iPad Pro Connecting 2018 iPad Pro to an external monitor?

[lsquare]

I have a 2018 12.9" iPad Pro. I know it doesn't have the same capabilities as the M1 and above variants. When connected to an external monitor, can I get the iPad to at least cover the entire monitor or there will be black bars? Any way to avoid the black bars or do I need to upgrade my iPad Pro?

Thank you!

 

[Digitalguy]

I have a 2018 12.9" iPad Pro. I know it doesn't have the same capabilities as the M1 and above variants. When connected to an external monitor, can I get the iPad to at least cover the entire monitor or there will be black bars? Any way to avoid the black bars or do I need to upgrade my iPad Pro?

Thank you!

The full iPadOS can only mirror if it's not M series, so to avoid the black bar you would need a monitor with a similar aspect ratio (I have one, it's 3:2 4k monitor by Huawei, 28in works with USB C)
Single apps can however take advatange of the typical 16.9 ratio of regular monitors. For instance remote desktop apps can use the full monitor (but you cannot use the iPad for something else at the same time (contrary to M series (other than some occasional slide over)
Video apps can usually use the full monitor too to watch a videos in full screen, or video editing apps can preview in full screen.
But regular apps and browsers can only mirror the display, so you get a smaller surface
There were some apps that had main their own (poor) broswer, calculator etc to use in full screen, but they are bad, paid and were abandoned after M1, so avoid them.

 

[JD2015]

I have a 2018 12.9" iPad Pro. I know it doesn't have the same capabilities as the M1 and above variants. When connected to an external monitor, can I get the iPad to at least cover the entire monitor or there will be black bars? Any way to avoid the black bars or do I need to upgrade my iPad Pro?

Thank you!

if you turn on stage manager it will cover the whole screen.

 

[lsquare]

if you turn on stage manager it will cover the whole screen.

Non-M iPad Pros do not support stage manager.

 

[lsquare]

The full iPadOS can only mirror if it's not M series, so to avoid the black bar you would need a monitor with a similar aspect ratio (I have one, it's 3:2 4k monitor by Huawei, 28in works with USB C)
Single apps can however take advatange of the typical 16.9 ratio of regular monitors. For instance remote desktop apps can use the full monitor (but you cannot use the iPad for something else at the same time (contrary to M series (other than some occasional slide over)
Video apps can usually use the full monitor too to watch a videos in full screen, or video editing apps can preview in full screen.
But regular apps and browsers can only mirror the display, so you get a smaller surface
There were some apps that had main their own (poor) broswer, calculator etc to use in full screen, but they are bad, paid and were abandoned after M1, so avoid them.

What's the biggest monitor that has the same aspect ratio as my iPad Pro?

Are you sure that single apps like YouTube, YouTube TV, Netflix, and Disney Plus will take full advantage of a 4K monitor and cover the whole screen? I can't find any articles with screenshots or a YouTube video showing this. I would love it if someone with a 2018 12.9" iPad Pro confirming this for me.

So there's no way for Safari to take advantage of the full screen? Any other hacks or software that can force Safari to cover the whole screen?

 

[Digitalguy]

Non-M iPad Pros do not support stage manager.

A12X/Z do but only on iPad, no extended monitor

 

[Digitalguy]

What's the biggest monitor that has the same aspect ratio as my iPad Pro?

Are you sure that single apps like YouTube, YouTube TV, Netflix, and Disney Plus will take full advantage of a 4K monitor and cover the whole screen? I can't find any articles with screenshots or a YouTube video showing this. I would love it if someone with a 2018 12.9" iPad Pro confirming this for me.

So there's no way for Safari to take advantage of the full screen? Any other hacks or software that can force Safari to cover the whole screen?

The biggest monitor? I think the one I have is the ONLY monitor with that aspect ratio: https://consumer.huawei.com/en/monitors/mateview/specs/
I don't even know if it's sold in the US however.

Youtube does not support 16.9 (tested), Netflix I am not sure, I have not it on iPad. When I said video apps I meant apps that play local videos. Some TV apps do to (mine does). Don't know about youtube TV.
And no, there is no way to force safari.
The only way is using the Shiftscreen 4X browser that can also play youtube in fullscreen, but again it's a paid app that has been abandoned, could stop working any time, I would not buy that (I bought it before M1).

 

[lsquare]

The biggest monitor? I think the one I have is the ONLY monitor with that aspect ratio: https://consumer.huawei.com/en/monitors/mateview/specs/
I don't even know if it's sold in the US however.

Youtube does not support 16.9 (tested), Netflix I am not sure, I have not it on iPad. When I said video apps I meant apps that play local videos. Some TV apps do to (mine does). Don't know about youtube TV.
And no, there is no way to force safari.
The only way is using the Shiftscreen 4X browser that can also play youtube in fullscreen, but again it's a paid app that has been abandoned, could stop working any time, I would not buy that (I bought it before M1).

Which iPad do you have? I guess I got confused. If YouTube doesn't work, then there's not a lot of hope that Netflix or even Disney Plus will work. Do you have an NF or a D+ subscription? If so, can you test this?

For local videos, which app are you using? Can I go full-screen streaming videos from a NAS?

It's very disappointing that the developer abandoned their app. Not all new iPads have an M processor. The regular iPad and the Mini are still using A processors. The app would come in handy and it sucks that the developer is using its own browser rather than Safari.

 

[Digitalguy]

Which iPad do you have? I guess I got confused. If YouTube doesn't work, then there's not a lot of hope that Netflix or even Disney Plus will work. Do you have an NF or a D+ subscription? If so, can you test this?

For local videos, which app are you using? Can I go full-screen streaming videos from a NAS?

It's very disappointing that the developer abandoned their app. Not all new iPads have an M processor. The regular iPad and the Mini are still using A processors. The app would come in handy and it sucks that the developer is using its own browser rather than Safari.

See my signature for my iPads, I'll check later when I get back home. Plex works anyway that's what I use the most.

 

[lsquare]

See my signature for my iPads, I'll check later when I get back home. Plex works anyway that's what I use the most.

Thank you so much for the help.

Your signature doesn't display in a mobile browser, but I just forced a desktop view so I see it now. My iPad Pro has slightly more RAM than yours IIRC as I have the 1TB LTE version.

Yes, please. Please let me know which app you're using and test it with. If you have Hulu TV and can test that too, then that would be great. I think your data points will come in handy for the foreseeable future as Apple will continue to use A processors in their lower-tier iPads.

Do you have Infuse? If so, can you test that? I haven't used Plex before. Did you try playing a video from your iPad and streaming from a NAS to your TV and get the full screen without black bars?

 

[Digitalguy]

Thank you so much for the help.

Your signature doesn't display in a mobile browser, but I just forced a desktop view so I see it now. My iPad Pro has slightly more RAM than yours IIRC as I have the 1TB LTE version.

Yes, please. Please let me know which app you're using and test it with. If you have Hulu TV and can test that too, then that would be great. I think your data points will come in handy for the foreseeable future as Apple will continue to use A processors in their lower-tier iPads.

Do you have Infuse? If so, can you test that? I haven't used Plex before. Did you try playing a video from your iPad and streaming from a NAS to your TV and get the full screen without black bars?

I have the 1TB LTE 11" 2018 and the 512GB 12.9 2018 (plus the M1).
I don't have any streaming subscriptions currently.
Plex and VLC are the apps I use the most and they both support full screen. Plex is extremely powerful.
I think there maybe a youtube plugin for plex servers but I haven't tested that.
I have infuse but only the non paid version.
Plex can stream from anything (NAS included) to any device, no black bars.

 

[lsquare]

I have the 1TB LTE 11" 2018 and the 512GB 12.9 2018 (plus the M1).
I don't have any streaming subscriptions currently.
Plex and VLC are the apps I use the most and they both support full screen. Plex is extremely powerful.
I think there maybe a youtube plugin for plex servers but I haven't tested that.
I have infuse but only the non paid version.
Plex can stream from anything (NAS included) to any device, no black bars.

My apologies, I missed that. I guess having an extra 2GB of RAM helps improve the longevity of the device.

If you don't have any subscriptions, what do you intend to check when you get home?

Thanks for the suggestion about Plex. Are there any limitations with the free version of Infuse? Can you try to play a full-screen video?

Apple's decision seems so arbitrary. YouTube has black bars and Plex doesn't.

 

[Digitalguy]

My apologies, I missed that. I guess having an extra 2GB of RAM helps improve the longevity of the device.

If you don't have any subscriptions, what do you intend to check when you get home?

Thanks for the suggestion about Plex. Are there any limitations with the free version of Infuse? Can you try to play a full-screen video?

Apple's decision seems so arbitrary. YouTube has black bars and Plex doesn't.

I am only back now. Why do you want to use Infuse when VLC is free and supports full screen?
You also have VLC streamer, even if I have not tried it since I use plex.
It's not Apple decision, it's Google's decision not to support full screen on iPad for the youtube app, Apple has given the necessary APIs to developers and they can support 16.9 if the want.
What's Apple's fault is removing the ability by some extentions to make safari videos fullscreen on external monitors.
That worked until iPadOS 14 and 15 (for instance with x.app or fullifier) and it does work on my 2018 12.9 which is on iPadOS 15, but from 16 it's not possible anymore.

As for the additional 2GB of RAM, it won't get any more software updates than the 4GB model, but it's a much better experience, and I can see when comparing to my 12.9 (512GB) which reloads way more, especially Safari, and also crashes with RAM hungry apps like Davinci Resolve.

 

[lsquare]

I am only back now. Why do you want to use Infuse when VLC is free and supports full screen?
You also have VLC streamer, even if I have not tried it since I use plex.
It's not Apple decision, it's Google's decision not to support full screen on iPad for the youtube app, Apple has given the necessary APIs to developers and they can support 16.9 if the want.
What's Apple's fault is removing the ability by some extentions to make safari videos fullscreen on external monitors.
That worked until iPadOS 14 and 15 (for instance with x.app or fullifier) and it does work on my 2018 12.9 which is on iPadOS 15, but from 16 it's not possible anymore.

As for the additional 2GB of RAM, it won't get any more software updates than the 4GB model, but it's a much better experience, and I can see when comparing it to my 12.9 (512GB) which reloads way more, especially Safari, and also crashes with RAM hungry apps like Davinci Resolve.

If you don't have any subscriptions, what do you intend to check when you get home?

With the additional RAM, do you know if there is a limit to the number of tabs I can open in Safari? I wonder if it's truly unlimited.

 

[Digitalguy]

If you don't have any subscriptions, what do you intend to check when you get home?

With the additional RAM, do you know if there is a limit to the number of tabs I can open in Safari? I wonder if it's truly unlimited.

I wanted to test if it was possible to make youtube fill an external monitor on Safari and it is only on iPadOS 14 and 15.
Nobody knows how much RAM Safari uses. It even reloads on 16GB RAM devices. Some suspect there is a 2GB app threashold that triggers reloads, but nobody knows since there is no system resource manager on iPad.
What is clear is that you can hold much more stuff in memory with 6GB. 4GB reload even a single youtube tab after a couple of hours (it's not just a matter of how much but also of how long, thing reload after inactivity as if the system cleans RAM regardless of usage)

 

[lsquare]

I wanted to test if it was possible to make youtube fill an external monitor on Safari and it is only on iPadOS 14 and 15.
Nobody knows how much RAM Safari uses. It even reloads on 16GB RAM devices. Some suspect there is a 2GB app threashold that triggers reloads, but nobody knows since there is no system resource manager on iPad.
What is clear is that you can hold much more stuff in memory with 6GB. 4GB reload even a single youtube tab after a couple of hours (it's not just a matter of how much but also of how long, thing reload after inactivity as if the system cleans RAM regardless of usage)

Even on MacOS?

Would you be able to test Infuse?

Thank you.

 

[JustAnExpat]

Even on MacOS?

No. MacOS reloads tabs if they went to sleep to save memory. I have an 8GB MacBook Air.

Honestly, after reading this post, I think you're better off with a MacBook Air, unless there's a specific iPad app you need to use. MacBook Airs Mx series can run iPad software, if the publisher decided to make the software installable on the Mx series of computers.