BetterCast

BetterCast is an open-source screen extension app that turns almost any device into a wireless extra display for your Mac or Windows PC. Think Sidecar or AirPlay Receiver — but cross-platform and built for hardware Apple no longer supports, right down to using an old 5K iMac as a Thunderbolt display.

▶ Watch the full demo on YouTube

Why BetterCast?

Every screen-extension tool picks a lane: Sidecar is iPad-only and wants both devices on the same Apple ID, OpenDisplay is Apple-to-Apple, spacedesk is Windows-to-mobile, Duet moved to a subscription, Luna needs a hardware dongle. BetterCast is the one that doesn't pick a lane: it sends from your Mac (Windows sender in beta) and receives on everything — iPhone, iPad, Android, Windows, Linux, or another Mac — with audio, multi-device, and HEVC already shipped, free and GPLv3.

¹ Sidecar requires both devices signed into the same Apple ID, and supports only recent iPad models. ² Independent community projects extend OpenDisplay with Android and iOS 12 receivers, plus a Linux/Wayland sender — not shipped by the official app, but they exist and work. "—" means not documented by the vendor at the time of writing. Spotted an error? Please open an issue — this table is meant to be fair.

If your setup is all-Apple and wired USB to an iPhone matters most, OpenDisplay (opens in a new tab) is a solid open-source choice. BetterCast is for everyone whose spare screens didn't all come from one company — see [ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.md](ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.md) for open-source projects whose ideas informed this one.

How It Works

BetterCast is a single unified Mac app that does both jobs: it can send your screen to other devices (creating a virtual display per receiver) and receive screens from other Macs in a separate window. Receivers on iOS, Windows, Linux, and Android are dedicated apps.

Each connected receiver gets its own virtual display with independent resolution, input handling, and optional audio streaming.

Features

• Multi-device — Connect multiple receivers simultaneously, each with its own virtual display
• Cross-platform input — Mouse and keyboard pass-through from any receiver back to the Mac
• Audio streaming — Optional per-device AAC-LC audio forwarding (128 kbps stereo)
• Adaptive quality — Per-link tuning: AWDL P2P runs 60 FPS at full bitrate; WiFi infrastructure runs 30 FPS at the user-selected bitrate (default 20 Mbps) with shorter keyframe intervals for faster recovery on lossy links; ADB tunnels match P2P quality