DexoPad — phone-as-keyboard for any USB host

Headless devices (Pi, Mac mini, servers, BIOS boot menus) all need keyboard input to get going. Carrying around a wired keyboard for these moments is the dance every maker / sysadmin / Pi user knows.

DexoPad is a USB HID dongle that uses your phone as the input source instead. Plugs into any USB-A/C port, recognized as a standard keyboard+mouse — no driver, no host-side software.

Hardware

• ESP32-S3-WROOM-1 (BT 5.0 + WiFi)
• USB-A + USB-C variants
• Compact dongle form factor
• PCB optimized for BT signal stability through metal-shrouded USB ports

Firmware

• USB HID composite (keyboard + mouse + consumer control)
• BLE GATT for phone pairing
• Per-host keyboard layout mapping (AZERTY / Bépo / Dvorak / Colemak / Workman supported)
• Anti-sleep F15 phantom keystroke (configurable cadence)
• Macro execution engine

Phone client: iOS at launch, Android via stretch goal ($40K USD on Kickstarter)

Desktop client: macOS / Windows / Linux at launch — used for PC-to-PC mode

What's local vs cloud

• Dongle: 100% offline
• Phone app paired locally: 100% offline
• Optional WiFi remote: uses relay for NAT traversal
• Optional AI Voice: OpenAI Whisper, 100 min/device free

Where to back: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/palmblock/dexopad-cross-device-keyboard-mouse-and-macros-anywhere?ref=88rip1

Engineering questions, design critique welcome.

— MJ Zhang, founder