it here. The iPad app is a one-time purchase on the App Store. You need both.

Download the Mac host — free Coming to the App Store

Version 0.1.0 for macOS 15 or later on Apple silicon. Signed and notarized by SOME Studio, LLC.

macOS 15 or later · iPadOS 18 or later · Apple silicon

What you need

On the Mac macOS 15 or later, on Apple silicon. The host runs in the menu bar.
On the iPad iPadOS 18 or later. A Magic Keyboard or a keyboard case with a trackpad is what makes it feel like a computer rather than a screen.
Network Both devices on the same network, or reachable over your own Tailscale. No account and no relay of ours in between.
Permissions The host asks for Screen Recording and Accessibility the first time you launch it — it needs both to show this Mac on your iPad and to pass your keyboard and trackpad through.

Installing it

  1. Run the installer on your Mac

    It puts SOME Desk Host in your Applications folder and a virtual microphone, SOME Desk Mic, in the system's audio plug-ins — that is the part that lets your iPad's mic reach dictation apps here.

  2. Expect your audio to cut out for a second

    Installing the microphone briefly restarts Core Audio. Quit anything you are recording with first. An update that does not change the microphone skips this step entirely.

  3. Launch it and grant the two permissions

    Screen Recording and Accessibility. macOS will ask; the host explains which is which as it does.

  4. Open the app on your iPad and pick this Mac

    You will be asked to confirm a six-digit pairing code once. After that the two devices know each other and every connection is encrypted.

Signed, notarized, and removable

The host is signed with a Developer ID certificate belonging to SOME Studio, LLC and notarized by Apple, so Gatekeeper opens it without a detour through System Settings. The installer is signed too.

To remove everything later: drag SOME Desk Host to the Trash and delete /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/HAL/SOMEDeskMic.driver, or run the uninstaller in the app's menu, which also restarts Core Audio for you.

Updates arrive in the app itself, and an app update carries a microphone update with it.