Using Peer-to-Peer in Astropad Studio

What is Peer-to-Peer?

Peer-to-Peer is a connection method that lets your devices talk directly to each other, without needing a router or external network. It's different from a regular Wi-Fi connection, where devices must go through your home or office router to communicate.

Peer-to-Peer diagram

In a typical Wi-Fi setup, the router is the middleman between your Mac and iPad. But that can introduce problems like interference, slow speeds, and lag. Peer-to-Peer skips the router and lets your devices connect directly for faster and more stable performance.

Wi-Fi connection diagram

Peer-to-Peer requirements

Peer-to-Peer is available in Astropad Studio 5.3 or later. It currently works only in Mac-to-iPad mode.

Mac: macOS 10.15 or later
iPad: iPadOS 13 or later

How to use Peer-to-Peer

Ensure that Wi-Fi is enabled on both your Mac and iPad. Even though Peer-to-Peer doesn’t use your local network, the Wi-Fi antenna is still required for the connection to work.

There are two places you can choose Peer-to-Peer before connecting:

On the iPad Astropad Studio app, tap the network preferences in the top left corner of the discovery screen. Choose Peer-to-Peer. If your devices aren’t compatible, the option will be grayed out. This section will show your wireless connection options (wired connection options are not available in this section).

iPad peer-to-peer option

On the Mac Astropad Studio app, click on "Connection Options" in the top right of the discovery screen. Choose Peer-to-Peer. Again, if your devices don’t support it, the option will be grayed out.

Mac peer-to-peer connection option

How to change your connection type while already connected

On the iPad, open the sidebar in Astropad Studio. Tap the connection button and switch between Wi-Fi or Peer-to-Peer.

iPad connection toggle

On the Mac, click on the "Connection" dropdown in the Luna menu (also called Stargate). Choose your preferred method there.

Mac connection menu

If you're still seeing slow performance or Peer-to-Peer is grayed out, double-check that both devices meet the requirements and that Wi-Fi is turned on. If the option still doesn’t appear, try restarting both devices or switching USB ports.

Peer-to-Peer is often the fastest and most reliable wireless method when it works, especially in environments with busy Wi-Fi networks or lots of interference. Give it a try if you're looking to improve latency or avoid using your router.