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Apple Introduces Sidecar App for Using an iPad as a Mac's Secondary Display

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Apple today at WWDC 2019 unveiled a new Mac app named Sidecar that will allow an iPad to be used as a second display for a Mac, similar to existing third-party options like Duet Display and Luna Display.

mac-sidecar-1.jpg

Sidecar will work both wired and wirelessly and will support the Apple Pencil as an input device for the Mac. This functionality will be supported across all apps that support tablets.

mac-sidecar-2.jpg

Apple's WWDC 2019 keynote is underway. Stay tuned for updates...

Article Link: Apple Introduces Sidecar App for Using an iPad as a Mac's Secondary Display
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2019/06/03/macos-sidecar-app-ipad-secondary-display/
I love using Luna, but they had to hack the hardware to make it work, having it built in directly to MacOS/iOS is obviously going to be better. Hopefully, the folks at AstroPad/Luna can provide some additional features, would hate to see them go out of business.
 
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jsalda said:
I love using Luna, but they had to hack the hardware to make it work, having it built in directly to MacOS/iOS is obviously going to be better. Hopefully, the folks at AstroPad/Luna can provide some additional features, would hate to see them go out of business.
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I for one hope this is the death of AstroPad as a company! They milked original customers that supported them from the start! by being greedy and moving Pro users to subscription model.Something that should have been offered for free to original users who bought into their eco system and purchased pens that they endorsed then they dropped support for!

Karma is a great thing sometimes.
 
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g3nw1 said:
I for one hope this is the death of AstroPad as a company! They milked original customers that supported them from the start! by being greedy and moving Pro users to subscription model.Something that should have been offered for free to original users who bought into their eco system and purchased pens that they endorsed then they dropped support for!

Karma is a great thing sometimes.
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You do have a point. I mainly use Luna for the second display, couldn't tell you what the reasons for using Astropad Studio are. I do agree with you on the subscription thing, one of the things that I've appreciated about ProCreate and Affinity.
 
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szw-mapple fan said:
Well, rest in peace Duet and Luna Display
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That depends on Apple's implementation. The Apple pencil doesn't have a hover feature, and many Photoshop functions, such as the clone stamp, depend on hover. AstroPad has a special workaround that allows you to use touch to simulate hover. We shall see if Apple is going to have that implemented. AstroPad has some pretty advanced features that go beyond screen mirroring.
 
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The second screen thing is cool. But being able to use it with the pen is even better – if only Photoshop was supported. Can't really use Premiere or After Effects with a pen...
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cppguy said:
That depends on Apple's implementation. The Apple pencil doesn't have a hover feature, and many Photoshop functions, such as the clone stamp, depend on hover. AstroPad has a special workaround that allows you to use touch to simulate hover. We shall see if Apple is going to have that implemented. AstroPad has some pretty advanced features that go beyond screen mirroring.
Click to expand...
Maybe that's the reason that Photoshop is not even supported.
 
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jsalda said:
I love using Luna, but they had to hack the hardware to make it work, having it built in directly to MacOS/iOS is obviously going to be better. Hopefully, the folks at AstroPad/Luna can provide some additional features, would hate to see them go out of business.
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I'm not sure who wins for arrogance and ripping off their customers more, but I'd say AstroPad wins this battle. Duet made a solid product for having a secondary display, but they scammed people who thought it would work on windows. It was not compatible with a lot of Nvidia graphics cards, if any.

AstroPad removed the useful features and forced people into a subscription all the while knowing that there was a high probability each year that Apple would finally integrate. Everyone knew two years ago it would be within the next two years, so they tried their best to grab as much cash possible knowing they would be out of business. You could say this is supply and demand and fair play, but they intentionally broke the app store rules with their iPhone version. They made sure you could not use it on iPad, which is a violation of the terms and just another unethical move they pulled.

After Luna Display came out, Duet lied that it was faster and better than Luna Display on wifi, and tried to make a show about it to get some sales. Then in the lead up until WWDC, they put it on 50% off as soon as they knew they were doomed. That's not dirty, but it is a slap in the face if you bought it. It's way overpriced for app with three months maximum left in its life.
 
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yAak said:
No details on latency in their announcement... hopefully its not horrid.
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I would guess not; given it will be compared with Duet and Luna. Those apps set the bar as far as latency is concerned am I would hope Apple matches or exceeds theirs.
 
Lightning in 10.5 iPad pro is 5Gbps, USB 3.0 speeds. It's not enough to get 60 frames a second at full resolution. The newest iPads will have over the 15Gbps required bandwidth.
 
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Great...so apple steal a great idea app (duet) and kill it. While I am sure that sidecar will work well, duet lets me use the ipad as a screen on both my macs and PCs. Can't see them offering a sidecar PC app and it surely will end the development of third party apps.
 
I hope so. Would love to use this with my 10.5” iPad Pro and 2012 Mac Mini.

Although I’m sure Apple is gonna somehow come up with some reason to limit the functionality on older hardware.

satinsilverem2 said:
from what I've read on the features list any A9 or higher iPad and any 2012 or later Mac can support this. I was worried that my 9.7 iPP was going to miss out but as far as I can tell so far its going to be supported
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vjpulp said:
The second screen thing is cool. But being able to use it with the pen is even better – if only Photoshop was supported. Can't really use Premiere or After Effects with a pen...
[doublepost=1559590505][/doublepost]
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I use AE everyday on a cintiq. You can't use AE too well without keyboard shortcuts maybe if that is what you are trying to say. I do also use a mouse, and touch screen in windows. All inputs can be faster. If I did editing, I would have a second keyboard just dedicated to macros, but I would still use a stylus. It's my default input.

This WWDC was great, but the Macbooks all are still total trash since 2015. I can't believe it is 2019 and the displays still are touch enabled. It's a huge deal for my workflow. Don't get me wrong, I want to give them money, cost is not the issue, but the keyboards and soldering are also nonstarter for me. I still have a later 2013 macbook pro, and it's only 20% slower than 2018 model, has a replaceable SSD, and comes with lots of ports. Unfortunately not being able to hookup a GPU is a major downside.

They are going to get there. Thunderbolt 3 means they can't hurt us with SSD prices or overpriced GPUs. They just need a macbook pro that pros will actually want. Make a $7k model with a mechanical keyboard and people will buy it.
 
dazey said:
Great...so apple steal a great idea app (duet) and kill it. While I am sure that sidecar will work well, duet lets me use the ipad as a screen on both my macs and PCs. Can't see them offering a sidecar PC app and it surely will end the development of third party apps.
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I don’t agree that apple is stealing duet’s idea nor that they are killing it. I use duet almost everyday with my Mac (it’s worked flawlessly btw) and I think using your iPad as a Mac second screen is a feature that should have been implemented by apple years ago. I haven’t tested duet with a PC but if it works as well as it works paired with a Mac, I think the duet team will do fine considering that the probability of Apple porting sidecar to windows is slim to none.
 
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This will keep my 2012 iMac alive if It’s supported. I have a new 12.9” iPad Pro which is my main computer. But sometimes I like to sit at my desk. I have fewer and fewer reasons to keep my iMac around but being able to use my iPad Pro with it as both a second screen and ask an input device with Pencil, really makes keeping a Mac worthwhile.
 
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szw-mapple fan said:
Well, rest in peace Duet and Luna Display
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cppguy said:
That depends on Apple's implementation. The Apple pencil doesn't have a hover feature, and many Photoshop functions, such as the clone stamp, depend on hover. AstroPad has a special workaround that allows you to use touch to simulate hover. We shall see if Apple is going to have that implemented. AstroPad has some pretty advanced features that go beyond screen mirroring.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't write off Duet. I'm a Windows 10 user and Duet works great for expanding my desktop onto the iPad. So even if it loses Mac users, there are still plenty of us Windows users who will still comprise a decent-sized market for an app such as Duet... unless Apple ports SideCar over to Windows also.
 
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Will it work on the new Ipad Air 3? I just bought a cell 256 version which arrives tomarrow...I dont wana have to spend more for a pro version if i can avoid it!
 
I have a Luna display and mostly use it when traveling so I have dual monitors. Works great. But this functionality built into the OS may harm or even kill Luna.
 
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