Compared with Apple's tools

Logic Remote, MainStage, or this?

If your show is a Logic project of backing tracks, LogicalRemote sits next to the tools you already know. Here's where each one fits, and where each one stops.

LogicalRemotecompared with Logic Remote and MainStage
Feature	Logic Remote	MainStage	LogicalRemote
Uses your Logic project as it is	Yes	No	Yes
MainStage runs concerts, so backing tracks are usually bounced to stems and set up again per song.
Android phones	No	No	Yes
Any phone's browser, nothing to install	No	No	Yes
Each phone trusts the band's certificate once, which takes about two minutes.
Control the set from an Apple Watch, phone locked away	No	No	Yes
The watch app needs to stay open on screen during the set. With MainStage, the usual hands-free route is a MIDI footswitch wired to the Mac.
A running order the whole band can edit	No	Partly	Yes
In Logic Remote the running order is the marker order in the project. MainStage has sets, edited on the Mac or on an iPad running Logic Remote.
Rework the set at home with the Mac off	No	No	Yes
A phone screen with only the show on it	No	Partly	Yes
Logic Remote keeps the mixer and editing a tap away. MainStage has a Perform view on the Mac itself.
Answer a Logic dialog from the stage	No	No	Yes
Restart a frozen Logic from a phone	No	No	Yes
Mixer, plug-ins and Smart Controls	Yes	Yes	No
Keep Logic Remote for mixing. Both can run at the same time.
Keyboard patch switching	Partly	Yes	No
If your keys player switches patches all night, MainStage is the right tool for that job.

Checked October 2026 against the sources at the bottom of this page. Apple updates both apps, so tell us if something here has changed.

Logic Remote

Apple's free app for controlling Logic from an iPad or iPhone. It handles transport, the mixer, Smart Controls and key commands, plays instruments, and works on more than one device at once. On an iPad it's a very good way to mix a session from across the room.

For running a set on stage, it stops short in a few places.

It's for iPhone and iPad only. There's no Android or browser version, so a band where anyone uses Android can't all use it.
There's no setlist. The running order is the order of markers in the project, so changing the set means editing the project at the Mac or remembering marker numbers on the night. Nothing can be prepared at home.
It's built for engineering a session. The mixer, plug-ins and editing are a tap away and there's no locked mode to protect the show from a stray touch.
The iPhone version is a subset. The full experience needs an iPad.
It can't see or answer a dialog blocking Logic on the Mac, or recover a frozen Logic.

MainStage

Apple's live performance app, and the right one for keyboard players who switch patches all night. It organises concerts into sets and patches, plays backing tracks through its Playback plug-in, and can be controlled from an iPad with Logic Remote.

If your backing tracks live in Logic, moving to it has costs.

It's a second product and a rebuild. Logic projects don't carry over, so tracks are usually bounced to stems and set up again per song, then kept in step whenever an arrangement changes.
Set changes happen in the concert on the Mac, or on an iPad running Logic Remote. Each band member can't adjust the set from their own phone, and there's no editing at home with the Mac off.
Remote control is Apple devices only.
A dialog or a hang on the Mac stops the show the same way, with no remote rescue.

Where LogicalRemote fits

It doesn't replace either. Logic stays the engine, and Logic Remote stays on the iPad if you mix from it. LogicalRemote adds the running order the whole band shares, the "tap the next song" controls on any phone, and a way to clear a stuck Logic from the stage.

If your keys player needs patch switching, use MainStage for that. LogicalRemote is for bands whose show is a Logic project.

Sources

Try it free alongside Logic Questions about Apple's tools