Turn an Android phone, tablet, or Samsung DeX window into a local-first command deck, trackpad, and automation surface for your Mac.
Watch the narrated 1080p feature tour.
Mac shortcuts are fast until you need the command you never remember. Codecks gives you a second-screen control surface: big command keys, a Bluetooth trackpad, and reviewable automations that stay local by default.
- Command deck and editor: run Finder, Terminal, Spaces, media, screenshot, browser, and custom Mac actions from resizable buttons.
- Trackpad: Bluetooth HID pointer controls with gestures, scrolling, haptics, rotation, fullscreen, and an optional restricted lockscreen surface.
- Keyboard: send text and explicit Enter or Command+Enter; short text can use Bluetooth while longer or Unicode text can use Mac clipboard paste.
- Clipboard bridge: manually push or pull text, or enable visible directional sync with conflict handling.
- Rules: local When / If / Then recipes with safe templates, test-before-enable, approval where required, and run history.
- Find and build: search actions and Rules in Command Palette; optionally ask an AI provider to draft disabled buttons, decks, and Rules for review.
- Desk-ready entry: open
codecks://trackpadfrom a widget, notification, NFC, or a Tasker desk-position profile. - Adaptive and recoverable: phone, tablet, landscape, freeform, and Samsung DeX layouts; local Deck and Rules backup excludes secrets.
- No hosted account: no Codecks backend, analytics SDK, advertising SDK, public database, or cloud sync.
See the feature guide for what each feature is for, required setup, limitations, experimental boundaries, and deferred work.
Codecks can run commands on a Mac you configure, so the app is built around review and restraint:
- built-in templates use an allowlist;
- dangerous shell patterns are blocked;
- generated automations are disabled until the user tests and enables them;
- SSH host keys are pinned;
- optional AI API keys are encrypted with Android Keystore;
- diagnostic text is redacted before display.
Use a non-admin Mac account and review every custom command before enabling it. See Security and Privacy.
Download the signed APK and SHA256SUMS.txt from the latest GitHub release. Android may ask you to allow installation from your browser or file manager.
Requirements:
- Android 9 or newer.
- macOS with Remote Login enabled for Deck and Automations.
- A compatible paired Bluetooth host for HID Trackpad controls.
git clone https://github.com/vaddisrinivas/codecks.git
cd codecks
./gradlew :app:testDebugUnitTest :app:lintDebug :app:assembleDebugDebug APK:
app/build/outputs/apk/debug/app-debug.apk
Release signing instructions live in docs/release/RELEASING.md.
v0.1.36 is the current public beta. Core deck, trackpad, keyboard, verified clipboard transfer, guarded automation execution, guided connection recovery, in-place Deck customization, support diagnostics, settings, optional AI-assisted drafting, default-off Smart/Reactive foundations, and experimental Reactive Mac-helper infrastructure are implemented in the single signed APK. Broader physical-device coverage, TalkBack validation, live helper pairing validation, real Samsung DeX acceptance, and longer crash-free field testing remain GA gates. See the production launch plan.
Codecks is Apache-2.0, source-available, account-free, and prepared for FOSS directory review. Distribution notes and anti-feature disclosures are tracked in docs/distribution/FOSS_READINESS.md. Fastlane/IzzyOnDroid metadata lives in fastlane/metadata/android/en-US.
Phones are already common equipment: Pew's representative 2025 survey found 91% of U.S. adults owned a smartphone.1 Direct placement research is thinner. A 2022 study of 356 men in Melbourne found 54% often or very often left their phone on a table or desk indoors when it was not in use.2 That supports the idea, but it is not a global estimate of phones sitting beside computers.
Codecks turns that existing screen into a Bluetooth trackpad and command surface. A 2025 global market estimate puts the average computer-mouse selling price near $38; standard mousepads are estimated at $5–$15.3 That makes about $38 the mouse-only benchmark and $43–$53 when a standard pad would also be purchased, before tax and shipping. These are avoided-new-hardware estimates—not promised savings or the value of equipment already owned.
A common medium-to-large pad occupies about 153–279 square inches.4 Against IBM's 48×24-inch minimum and 60×30-inch recommended individual work-surfaces, that is roughly 9%–24% of the desktop.5 Space is especially relevant outside dedicated offices: 2024 UK survey data, published in 2026, found 59% of 2,543 home workers used a shared office, a corner workstation, or space intended for another purpose.6
A 2026 U.S. market estimate puts the average compact writing desk at $170–$190.7 Spread across IBM's work-surface range, that is an estimated $0.09–$0.16 per square inch, making the 153–279-square-inch pad area worth roughly $14–$46 in allocated desk cost. This is not cash recovered: it values the fraction of a desk purchase represented by that surface. The direct economic benchmark remains an optional $38 mouse-only or $43–$53 mouse-plus-pad purchase avoided.
- Initial pairing and minor setup are required. Deck and automation commands also require a configured Mac connection.
- A touchscreen trackpad does not feel identical to a dedicated mouse. Pointer speed, tap thresholds, gestures, and muscle memory may need adjustment.
- Bluetooth, Android background rules, lockscreen behavior, and vendor power management can affect availability.
- The phone remains occupied while used as a full-screen trackpad.
- A 2025 desk-work experiment found participants interacted with a phone almost three times as often when it was within reach; Codecks may therefore increase distraction for some people.8
- Codecks does not claim ergonomic superiority over a physical mouse. Use whichever input method is more comfortable for the task.
Bug reports, device compatibility notes, accessibility findings, and safe automation templates are welcome. Start with CONTRIBUTING.md.
Codecks is available under the Apache License 2.0. Third-party Android libraries retain their own licenses; in-app notices are generated from app/src/main/assets/open_source_notices.txt.
Codecks is an independent project. It is not affiliated with OpenAI, Toggl, Work Louder, Samsung, Google, or Apple.
Footnotes
-
Pew Research Center, "Mobile Fact Sheet", based on a representative survey of 5,022 U.S. adults conducted February 5–June 18, 2025. ↩
-
Zeleke et al., "Mobile phone carrying locations and risk perception of men," PLOS ONE 17(6). Cross-sectional convenience sample collected in Melbourne in 2018–2019; the authors state it is not representative of all Australian men. ↩
-
Dataintelo, "Computer Mouse Market Research Report 2034" and "Mousepad Market Research Report 2034". These are commercial market-research estimates, not audited transaction data; the mouse figure is market-wide while the pad range is for the standard segment. ↩
-
Razer Gigantus V2 size table: Medium 14.17×10.83 inches and Large 17.72×15.73 inches. Product examples establish footprint, not market share. ↩
-
IBM Workplace Design – Individual: 48×24 inches minimum and 60×30 inches recommended for sit-stand desks. ↩
-
Felstead, "The Spatial Anatomy of Working at Home," Industrial Relations Journal (2026), using weighted Skills and Employment Survey 2024 data. Of 2,543 UK home workers, 41.1% reported their own office. ↩
-
IndexBox, "Compact Writing Desk Market in the United States", estimates a $170–$190 average retail unit price in 2026 using retail-scanner data and trade-shipment estimates. This is the closest public category proxy found, not audited transaction data for every U.S. desk type. ↩
-
Heitmayer, "When the phone's away, people use their computer to play," Frontiers in Computer Science (2025). Within-participant laboratory study, final sample 22; it found no increase in total time spent working when the phone was farther away. ↩