Sidecar: Turn an iPad Into a Secondary Mac Display

[peglegjack]

Just realized that my iPad Air 2 is not compatible with Sidecar....sad face.

Truth be told, between iCloud, Continuity, and Handoff, along with the app ecosystem, it's probably not needed for my work.

 

[lehrblogger]

I'm also interested a headless Mac mini, especially when traveling. The iPad is great for airplanes, but I want macOS when I arrive. Luna has tried to support this, but I'd never go without FileVault, especially when out of my house. I thought maybe a wired, first-party device could handle the security restrictions.

Does anyone know yet if this will work? It's going to be a couple weeks before I can update my 2015 Mac mini to test. Thanks!

 

[hso0117]

Requirements for iPad to use sidecar

12.9-inch iPad Pro
11-inch iPad Pro
10.5-inch iPad Pro
9.7-inch iPad Pro
iPad (6th generation or later)
iPad mini (5th generation)
iPad Air (3rd generation)

I have an iPad Pro 9.7 inch, with Apple Pencil and iPadOS 13.2, just updated my MacBook Air to Catalina, but the only available item to Airplay to is the TV....why doesn't may laptop see my iPad?

 

[jerryk]

I have an iPad Pro 9.7 inch, with Apple Pencil and iPadOS 13.2, just updated my MacBook Air to Catalina, but the only available item to Airplay to is the TV....why doesn't may laptop see my iPad?

There are requirements on the Mac side also, make sure you meet these. This is the list from the article at the top of this thread.

• Late 2015 27" iMac or newer
• Mid 2016  MacBook Pro  or newer
• Late 2018 Mac mini or newer
• Late 2018 MacBook Air or newer
• Early 2016 MacBook or newer
• 2019 Mac Pro
• 2017 iMac Pro

You also need to turn on BT and Wifi if you are connecting wirelessly.

FWIW, I am using a 2018 MBP 15 and have connected to my IPP 9.7" and 11". I have done both wireless and wired (USB-C to USB-C) on the 11" and wireless to my 9.7.

 

[victry1]

Nice. I've been working something similar since 2015, Astropad - on my 2015 iPad Pro and my older iMac. Been a big help with 1st Gen Apple Pencil and my desktop Illustrator.

Are you using the standard or studio version of Astropad? I am tremendously disappointed that my 2015 MBP is not supported for Sidecar. So in looking at Astropad I see the one version they have is a subscription So, I'm leaning towards the less expensive model (one time purchase) if I were to get it.

 

[PhillyGuy72]

Are you using the standard or studio version of Astropad? I am tremendously disappointed that my 2015 MBP is not supported for Sidecar. So in looking at Astropad I see the one version they have is a subscription So, I'm leaning towards the less expensive model (one time purchase) if I were to get it.

I'm using the Standard version - I paid one time for the app 4 1/2 years ago. (I didn't even know there was a 79.99 per year "Studio" release) eh! The Standard works perfectly fine for me.

The free Desktop app runs fine on my old 2012 iMac on Sierra (Ignore that BG, I just like the Mojave dune 😊 ) Then connects wirelessly on the iPad app. I'll be able to see everything my iMac has, makes programs like Illustrator easier, especially with the Pencil.

https://imgur.com/L1YrE7H

https://imgur.com/L1YrE7H

 

[victry1]

Thanks for the info. Glad to hear the less expensive version works well and will prolly be trying it.

 

[lehrblogger]

I'm also interested a headless Mac mini, especially when traveling. The iPad is great for airplanes, but I want macOS when I arrive. Luna has tried to support this, but I'd never go without FileVault, especially when out of my house. I thought maybe a wired, first-party device could handle the security restrictions.

I was finally able to test this, and unfortunately it did not work. I used a late-2014 Mac mini and an 11-inch iPad Pro. That Mac mini doesn't support Sidecar, so I enabled it on a test install of macOS Catalina using this script, which I found via this thread. The image quality was quite poor, but it otherwise seemed to work normally.

After connecting the iPad as a display, I tried unplugging the primary Thunderbolt display from the Mac mini. This caused Sidecar to stop working on the iPad, and when I reconnected the primary display, there was an error message that said:

Unable to connect to "[iPad name]"
A miscellaneous error occurred (-501).

I also tried rebooting with only the iPad connected, and this didn't work either, even with FileVault disabled. In addition, an Apple Support representative told me via chat that a Sidecar display could not be used as a primary display. Oh well, no new Mac mini for me...

 

[jagooch]

Can you use the iPad Camera for video calls while it is connected in Sidecar mode?

 

[rawitten]

Sidecar is BADLY BROKEN in Monterey. MacRumors, please look into this!

 

[superparati]

Running BigSur and just purchased an iPad Pro.
SideCar do not work with my Mac Pro and OpenCore (Vega RX 56).

Has anyone some tips about how to go through the number of errors -501, -455,-6709…)
I did turn off and on my iCloud account on both machine
tried to use cable
reboot both machine.

Same errors, popup listing the error and my iPad go to the Home Screen locked.

Any suggestion?

 

[brodie29a]

Running BigSur and just purchased an iPad Pro.
SideCar do not work with my Mac Pro and OpenCore (Vega RX 56).

Has anyone some tips about how to go through the number of errors -501, -455,-6709…)
I did turn off and on my iCloud account on both machine
tried to use cable
reboot both machine.

Same errors, popup listing the error and my iPad go to the Home Screen locked.

Any suggestion?

did you find a solution same issue with my cmp 5.1 everything but dual displays work, i can share my ipad screen with my mac so i know there talking.