# peetzweg/opendisplay

Free, open-source Sidecar/Duet alternative — use your iPhone or iPad as a true second monitor for your Mac over USB or WiFi. Low latency H.264, Retina HiDPI, touch input.

Repository: https://github.com/peetzweg/opendisplay
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/opendisplay
Homepage: https://opendisplay.app
Language: Swift
License: GPL-3.0
License Family: copyleft
Topics: duet-display, external-display, ipad, iphone, macos, screen-extension, screencapturekit, second-monitor, sidecar, swift, videotoolbox, virtual-display
Last push: 2026-08-26T13:58:07+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 80/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 98, longevity 6
- inputs: {"age_days": 84, "days_push": 7, "days_rel": 13, "gap_med": 0, "n_releases_24m": 38}
- flags: young
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 2543, forks 184 (observed 2026-08-28T04:06:58.523806+00:00)

## What it is
OpenDisplay is a free, open-source pair of apps that turn an iPhone or iPad into a true extended second monitor for a Mac over USB or WiFi. It streams a virtual display with low-latency hardware H.264 encoding and supports Retina HiDPI, touch, scroll, and Apple Pencil input.

## Use cases
- use iphone as second monitor for mac
- use ipad as extended display over usb
- free sidecar alternative without same apple id
- replace duet display subscription
- add a touchscreen monitor to macos
- extend mac display over wifi to ipad
- portrait vertical second screen for mac

## When to choose
- you want a free, no-subscription, no-dongle second display for your Mac
- Sidecar fails because of Apple ID or hardware restrictions, or you want iPhone support
- you need USB-wired low latency or touch input on macOS
- you value self-hosted privacy with no accounts or cloud servers

## When to avoid
- you need Windows, Linux, or Android device support
- you require production-grade reliability or enterprise support
- you need mirroring-only workflows better served by built-in AirPlay
- you need Apple Pencil features on iOS versions below the supported range

## Facets
- artifact type: application
- maturity: active
- function: video-processing, gui, developer-tools
- domain: apple-ecosystem, cross-platform, developer-tools
- platform: -
- tags: second-monitor, sidecar-alternative, duet-display-alternative, virtual-display, h264-streaming, touch-input, hidpi, usbmuxd, bonjour, screen-capture, macos, ios, swift

## Member repositories
- peetzweg/opendisplay (main) score 80

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:06:58.523806+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T02:25:05.899745+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/peetzweg/opendisplay (fetched 2026-08-28T04:06:58.523806+00:00, sha 80bdfe87b9d3)
  - homepage: https://opendisplay.app (fetched 2026-08-29T10:07:02.298341+00:00, sha f5097575339e)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.