Website and downloads: getpocketpad.vercel.app
Use your phone as a precision-style trackpad for Windows, macOS and Linux. Nothing to install on the phone: a small host runs on the laptop, the phone opens a web page, and every gesture you know from a Windows touchpad works, using the settings your PC already has.
phone browser --Wi-Fi / hotspot / USB--> PocketPad host (Windows) --SendInput--> cursor
gestures, look and feel smoothing, validation, injection
Pick one.
One file, no installer, from the latest release:
| OS | File | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Windows | PocketPad-windows.exe |
SmartScreen asks once (unsigned) |
| macOS | PocketPad-macos |
chmod +x, xattr -d com.apple.quarantine, grant Accessibility to Terminal |
| Linux | PocketPad-linux |
chmod +x; X11 sessions get full control, Wayland reaches XWayland apps only |
pipx or pip (Python 3.10+):
pipx install git+https://github.com/vasu-devs/PocketPad
pocketpad
From a clone: double-click PocketPad.bat, or pip install -e . and run pocketpad.
- Run the host. It prints a URL and a QR code. When Windows asks, allow Python or PocketPad on private networks.
- On the phone, on the same Wi-Fi, scan the QR. The URL carries a six-digit
pairing key that changes every start (
--key 123456fixes it). - Tap once for full screen. Android: "Add to Home screen" gives an icon that opens straight into the pad. iPhone: Share, then "Add to Home Screen".
| Mode | Command | Typical latency | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wi-Fi via router | pocketpad |
5-30 ms | default |
| Laptop hotspot | pocketpad --hotspot |
2-8 ms | turns on Windows Mobile Hotspot, prints its name, password and the laptop's hotspot address; no router in the path |
| USB cable (Android) | pocketpad --usb |
under 1 ms | downloads Google's platform-tools on first use; needs USB debugging on the phone; the phone opens a 127.0.0.1 address |
Other flags: --port, --bind, --no-smoothing, --keep-mouse-accel, --dry-run.
| Fingers | Gesture | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | move | pointer, with a speed and acceleration curve |
| 1 | tap | left click |
| 1 | tap, then tap and hold | drag |
| 1 | double tap | double click |
| 1 | drag in the right-edge lane | scroll; flick to coast |
| 2 | tap | right click |
| 2 | slide | smooth scroll, natural direction |
| 2 | pinch | zoom (Ctrl + wheel) |
| 3 | tap | your Windows setting (default: search) |
| 3 | swipe up / down | Task view / Show desktop |
| 3 | swipe left / right | the app switcher opens and follows your hand; lift to land on an app |
| 4 | tap | your Windows setting (default: notification center) |
| 4 | swipe up / down | Task view / Show desktop |
| 4 | swipe left / right | switch virtual desktops (repeats as you keep sliding) |
The dock has three buttons: keyboard (type on the PC from the phone, a real on/off toggle), rotate (cycles orientation modes), and settings.
On connect the host reads your Windows Precision Touchpad preferences (cursor speed, scroll direction, taps, tap-and-drag, pinch, three and four finger swipe and tap choices) and the phone mirrors them. Settings shows "Match this PC's touchpad" at the top with a summary; turn it off to tune the phone on its own. Anyone who runs the host on their own PC gets their own feel automatically.
Two Windows mouse settings would otherwise distort injected motion, so the host
handles them: Enhance pointer precision is paused while the host runs and
restored on exit (live setting only, registry untouched; --keep-mouse-accel
opts out), and the mouse pointer speed slider multiplier is cancelled so the
phone's speed means the same thing on every PC.
Settings > Appearance: six themes (Graphite, Midnight, Forest, Rose, Pitch black, Paper), a free accent colour, pad surface (plain, grid, dots, carbon), touch effect (rings, glow, comet, off), round or sharp corners, vibration strength. Settings > Surface: orientation, scroll strip, on-screen mouse buttons, keep screen on. Everything is stored on the phone.
Holding the phone sideways: the layout rotates with the phone. If rotation is locked, use the rotate button; the app asks the browser to rotate and, if that is refused, rotates the touch input instead so the cursor still follows your hand.
pocketpad/
main.py CLI, LAN address discovery, QR banner, --usb / --hotspot
server.py aiohttp app: static files + /ws channel, pairing check, stuck-key release
protocol.py wire format (JSON + 9-byte binary motion frames), per-connection accumulators
smoother.py high-rate motion smoother thread
sysprefs.py reads Windows Precision Touchpad preferences from the registry
mouseaccel.py pauses "Enhance pointer precision", reads the pointer-speed multiplier
netmodes.py adb reverse (USB) and Windows Mobile Hotspot
actions.py named actions (Task view, volume, snap...) and `keys:` custom combos
keys.py virtual-key table, aliases, combo parser
input_win.py SendInput via ctypes (mouse, wheel, scan-code keys, Unicode text)
injector.py Injector interface + FakeInjector (tests, --dry-run)
config.py constants, error codes, HostConfig
web/ the phone app: index.html, style.css, gestures.js, settings.js, app.js
tests/ pytest: protocol, keys/actions, smoother, prefs, HTTP + WebSocket
build_exe.py PyInstaller one-file build
- The phone owns look-and-feel and gesture preferences (deferring to the PC's touchpad settings by default) and sends semantic events. The host is a dumb, validated injector.
- Motion goes out per touch sample as a 9-byte binary frame. The host's smoother spreads each sample evenly until the next one arrives, so Wi-Fi burstiness does not become cursor stutter. Sub-pixel remainders are carried, never dropped.
- Scroll emits small wheel deltas for smooth scrolling; "Whole notches only" batches to 120-unit notches for apps that ignore partial deltas.
- A dropped connection releases every held button and modifier.
- Pairing key required on the WebSocket; a wrong key is closed with code 4403 before anything reaches the injector.
- Every message is size-limited, type-checked and clamped. Unknown actions and key names are rejected. Text is capped per message.
- Traffic is plain HTTP on your LAN. Anyone on the same network who has the key
can control the mouse, so treat the key like a password and do not run the
host on public Wi-Fi.
--bind 192.168.1.36limits it to one interface.
pip install -e .[dev]
python -m pytest -q # 33 tests
python build_exe.py # dist/PocketPad.exe
Gesture recognition was verified in an emulated Pixel 7 (Playwright + Chrome
DevTools touch events) for move, tap, two-finger tap, scroll, pinch, three and
four finger swipes, the live app switcher, double-tap drag, the scroll strip and
orientation rotation. --dry-run logs injected events without moving anything.
CI runs the tests and builds the exe on every push; a v* tag publishes a release.
- Windows is the reference platform: native SendInput, registry-backed preference sync, hotspot mode, pointer-speed compensation.
- macOS injects through Quartz via pynput and needs Accessibility permission. Shortcuts map to Mission Control, Cmd+Tab, Spaces, Cmd-based editing keys.
- Linux injects through X11 XTest via pynput; shortcuts follow GNOME defaults and can be remapped from the phone. A uinput backend for Wayland is the next step.
- This is input synthesis, not a real Precision Touchpad. Windows does not list PocketPad under Touchpad settings. A virtual HID driver (UMDF VHF, signed) would be the way to change that.
- Windows only writes a gesture preference to the registry once it has been changed from default, so the custom per-direction numbering is best effort until verified against a PC that has customised them.
- Android Chrome gives fullscreen; iOS Safari only via Add to Home Screen.
MIT licence.