Using an iPad as a remote

You can drive Fret Beam from an iPad across the room, using the built-in Fret Beam Remote. It's a web page the app serves itself — no App Store app, no pairing. This covers connecting it and what it can and can't control, plus a footswitch-style alternative if you'd rather use physical buttons.

The built-in Fret Beam Remote

1. Put the iPad and your computer on the same Wi-Fi. This is a hard requirement — the remote talks to the app over the local network.
2. Open Settings → iPad Remote in the app. It shows a QR code (and the plain URL underneath). Scanning the QR is the easiest path.
3. Load it on the iPad. The address is http://<your computer's Wi-Fi address>:3002/remote. Scanning the QR fills that in for you.
4. Allow the connection if your computer asks. On a Mac, the first connection may pop a one-time macOS firewall prompt, click Allow incoming connections.
5. Add it to your Home Screen (optional). In Safari, tap Share → Add to Home Screen for a full-screen icon you can tap like an app.

Your computer keeps the app open the whole time, and the sound still comes from your computer. The remote is a silent controller, not a speaker.

Set the iPad's Auto-Lock to Never during lessons so the screen doesn't sleep and drop the connection. If your computer's address ever changes, just rescan the QR code.

What the remote controls

• Take: Record/Freeze, Clear Tab, hold-to-Talk, Shift Position, Clean Up
• Tempo & beat: BPM ± , tap tempo, time signature, beat styles (Click / Rock / Shuffle / Funk / Slow Blues), start/stop
• Backing tracks: 5 built-ins plus your uploads, with volume
• Screen: Neck Zone, Key Signature, Tab look, chord-view toggle

Two things live on your computer only, not the remote: the tab output size and the mic input device.

Anyone on the same Wi-Fi could load the remote page. On a home-studio network that's fine; it's worth knowing if you're on a shared network.

Alternative: an iPad or phone as a footswitch

If you'd rather have big momentary buttons than the dashboard, run a third-party MIDI controller app (for example CC PAL or TouchOSC) that sends MIDI over Bluetooth. Pair it exactly like a hardware pedal — see Setting up a footswitch — and set its buttons to the same CC map. On Android or a stubborn Bluetooth setup, you can use a Mac's Network MIDI over Wi-Fi instead.

Stuck connecting? Troubleshooting covers the common snags.