Touch & controls
Annotate on your own or together
Mark the screen from the host Mac, Decky Display for Mac or Android. Learn how drawing permission, touch and stylus input work.
On the host, enable Draw. Hold Control (⌃) while dragging to annotate. Release the key and your clicks reach the app normally.
Step by step
- On the host Mac, turn on Draw in Decky. This is the app’s label for annotation. Hold Control (⌃) and drag to make a mark; release Control to click and use apps normally. New Room and Desktop camera sessions start with Draw off.
- To annotate together, start a Room and join it from Decky Display on Mac or Android. Open the Room’s drawing controls and choose Ask to draw. A guest waits for the host to approve; a trusted, paired device can be allowed without a prompt.
- Once allowed, choose Pen, Marker or Pointer. On a Mac client, click and drag; on Android, use touch or a supported stylus. Several people can annotate at once. The host’s marks are green; viewers receive their own assigned colors.
What to know
Host annotation is global: it is not a separate mode for each Room or Desktop camera. It can work without an audience, appear for Room viewers or be included in Decky Desktop’s camera picture. Marks sit over the source; they do not edit the original slide, document or app.
Drawing permission is separate from Mac control
Being allowed to annotate does not give a guest permission to click buttons, type or move windows on the Mac. The host can allow several people to draw while only one viewer controls the Mac. In the Room’s viewer list, use Let Them Draw or Stop Drawing to change a viewer’s drawing permission.
If you also hold Mac control, choose which inputs draw: Pointer draws on Mac, or Pen input, Touch and Mouse on Android. Inputs switched off for drawing continue to control the Mac. With annotation permission alone, your input makes marks and does not control the underlying app.
Fading, undo and clearing marks
By default, marks fade a few seconds after you finish a stroke. In the host’s Room drawing menu, Keep Marks Until Cleared keeps marks for discussion. Undo removes your last mark; Clear mine removes your own marks. The host can use Clear All Marks to clear everyone’s marks.
Choose Stop drawing on a viewer or turn off Draw on the host when finished. To resume after starting a new session, enable drawing again.
Annotation and the separate Stylus feature
Android annotation accepts touch and supported stylus input, including pressure. Pressure needs a pen and device that actually report it; a basic capacitive pen cannot add pressure sensitivity.
Annotation draws over the shared picture. The separate Stylus feature sends pen input into a Mac drawing app to edit its document. Pick the workflow you need, and check which inputs are assigned to annotation if your pen marks the overlay instead of drawing inside the app.
If it does not work
If the host cannot mark the screen, check Draw is on, hold Control while dragging and review Decky’s Accessibility permission. If a guest cannot draw, check Room membership, approval and the selected input. Marks that disappear after a few seconds are using the default fade. For missing stylus pressure, check the device and pen support pressure and compare touch with pen input.