Your iPad might not be a computer, but it can do a lot, gaming included. There are plenty of games to explore on the App Store, and you can even connect controllers from your PS5 or Switch to play those games. But to actually play Switch games, you’d need to leave your iPad and move back to the console itself, whether handheld or via your TV, right?
As it turns out, your iPad can actually serve as a portable, high-quality gaming monitor for your Switch, as well as any other console that connects via HDMI—if you buy a $20 capture card, like this one. MacRumors’ Dan Barbera has a great video walking through the steps to set this up. It’s surprisingly simple and affordable, so long as you already have a compatible iPad and Nintendo Switch:
What you need to play Nintendo Switch games on an iPad
Table of Contents
- USB-C capture card: A capture card allows you to take the game footage from your console and record it to a separate source. In this case, we’re taking advantage of the capture card and displaying the output of the game console on the iPad.
- iPad with USB-C: Unfortunately, only USB-C iPads will work with this setup, since you need a USB-C capture card to get it to work.
- iPadOS 17: Part of what powers this trick is Apple’s upcoming update to iPadOS, which now allows developers to create capture card apps to display and record game footage. While the update will likely be out sometime next month, you can install the beta right now and test it out for yourself. While beta software can be buggy, we’re approaching the end of the beta testing cycle, so this one is more stable.
- A capture card app: Because iPadOS 17 is still in development, there aren’t that many apps out yet. But you can download the test version for the app Capture Pro from TestFlight right now.
- A video game console: Obviously.
With all these ducks in a row, start by plugging your capture card into your console of choice. Let’s say you want to display your Switch on your iPad: You’ll need to plug the HDMI cable from your Switch dock into the HDMI port on the capture card. Then plug the USB-C end of the capture card into your iPad’s USB-C port—not the port on the keyboard case if you have one.
Next, open the capture card app (in this case, Capture Pro), then turn on your Switch. Once the console boots up and the capture card app recognizes it, you should see your Switch home screen appear. Barbera notes that there is a small amount of input lag, but that it didn’t detract from his overall experience while playing Switch games:
This is particularly convenient for Switch owners, as console players may have found other solutions to display their games on their iPads. There are solutions for streaming games from your PlayStation, Xbox, or PC to your iPad using a dedicated app. Of course, these methods have their downsides, notably the horrendous video quality and lag if your internet connection can’t handle the stream. While there is some input lag with this capture card method, the wired connection means the overall quality is quite good.