Comparison

CouchMC vs Palmote

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

Head to head
About

CouchMC

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CouchMC turns your iPhone into a touch controller for Minecraft Java Edition on PC. No Minecraft mods, no gamepad required. Run the CouchMC desktop app on your Windows or macOS computer, put the phone and the PC on the same Wi-Fi, tap a discovered host, and you can play from the couch. ◆ Why CouchMC Mouse and keyboard kill the couch posture. A real gamepad means new bindings, learning a new camera feel and digging through mods. CouchMC reuses the controls you already know from mobile MOBA and FPS games: left-thumb joystick for movement, right-thumb look pad for the camera, on-screen buttons for jump, sneak, attack and use. ◆ Highlights - Floating joystick and look pad with adjustable curve, sensitivity and dead zone - Auto-sprint: push the joystick to a configurable edge fraction to trigger sprint - Hotbar with two scroll modes — precise tap or relative swipe - Look pad quick-tap: attack / use in-game, left / right click in UI mode - Sub-pixel precision, haptic feedback, double-tap and tap-then-hold gesture chains - Layout editor: every widget is draggable with alignment snapping; save as profile - iOS 18 Liquid Glass design with full dark mode support - One build for iPhone and iPad, with shared layout logic ◆ Connection - Wi-Fi: phone and PC on the same LAN; Bonjour autodiscovery finds the desktop - No internet account, no telemetry, no ad SDKs ◆ What you need - A Windows 10/11 or macOS 14+ computer - The free, open-source CouchMC desktop app on that computer (download from the official site) - A legitimate copy of Minecraft Java Edition - iPhone or iPad on iOS / iPadOS 18 or later - The same Wi-Fi network for the phone and the computer The iOS client never modifies Minecraft. It forwards your touches to the desktop, which injects native keyboard and mouse events. Minecraft sees only ordinary input. ◆ Privacy CouchMC does not collect any data. No account system, no analytics, no third-party SDKs. All network traffic stays on your LAN between your phone and your own PC. The Local Network permission is used solely to discover and connect to your computer. ◆ Open source CouchMC is open source under the MIT license on GitHub. Both the desktop and the mobile client are available to read, build and audit. Minecraft® is a trademark of Mojang Synergies AB. CouchMC is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Mojang, Microsoft, or Apple. CouchMC is a third-party touch controller; all Minecraft content is rendered and executed by your own Minecraft Java Edition install on your PC. THIS IS NOT AN OFFICIAL MINECRAFT PRODUCT. NOT APPROVED BY OR ASSOCIATED WITH MOJANG OR MICROSOFT. TERMS ACCORDING TO USER GUIDELINES OF MINECRAFT AT https://www.minecraft.net/en-us/usage-guidelines

About

Palmote

Features
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Turn your iPhone or iPad into a trackpad, keyboard and customizable controller for your Mac. TRACKPAD Move the pointer, tap, scroll with two fingers and drag with a long press. Dedicated left, middle and right mouse buttons and common shortcuts stay within reach. KEYBOARD Send text and use modifier keys, arrow keys and shortcuts. Bluetooth typing uses a US keyboard layout: select the ABC input source on your Mac. Chinese, Japanese and other Unicode text are supported through the optional Mac receiver over your local network. GAME CONTROLS Use dual sticks, a directional pad, ABXY and shoulder buttons. Customize keyboard mappings, dead zone and sensitivity, and enable motion aiming on supported devices. Keyboard-and-mouse mapping works with games that accept those inputs. The controller interface sends keyboard and mouse input, including configurable mouse buttons. It does not register as a native gamepad or provide analog movement. Games continue to show keyboard and mouse prompts. TWO CONNECTION OPTIONS Bluetooth direct connection uses the Mac's built-in Bluetooth input support without a Mac receiver. Keep Palmote open in the foreground and your Mac awake. You can search for your Mac inside Palmote when the phone does not appear in macOS Bluetooth settings. Discovery and initial pairing depend on the devices and existing pairing state. Local network mode requires the Palmote Mac receiver and a six-digit pairing code. It uses an encrypted connection on your trusted local network. No account, advertising or cloud service is required. Available in English, Simplified Chinese and Japanese.

Screenshots

CouchMC4 screens
Palmote3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is device support: Palmote at 3 against CouchMC's 1. Palmote also leads on iOS requirement (15.0 vs 18.0). On price, 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

Scorecard2 real differences · 4 level
CouchMC versus Palmote: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCouchMCPalmote
PriceFreeFree
Update frequency—Every 3 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS18.015.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size3 MB2 MB
Age rating9+4+
Developer翀宇 张zehao li

In-app purchases

None

CouchMC

No in-app purchases

None

Palmote

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is CouchMC free?
CouchMC is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Palmote free?
Palmote is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do CouchMC or Palmote have ads?
Neither CouchMC nor Palmote shows ads.

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