Comparison

DeckPilot vs Lumina Deck

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

Head to head
About

DeckPilot

Transform your iPhone, iPad, or Apple Watch into custom button decks for your Mac. Streamline workflows with customizable buttons, macros, and gestures that adapt to your active application. Enjoy tactile feedback and dynamic visual cues for enhanced productivity.

Highlights
  • Customizable button decks for Mac apps
  • Macro builder with AppleScript and Shortcuts integration
  • Tactile feedback and customizable haptics
  • Dynamic button states and visual cues
  • Trackpad gesture emulation
  • Touch Bar functionality on mobile devices
  • MIDI support for DAWs
Features
Read full description

Made for people who care about how they work with their Mac. The keyboard, mouse, and trackpad shape how you reach into your Mac. There's another way. DeckPilot turns your iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch into custom button decks that follow whichever app you're in. Logic, Xcode, Figma, Slack: the right buttons are always under your thumb. Quick to set up Install on your Mac and iPhone, connect once over Wi-Fi or USB. Auto-reconnects the way AirDrop does. No hardware to buy. Buttons for everything Tap to open Figma. Tap to mute Zoom. Tap to fire a 5-step macro. Build them from apps, files, websites, keyboard shortcuts, AppleScript, or Apple Shortcuts, and chain anything together in a visual macro builder. 300,000+ icons, or bring your own. One button, more than one move Tap for one thing, double-tap for another, hold for a third. Or hold to pop open a whole submenu of buttons from a single tile. One button can run your whole flow. Buttons you can feel Every press lands with a real mechanical click and a tactile thump. Pick the feel, from a crisp keyboard to a soft, heavy thock, with sound and haptics you tune separately. Your Mac's clipboard, on your phone Everything you copy on your Mac lands in a searchable history on your phone. Pin what you reuse, see when you copied it, and send any snippet back to your Mac with a tap. Images come through full-size. Every workflow its own look A teal gradient and big icons for your DAW. A tight grid with greyscale icons for your code editor. Pick from the community gallery or design your own. Buttons that already know A red mic pill on your Zoom button when you're muted. A live waveform on Spotify when it's playing. You stop checking your Mac, because the buttons already know. Keep your favorites close Pin the decks you live in and they stay a swipe away, whatever app you're in. Trackpad gestures you know Two fingers down to minimize, two up to maximize, three across to switch spaces. Or bind any swipe to almost anything: Apple Shortcuts, AppleScript, macros, jumping decks. Touch Bar, reborn Apple's Touch Bar is gone. DeckPilot brings it back as a floating glass strip on your phone. Volume, brightness, media, mic mute, a clock, and live Battery, CPU, and Memory readouts, colored to match each deck. Widgets on every screen Home Screen widgets put your top buttons one tap from anywhere. The Lock Screen widget shows your active deck without unlocking, and joins iOS 17+ StandBy on a charger. On your wrist, too A dedicated Apple Watch deck with multiple pages and real app icons. Digital Crown for volume and brightness. Complications for one-tap Mute and Play/Pause. Built-in MIDI for any DAW Faders, knobs, XY pads, velocity pads, and transport for Logic Pro, GarageBand, Ableton Live, FL Studio, and anything that speaks MIDI. Also good - Built-in AppleScript editor with ten dark themes - Auto-lock and OLED-safe auto-dim after a short idle - Share .deckpacks, browse community templates, try Demo Mode without pairing - Privacy-first. Commands stay on your Wi-Fi, nothing leaves your network Made for developers, designers, streamers, and musicians who want a faster way to drive their Mac. To unlock the full kit, DeckPilot offers an optional Pro subscription. Pro: $7.99/month or $39/year, auto-renewable. Lifetime: $79 one-time. Pro adds multi-page decks, larger grids, MIDI, macros, AppleScript, app-aware switching, multi-launch buttons, advanced gestures, Apple Watch, per-deck themes, and Shortcuts. Payment is charged to your Apple ID at confirmation. Subscriptions renew automatically unless canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Manage or cancel anytime in your App Store account settings. Terms: https://deckpilot.co/terms Privacy: https://deckpilot.co/privacy Support: https://deckpilot.co/support

About

Lumina Deck

Features
Read full description

Your iPhone is already on your desk. It might as well do something. LuminaDeck turns it into a customizable grid of buttons that fire real actions on your Windows PC over local Wi-Fi. Keyboard shortcuts, app launchers, OBS scene switches, Discord controls, media keys, multi-step macros — one tap, no hardware. WHAT YOU GET • Custom button grids, 2x4 up to 8x8 (Pro) • 55+ action types: keybinds, system commands, app launchers, media controls, OBS scenes, Discord commands, clipboard actions, soundboard audio • Auto-profile switching — when OBS, VS Code, or Spotify takes focus on the PC, the deck swaps to that layout automatically • Trackpad mode — turn the phone into a precision trackpad for the PC • Phone-as-keyboard — type from your phone keyboard directly into any focused Windows window • Multi-page decks with swipe navigation • Five themes: Obsidian (free) plus Aurora, Daylight, Retro Neon, and Slate (Pro) NO ACCOUNT, NO CLOUD Pair with a QR scan. The phone and PC talk directly over your Wi-Fi network — TLS-encrypted, no relay server, no sign-in. Latency stays under 30 ms because nothing leaves your network. Setup takes under a minute: install LuminaDeck Studio on the PC, scan the QR code, and the deck works. WHO IT'S FOR • Streamers who want OBS scene switching and Discord controls without buying dedicated hardware • Developers who want a build/test/format/commit row of tiles next to their keyboard • Knowledge workers who want clipboard tools, app launchers, and shortcuts they actually remember • Anyone whose iPhone is already sitting on a stand next to their monitor PLUGIN PACKS • OBS — scene switching, source toggles, recording start/stop, stream start/stop • Discord — mute, deafen, push-to-talk, channel switching • Coder Pack — git status, run tests, format buffer, common dev shortcuts • Soundboard — trigger audio clips on the PC instantly • Trackpad Mode — phone becomes a precision pointer ONE-TIME PRO, NO SUBSCRIPTION The free tier is fully usable: build a deck, fire actions, switch profiles. Pro is a one-time $9.99 unlock that adds the larger 8x8 grid, premium themes, and the plugin packs. No monthly fee, no recurring charge, no account required. PRIVATE BY DEFAULT • No telemetry. No analytics. No ad SDKs. • No data leaves your local network. • No login required to use the app. • Open WebSocket protocol — third-party clients welcome. REQUIREMENTS • iPhone or iPad on iOS 16 or later • Windows 10 (2004+) or Windows 11 PC running the free LuminaDeck Studio companion • Phone and PC on the same Wi-Fi network Studio download: https://luminaaio.com/luminadeck QUESTIONS Email hello@luminaaio.com. We answer. LuminaDeck is an independent product. Not affiliated with any hardware macro deck manufacturer.

Screenshots

DeckPilot4 screens
Lumina Deck4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: DeckPilot at every 4 days against Lumina Deck's every 3 months. Lumina Deck's advantage is iOS requirement (15.1 vs 17.0). On price, ads, 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. DeckPilot sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $7.99 per month and Lumina Deck sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

DeckPilot ships an update every 4 days, Lumina Deck every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on October 8, 2026 and October 3, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
DeckPilot versus Lumina Deck: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterDeckPilotLumina Deck
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (6 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings6 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 4 days — betterEvery 3 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Apple WatchiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS17.015.1 — better
Further details — not scored
Size20 MB26 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperKeshav KewlaniCeasar Esquivel

In-app purchases

3 purchases

DeckPilot

Subscriptions2
  • DeckPilot Pro$7.991 Month
  • DeckPilot Pro$39.001 Year
One-time1
  • Founding Member$79.00
1 purchases

Lumina Deck

One-time1
  • Lifetime Pro$9.99

Questions

Is DeckPilot free?
DeckPilot is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Lumina Deck free?
Lumina Deck is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do DeckPilot or Lumina Deck have ads?
Neither DeckPilot nor Lumina Deck shows ads.
Which is updated more often, DeckPilot or Lumina Deck?
DeckPilot ships an update every 4 days, and Lumina Deck every 3 months. Most recently, DeckPilot was updated on October 8, 2026 and Lumina Deck on October 3, 2026.

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