Hands on: Apple’s new Universal Control feature for Macs and iPads actually feels like magic

Apple’s long-awaited, but-finally-forthcoming Universal Control lets users work with a single mouse and keyboard and move between Mac and iPad for a seamless experience, with no setup required.

With Universal Control, users can even drag and drop content back and forth between devices — great for sketching a drawing with Apple Pencil on iPad and placing it into a Keynote slide on the Mac.

Phillip Tracy for Gizmodo:

Apple’s long-awaited Universal Control feature is finally here, and after spending some time with it, I have to say: It’s exactly what Apple promised. Now available as part of the macOS Monterey 12.3 and iPadOS 15.4 developer betas, the feature creates the bridge between Macs and iPads that many have been waiting for Apple to build.

I’ll start by saying that Apple wasn’t mincing words when it claimed there was “no setup required.” You just need to do the basics: login to both devices using the same Apple ID and ensure they are both up to date. For now, you can only use the feature if you’re enrolled in Apple’s developer program, but it’ll eventually be a default feature on iPad and Mac.

Using Universal Control after I had downloaded iPadOS 15.4 on an iPad mini and macOS Monterey 12.3 on the latest 13-inch MacBook Pro was effortless. I simply placed the two devices next to each other and dragged my laptop cursor to the edge of the screen. When I nudged it a bit further, instead of slamming into an invisible wall, the cursor magically jumped to the iPad mini and transformed from a desktop pointer into iPadOS’s small circle. From there, I pulled up the Notes app on the iPad and started typing with the MacBook Pro keyboard. It was, plainly, incredible.

Apple has previously said the feature would be available last fall but later changed the expected launch date to “available this spring,” which is when we expect the formal public launch of iPadOS 15.4 and macOS Monterey 12.3.

MacDailyNews Take: Universal Control is finally coming! Check out the videos below:

Please help support MacDailyNews. Click or tap here to support our independent tech blog. Thank you!

Shop The Apple Store at Amazon.