Apple’s Universal Control lets you use a single keyboard, mouse, and trackpad between your Mac and iPad. Use the keyboard, mouse, and trackpad of your Mac to control up to two other nearby Macs or iPads, working seamlessly between them.
You’ve been able to use iPads as wired or wireless external Mac monitors for many years through official or third-party means. With Universal Control, though, you’re still using iPad OS on the iPad’s screen — you just don’t have to take your hands off your Mac’s input devices to get there. It’s multitasking between multiple OSes and devices instead of just multiple apps.
What’s really impressive about Universal Control is that it bridges the gap between the two operating systems, making it more than just a neat way to get around Bluetooth re-pairing. You can drag a file from your iPad right over to your Mac desktop and vice versa. Copy and paste works perfectly. It means that any work I do on one machine can instantly be brought over to the other. You don’t even need to set anything up — just put your iPad next to your Mac, try to move the cursor across the screens, and Universal Control will figure out what you’re trying to do.
Universal Control is already an example of Apple at its best. This isn’t an obvious feature or one that thousands of people will have been crying out for. But it is a feature that’s made possible by the fact that there are a lot of iPads and Macs out there that Apple has full control of the software for and a feature that will make a relatively small number of people very happy through its sheer wizardry.
MacDailyNews Take: Good luck doing that with a crappy Windows PC and a tablet peddled by some South Korean dishwasher maker or worse.
Only Apple can deliver something like Universal Control. Those who settle for pretend Macs and fake iPads, even if both carry the same branding, will never get anything even remotely like Universal Control.
MacDailyNews Note: Universal Control (beta) requires a compatible Mac using macOS Monterey 12.3 or later and a compatible iPad using iPadOS 15.4 or later:
• MacBook introduced in 2016 or later
• MacBook Pro introduced in 2016 or later
• MacBook Air introduced in 2018 or later
• Mac mini introduced in 2018 or later
• iMac introduced in 2017 or later, plus iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2015)
• iMac Pro introduced in 2017
• Mac Pro introduced in 2019 or later
• iPad Pro (all models)
• iPad (6th generation) or later
• iPad Air (3rd generation) or later
• iPad mini (5th generation) or later
Additional requirements:
• Each device must be signed in with the same Apple ID using two-factor authentication. Universal Control does not support Managed Apple IDs.
• Each device must be within 10 meters (30 feet) of each other and have Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and Handoff turned on.
• Your iPad must not be sharing its cellular connection and your Mac must not be sharing its internet connection.
More info here.
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This is the coolest feature ever….
Wow, I could buy an M1 iMac Desktop (or even a Mac Mini with my current monitor) and keep my 2016 MBP as my second screen/mobile machine and be very happy. Most of the time I use my MBP in desktop mode, anyway. Instead of stunting sales due to high prices, this could actually stimulate sales. This might actually get me off my butt to buy something.
Synergy and look-alikes have been offering a similar feature PC-PC for awhile. Don’t know if they can connect to android tablets.
Agreed. Synergy has been doing this for many years AND cross-platform with Windows, macOS, Linux, RaspPi.
BUT it is missing tablet support at this time but there are plans to support iOS, Android and ChomeOS.
Find it here: https://symless.com/synergy
Works perfectly. Inuse the keyboard of my iMac to type on my iPad Pro. Super handy. Or just as a second screen to have more windows visible. You can even pull file from the iMac to the iPad vice versa. So cool!
I guess the author never heard of remote access. Even easier, no remote screen required.
But that’s what you get from a fan club.
I recall a TV show. The hero has a computer sidekick disguised as a credit card that interacts with nearby technology. That’s where this will lead. Your main computer will be a tiny thing you carry around, don’t even need to take out of pocket. It takes over nearby desktop screen and interface devices (like keyboard and mouse) or tablet-sized touch screen automatically. Or your big screen TV. Maybe the new Studio Display has a built-in A-chip so an it can become the external display for a nearby iPhone or second display for a MacBook, without any wires.
You lost my interest when you said without any wires.
Wires just work. Nothing else is as fast, easy, intuitive, and cheap. Making everything battery dependent is a major expensive pain in the ass.
Then there is the small matter of security. It will be an interesting day when Apple suffers a serious security breach on one of its servers that it forces all its users to rely on.