Comparison

Duet Air vs eXternalTouchDisplay

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Duet Air

Transform your iPad or iPhone into an advanced remote desktop or an extra display for your Mac or PC. Experience unparalleled performance and zero lag, with touch and gesture support. Offers professional-grade drawing capabilities with Apple Pencil integration for artists and designers.

Highlights
  • Remote desktop functionality
  • Extra display for Mac/PC
  • Touch and gesture support
  • Apple Pencil integration for drawing
  • Wireless and wired connectivity
  • Zero lag performance
Read full description

#1 best-selling iPad app in US, Japan, UK, Germany, and 17 other countries! Duet turns your iPad or iPhone into the most advanced Remote Desktop or extra display for your Mac & PC. Developed by a team of ex-Apple engineers, Duet offers unparalleled performance and display quality - all with zero lag. — DO MORE — Be twice as productive by multitasking with two screens. And for those that travel, have a portable way to stay productive. — INCREDIBLY SIMPLE — To get started, plug your iPad into your desktop using your charging cable or choose the desktop to wirelessly connect to. The Duet desktop app will automatically detect your device, and transform it into a high performance touchscreen display. — TOUCHSCREEN — Interact with Mac & PC like never before, with touch & gestures, including two-finger scrolling, pan and zoom. And with our latest release, you can even add a touch bar to any iPad with any Mac. — PERFECT FOR APPLE PENCIL — With Duet Pro, you can turn your iPad and Apple Pencil into a professional graphics tablet. We’ve re-engineered our rendering algorithms for ultra-responsive drawing, optimized specifically for designers, illustrators and artists. Duet Pro also unlocks pressure & tilt sensitivity, hover, palm rejection, and more to seamlessly draw in the most powerful programs for professionals. Get precise control in Photoshop, Corel Painter, Lightroom, ToonBoom, Illustrator, Manga Studio and more. — PRESS — TechCrunch - "Feels Like Magic" TIME - "Getting Work Done Faster and More Efficiently" The Guardian - "Lag-free" Forbes - "The simple thing to note is this...Duet Display works." The Verge - "Glorious Fluidity" Lifehacker - "It's fast, easy to use, and works great" Business Insider - "Zero lag and true retina resolution” Wall Street Journal - “It’s as easy as just plugging it in" — REVIEWS — “Awesome! My iPad Pro can be an extra monitor! Cool app” ~CEO of T-Mobile, John Legere “Very smooth and responsive indeed, plus you could use the touch screen to “click” on screen interfaces!” ~Photographer, Lok Cheung “Love the ability to use my iPad as a monitor with Duet.” ~Former Chief Evangelist of Apple, Guy Kawasaki “Just started using this app called Duet… Kinda love it so far.” ~Comedian and Youtube, Phillip DeFranco “All my mac folks look at the Duet app… GREAT!” ~Actor and Comedian, Sinbad "I really like the app, I suppose the biggest compliment I can give is that it's so easy to setup it almost seems like an Apple product.” ~Early Adopter, M. Nightingale "Amazing solution for me by the way. Works as I was hoping for and actually my main reason for getting an iPad : )” ~Early Adopter, M. Gemzoe Duet Works With: All iPhones and iPads with iOS 11.0 and later All Macs with 10.11 (Mavericks) and later All PCs with Windows 10 64-bit and later Duet Air is a $24.99 per year service built for professionals and remote workers. Price may vary by location. Duet Air subscriptions will be charged to your credit card through your iTunes account. Your subscription will automatically renew unless canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. You will not be able to cancel the subscription once activated. Manage Duet Air in Account Settings after the optional upgrade. Learn more at http://www.duetdisplay.com Terms: https://help.duetdisplay.com/duet-terms-services Privacy Policy: https://help.duetdisplay.com/duet-privacy-policy

About

eXternalTouchDisplay

Features
Read full description

Turn your tablet/smartphone into a touch-enabled secondary display for your PC. This is useful when you want more desktop space, need to control your device during a presentation, or want to quickly add a secondary monitor. Connect via Wi-Fi and control directly from your tablet using touch controls. eXternalTouchDisplay Features and Characteristics 01. Function Overview ■ Use tablets and smartphones as external displays for your PC ■ Extend and duplicate your desktop ■ Direct touch operation from your tablet ■ Supports full-screen display and screen rotation 02. Applications ■ Ideal for meetings, presentations, work monitors, and control panels 03. Features ■ Automatic receiver detection for easy connection ■ Supports up to 8 tablets* ■ Supports Wi-Fi connection ■ Low-latency video streaming via WebRTC ■ Multilingual UI including Japanese and English ■ No ads (in-app purchases and subscriptions available) *Depends on your hardware environment 04. How to Use 1. Install and launch the driver application (eXTDDriver) on your PC (Download: https://github.com/hamster-works/eXTD). 2. Launch eXternalTouchDisplay using the mobile/tablet app.

Screenshots

Duet Air3 screens
eXternalTouchDisplay4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: eXternalTouchDisplay at none against Duet Air's shown. Duet Air's advantage is iOS requirement (12.0 vs 15.0). On price, update cadence, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Duet Air sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $49.99 per year and eXternalTouchDisplay sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Duet Air ships an update every 3 weeks, eXternalTouchDisplay monthly. The most recent releases landed on November 3, 2026 and November 6, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Duet Air versus eXternalTouchDisplay: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterDuet AireXternalTouchDisplay
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.3 (1.9K ratings) — better—
Positive reviews23.8% of reviews—
Number of ratings1.9K — better—
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeks — betterMonthly
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationSubscription—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS12.0 — better15.0
Further details — not scored
Size67 MB38 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperDuet, Inc.HAMSTER WORKS

Bugs and requests

Duet Air

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Incompatible with Citrix
  • Breaks Windows network
  • Bricked user's PC
  • Login screen issues
  • Inconsistent performance

Requested features

5 requests
  • Support for older devices
  • Improve wireless stability
  • Add audio support
  • Better integration with drawing apps
  • Easier subscription cancellation

eXternalTouchDisplay

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Duet Air

Subscriptions2
  • Duet Air (Annual)7 Days trial$49.991 Year
  • Duet Pro (Annual)7 Days trial$79.991 Year
2 purchases

eXternalTouchDisplay

Subscriptions1
  • Subscription$1.991 Month
One-time1
  • Outright Purchase$19.99

Questions

Is Duet Air free?
Duet Air is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is eXternalTouchDisplay free?
eXternalTouchDisplay is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Duet Air or eXternalTouchDisplay have ads?
Duet Air shows ads; eXternalTouchDisplay does not.
Which is updated more often, Duet Air or eXternalTouchDisplay?
Duet Air ships an update every 3 weeks, and eXternalTouchDisplay monthly. Most recently, Duet Air was updated on November 3, 2026 and eXternalTouchDisplay on November 6, 2026.

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