Open app
Launch any app on the PC, picked from a list with real icons. Turn on If it's already open, bring it to the front and DeckPad switches to its window instead of starting a second copy.
Features
Everything DeckPad can do
Every key on your phone runs an action on your Windows PC: open apps and websites, press shortcuts, type text, control media, volume and OBS Studio. Here's the full tour, plus how the deck, the editor and the connection work.
Actions
One key, any action
Actions are grouped the way Stream Deck groups them. Pick one, fill in its settings, done.
Website
Open a web page in your default browser. Links such as mailto:, ms-settings: (Windows settings pages), steam:, spotify: and discord: work too.
File or folder
Open a document, a project folder or any file on the PC with its usual app.
Shortcut
Press a key combination: Ctrl+C, Win+Shift+S, function keys, or a shortcut only your favourite app knows. You pick it on a full on-screen PC keyboard, with an extra row for F13–F24 and media keys.
Type text
Type a saved snippet into whatever has focus: an email signature, an address, a reply you send all the time.
Media
Play or pause, next track, previous track and stop, for whatever is playing on the PC.
Volume
Volume up, volume down, mute, or jump straight to a level you choose.
System
Lock the PC, put it to sleep, show the desktop, or start a screenshot. System keys can ask first.
Folder
A key that opens a whole new set of keys, so one page can hold far more than it shows.
Switch profile
Switch to another deck: one for work, one for streaming, one for gaming. You can also switch profiles from the deck menu.
Multi-action
Several actions from one press, in order: open your apps, set the volume and start the music. A step-by-step builder for these on the phone is coming in an update.
OBS Studio
Switch scenes, start or stop streaming, start or stop recording. Details below, and the streaming guides.
New
Ask first, so a stray tap does nothing
System keys have an optional Ask first switch in the editor. With it on, the phone asks before anything happens on the PC, for example “Put the PC to sleep?” with Sleep and Cancel, or “Lock the PC?” for a Lock key.
It's on by default for Sleep, and you can turn it on or off for any system key.
Streaming
OBS Studio on a key
DeckPad controls OBS Studio through the remote control (WebSocket server) built into OBS 28 and newer. Three actions:
- Scene: switch to a scene. Pick it from the scenes OBS has right now, or type its name.
- Stream: start streaming, or stop if you're live.
- Record: start recording, or stop if you're recording.
Turn on OBS's WebSocket server
- Use OBS Studio 28 or newer. Older versions don't have the remote control built in; update from the OBS website.
- In OBS, open Tools → WebSocket Server Settings.
- Tick Enable WebSocket server and click OK. You can leave the port (4455) and password as they are.
That's it: DeckPad reads the port and password from OBS's own settings on the PC, so you never copy the password anywhere. DeckPad only talks to OBS on the same PC, and the password never goes to your phone.
If a button says OBS isn't available
DeckPad tells you what's wrong: OBS isn't open, it's older than version 28, or its WebSocket server is off. Every message and its fix is in OBS troubleshooting. If you've set the password some other way, put it in DeckPad's settings file as described in the OBS setup guide.
Streaming with Streamlabs Desktop?
The OBS actions control OBS Studio, not Streamlabs. With Streamlabs, give each scene a hotkey in Streamlabs (Settings → Hotkeys) and press it with a Shortcut key. The Streamlabs setup guide walks through it.
Pages and grids
From 6 keys to 32 a page
Choose how many keys each page has, matching the familiar Stream Deck sizes: 3×2, 4×2, 5×3 or 8×4.
- Add as many pages as you need. Swipe between them or tap the dots under the grid.
- Add page in the deck menu offers a Blank page or a ready-made Developer page.
- Switching to a smaller grid never deletes anything: buttons that no longer fit move to free keys or a new page.
- Edit deck mode: every key opens the editor, empty keys show +, and pages can be added and deleted.
For developers
For developers and multitasking
Deck menu ⋮ → Add page → Developer fills a page with your dev apps and the Windows shortcuts for managing windows and virtual desktops. App keys are matched by name against the apps on your PC.
- Apps: VS Code, Terminal (Windows Terminal, else PowerShell, else Command Prompt), Slack, Claude and Grok. Each opens the app, or brings it to the front if it's already open.
- Windows: Snap left Win+←, Task view Win+Tab, Snap right Win+→, Desktop Win+D, Screenshot Win+Shift+S.
- Virtual desktops: Previous, New and Next desktop (Win+Ctrl+←, D, →), plus Clipboard history Win+V and File Explorer Win+E.
- 8×4 decks also get Git Bash, Postman, Docker Desktop, a GitHub website key, Close desktop and Lock PC; smaller decks get the first keys that fit.
- The keys start in the plain style. Long-press any key to change it, delete it, or switch on Glow.
App not installed yet? The key still works.
Every key is always added. One whose app isn't installed opens its web version or download page and shows a small yellow download badge, then switches to the real app by itself once you install it. Long-press it to Get the app on the PC, Choose an app, or Keep the website.
Shown with Glow turned on. A new Developer page starts with plain keys; you choose which ones glow.
Editor
The button editor
Laid out like Stream Deck's: the key preview and title on the left, the action's settings in the middle, and a searchable list of actions, grouped by category, on the right. On a phone held upright the panes stack.
- 1Key preview and title, with the title on top, at the bottom or hidden
- 2The action's settings, and Test on PC
- 3Every action, searchable and grouped by category
Icons that pick themselves
A new key takes its action's icon automatically until you pick your own.
Real app icons
App buttons use the app's real icon from your PC.
Built-in symbols
Choose from a built-in set of symbols for everything else.
Glow
Switch it on for a neon edge and halo around the key, in eight colours or white. The key itself turns dark so the colour stands out.
Test before you save
Test on PC tries the action before you save it.
Saved on your PC
Your buttons are saved on the PC, with a backup each time. If you reset or replace the phone, pair again and your deck comes back.
Hotkey picker
A whole PC keyboard, on your phone
When a key runs a Shortcut, you don't type its name: you tap it out on a full on-screen PC keyboard, function row, navigation keys and all. Ctrl, Alt, Shift and Win stay held while you pick one other key, and the combination shows as you build it.
An extra row holds F13–F24 and the media and volume keys, handy for shortcuts no physical keyboard has.
Connection
USB and Bluetooth
Plug in for the fastest presses, or go wireless. Either way the phone talks straight to your PC, with nothing in between.
USB cable
A few milliseconds
The fastest way: a press reaches the PC in a few milliseconds, and the phone charges while you use it. Uses Android's USB debugging. DeckPad keeps the connection up on its own when you unplug and replug.
Bluetooth
No cable at all
No cable and no developer options. Works with a PC the phone is already paired with, over an encrypted Bluetooth connection. A little slower than USB, but still quick for button presses.
If the PC restarts or DeckPad is closed, the phone greys out its keys and reconnects by itself as soon as the PC is back. Wi-Fi isn't supported yet.
Made for old phones
Made for old phones
That phone in your drawer is a desk panel waiting to happen.
- Android 6.0 and newer. Runs on Android 6.0 and newer, so a phone you retired years ago can become a desk panel.
- Screen on, then dimmed. Keeps the screen on while the deck is open, and dims it after a while without a touch (you choose how long and how dim).
- Your way. Optional vibration on each press, and labels you can show or hide.
Security and privacy
Security and privacy, built in
Only a phone you've paired can press your PC's keys. No cloud and no account: your buttons only travel between your phone and your PC.
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Pair once, with a code on the PC
Each phone pairs once with a 6-digit code shown on the PC. Codes expire after 2 minutes, and repeated wrong codes lock pairing.
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The token is kept safe
Pairing gives the phone a token. The phone's copy is encrypted with a key held in the Android Keystore. The PC keeps only a fingerprint of it.
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Proved every time, never sent again
After pairing the token never travels again. Each time they connect, the PC and the phone both prove they hold it by answering a fresh HMAC challenge, and the PC goes first.
- Web pages open on your PC can't talk to DeckPad, even though it runs on the same machine.
- Over Bluetooth, only devices already paired with Windows can connect, over an encrypted link, and the DeckPad pairing code still applies.
- No cloud and no account. Nothing about your deck leaves your PC and your phone.
- No ads, no analytics. Read the privacy policy.
Roadmap
Not there yet
DeckPad is new. These are planned but not available today:
- PlannedConnecting over Wi-Fi.
- PlannedSwitching pages on its own when you change apps on the PC.
- PlannedA step-by-step builder for multi-actions on the phone.
- PlannedUsing your own pictures from the phone's gallery as key icons.
- PlannedDirect control of Streamlabs Desktop, with a live scene list. Today it works through hotkeys and Shortcut keys.
Ready to build your deck?
Install DeckPad on your Windows PC, get the app on your phone, plug in or pair, and press.