HELP CENTER · CREATIVE GUIDE

Apple Pencil with Remio.

Draw on your Mac from an iPad. Pressure, tilt, hover preview, and palm rejection — every Pencil signal forwarded to Photoshop, Procreate Dreams, ZBrush, or any pressure-aware Mac app.

Last updated 2026-05-27 4 steps · ~2 min All Pencil generations

Remio forwards every Apple Pencil signal — pressure, tilt, hover, barrel-roll on the Pencil Pro — to the Mac host as standard tablet events. Any Mac app that supports a Wacom tablet supports your iPad Pencil through Remio without extra drivers or configuration. Two minutes from unboxing the Pencil to drawing in Photoshop on your Mac.

Overview

The iPad's Pencil hardware reports pressure (4096 levels), X/Y tilt, hover distance (Pencil Pro and 2nd-gen on M-series iPad Pro), and barrel-roll (Pencil Pro only). Remio captures each event as it arrives in iPadOS and forwards it to the Mac host packaged as a tablet event. macOS sees the input as if a Wacom Intuos or Cintiq were plugged into the Mac directly.

This means no driver, no helper app, no special configuration on the Mac. Open Photoshop, pick a brush, draw — pressure works. Open ZBrush, sculpt — tilt rotates the brush. Open Procreate Dreams, hover the Pencil — the brush preview shows up before you touch the screen.

Prerequisites

  • iPad with a paired Apple Pencil (1st gen, 2nd gen, USB-C, or Pencil Pro).
  • iPadOS 18 or later — earlier versions don't expose hover or barrel-roll cleanly.
  • Mac host running Remio Host on macOS 15+.
  • Pressure-aware Mac app — Photoshop, Procreate Dreams, ZBrush, Affinity Photo, Clip Studio Paint, Krita, Sketch, etc.
  1. 01

    Pair the Apple Pencil to the iPad

    Pair the Pencil the standard way for your model. Remio doesn't add anything to this step — once iPadOS shows the Pencil as connected, Remio picks it up automatically.

    • Apple Pencil 1st gen — pop the cap, plug the Lightning end into the iPad, confirm the pair prompt.
    • Apple Pencil 2nd gen — magnetically snap to the long side of the iPad. Pair prompt appears immediately.
    • Apple Pencil USB-C — connect via the included USB-C cable (no Bluetooth pair needed; uses USB-C).
    • Apple Pencil Pro — magnetically snap to the iPad Pro M4 (M-series only). The pair prompt covers squeeze, barrel-roll, and haptic feedback settings.

    Verify the Pencil shows as connected: Settings → Apple Pencil. Battery level should appear; if it doesn't, the Pencil isn't paired correctly — try again.

  2. 02

    Enable pressure and tilt in Remio Client

    Open Remio Client on the iPad, then Settings → Pencil. Three toggles you'll find there:

    • Pressure Sensitivity — on by default. Sends 4096 pressure levels to the host.
    • Tilt — on by default. Sends X and Y tilt angles so brushes that tilt-respond (calligraphy, charcoal, airbrush) behave correctly.
    • Hover Preview — on by default. Sends hover proximity (Pencil Pro and 2nd-gen on M-series iPad Pro only) so apps show the brush cursor before you touch.

    If you don't need a specific feature (some power users prefer flat pressure for technical drawing), turning it off here drops the corresponding event from the wire. The savings are small but it removes the variable from your workflow.

  3. 03

    Connect to a Mac with a pressure-aware app

    Pair your iPad with the Mac (if you haven't already — see getting started) and connect. Open one of these pressure-aware Mac apps; each treats Remio's tablet events as native:

    • Adobe Photoshop — pressure on brushes, tilt on certain pencils, opacity and flow respond.
    • Procreate Dreams — Mac equivalent of Procreate; full pressure, tilt, hover preview.
    • ZBrush — tilt rotates the brush, pressure controls Z-intensity; sculpt natively.
    • Affinity Photo / Designer — pressure-aware brushes and vector strokes.
    • Clip Studio Paint — pressure curve, tilt for traditional-style brushes, hover preview.
    • Krita — pressure, tilt, rotation (Pencil Pro barrel-roll maps to brush rotation).
    • Sketch / Figma / Linear — pressure not relevant, but Pencil still works as a precise pointer.
    PERFORMANCE

    Pencil input adds zero noticeable latency to Remio's stream — events ride the same low-latency data channel as pointer events, well under 5 ms LAN round-trip.

  4. 04

    Test pressure with a quick stroke

    Pick a brush in your app, draw a single stroke from very light to very firm pressure. Three things to check:

    • Width — stroke should widen with pressure. If it stays flat, the app may not have pressure on for this brush; check brush settings.
    • Opacity / flow — depending on brush, opacity should respond too. Pressure-to-opacity is a common setting.
    • Smoothness — should feel like drawing on a Cintiq. If you feel discrete pressure steps (instead of smooth ramp), the brush sensitivity curve in the host app is too coarse — tune it in the app, not Remio.
    # Pencil event flow
iPad Pencil → iPadOS captures pressure/tilt/hover
Remio Client → forwards as tablet event over data channel
Remio Host (Mac) → injects as Wacom-style HID tablet event
Mac app (Photoshop/ZBrush/etc.) → receives native pressure/tilt
Total latency: ~3-5 ms on LAN

Palm rejection

Palm rejection happens at the iPadOS level, before Remio sees any events. When you rest your hand on the screen and draw with the Pencil, iPadOS identifies the palm touch and discards it. Remio only ever sees the Pencil events — palms never reach the wire, never reach the host.

This means palm rejection on the host is automatic: rest your wrist normally while drawing, exactly as you would on a Cintiq. No setting to flip, no preference to verify.

Troubleshooting

  • Pencil draws as a regular touch (no pressure) — open Settings → Pencil in Remio Client, verify Pressure Sensitivity is on. Then verify the Pencil is paired in iPad Settings → Apple Pencil (battery should show).
  • Hover preview not showing — only works on Pencil Pro and 2nd-gen Pencil on an M-series iPad Pro. Older Pencils don't have hover hardware.
  • Tilt not affecting brushes — check the host app's brush settings; many brushes don't use tilt by default. In Photoshop, look at Brush Settings → Shape Dynamics → Angle Jitter → Control: Pen Tilt.
  • Lag between Pencil and stroke appearing — confirm the connection is LAN P2P, not TURN. Open the in-session stats overlay; `conn=p2p` is what you want. Switch to 5 GHz Wi-Fi if both ends are on 2.4 GHz.
  • Pencil Pro squeeze gesture not working — squeeze gestures stay on the iPad (they trigger iPadOS shortcuts). Remio doesn't forward them to the Mac.
FREQUENTLY ASKED

Apple Pencil FAQ

Which Apple Pencil generations work with Remio?

All four — Apple Pencil 1st gen, 2nd gen, USB-C, and Pencil Pro. Each is auto-detected; pressure and tilt work on every model. Hover preview requires Pencil Pro or 2nd-gen on an iPad Pro with M-series chip.

Does pressure sensitivity actually work on the Mac host?

Yes. Remio forwards Pencil pressure (4096 levels) and tilt (X/Y axes) as standard tablet events. Photoshop, Procreate Dreams, ZBrush, Affinity Photo, Clip Studio, Krita, and any other pressure-aware Mac app reads them natively.

Can I see hover preview on the Mac?

Yes, with Pencil Pro or 2nd-gen Pencil on an M-series iPad Pro. Hover is sent as a separate event so Procreate Dreams shows the brush preview before you touch the screen, and Photoshop shows the brush outline.

What about palm rejection?

Remio passes through iPadOS's palm rejection — when iPadOS ignores a palm touch, Remio never sees it. Rest your hand on the screen normally; only the Pencil tip generates input.

Why is my Pencil drawing as a regular touch?

Most likely Pencil events are disabled in Remio Settings or the Pencil's battery is dead. Verify Settings → Pencil shows the Pencil as connected, then check battery. If still failing, unpair and re-pair the Pencil from iPad Settings → Apple Pencil.

Does it work with Procreate on the Mac?

Procreate is iPad-only; on Mac, the equivalent is Procreate Dreams. Yes, Procreate Dreams works perfectly with Remio Pencil — pressure, tilt, and hover all forward to the Mac app.