Jump Desktop has been around for a long time. It supports macOS, Windows, and Linux hosts. It works well for basic remote access, and it's a one-time purchase. If you need to connect to a Windows PC or a Linux server from your Mac or iPad, Jump can do that and Mirage can't.

Jump's primary protocol is Fluid 2.0, and it also supports VNC and RDP for connecting to non-Jump hosts. Mirage is built on Twill, a source-available streaming protocol designed specifically for Apple devices. They take different approaches, and some of those differences matter a lot depending on what you're using your iPad for.

How they connect

Jump Desktop attempts a peer-to-peer connection first and falls back to relay servers if that fails. When relays are involved, your frames take a detour through third-party infrastructure, which adds latency.

Mirage streams over your local network by default. With Mirage Pro, you also get Proximity Connect, which lets your Mac and iPad stream to each other without needing a shared Wi-Fi network, the same way Sidecar and AirDrop work. Pro also adds USB streaming and remote access over Tailscale or OpenVPN.

Apple Pencil input

Jump Desktop maps Apple Pencil to a mouse cursor. Pressure, tilt, azimuth, altitude — none of that data comes through. If you're using Procreate, Photoshop, or any drawing app on your Mac through Jump, every stroke registers as a flat click-and-drag.

Mirage transmits the full Pencil data stream. Pressure sensitivity, tilt angle, and orientation all carry through to the host Mac, so apps that support tablet input respond the way you'd expect. Brush strokes get thicker when you press harder, change shape when you tilt, and behave like they would on a native drawing tablet. For anyone who bought an iPad partly to draw on it, this is a pretty big deal.

Streaming individual windows

With Jump, you get the entire desktop mirrored into one frame. There's no way to pull a single app window out and stream just that.

Mirage can capture and stream individual windows in isolation. On your iPad, this means you can have just Xcode or just a browser on screen without seeing the rest of your desktop. You can also still mirror the full desktop if that's what you want. Mirage also has a native visionOS app if you use Vision Pro.

Refresh rate and color

Jump has been working on high refresh rate support in beta, but Mirage has shipped 120Hz ProMotion streaming with optimized motion clarity. Scrolling, drawing, and cursor movement on a ProMotion iPad feel close to native.

Both apps support 10-bit color. Mirage Pro streams in Display P3 wide color gamut, which matters if you're doing photo editing, color grading, or design work where you need to trust what you're seeing on screen.

Wake and unlock

If your Mac is asleep or sitting at the login screen, Jump can't connect to it. You'd need physical access or a separate tool to wake it up first. Mirage can wake your Mac remotely and get you past the login screen, so you can pick up your iPad and start a session without walking over to your desk.

Under the hood

Jump uses a proprietary protocol called Fluid. Mirage uses Twill. Both use hardware video encoding. The practical difference is that Twill was built specifically for Apple's display and input stack, which is part of why features like full Pencil tablet data, ProMotion, and window streaming work natively.

Twill is also source-available under the PolyForm Shield license, so you can read the code yourself. Fluid is closed-source.

Feature comparison