You can use your iPad as a second display with Sidecar in macOS Catalina

AppleInsiderAppleInsider
Posted:
in macOS edited August 2020
In the latest update to macOS, Apple is adding official native support for utilizing an iPad running iOS 13 as an external monitor.

You can finally use an iPad as a second display on the Mac
You can finally use an iPad as a second display on the Mac with macOS Catalina


As rumored, Apple has now empowered users to use their iPad as a second display with the latest macOS 10.15 Catalina.

The new feature is called Sidecar and it works both wireless and wired with macOS Catalina and iOS 13. Additionally, Apple Pencil can be used as an input as well, similar to other sketch tablets for the Mac.

Many apps will already support iPad tablet support
Many apps will already support iPad tablet support


Any current app that already supports sketch tablets such as the Intuous or Wacom tablets will support sketching with Apple Pencil.

This comes on the heels of Apple's announcement of their new pro monitor, the Pro Display XDR.

AppleInsider will be reporting live throughout WWDC 2019, starting with the keynote on Monday, June 3. Get every announcement as it happens by downloading the AppleInsider app for iOS, and by making sure to follow us on YouTube, Twitter @appleinsider, Facebook and Instagram.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 10
    netroxnetrox Posts: 1,421member
    I am so happy it's bringing that feature to MacOS!
    StrangeDayscaladaniantyler82watto_cobra
  • Reply 2 of 10
    mjtomlinmjtomlin Posts: 2,673member
    Cue the "Apple is destroying yet another 3rd party developer's life!" rants.
    jbdragonwatto_cobrachasm
  • Reply 3 of 10
    palegolaspalegolas Posts: 1,361member
    IF you get to try this at WWDC, could you report on the performance, frame rate, colour accuracy, resolution and latency? I’ve been looking forward to this since the iPad! Finally!
    caladaniandysamoriawatto_cobra
  • Reply 4 of 10
    lorin schultzlorin schultz Posts: 2,771member
    This is a feature that seemed like an obvious workflow the very first time we saw an iPad. I can’t believe it took this long to materialize. I’m glad it has, though!

    I do feel bad for the devs that filled the gap Apple left, but that’s tempered by the joy of having this capability hard-wired into the system.
    caladanianwatto_cobra
  • Reply 5 of 10
    davgregdavgreg Posts: 1,037member
    So I guess the makers of Duet have been Watson/Sherlocked.

  • Reply 6 of 10
    welshdogwelshdog Posts: 1,897member
    Will this feature work with my Mac Mini? I have it in my AV system and it feeds the receiver and TV via HDMI. Would be very useful to whip out my iPad and access the Mini without having to take over the TV.
    chickwatto_cobra
  • Reply 7 of 10
    dysamoriadysamoria Posts: 3,430member
    No specifications stated other than the newest Mac OS. What else?
  • Reply 8 of 10
    chickchick Posts: 35member
    welshdog said:
    Will this feature work with my Mac Mini? I have it in my AV system and it feeds the receiver and TV via HDMI. Would be very useful to whip out my iPad and access the Mini without having to take over the TV.
    If your Mac Mini is a 2012 or later model, it should work.
    welshdogwatto_cobra
  • Reply 9 of 10
    welshdogwelshdog Posts: 1,897member
    chick said:
    welshdog said:
    Will this feature work with my Mac Mini? I have it in my AV system and it feeds the receiver and TV via HDMI. Would be very useful to whip out my iPad and access the Mini without having to take over the TV.
    If your Mac Mini is a 2012 or later model, it should work.
    It is in fact a Late 2012 - thanks.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 10 of 10
    Mike WuertheleMike Wuerthele Posts: 6,861administrator
    welshdog said:
    chick said:
    welshdog said:
    Will this feature work with my Mac Mini? I have it in my AV system and it feeds the receiver and TV via HDMI. Would be very useful to whip out my iPad and access the Mini without having to take over the TV.
    If your Mac Mini is a 2012 or later model, it should work.
    It is in fact a Late 2012 - thanks.
    We're still working on it, but we know that there is a hardware check inside Sidecar. We're pretty sure it's limited to machines with some form of hardware video encoding or a minimum GPU spec, and the 2012 is not it. We've heard early 2015 MacBook whatever, the late 2015 iMac, the 2013 Mac Pro, and the 2014 mini.

    We'll see. It's on the list.
    watto_cobra
Sign In or Register to comment.