You can now use your Elgato Capture card with an iPad thanks to this app

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You'll still need a capture device, though.

Elgato HD60 X
(Image credit: Elgato)

As much as Apple continues to try to convince everyone that the iPad is a viable alternative to a laptop, there remain some things that are just more suited to something like a MacBook Air or MacBook Pro. But that list of things continues to shrink, and it just got smaller — you can now use your iPad as a game capture device using a free app and a capture card.

That's after Elgato released the Elgato Capture app in the App Store, designed to work with a few of the company's capture cards. But it'll also work with some cameras as well, turning your iPad into a sort of vlogging device as well.

Elgato says that there are currently four different products that can be used with the Elgato Capture app, but the game capture idea is the one that whets our appetite the most. No more plugging into a laptop just to capture your crazy Starfield ship build!

Capture everything

The Elgato Capture app is available as a free download now and the app's description details what hardware it will work with. Right now, that list includes the HD60 X and HD S Plus capture cards as well as the Cam Link 4K. The Facecam and Facecam Pro are both also supported for things like vlogging and whatnot. You can even connect an external microphone, too.

You can see the app in action thanks to a post on X, embedded below.

While it's probably fair to say that this isn't going to be an app that everyone will find a use for, it's a great addition for those who will. You can of course capture other things as well, not just games — anything that can connect to that capture card should work just fine without too many issues. The only thing you'll need is a USB-C iPad with either an M1 or M2 chip, so any of Apple's best iPads should cut the mustard. 

Oliver Haslam
Oliver Haslam
Contributor

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too. Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.