What should you do if you want to work on vinyl cutting projects with your iPad (or other tablet)? Do vinyl cutters work with tablets and smartphones, or do you require a computer? The good news is yes, there is a very good selection of iPad compatible vinyl cutters (and compatible with smartphones and other Android tablets too).
Vinyl Cutters compatible with iPads:
- Cricut Maker 3 and original Maker
- Cricut Explore 3 and Explore Air 2
- the Cricut Joy and Joy Xtra
- the 24″ wide Cricut Venture
- Brother ScanNCut DX85
Vinyl Cutters that DO NOT work with iPads:
- Silhouette Cameo 4 (including Plus or Pro models)
- Silhouette Portrait 3
- the Silhouette Curio
- US Cutter MH series
- Graphtec vinyl cutters
- Roland vinyl cutters
- Silver Bullet vinyl cutters
For iPads to work with Cricut machines (or the Brother ScanNCut DX85), users must connect wirelessly via Bluetooth. Using a wireless connection and the Cricut Design Space app, crafters can send cutting and drawing instructions to their Cricut machine.
The Cricut Maker does come with a mobile device (USB) charging port, but this port is not for data transfer. The Cricut Explore Air 2 and Cricut Joy do not have this charging port feature.
Interestingly, the Brother ScanNCut2 does work wirelessly with iPads and other mobile devices, but it does not have an onboard charging USB port. Instead, it has a USB port for plugging in flash memory drives so the cutter can read and cut files without connecting to a computer or tablet at all!
Read our full vinyl cutting machine review article here.