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xLights iPad — Status & Plan

The iPad app has shipped to the App Store. It is not a port — it's a second SwiftUI UI over the same wx-free src-core/ the desktop uses (render engine, effect manager, sequence file / elements, audio manager, import/export). Day-to-day work is now desktop parity + ongoing app updates, not MVP build-out. The MVP-era phase plans have been retired (git history holds the landed prose).

Parity plans live in plans/ipad-parity/

A code-level parity audit of the desktop (src-ui-wx/) and iPad (src-iPad/) apps over the shared src-core/. Every status is grounded in source, with file:line evidence in the theme docs. Start at README.md.

  • 00-overview.md — the cross-theme map: headline numbers + % parity per theme, the full P1/P2 roadmap, reverse-parity (iPad→desktop) candidates, the restricted (closed-firmware/IAP) and infeasible lists, and recommended sequencing.
  • 01–14 — one plan per functional theme, each a full parity scorecard (Feature · Desktop · iPad · Gap · Priority · Ease · Feasibility · Notes): 01 file lifecycle · 02 sequencer grid & editing · 03 timing & audio · 04 effects & panels · 05 color & value/color curves · 06 layout / models / preview / 3D / submodels / DMX · 07 setup / controllers / upload · 08 import / export · 09 render & playback · 10 presets / jukebox / display elements / views · 11 preferences & keyboard shortcuts · 12 AI / automation / scripting · 13 tools / diagnostics / help · 14 reverse parity (iPad features not in desktop).

Each theme doc carries its own Infeasible / restricted section for features deliberately not on iPad (VAMP host, Python/Lua scripting, FFmpeg, SpaceMouse, custom KeyBindings, AUI perspectives, closed-firmware uploads, …); these roll up into the Infeasible / Restricted lists in 00-overview.md.

Workflow: as work lands, flip the matching feature's status in the relevant theme doc's scorecard (→ ✅ / 🟡). Git history is the changelog — there's no running landed-log to maintain. Per CLAUDE.md, iPad-only changes are recorded in the theme docs, not in README.txt (which is the desktop release notes).

Code layout

iPad code lives at src-iPad/ at the repo root (peer to src-ui-wx/), not under macOS/ (code in macOS/ can't depend on anything outside macOS/).

src-iPad/
  App/            SwiftUI views + @Observable view model
  Bridge/         ObjC++ bridges (XLSequenceDocument, iPadRenderContext,
                  XLImportSession, XLAIImageSession, XLValueCurve, …)
  Metal/          xlStandaloneMetalCanvas, iPadModelPreview, XLGridMetalBridge
  Metadata/       EffectMetadata.swift (JSON model for effectmetadata/*.json)

Shared core the iPad consumes: src-core/ (wx-free C++ core) and macOS/src-apple-core/ (Apple shared code — Metal device manager, external hooks, Apple utilities).

Xcode targets

Target Purpose Platforms
xLights-core wx-free core (src-core/) macOS + iOS
xLights-Apple-core Apple shared code (macOS/src-apple-core/) macOS + iOS
xLights-macOSLib-UI macOS-only UI (macOS/src-mac-ui/) macOS
xLights Desktop app macOS
EffectComputeFunctions / UIMetalShaders / ISPCEffectComputeFunctions Metal / SIMD kernels macOS + iOS
xLights-iPadLib iPad bridge + core static lib (src-iPad/) iOS
xLights-iPad SwiftUI iPad app iOS 26+

iOS deps at /opt/xLights-macOS-dependencies/lib-ios/: libcurl.a, libEGL/libGLESv2 xcframeworks (ANGLE), libliquidfun.a, liblua.a, libxlsxwriter.a, libzstd.a (Debug variants in libdbg-ios/). Build the xLights-iPadLib scheme for fast iterative checks; build the xLights-iPad scheme to catch link errors and validate the SwiftUI app.

Known deferred / blocked (tracked in the theme docs)

  • Editable Duration field + frame-stepped Steppers need an .alert→.sheet conversion (SwiftUI alerts can't host Steppers). Medium.
  • Make Start Channels Valid — needs a per-model action surface on the read-only Models tab + ~4 validation bridge methods. Medium.
  • Save-As show-folder guard — .fileExporter re-prompt loop + nil-show-folder fallback. Medium.
  • FPP-proxy validation pre-upload — blocked: iPad has no proxy upload or proxy-IP source yet (prereq: a proxy-upload slice + a proxy-listing bridge method).
  • Authenticated vendor downloads, Layout-Editor Controllers-tab polish (drag-reorder/sort, LED ping), and the legacy .lms/.las full-sequence effect import are parked in themes 06/07/08 until there's a concrete need.

Risks

  • JobPool deadlock on complex sequences — mitigated by raising the thread count; the underlying "workers block on peers" pattern remains (a desktop-scope requeue redesign is the real fix).
  • Memory on mid-tier iPads — memory-pressure handling is in place but under-tested; on-device/tester reports are the first stress signal.
  • AVFoundation codec coverage — video effects with unusual codecs fail; no FFmpeg fallback on iPad.
  • Auto-Map false positives on similar model names — smaller iPad screen makes review harder.