Duet Display vs Yam Air
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Duet Display
Transform your iPad or iPhone into an advanced, lag-free extra display for your Mac or PC. Interact with your computer using touch and gestures, and unlock professional drawing capabilities with Apple Pencil support.
- Extra display for Mac & PC
- Lag-free performance
- Touch and gesture support
- Apple Pencil integration
- Professional drawing tools
- Portable productivity
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#1 best-selling iPad app in US, Japan, UK, Germany, and 17 other countries! Duet turns your iPad or iPhone into the most advanced extra display for your Mac & PC. Developed by a team of ex-Apple engineers, Duet offers unparalleled performance and display quality - all with zero lag. — DO MORE — Be twice as productive by multitasking with two screens. And for those that travel, have a portable way to stay productive. — INCREDIBLY SIMPLE — To get started, plug your iPad into your desktop using your charging cable. The free Duet desktop app will automatically detect your device, and transform it into a high performance touchscreen display. There’s no need to worry about unreliable Wi-Fi, laggy performance, pixelated screens or managing network passwords. — TOUCHSCREEN — Interact with Mac & PC like never before, with touch & gestures, including two-finger scrolling, pan and zoom. And with our latest release, you can even add a touch bar to any iPad with any Mac. — PERFECT FOR APPLE PENCIL — With Duet Pro, you can turn your iPad and Apple Pencil into a professional graphics tablet. We’ve re-engineered our rendering algorithms for ultra-responsive drawing, optimized specifically for designers, illustrators and artists. Duet Pro also unlocks pressure & tilt sensitivity, hover, palm rejection, and more to seamlessly draw in the most powerful programs for professionals. Get precise control in Photoshop, Corel Painter, Lightroom, ToonBoom, Illustrator, Manga Studio and more. — PRESS — TechCrunch - "Feels Like Magic" TIME - "Getting Work Done Faster and More Efficiently" The Guardian - "Lag-free" Forbes - "The simple thing to note is this...Duet Display works." The Verge - "Glorious Fluidity" Lifehacker - "It's fast, easy to use, and works great" Business Insider - "Zero lag and true retina resolution” Wall Street Journal - “It’s as easy as just plugging it in" — REVIEWS — “Awesome! My iPad Pro can be an extra monitor! Cool app” ~CEO of T-Mobile, John Legere “Very smooth and responsive indeed, plus you could use the touch screen to “click” on screen interfaces!” ~Photographer, Lok Cheung “Love the ability to use my iPad as a monitor with Duet.” ~Former Chief Evangelist of Apple, Guy Kawasaki “Just started using this app called Duet… Kinda love it so far.” ~Comedian and Youtube, Phillip DeFranco “All my mac folks look at the Duet app… GREAT!” ~Actor and Comedian, Sinbad "I really like the app, I suppose the biggest compliment I can give is that it's so easy to setup it almost seems like an Apple product.” ~Early Adopter, M. Nightingale "Amazing solution for me by the way. Works as I was hoping for and actually my main reason for getting an iPad : )” ~Early Adopter, M. Gemzoe Duet Works With: All iPhones and iPads with iOS 7.0 and later All Macs with 10.9 (Mavericks) and later All PCs with Windows 7 and later Duet Pro Works With: All iPad Pros with Apple Pencil All Macs with 10.9 (Mavericks) and later All PCs with Windows 8.1 and later (64 bit) Duet Pro is an optional upgrade for additional features, and price may vary by location. Duet Pro subscriptions will be charged to your credit card through your iTunes account. Your subscription will automatically renew unless canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. You will not be able to cancel the subscription once activated. Manage Duet Pro in Account Settings after the optional upgrade. Learn more at http://www.duetdisplay.com Terms: https://www.duetdisplay.com/help-center/duet-terms-and-conditions Privacy Policy: https://www.duetdisplay.com/help-center/duet-privacy-policy
Yam Air
Transform your iPad or iPhone into a wireless second display for your Mac. Connect easily via Wi-Fi or AirDrop for enhanced productivity, with touch gesture controls and virtual keyboard support. Unlock advanced features like drag and drop with an in-app purchase.
- Wireless second display
- Extend or mirror display
- Touch gesture control
- Virtual keyboard
- Drag and Drop support
- Teleprompter Mode
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# Yam Air is a wireless version of Yam Display # # On your Mac, download Yam Display host app from www.yamdisplay.com # Yam Air turns your iPad/iPhone into a wireless second display for your Mac. On your Mac, download Yam Display host app from www.yamdisplay.com for free. Yam Air will automatically connect to a nearby Mac just by turning on Wi-Fi. For devices that support AirDrop, even internet connection is not required. Handy for simple tasks such as browsing or text editing when you are out in a café or outside. You can control your Mac with touch gestures and virtual keyboard on your iPad. For multitasking enabled iPads, you can utilize every single pixel of your screen in Split View. Plus features such as Drag and Drop and Teleprompter Mode will make your workflow more efficient. The extended display with Yam Air will help you improve your productivity. Key Features: - Peer-to-peer connection - Extend Display / Mirror Display - Energy efficient for static screens - Retina display - 30 FPS / 60 FPS (optional) - Split View (iOS 9 or later) - Touch Gestures: Click / Zoom / Rotate / Scroll / Drag - Virtual Touch Bar (for Macs with macOS Sierra or later) - Hardware keyboard and Mouse paired with iPad - Virtual keyboard (launch by 3 fingers tap) Plus Features (In-App Purchase): - Drag and Drop between iPad and Mac (iOS 11 or later) - Teleprompter Mode System Requirements: - Macs released after 2012 with macOS 10.10 or later: * MacBook Air (Mid 2012 or later) * MacBook Pro (Mid 2012 or later) * MacBook (Early 2015 or later) * iMac (Late 2012 or later) * Mac mini (Late 2012 or later) * Mac Pro (Late 2013 or later) * Mac Studio (※ Other Macs can cause delay) - All iOS devices with iOS 8.0 or later (Best for devices that support AirDrop: * iPad 4G or later * iPad Air, iPad Pro, iPad mini * iPhone 5 or later * iPod Touch 5G or later ※ Other devices need to be connected to the same Wi-Fi network or bluetooth pairing) For any questions or suggestions: help@yamdisplay.com
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Duet Display at Free against Yam Air's $3.99. Duet Display also leads on rating (4.4 vs 3.9) and ratings volume (49K vs 75). Yam Air's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and review sentiment (56% vs 45%). On in-app purchases, monetization model 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
Duet Display is free to download; Yam Air costs $3.99 up front. Duet Display sells 6 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month and Yam Air sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Duet Display holds the better App Store score, 4.4 against 3.9. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Duet Display has 49K ratings behind it against 75, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 45% of Duet Display's written reviews are positive against 56% of Yam Air's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Duet Display ships an update every 3 weeks, Yam Air every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on November 3, 2026 and November 2, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Duet Display | Yam Air |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free — better | $3.99 |
| Rating | 4.4 (49K ratings) — better | 3.9 (75 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 45.5% of reviews | 55.8% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 49K — better | 75 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks — better | Every 3 months |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Vision Pro — better | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 | 8.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 59 MB | 4 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Duet, Inc. | Yamstu Inc. |
Customer experience
Duet Display
Yam Air
User reviews
Duet Display
From 49K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Works seamlessly as a second screen
- 👍 Useful for productivity and multitasking
- 🎨 Great for artists and designers
- 💻 Extends desktop to iPad
- ⭐ Excellent customer support
Room to improve
- 🐛 Connectivity issues and crashes
- 🔋 High battery consumption
- 🔒 Subscription model for full functionality
- 🔍 Confusing setup process
- 💸 Expensive for the features provided
Yam Air
From 75 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- ✨ Revives old iPads
- 💰 Affordable one-time purchase
- 🔌 Works well wired
- 🚀 Smooth performance (sometimes)
- 💡 Useful for reference/secondary screen
Room to improve
- 🐛 Frequent lag/stuttering
- ❌ Connection issues/unstable
- 🐛 Freezes/crashes often
- ⚫ Screen goes black
- 🚫 Doesn't work for some users
Bugs and requests
Duet Display
Reported bugs
3 issues- Incompatibility with certain software and drivers
- Laggy performance and input delays
- Unreliable connection and frequent disconnects
Requested features
4 requests- Improved resolution and scaling options
- Better support for older devices and Windows
- More customization and control over settings
- Wireless connectivity without subscription
Yam Air
Reported bugs
20 issues- Connection fails repeatedly
- App crashes after a few seconds
- Screen goes black, only cursor visible
- Freezes during typing or tab switching
- Screen hangs and lags
Show 15 moreShow fewer
- Horizontal mode shows black screen with only cursor
- Public Wi-Fi causes app crash
- Connection status stuck on 'connecting'
- Works only on first connection
- MacBook not starting after installation
- App blocks access after a week, demands payment again
- Mirroring only, not extended monitor
- Automatically switches to mirroring mode
- Status bar always on, creating black bars
- Connection drops after ~30 minutes
- App becomes unusable after updates
- Mac software is unstable and crashes
- Cannot clone screen with additional HDMI device
- App requests payment again after purchase
- Not compatible with updated Mac OS
Requested features
9 requests- Stream audio from MacMini
- Virtual keyboard support
- On-screen keyboard support
- Add sound playback on iPad
- Allow choosing sound output device
Show 4 moreShow fewer
- Improve horizontal mode
- Support for newer iPad Pro resolutions
- Allow iPad device control
- Support for Windows
In-app purchases
Duet Display
- Duet Starter (Monthly)$3.991 Month
- Duet Air (Monthly)7 Days trial$5.991 Month
- Duet Pro7 Days trial$7.991 Month
Show 3 moreShow fewer
- Duet Starter (Annual)$39.991 Year
- Duet Air (Annual)7 Days trial$49.991 Year
- Duet Pro (Annual)7 Days trial$79.991 Year
Yam Air
- Teleprompter ModeFree
- Drag and Drop$1.99








