Duet Display Reviews

by Anon565ut

This is a pretty useful app all things considered, being able to add on another monitor at a moments notice is pretty nice and it works great for programming. There’s minor bugs with scaling in windows but that’s more to do with windows than DuetDisplay. The real issues are the subscriptions and performance. The subscription cost is not at all justified given the upfront price of DuetDisplay . I made the mistake of assuming that a 15 dollar app would be good to go out of the box, but oh boy was I wrong. 15 dollars is already pretty steep but asking for 20 to 30 dollars on top of that just to fix latency with the pencil is exorbitant. The other problem is that performance is just bad. Forget running the iPad Pro at it’s native resolution and don’t even think about 120FPS. With pretty good hardware (i7 and a GTX 1050ti) there was significant lag just moving windows around the display. I’m well aware that a 1050ti is not the cream of the crop when it comes to GPUs, but it can easily push 4K in non GPU intensive workloads and should have no problem with the 11 inch pro display. These performance sacrifices would be fine if this was a 5 dollar app, but for what they’re asking I’m no longer will to settle and make sacrifices, if you’re going to charge for a premium service than I expect to receive a premium service.

by Whogben

This time it was with an update to the windows Duet app. I run my windows machine headless, using duet and an iPad pro to operate it. It's always been buggy, duet often can't send input right away on restart etc - but fiddling rebooting and relaunching DuetDisplay all eventually get you in.

Now, duet on Windows says it has an update - I think hurrah, maybe they fixed the bugs. It updates, disconnects, and now won't reconnect. I have my computer completely inaccessible to me because the chuckleheads who charge so much money for DuetDisplay didn't bother to test what their update would do to someone using duet. So what now - I have to buy or borrow a monitor bring it to my house and set it up just to troubleshoot DuetDisplay again!

The pantone thinking they'll use duet in any kind of a reliability needed situation I'd watch out. It seems the developers only intend it to be a secondary display and are either not supporting it as a primary display or are actively trying to prevent it with this new update. Either way, I feel betrayed and am really in trouble now, that the new version prevents automatic connection, and my computer is stuck and useless ok n the day I need it. Thanks guys' hope others who read this won't try to use duet for anything serious.

by Dyln S

After paying for Pro subscription to utilize my ipad with Mudbox and Photoshop, two GPU intensive pieces of software that DuetDisplay is perfect for, I found that it was an amazing addition to my toolkit. Finally I could link my ipad to my pc and draw directly in my apps. Then I tried to load a game on steam and it loaded to a fully black screen. I tried another, same problem. It took me a week to figure out it was Duet Display on Windows 10. So I realized I had to either choose my multihundred dollar steam collection or a 20 dollar app.

I emailed Duet to see if they could refund me and if they knew about the problem. Apparently they are aware that 1000 series Nvidia GPU’s have issues with Duet. You know, the newest most powerful GPU’s you might use for 3D modeling, photoshop and that kind of thing. They apparently aren’t in charge of the subscription for their own product. Meaning that they can take my 20 additional dollars on top of DuetDisplay , but that they can’t refund me when their product literally breaks a major component of my PC.

I am livid, please wait on buying this if you have a PC with a 1000 series Nvidia GPU. Don’t get scammed. Also, Apple, figure out how to let companies refund users if their app subscription causes this kind of problem. This is ridiculous.

by CHlwous07$

I use a windows 10 laptop along with an iPad Air 2. I’ve had issues with duet display disconnecting frequently while watching videos or surfing the web while using DuetDisplay, but I just assumed that was due to my slow laptop.

Fast forward to early Nov 2017, I got a new laptop with top of the line specs. It worked fine for a few days and then my laptop automatically installed the Creators update. After that, DuetDisplay just got stuck in “Launching” for the longest time. I emailed tech support and they had me do all these silly things, and after all that they told me, “oh by the way, unfortunately our app is having some issues with the Creators update and so it won’t run right now. We are expecting a fix in a week.”

First off, shouldn’t that have been the first thing to ask me instead of having me waste my time collecting “analytics” for DuetDisplay ? And then, to make matters worse, it has been over 2 weeks since the rep told me the fix would roll out in a week. I looked up when the Creators update was first released, and it has been almost 2 months! Does this mean that their engineers have been working diligently for 2 months on this and they still don’t have a fix? Either they are really incompetent or they just don’t care about their Windows 10 customers. Until they become more responsive with their Windows 10 updates, I would stay away from DuetDisplay, for those of you not using an apple computer.

by Bcamole

I have an iPad Pro 10.5 and when matched with my 27" iMac, the screen size and resolution on my iPad makes the interface so small as to be nearly useless. I can see how DuetDisplay's pro version would be useful when matching a 12" iPad Pro model with a MacBook given the relative similarities in size. I was hopeful that I would be able to use my iPad Pro and Pencil as a suitable tablet substitute with my iMac but that doesn't seem to be the case. Also, given the relative high horsepower of both my iMac and my iPad, there seems to be a significant amount of lag which makes interactions a bit too problematic. There's far more lag than one would expect using devices that have as much processing horsepower as both of these devices have especially with a direct USB connection.

Update: Having just tried to use the Pro version, the screen size issue remains. While it is possible to pinch-zoom on the drawing in SketchBook, the tool panes remain tiny unlike Astropad, which not only zooms the drawing, it also zooms the tool panes as well. There is very significant and problematic lag as well. Gesture inputs from the iPad result in late and very jerky responses in my iMac. Given that this is a wired connection, the lag issue is inexcusable. In short, DuetDisplay needs a great deal of work and improvement.

by Xcfuwdjewceuwo

I would first like to say I’ve been using Duet in my workflow for over a year now with both an iPad Air 2 and 4. I really enjoy the functionality that Duet offers, however the entire setup process is to say the least inconsistent and buggy. I’m dexterous enough with technology to be able to remedy the problem after resetting connections and resetting computers, but for when there is free or cheaper options that come without these bugs, it’s hard to continue to recommend DuetDisplay .
Another portion of my dissatisfaction is with the update rollouts. I use duet for PC connections, and finding the choppy and unrefined Windows program while updates for the program come out every few days or weeks is honestly saddening. DuetDisplay on mobile devices also is unsupported, not having received an update in over 7 months and carrying the same bugs since the last update.
Other than the complaints stated above, I do want to say that the Duet Support Team is one of the best Support Teams out there, and a big reason I’m sharing this review is because I believe that Duet cares about their app and wants to refine it as much as possible. If any Duet Representatives read this, I hope this facilitates some updates and appearance changes for a better app and a better community experience. Thank you for providing this service and for your care to your customers.
(My 1 Star Review is to only get the attention of the Duet Crew)
3/5

by HiltsBilt

I use this program with my iPad and HP Zbook workstation. I’m a graphic designer and love using my pen for everything. However the pen that came with the Zbook has wavy lines, so i wanted something more stable, in steps the iPad. My iPad combined with Duet makes it possible to use the Adobe apps that I need to and still use my pen. There is not a lot of lag at all when drawing and using the pen. I have used it in Photoshop, Indesign and Illustrator with no problems. I still need to test a few other adobe apps. The reason for the 4 stars is that in order for me to do this I had to also tack on the pro version, and this whole pay $30 a year or month crap with everything now days is very draining. Between the full adobe suite and everything else I need for my job alone its a big drain on my money (I make less then 40k a year atm). All and all I do like DuetDisplay just don’t like the extra pay it cost, but when I get my MacBook for school (going back so I can have more opportunities) and the new screen Share thing it has, the “what the hell ever its called”. I’ll probably dump this when that works well enough.

by Joesuperzoo

Now that it is working I think it is a fairly smooth app that will help make my life a little easier when I’m not at home. At home I use a dual monitor setup with both screens at 1080p at 60 Hz with no lag at all. I have been disappointed that I don’t get this same result when I am using duet.

The biggest issue I had with DuetDisplay is that it didn’t work at all at first. The Mac app was completely non functional and doing some things I’d never seen another app do. I couldn’t close DuetDisplay or click anything on it. In my task manager it didn’t show DuetDisplay running but I couldn’t delete it because it was open. All of this was very confusing and frustrating so I contacted duet and they were extremely helpful. The person I talked to couldn’t answer all of my questions so she talked to DuetDisplay developers and after following their directions I got it working.

So far I’m happier with the customer service than I am DuetDisplay and I’m alright with that. It’s for sure worth the $10.

by Ferebeechan

After uninstalling and missing a few updates, I thought I might reconsider using the Duet Display Pro app to assist with a few current projects. Replacing my Wacom tablet was not a viable option for me due to budget constraints. I have to admit I was quite surprised to see how much the Duet Display Pro app had improved as far as functionality. Previously the pressure sensitivity was not stable enough for my needs and it felt clunky, very slow and cumbersome. Now it is as smooth as silk. The pressure sensitivity is very on point as well. Since I am using the pro version, it also allows me to connect to the desktop wirelessly. So now when I need to work with certain animation and drawing applications, I don’t need to be chained to my desktop computer. Although it is still not as responsive as I would like regarding speed, considering that I can work in a mobile capacity, have accurate pressure response and I don’t have to fork out 2k+ for another Wacom, this suits me just fine.
Looking forward to what future updates will bring to the table.
I high recommend purchasing the Duet Display Pro app.

by Chuteoga

First time i write a review on App Store because i was amazed by the Duet support team.
DuetDisplay worked very well with my iPad 4, which is so obsolete right now it can’t run any other app smoothly. The iPhone screen is quite small to be used as 2nd monitor so i passed on that.
So everything is fine as i expected, up until about recently i get stuck at “Launching Duet ...” screen. As a normal human being, i tried FAQs, Google to find answers but there is no working solution. So as a last resort i turned to support, got an automatic reply email and went to bed. The day after that, i found out that they replied literally 5 minutes after that with a few questions and a solution. That didn’t work right away but that just make me wished i asked them sooner. They kept providing me solutions after solutions, we exchanged emails for a week trying everything, they rotate 3 people in to help on my issue. The team is very polite, specifically pointed out every step along the way, never loose patient and always reply within the hour. After all it was a dumb mistake on my part, so everything is working normal again.
I have to say i worked with many support teams about many issues including Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Steam, and dozens of app and game developers. This is hands down the best experienced i had working with any team. DuetDisplay maybe not the best but the team is perfect, and they keep improving with each update.

by Donna Duels

I got DuetDisplay hoping to use my iPad Pro as a second monitor for my PC computer. After installation it worked like a jiffy, and not only was it a second screen I could use the touch screen of the iPad to navigate in web browsers, pc file explorer, etc.

I then encountered my first issue: when using the software Ableton Live 10 the touch feature stopped working. I reached out to the support team and asked them if they could help me resolve this issue because I knew from the introductory video on their website that the touch features of Ableton live should be working. They responded back in the matter of minutes (on a Sunday!). We went back and forth for a while and it became evident that I had somewhat of a unique problem so they decided to forward my info to the dev team for testing. About 2 days later they came back with a solution that worked (I was running Ableton live as an administrator - this function needed to be turned off).

Duet Display is a fantastic app that allows me to use my iPad Pro like a pc, while also being able to switch to iPad apps fluently. I can use the Live 10 software in a whole new way. This team is here to stay. I am very impressed by my whole experience with DuetDisplay/team. Definitely worth the $10 download price. Shout out to Sergio from Support!!

by BCwrite

When my decade old Apple Cinema Display finally lit its last pixel, I thought about buying another external display for my MacBook Pro, which was a year too old to run Apple’s Sidecar. Then I remembered Duet Display. I hooked up my iPad Pro to it, and decided that I don’t need to clutter my desk with a new display after all. I’m a writer and don’t need more than two decent sized screens: one for source/reference material (which I put in Duet), the other for the document I’m writing (which goes on my MacBook screen). Duet and my Macbook give me all the space I need, while still allowing me to cut and paste etc. between documents, websites and emails. And when something went wrong with a recent update, I emailed the help address and got it all sorted in a couple days. (The old version still worked, I just couldnt install the update, so I was able to keep using DuetDisplay .) I definitely recommend it to anyone who needs more screen space and has an iPad and a Mac but doesn’t necessarily require 20+ more inches of display.

by Wizard Cleave

This is legit the best app. As an artist I was trying to figure out which drawing tablet I wanted to invest in. Upon hours and hours of research I couldn’t find one in my price range that has a screen, could be portable and also works with my PC. I ended up purchasing a new 2018 IPad Pro and a second generation Apple Pencil. Upon my purchase I installed DuetDisplay immediately. With the pro version of DuetDisplay plus a USB cord I was able to connect my PC (not Mac) to my iPad. While displaying my PC screen to my IPad I’m able to use everyday programs like photoshop and illustrator with absolutely no lag. I can sketch, edit, vector and touch up my work with ease and no gloves are needed like a lot of other drawing tablets. DuetDisplay also has a remote wireless feature that does have a little bit of lag but allows me to work around my house if I need. I rarely ever write reviews but DuetDisplay has helped me out so much I wanted to leave my two cents hoping to help out other artist who are in a similar situation. Duet Display deserves 5 stars hands down and has been nothing but an enjoyable experience!!!

by Mike Lucich

As a musician, I wanted something that I could slide the chord window, or the lyrics window (or both) to my iPad wirelessly from my laptop, so musicians or singers could use it when sitting in at one of my gigs. This works perfectly for that purpose. I also use it at home as a dual monitor for other things. At first I had trouble connecting, but a couple of emails back and forth to support and I was up and running. It turned out my anti-virus software was interfering with the installation to the laptop. Once I turned it off and reinstalled the program it had no problem connecting from my iPad. The company seems committed to improving their product, so I feel confident in my purchase. For my own situation, I also purchased a portable wireless router that I can use as a home network when away from home so I don’t have to rely on the house connection at a gig, if they even have one. I don’t need internet to run this software, once installed, just a wireless network. I can also hardwire the iPad directly to the laptop.

by Bmuns81

I purchased an Asus mobile monitor with USB c type as all I wanted was another monitor that I could use to compliment my Acer PC laptop. When I got the Asus, I also discovered Duet and was able to use my 12” iPad Pro. For a second, I thought to use the Asus and ipad as a 3 screen, but the two drivers were not working well with each other. I compared the two because it seemed only one of the two would work at the same time. In general, the ipad has a better resolution although it looks slightly grainier. The Asus had worse resolution than the iPad, however, which was extremely limiting with using the web browsers or file explorer.

Overall, the stability of Duet was better than the dedicated mobile monitor. Not only that, but I discovered that not only is your ipad a mobile monitor, but the monitor is also touch screen (even though my PC is not). This was really a cool bonus and a deal breaker on which one would stay or go.

IF you have an iPad, save the money on an external mobile display and go this route. Save your money for a mesh WiFi system... :-)

by JBossart

I have a 2012 version Mac Mini, the last version that permitted hardware customization. I’m running it with 16 GB RAM and two drives, one an SSD; all after market add-ons. It’s connected to two 1920x1200 monitors. There are times that I would like to have a third monitor, but that’s not an option. Believe me, I have researched it.

Duet Display has provided the 3rd monitor solution, with my iPad Air 2. I regularly research and write. With Word in one window and Excel in another, it’s nice to have access to Safari to check things. It took 5 minutes to set up the location of the iPad screen, by default it was between the two monitors, and set the iPad’s resolution. It was important to set the proper resolution, enough to match 1920x1200 monitors so that I could drag applications to the iPad, but still large enough to be legible.

I’m totally delighted with the results. I was not interested in upgrading to a newer Mac Mini, or iMac, because of the cost and the customization limitations. I also prefer discrete monitors rather than creating windows in a high resolution monitor. It’s more comfortable working with two 24” 1920x1200 monitors than even a 27” 5K monitor.

by Mr.Monkey501

I was hoping sidecar would be amazing for the general use case of having a second display, but it turns out the initial press release so showing it would work with mid 2015 Macbook pro was wrong, so after updating Mac is to Catalina I had to update the duet app on the computer (which was already in existence this early, many tech companies don't immediately support newer operating systems) and I was pleasantly surprised to find the graphics were even better then before! Kudos to duet for keeping up and supporting older devices that Apple cant support for hardware reasons, Duet is still supporting with software and there aren't any delays or latency and the graphics are on point now (it was a little fuzzy when they were doing workarounds from previous Apple software updates).
The only thing is the updates on the computer side are not automatic and when you click on check for updates in the application, it shows up to date, but the website has an updated version.

Had a brief issue with the touch not working, and sent an email to Duet to try and resolve it and had a response which fixed the issue in less than five minutes. I challenge you to find anywhere with that kind of response time

by Txay571

I recently got a new MacBook Air and I have a old iPad laying around. I searched online and found out about duet. I liked the idea of being able to use the iPad as a second monitor because it is also portable and battery powered. I downloaded DuetDisplay and the laptop program and I was excited to get started.

The program was a little more complex to get installed on the computer than just downloading and going. The instructions were very good though so I didn’t have any issues. I have to be honest I was a little frustrated because the program didn’t work at first. I have a laptop with the M1 chip and apparently it wasn’t supported yet. I assumed this might be the case so I reached out to tech support. They knew exactly what I was talking about and told me I would have to wait because it was still in development. The very next day they sent me a beta version to see if the M1 update worked and I have been very happy since then. It’s nice to have a tech department that is upfront and honest. They have been great to work with and the program itself works great. I now have a use for my old iPad instead of throwing it away!

I will be considering duet for more uses going forward after my first experience for sure.

by JoeHflorida

I have the new Apple MacBook Pro M1. Many programs have not yet been updated to the new architecture. Understandable, but no less inconvenient. I rely on my iPad (5th gen) as my second display, so I sent an email to Duet support inquiring about when I might expect an update. Was surprised to promptly receive a reply that they were working trying to figure out the new hardware. Fast forward to tonight - I receive an email from support with specific detailed info on deleting the old and a link to a new version compatible with the M1. Receiving a follow up email from a developer was a surprise in itself, however, loading the new version and finding it worked was an even greater surprise - I had my iPad as second display again! Now for the bonus surprise...I have read that the M1 only supports one external display and I have been using a 24" external display until I got my iPad display working again so I opened display prefs and found three monitors. I now have my Pro, one 24" external and the iPad display, nice. And with the iPad wirelessly connected, I have an even better setup than before. Am I happy? You bet - happy and impressed with Duet. Once again I can take my new M1 and iPad as my second monitor wherever I go. Duet support is to be commended.

by Vle13

Do I got a story for this review! So my cat knocked my MacBook off my bed, my mac slammed shut and I was freaking out when I opened it! I couldn’t see anything on my display! It was lit up but it was black. My keyboard was lit up and I can hear my music still going, so I know my Mac works just can’t see anything! And I was working on my midterm paper which was due in 2 hrs!! My boyfriend gave me the idea to plug my Mac into my TV as a monitor and it worked! I finished my midterm paper, but using the tv as a monitor wasn’t the best option. I have an iPad Pro, so I looked into seeing if I could use that to mirror off my Mac. That’s when I found DuetDisplay!!!! The holy grail! It does everything it claims! I connect my Mac to my iPad and I can do everything! No lag either and it’s clear! My favorite part is that I can use my Apple Pencil on the iPad to move things around on my Mac! This is my first and probably only review I will ever write for any app! It saved my life and gave me a peace of mind that I can still use my Mac. Once I get my Mac fixed, I’ll definitely still use DuetDisplay! 500% recommended!!! Whoever developed DuetDisplay, you the real MVP!

by Crypto Kite

I bought Duet to use my iPad as a small second screen for when I’m running Microsoft Flight Simulator X (FSX) on my computer. FSX ran perfectly before installing the Duet Windows program, which is necessary to work in concert with this Duet app during connection. After installing Duet, FSX now refuses to load citing a “failure to meet minimum shader support requirements”. If I deinstall the Duet software, then FSX works perfectly again. I’ve put in a help request to see if they can resolve it. If they can, then I’ll come back and alter my rating to a 5 star. If they can’t or won’t help then the rating drops to a 1 star since I just paid $10 for an app I’ll never be able to use for my intended purpose. It would have been nice if they had a “demo” version available of DuetDisplay so that you could ensure it would work for you before you actually buy it.

I will say, there is a lot of appeal for an app like this. I am military working overseas, so can’t simply buy and/or carry around a second monitor. However, the idea of being able to use a tablet that I’m already carrying around is excellent, if they can just get all these bugs worked out.

by B33z

The description sold me when it said that I could use my iPad as a professional drawing tablet. Had I read further I would have seen that it takes another $25 a year to do that. I understand they will have continued development costs for iOS updates, new hardware and such. I don’t think in-app purchase abilities should be listed with DuetDisplay description, for any app. Make a separate description are clearly titled “in-app purchase enables:” but that is an apple gripe on how they should re-organize App Store descriptions.
In their defense it is labeled as duet and duet pro so that should have been my first clue.
The duet app works as advertised giving my dual monitor setup a 3rd screen with touch. Duet pro has a 1 week free trial so I guess I will see how that works.
Edit: Does not work as a graphics tablet with photoshop and Apple Pencil. First off you drag the whole photoshop window to the iPad “monitor” then work in Photoshop from there. I drew as curvy line and all I got was a line from near the bottom left to where my line stopped. I erased and tried again and got nothing.
Keep working devs maybe I’ll try it again next year.

by JLP54321

Duet Display has been very useful I’ve the past year and due to connection issues with cords, I decided to try the Pro wireless version. I have tried during my free week to get it to work right but I’ve concluded that the Mojave OS is giving it issues. Unfortunately I am not seeing the upcoming charge of $20 (which is automatic) so that I can cancel it, which would be helpful to at least go back to the old version so I can use that till they fix these issues. Just be sure that after you buy the basic version, at whatever point you decide to upgrade to the Pro, that you check to make sure it works with your current OS (not much info is given when you purchase the Pro version) I have recommended DuetDisplay to friends and have been happy with it, I’m just frustrated right now with Pro

by Becool5257

I’ve been using Duet Display for over 4 years now and I can say that it’s gotten better over time as far as stability. I’ve also done beta testing in the past. Whenever I had an issue, support has done a good job at resolving each concern I had. I really like being able to extend my desktop to my iOS devices to mirror or use as a display with touch control. I’ve tried many apps with similar features. But for the price of Duet Display, none of them come close. I also enjoy the Touch Bar, which is an added bonus. I used it to control Adobe Premiere a few days ago and Ableton. Wow, I have more editing control that will allow me to use my cursor much less. I would like to suggest that Duet Display provide more demos and clearer instructions on the different types of products they have from the start. It seems to be all over the place. I contacted support and they were able to give me clarity, which was good.

by Fencer In CO

I have an older iPad 3 (first Retina display one), and this product seems to work better than I thought it would. At first, I had troubles getting it working and thought it was going to be a dud app, but after getting used to the interface and app (and turning off AirPlay for it and just having it go thru USB/30 pin), it started to grow on me as a really useful tool. The site says "lag free", so I would not go THAT far, but it's smooth enough for me to use for work to extend my little MacPro monitor with (I think the creators expect that your using it with a newer model, but it does work with older). It went all day without a single issue, and made me so much more productive while I was working at hotel. It breathes some more usefulness into my 7 year old iPad that still chugs away! One thing - my iPad didn't charge (maybe newer this isn't an issue), but all day use still left me with about 1/2 battery, which was great. Great app.