Printed Circuit Board Designer vs PCB Studio Maker

Turn your iPhone or iPad into a complete printed-circuit-board workbench. Printed Circuit Board Designer lets you go from an idea to a fabrication-ready board without a desktop — place components, route copper across multiple layers, verify your work, and export the exact files a manufacturer needs. Whether you are wiring up your first Arduino shield or refining a production layout between meetings, the app scales to how you work. FOUR WORKSPACES • Parts Library — A searchable catalog of real components, each with a proper schematic symbol, multiple footprint choices, pin-by-pin detail, and notes on where it fits. Browse passives, MOSFETs and transistors, LEDs (including addressable WS2812B), microcontrollers like ATmega328P, RP2040, ESP32-S3 and STM32F103, plus sensors such as the BME280 and MPU-6050, op-amps, shift registers, USB-C, regulators, and tactile switches. • Board Templates — Start from a proven circuit and tweak it to taste. Pick from power supplies, an Arduino-class ATmega328P board, an RP2040 design, an H-bridge motor driver, an I2C sensor front-end, an ESP32 wireless sensor node, a WS2812B LED-strip driver, and a CP2102 USB-to-UART bridge. Set a few parameters and a starter layout appears. • AI Board Designer — Describe what you want in plain language and let an AI model draft the whole thing: chosen parts, net connections, a bill of materials, placement, and design notes. Send the result straight into the editor to refine. Works with Claude (Anthropic), GPT-4o (OpenAI), or Gemini (Google) using your own key. • CAD Editor — A full two-layer editor with placement on F.Cu and B.Cu, trace routing, and via insertion. A Lee wave-propagation autorouter with A* heuristics handles diagonal routes and drops vias automatically when a net needs to switch layers. The built-in Design Rule Check flags trace-width and clearance problems, shorts, bad via sizes, overlapping parts, and anything that runs past the board edge — before you spend money on fabrication. EXPORT THAT MANUFACTURERS ACCEPT • Gerber RS-274X — copper, silkscreen, solder mask, and drill • KiCad .kicad_pcb native format • SVG and PDF for documentation and review • JSON netlist for downstream tools • A single ZIP with the full Gerber set, ready to upload TUNED TO YOUR PROCESS Design rules are per-board and fully editable. Begin from a preset — Standard, Fine Pitch, or a JLCPCB profile — or enter your own trace width and clearance. Beginners lean on templates and the AI Board Designer; experienced engineers get the autorouter, DRC engine, and a clean Gerber pipeline. BRING YOUR OWN AI KEY The AI Board Designer uses an API key you supply for Claude, GPT-4o, or Gemini, stored only on your device. It returns structured board data — reference designators, nets, dimensions, BOM, and notes — that opens directly in the editor. Every other workspace runs fully offline with no key required. PROJECTS THAT STAY PUT Save as many projects as you like, each capturing the complete board — parts, traces, vias, nets, and rules — in a portable file. Autosave runs in the background so your work is always there when you come back. No subscription to design. No account to browse parts. Just open it and start laying out a board.

PCB Studio Maker is a modern PCB design workspace built for Mac, iPhone and iPad. Create electronic projects from schematic to finished board using a clean, focused interface designed for fast prototyping, learning and real-world hardware development. Start with your schematic, organize components and nets, sync your design with the PCB layout, route tracks, inspect connections and preview your board in 3D before preparing it for manufacturing. KEY FEATURES • Schematic Design Create and organize electronic circuits with components, pins, nets and footprints. • PCB Layout Editor Place components, route copper tracks, add vias, inspect layers and refine your board layout. • Component Library Browse common resistors, capacitors, LEDs, connectors, ICs, MOSFETs, drivers, regulators and other electronic components. • 3D Board Preview Visualize your PCB and component placement in an interactive 3D view. • Design Rule Checks Review warnings, connectivity issues and potential design problems before manufacturing. • Manufacturing Preparation Review board layers, footprints, routing and fabrication requirements before export. • Export Tools Prepare manufacturing packages, board previews, parts lists, project files and other useful design outputs. • Multi-Device Workflow Use PCB Studio Maker on Mac, iPhone and iPad and continue designing wherever you work. PCB Studio Maker is useful for: • Electronics students • Makers and hobbyists • Embedded developers • Robotics projects • IoT development • Prototype electronics • PCB experimentation • Hardware engineers Whether you are building a simple prototype, motor controller, sensor board, embedded system or custom electronics project, PCB Studio Maker gives you the tools to move from idea to physical board in one streamlined workspace. Design. Route. Preview. Manufacture. Build your next PCB with PCB Studio Maker. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ The app uses Apple's Standard Licensed Application End User License Agreement.