State of Visuals on iPad (and mobile and Mac)

Hi all, there have been a handful of threads here over the years about Zwift’s limited graphic performance on certain platforms - most egregiously iPad, but really all of mobile and yet still Mac. I wanted to throw some data together to help illustrate the issue, especially as there frequently seems to be questions about these devices, and I know not everyone keeps up with the details of hardware evolution (including Zwift?).

Below is a survey of supported devices, with details pulled from either my own testing or Zwiftalizer. I understand the grain of salt required around benchmarks, but I’ve also pulled performance ratings from GeekBench, which seems to be one of the more solid all-platform tools, and the idea is really just to give a sense of the class of hardware we’re dealing with. Last disclaimer - I pulled the “Ultra PC” build from Zwift Insider’s Ultimate Guide.

Cat. iPhone 6S iPad Pro Mac mini iPhone 16 Pro Ultra PC iPad Pro
Year 2015 2017 2023 2024 2024 2024
Processor A9 A10X M2 A18 Pro i5-12600K / GTX 980 M4
CPU (single) 643 973 2518 3560 2309 3650
CPU (multi) 1078 2364 9525 8778 11399 13137
GPU 3179 9329 30430 32997 31196 53480
Profile Basic Basic High Basic Ultra Basic
Resolution 1080 1080 1440 1080 2160 1536
Avg. FPS 28 28 120 30 59 30
Sources 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 1 2 3 1 2

As the table tries to show, despite 10 years of hardware updates bringing iPad (and even iPhone, and I’m sure Android devices) on par with and noticeably better than the top-level Zwift PCs, these devices are still stuck with Basic graphics profiles, 1080p, and 30Hz locks.

There were some unpublished changes in a recent update, which is why the M4 iPad Pro now runs at 1536p, but why not native 2064p? Why not native 120Hz? Ultra settings?

macOS got some attention last year, but even then, why did it stop at High? There are far more powerful Macs than the mini featured here, but they are also stuck at High.

I know there are parts of Zwift that value these accessible platforms - razer-thin, easily mountable, all-in-one, touch interface, auto-updating, etc. The Zwift Ride ads almost universally feature a tablet running Zwift (sometimes, deceptively, suggesting the platform gets rider shadows…)

Please Zwift, unlock your mobile apps and let our hardware stretch its legs!

P.S. Thought I’d share a little comparison between three pieces of equipment, although keep in mind that screenshots are only part of the equation - 30Hz vs 120Hz is a world of difference (and probably a handicap in racing…)

iPad Pro (2017)

iPad Pro (2024) - seven years later…

Ultra PC (2024, borrowed from @GPLama 's Grade preview - thank you!)

In terms of the Zwift Ride Ad I’m not sure that it’s actually gameplay from the iPad. It could be a video recording being played directly on the iPad, or screen replacing editing in post.

Oh yes, for sure it’s in post (see motion blur on everything else). I’m just suggesting it’s evidence that Zwift does in fact value both mobile hardware and their game visuals. Just not together. People who use the accessible hardware setup presented get an arbitrarily lesser experience.

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Great work pulling all this together. However this will be ignored by Zwift because they have ZERO interest in making the their game look better on Apple devices. Their latest IPad update was completely laughable, no one was even aware it had been updated.

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Fully agree that Zwift have got their priorities right. Ridiculous to be complaining about not getting top notch visual quality when your commitment to getting the best viewing experience is a 12" tablet positioned at arms length.

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Thanks, but I think it’s still worth discussing, and replies and votes here might help pull some attention eventually. It’s worth noting Zwift has started tagging these threads in a way that makes me wonder if they might be tracking the issue - or maybe, as you’re alluding, they think it’s resolved after the recent resolution bump? (In any case, some communication would be well appreciated!)

Not sure I understand this reasoning. Some people run Zwift on a 15” laptop 10 feet away - does that mean Zwift should limit all PCs to 30fps? If you’ve never tried it, a 13” tablet mounted to your handlebars actually takes up a fair percentage of your vision, and makes the blocky textures, poor lighting, and crappy frame rate very apparent. It’s also worth noting that tablets, phones, and Macs are perfectly capable of connecting or streaming to any display (though I think the iPad’s dual-OLED is one of the best displays I’ve seen).

Desktop PCs aren’t exactly a booming market, and would just like to think some of my $20/month might go toward allowing Zwift to run well on all platforms.

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Who said ‘Desktop PC’ - not me. Plenty of laptops come with proper graphics cards (mine hosts an Nvidia RTX 3050 and is used with a 24-inch monitor) - and the Zwift visual experience was part of the reason for choosing it (You’ve rocked up to a road race on a mountain bike and are now complaining that your gears keep spinning out - I deliberately picked a racing bike).

Well my apologies - I know what it’s like when people overlook the power of your small-screen devices :wink:

An RTX 3050 is about as powerful as an M4 from the benchmarks I can find. So I’d say it’s more like we’ve both shown up to the supermarket of Zwift in our monster trucks and even though they’re overkill I’m for some reason restricted to a single bag of groceries. Would just like to see all platforms be able to perform to their fullest!

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That iPad could also be mirroring its video to some other (much bigger) screen…

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Mac mini gets 120 FPS? Really?

There aren’t any M4 results in Zwiftalizer yet but M2 / M3 variants do perform well

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I’ve updated the table in the OP to include processor details now that the included Mac mini is out of date. Though like all macOS devices, the new one would also be limited to a “High” profile.

Yep! In fact, it only really seems limited to the resolution and refresh rate of the monitor it’s attached to - and that’s the old M2 Mac mini!

The new M4 Mac mini is benchmarking around the same performance as the M4 iPad Pro (a touch better, likely due to thermals). But it will still be locked to “High” detail, not “Ultra”, the same way a Mac Pro would be. Meanwhile that iPad Pro with the same processor remains locked to “Basic” and is further limited to 30fps and 1536p.

Essentially, all hardware today* is capable of running Zwift to its fullest extent. But unless you’re running Windows OS, you will be getting a degraded experience.

*(Except Apple TV - sorry! But the A15 is honestly not that far behind…next gen will be up there for sure.)

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Would this include the M2 iPad Air, in your estimation? Or are you limiting that statement to M4?

Yeah, its actual performance would be similar to the M2 Mac mini (a “High” that should probably be “Ultra” but is otherwise unlocked). However, because it gets the ‘mobile’ build of Zwift it will be locked to “Basic” graphics, low frame rate, and limited resolution.

Well said. What a bizarrely misinformed understanding of the state of graphics capabilities on Apple devices.

Specifically MacOS it’s egregious that despite all the advances Zwift made porting to Apple Silicon and Metal, they didn’t do the most basic change which is: either set our profile to Ultra instead of High automatically, or at least let us opt into it. The M2 Pro chips let alone the M4 Pro is more than capable of it, and I’d hazard a guess that a large percentage of Zwift users are on MacBooks.

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Great post and comparison.
It would be great if Zwift would just let us know what their intentions for future development is like on iOS/Android. I’m sure many others like me would use it to influence our next tablet/PC upgrade. It does nothing for the Zwift ‘community’ if we’re treated like an afterthought.

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Guess what! They did it. This is out in 1.83. Per Zwift Insider:

If you’re a macOS user, you may notice an upgrade in your graphics experience. The higher “Ultra” graphics profile is now enabled for devices with the following chips: Apple M4 (all versions), M3 Max, M3 Pro, M2 Ultra, M2 Max, M2 Pro, M1 Ultra, M1 Max, M1 Pro. The “High” graphics profile is now enabled for devices with the following chips: Apple M3, M2, M1.

And I sure noticed. I was Zwifting through Makuri Islands yesterday after updating and literally went “wow the reflections of the lights on the wet road sure are beautiful!” Little did I know they really had gone and fixed this for us. And to be totally sure, yes, this was in my Zwift log:

Using ultra graphics profile

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Not getting my hopes up, but sure would be nice if this progress carried over to iPads in any way.

Yep, happy to see macOS users with M4 and/or Pro+ processors finally get access to Ultra settings!

But important to note that all iPadOS, iOS, and Android users, including those with M4 processors, remain locked to Basic, 30fps, and reduced resolutions. Evan (Zwift) acknowledged in the update thread that these devices are not included in the update, but suggested they are being worked on.

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