Comparison

DeckPilot vs Karl

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

Karl

Features
Read full description

Karl replaces note-taking in meetings. Open it, tap record, and talk — the transcript streams in live, and when you stop, a structured summary (overview, key points, decisions, action items) writes itself. Everything happens on your device: nothing is uploaded, no account is created, works offline. WHY KARL IS DIFFERENT • Unlimited, free: no monthly transcription minutes, no per-meeting time limits, no import quotas. Transcription runs on your device. • Truly private: audio never leaves your Mac or iPhone. • Hears the whole call (Mac): Karl can capture system audio, so remote participants in Zoom, Teams, Meet or any app land in the transcript: even with headphones on. • Speaks your languages: English, Spanish, French, German and more with live Spanish/English auto-detection, and summaries written in the meeting's own language. • Import anything: drop in audio or old recordings, voice memos, downloaded meetings and get the same transcript and summary. Unlimited. • Compact recordings: optional audio keeping at roughly 30 MB per hour, stored on your device. KARL PRO (optional) One small upgrade adds sync between your Mac and iPhone through your own private iCloud, invisible to us Monthly, yearly, or a one-time lifetime purchase. Everything else is free, forever. Requires Apple Intelligence for automatic summaries Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://karl.hrvojematosic.com/privacy/

Screenshots

DeckPilot4 screens
Karl3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is iOS requirement: DeckPilot at 17.0 against Karl's 26.0. On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases 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 Karl sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

DeckPilot ships an update every 4 days, Karl every 3 days. Both last shipped on September 21, 2026.

Scorecard1 real difference · 9 level
DeckPilot versus Karl: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterDeckPilotKarl
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (6 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings6 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 4 daysEvery 3 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Apple WatchiPhone, iPad, Mac
Requires iOS17.0 — better26.0
Further details — not scored
Size20 MB29 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperKeshav KewlaniHrvoje Matosic

In-app purchases

3 purchases

DeckPilot

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

Karl

Subscriptions2
  • Karl Pro Monthly$1.991 Month
  • Karl Pro Annual$14.991 Year
One-time1
  • Karl Pro Lifetime$24.99

Questions

Is DeckPilot free?
DeckPilot is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Karl free?
Karl is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do DeckPilot or Karl have ads?
Neither DeckPilot nor Karl shows ads.
Which is updated more often, DeckPilot or Karl?
DeckPilot ships an update every 4 days, and Karl every 3 days. Most recently, DeckPilot was updated on September 21, 2026 and Karl on September 21, 2026.

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