If you've ever had to walk back and forth between your CNC machine and your computer just to nudge the torch half an inch, you know the frustration. Your workpiece is clamped, the material is loaded, and you need to jog the head to the right starting position — but the keyboard is ten feet away, on the other side of the shop. Or you're standing at the machine, watching a cut, and you realize the origin is off. You need to stop, walk to the computer, adjust, walk back, check. Repeat.
CutArc Connect is a free companion app for iOS and Android that puts machine control, design tools, and reference materials in your pocket. It works with any CutArc account — free or Pro — and connects to your CNC machine through the CutArc browser session running on your shop computer. No additional hardware required, no complicated networking, no subscription fee.
This article walks through every feature in the app and how to get started.
Remote Machine Control
The headline feature of CutArc Connect is remote jog. From your phone, you can control your CNC machine's movement in real time — jog the X, Y, and Z axes, home the machine, set work zero, and trigger an emergency stop. All from wherever you're standing in the shop.
Here's how it works. CutArc's browser app on your shop computer maintains a persistent connection to your CNC controller (GRBL, Ruida, or other supported controllers). When you open CutArc Connect on your phone and tap into the remote control panel, your phone communicates with the CutArc server, which relays commands to the browser session connected to your machine. The latency is minimal — commands execute within a second of tapping the button.
The remote jog panel gives you:
- Axis jog buttons — move X, Y, or Z in positive or negative direction with configurable step sizes
- Home — send the machine to its home position
- Set Zero — zero out the work coordinates on any axis (X, Y, or Z)
- Unlock — release soft limits (GRBL machines)
- E-Stop — emergency stop that bypasses the command queue for immediate response
- Live position readout — see machine position and work position updating in real time
- Job status — monitor streaming progress when a job is running, including line count and percentage complete
The E-Stop button is always available, even when a job is actively streaming. It bypasses the normal command queue and sends an immediate reset to the controller. If something goes wrong mid-cut, you don't need to sprint across the shop to hit the keyboard — just tap your phone.
How to Set Up Remote Control
Getting remote jog working takes about 30 seconds:
- Open CutArc in your browser on the computer that's connected to your CNC machine.
- Connect to your machine as you normally would — via USB, Serial, or WebSocket depending on your controller.
- Open CutArc Connect on your phone and log in with the same CutArc account.
- Tap Remote Control. The app will find your active machine session and connect automatically.
That's it. The phone talks to the server, the server talks to your browser, and the browser talks to your machine. Your phone becomes a wireless pendant — no Bluetooth dongles, no WiFi modules, no additional hardware to buy or configure.
The connection stays alive as long as your browser session is open and the machine is connected. If the browser closes or the machine disconnects, the app will show you the status change immediately. When you reconnect, the remote session resumes.
Sign Builder
The Sign Builder is a quick way to create custom metal signs directly on your phone. Instead of opening a full CAD editor, you pick a template, type your text, adjust the dimensions, and get a cut-ready SVG in seconds.
CutArc Connect includes six professionally designed sign templates:
- Welcome Sign — simple rectangular sign with centered text, customizable border and corner radius
- Family Est. Sign — two-line layout with family name and established date, separated by a divider line
- Farm/Ranch Sign — large-format sign with bold centered text, ideal for property entrance markers
- Garage Sign — two-line design with a smaller top line and large main text (think "Dad's Garage")
- Lake House Sign — elegant three-tier layout with top, main, and bottom text lines
- Double Border Sign — decorative nested border design for a more polished look
Every template lets you customize the text, dimensions, font, corner radius, and whether to include borders or dividers. The preview updates live as you make changes, so you can see exactly what you'll get before saving. All text renders in CNC-optimized stencil fonts — letters with proper bridges so enclosed shapes like O, A, and D stay intact after cutting.
When you're happy with the design, save it to your CutArc account. The next time you open CutArc on your shop computer, the sign is ready to open, nest, and cut.
AI Design Generation
CutArc's AI Design Generator — the same feature available in the desktop browser app — is fully accessible from CutArc Connect. Describe what you want in a sentence or two, and the AI produces a plasma-ready SVG design optimized for CNC cutting.
Type something like "wolf howling at moon silhouette" or "compass rose wall art" and the AI generates a clean vector design with proper silhouette styling, closed paths, and no internal detail lines that would cause cut-through problems. The result saves directly to your account.
This is particularly useful when you're away from your shop computer. A customer texts you asking for a custom eagle design — you can generate it from your phone during lunch, review the result, and have it ready to cut when you get to the shop. Or you're browsing social media and see a design idea that sparks inspiration — generate a version of it immediately before you forget the details.
Every CutArc account gets free AI generation credits each week. If you need more, credit packs are available at reasonable rates. See our AI Design Generator guide for tips on writing effective prompts.
Photo to Vector
Sometimes the best design source is a photograph. A customer brings in a photo of their dog and wants it cut in steel. A homeowner wants their house silhouette as a wall piece. A hunter wants a trophy photo turned into a metal sign.
CutArc Connect handles this with two vectorization approaches:
AI Vectorize uses AI to analyze your photo and produce a clean, stylized SVG. It doesn't just trace the edges — it interprets the image and creates a design that's optimized for cutting. Upload a photo of a dog, and you get a clean silhouette with proper proportions and cuttable geometry, not a noisy edge trace with thousands of tiny jagged paths.
Image Trace is a free alternative that extracts contours from high-contrast images. It works well for silhouettes, logos, and images with clear outlines. If the source image has good contrast between the subject and background, Image Trace can produce clean results without using any credits.
Both options let you snap a photo directly with your phone's camera or pick an image from your gallery. You see a preview before saving, so you can evaluate the result and try again with a different photo if needed.
Design Library
CutArc Connect gives you access to the full CutArc Design Library — thousands of professionally designed, cut-ready vector files organized into categories. Browse animals, signs, patriotic designs, Western themes, Celtic patterns, and more. Each design is pre-optimized for CNC cutting with proper path geometry and no internal detail lines.
Search by category or keyword to find what you need. Preview any design before adding it to your account. When you find one you like, it saves directly to your project library and is ready to open in the desktop app for nesting and cutting.
The library is useful for building up a catalog of designs to offer customers, filling in gaps in your portfolio, or just finding a quick starting point that you can customize with CutArc's editing tools.
Cut Charts
Cut charts are one of those things you always need at the machine and never seem to have handy. CutArc Connect includes a built-in cut chart reference that lets you look up recommended parameters for your plasma setup right from your phone.
Filter by amperage and material type to get recommended settings for:
- Feed rate (inches or millimeters per minute)
- Pierce delay
- Kerf compensation width
- Cut height
The charts automatically display in your preferred unit system (metric or imperial). It's a quick reference tool that saves you from digging through paper manuals or searching online forums when you switch to a different material thickness.
AI Support Chat
If you run into a question while using CutArc — whether it's about kerf settings, post-processor configuration, machine connection, or anything else — the built-in AI support chat is available directly in the app. It understands CutArc's features and can walk you through common tasks step by step.
Free users get 5 messages per day, and Pro users get 50. The chat includes quick-action buttons for common topics so you can get answers faster. If the AI can't resolve your issue, it offers to escalate to email support.
How It All Fits Together
CutArc Connect isn't a separate product — it's an extension of the CutArc workflow you're already using. Everything shares the same account, the same projects, and the same design library. A sign you build on your phone appears in your desktop browser session. A design you generate with AI on the train is waiting for you in your project list when you get to the shop.
The workflow looks like this:
- Design anywhere. Use Sign Builder, AI Generate, Photo to Vector, or the Design Library from your phone whenever inspiration strikes or a customer asks for something.
- Refine on desktop. Open CutArc in your browser, load the design, make any final adjustments, set up toolpaths, and generate G-code.
- Control from the floor. Walk to your machine, pull out your phone, and use remote jog to position the torch, set your zero, and monitor the cut — all without walking back to the computer.
The app is free, works with any CutArc account (including free accounts), and requires no additional hardware beyond the phone you already have in your pocket.
Download CutArc Connect
CutArc Connect is available for iOS and Android. Download it from the App Store or Google Play, log in with your CutArc account, and start using it immediately. If you don't have a CutArc account yet, you can create one for free — the same account works for the desktop browser app, CutArc Connect, and all CutArc products.
For more details on the app's features and download links, visit the CutArc Connect page.