Comparison

TouchNow Remote vs V

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

Head to head
About

TouchNow Remote

Features
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Stream your Mac to your iPhone or iPad and control it with touch — play Mac games, work remotely, or fix a family member's computer. A FULL MACBOOK KEYBOARD Esc, F1–F12, arrow keys, āŒ˜āŒ„āŒƒā‡§ combinations and caps lock. The iOS keyboard can't send a single one of these, and they're exactly what you need when driving a Mac. Modifiers are sticky, so combos work one-handed. THREE CONTROL MODES • Game mode: fully customizable virtual gamepad + physical controller support • Trackpad mode: the whole screen becomes a precise trackpad, with a cursor loupe • Direct touch: tap exactly where you want, zero learning curve BUILT FOR PLAY • Peer-to-peer direct connection; median network round-trip time (RTT) about 8 ms on 5 GHz Wi-Fi • 1080p 60fps streaming, HEVC encoding, adaptive jitter buffer • Auto-reconnect, keys never get stuck, controllers switch in automatically MORE • An illustrated guide on first launch, reopenable any time from Settings • Single-app window streaming: put just one Mac window on your phone while the Mac screen carries on • Use your iPhone or iPad as a second display for your Mac — and touch it • Picture in Picture + Live Activity on the Lock Screen • Clipboard sync, audio streaming, Wake-on-LAN, multi-display switching PRIVATE BY DESIGN • End-to-end encrypted: peer-to-peer when possible, relayed only when a direct connection is impossible — and the relay cannot see your screen • QR / PIN encrypted pairing, end-to-end encryption, allowlist-only connections • While being controlled, the Mac shows a persistent red banner and keeps a full connection history • No account, no tracking, no cloud recording PRICING Everything is free forever on your local network (same Wi-Fi). The only paid item is the Remote Access subscription (monthly or yearly), needed only when you're away and want to reach your Mac. Features that are free today will never move behind the paywall. GETTING STARTED The Mac you want to control needs the free TouchNow Host (macOS 13 or later), from touchmac.app — it is not on the Mac App Store. Install it, scan the QR code once, and you're paired. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

V

Features
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V-Pad turns your iPhone into a game controller for the computer in front of you. Twin analog sticks, a D-pad, four face buttons, shoulders and analog triggers — on a layout you can rearrange, resize and recolour until it fits your thumbs. BEFORE YOU START V-Pad needs a small free program running on your computer: V-Pad Helper, for Windows and macOS, from vpadcontroller.com. Your phone reaches it over your own Wi-Fi — both devices on the same network, nothing in the cloud, no account, no sign-in. Why not Bluetooth? iOS does not let a third-party app present itself as a Bluetooth gamepad. That is a platform rule, not a missing feature, and it is why every iPhone app in this category ships a desktop companion. ON WINDOWS The helper creates a real virtual Xbox 360 controller. Games and Steam see an ordinary XInput pad — no key mapping, sticks and triggers stay analog. ON macOS Apple grants no third-party app a virtual gamepad, so the pad is mapped to keyboard and mouse instead: left stick to WASD, D-pad to the arrows, right stick to the mouse, triggers to clicks. Games that insist on a real controller will not find one on a Mac. 22 LAYOUTS, READY TO PLAY Classic, Pro, Edge and Compact for the shape of your hands. Football, Tactical and Sci-Fi for the kind of game. Crimson Dragon and Gold Dragon for their own illustrated worlds. Plus a metal and neon set: Chrome, Gold, Rose Gold, Gunmetal, Obsidian, Sapphire, Emerald, Copper, Volt, Neon, Plasma, Circuit, Prism. MAKE IT YOURS Drag any control where you want it. Pinch to resize. Change its colour and shape. Pick a backdrop for the app and a separate surface for the pad. Save your own layouts and open them straight from the home grid. SHORTCUTS Bind a sequence of presses to a single control, with the timing recorded as you tap — up to five seconds per shortcut. One thumb, several inputs. TILT TO STEER Racing Gyro turns the phone itself into a wheel: hold it in landscape and tilt. It drives the left stick, so any game that steers with a stick steers with your hands. VOLUME KEYS AS BUTTONS Assign the physical volume keys to gamepad buttons. They only act as buttons on the gamepad screen and behave normally everywhere else. TUNE THE FEEL Stick deadzone and response curve. Haptics set per group — face buttons, shoulders, triggers, system buttons, D-pad, sticks — each with its own strength. Triggers as analog drags or single presses. Press glow on or off. TWELVE LANGUAGES English, Turkish, German, Spanish, French, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Chinese and Arabic. FREE, WITH ONE OPTIONAL PURCHASE Every layout and every setting is free, with ads. V-Pad Premium is a single one-time purchase — not a subscription, nothing recurring: it removes every ad and unlocks saving your own custom layouts. Privacy: no accounts, no servers of ours, and nothing you do in the app is reported back to us. Full policy at vpadcontroller.com/privacy.

Screenshots

TouchNow Remote4 screens
V4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: TouchNow Remote at none against V's shown. TouchNow Remote also leads on update cadence (every 2 days vs every 5 days). On price, in-app purchases, device support and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.

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

CostPrice Ā· In-app purchases Ā· Ads Ā· Monetization

Both are free to download. TouchNow Remote sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month and V sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

TouchNow Remote ships an update every 2 days, V every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on September 24, 2026 and September 10, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences Ā· 4 level
TouchNow Remote versus V: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterTouchNow RemoteV
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 2 days — betterEvery 5 days
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.015.0
Further details — not scored
Size22 MB41 MB
Age rating4+9+
DeveloperPo hin MaSAMET VOLKAN CAVUSOGLU

In-app purchases

2 purchases

TouchNow Remote

Subscriptions2
  • é ē«Æé€£ē·š$2.991 Month
  • é ē«Æé€£ē·š$19.991 Year
1 purchases

V

One-time1
  • V-Pad Premium Lifetime$4.99

Questions

Is TouchNow Remote free?
TouchNow Remote is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is V free?
V is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do TouchNow Remote or V have ads?
V shows ads; TouchNow Remote does not.
Which is updated more often, TouchNow Remote or V?
TouchNow Remote ships an update every 2 days, and V every 5 days. Most recently, TouchNow Remote was updated on September 24, 2026 and V on September 10, 2026.

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