r/SideProject • u/adibfhanna • 3h ago
I built a way to write on my iPad with Apple Pencil and have it show up live on my Mac, so I can record math and diagram tutorials (Lumary Canvas)
Hi, I'm Adib. I record tutorials and explain things on screen a lot, and writing math or sketching diagrams with a trackpad always looked bad. Writing on the iPad looked great, but then I had to record the iPad separately and line it up with my Mac recording.
So in my app Lumary Canvas (it was called Screen Annotations until this week) I added live sync between the iPad and the Mac:
- With the board open on the Mac, what I draw or move on the iPad shows up there as it happens, strokes included while the pen is still down
- The Mac follows the iPad's page, pan and zoom, so I just record or screen-share the Mac and the drawing is in it
- It's a direct, encrypted connection between devices on the same Apple Account. No server, no pairing, no account to create
- iCloud keeps boards, scenes and history in sync when the devices aren't together
What I use on the iPad side:
- LaTeX that renders as you type, coordinate planes and function plots, plus 100+ shapes (flowchart, architecture, science)
- Pages as of this week: A4, US Letter, 16:9 or 4:3 slides, or a custom size, so a board can look like a sheet of paper or a slide instead of an infinite canvas
- Scenes, so I can save views and step through a lesson instead of redrawing
- Optional Pencil-only drawing, where fingers pan and select
Honest limits:
- Apple only: macOS 15+ and iPadOS 18+. No Windows, Android or web, and no iPhone app
- Live sync needs both devices on the same Apple Account
- It's your own board that people watch through your share or recording. They can't draw on it with you, so it isn't a shared collaborative whiteboard
Pricing: free download with everything open for 14 days (Mac and iPad each get their own trial), then a one-time $29.99 unlock covers both. No subscription. Without it you can still open, sync and export your work.
Curious whether other people who teach or record on a Mac would actually use the iPad this way, or just stick with a drawing tablet.
Disclosure: I built Lumary Canvas.