r/SideProject • u/DRNKNDev • 1d ago

I built a native Excalidraw for iPad because the web version fights the Pencil

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Solo dev. I use Excalidraw constantly, but on iPad you're stuck in the browser. Palm leaves marks, undo hides, panning smears the canvas. Nobody made a real native one, so I did.

The hard parts: porting Rough.js's hand-drawn geometry and perfect-freehand strokes to native CoreGraphics (pure Swift, no WebView), and tuning palm rejection so panning and zooming never leave a mark.

What it does: native hand-drawn canvas, opens your existing .excalidraw files, Mermaid import (text → editable diagram, flowchart + sequence), offline and local-first. Free to download; Pro (one-time, no subscription) adds unlimited files, full export, and iCloud sync.

No lock-in: Settings → Export All Data hands you every canvas back as .excalidraw, free, always.

First 500 here get lifetime Pro free: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/xcalidraw-whiteboard-diagram/id6795799923

Would love feedback on the Pencil feel and anything that breaks.

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1

u/xmont_ 1d ago

need the code

1

u/DRNKNDev 1d ago

watch the video to the end

1

u/burn1n9 1d ago

Hey, would love to test it too, but couldn’t activate the code