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luapre

macrumors member
Original poster
May 29, 2021
34
27
Hi,

do we have any information on whether or not universal control will also work from the iPad to the Mac? So using the keyboard & trackpad (for instance of the magic keyboard) from the iPad to control the Mac?

Would be a cool feature to have, especially for having a clamshell MacBook set-up.
 
Hi,

do we have any information on whether or not universal control will also work from the iPad to the Mac? So using the keyboard & trackpad (for instance of the magic keyboard) from the iPad to control the Mac?

Would be a cool feature to have, especially for having a clamshell MacBook set-up.
Yeah, it will work that way.
 
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Ah that'd be a wasted opportunity. Do you have a source on this, by any chance?
I have seen videos showing this, but I don't remember which ones. Anyway Universal Control is a Mac feature, not a iPadOS feature, that's why the keyboards needs to be connected to a Mac
 
I have seen videos showing this, but I don't remember which ones. Anyway Universal Control is a Mac feature, not a iPadOS feature, that's why the keyboards needs to be connected to a Mac
Mhm, ok, will just have to wait and see until it’s released to the betas. Since something being a Mac feature doesn’t mean it doesn’t take inputs from another device. (See sidecar for instance, where you can use the magic keyboard (not trackpad) and Apple pencil to control the Mac through the iPad.)

thanks for your insights though :)
 
Mhm, ok, will just have to wait and see until it’s released to the betas. Since something being a Mac feature doesn’t mean it doesn’t take inputs from another device. (See sidecar for instance, where you can use the magic keyboard (not trackpad) and Apple pencil to control the Mac through the iPad.)

thanks for your insights though :)
it won't work with the Magic keyboard at all, unless at some point some update changes that.... I don't think you can compare it to sidecar, since in sidecar you are actually using the iPad screen as an external monitor for MacOS, which is something you can do with third party softwares too (and you can use the magic keyboard trackpad too...)
 
the two things that seem to be less than optimal currently with universal control is that the trackpad from the iPad Pro magic keyboard does support gestures or inertia scrolling. hopefully this will be fixed/updated during the beta's.
 
Univeral Control is a MacOS embedded feature however, in display settings you can check all the boxes to allow your Mac to auto connect to an iPad. Once all the boxes are clicked, the mouse+keyboard will automatically work between devices. Even iPad Pro keyboard to Mac.

Please see below for the feature at work

 
thanks for nudging me to watch that video again! i have my setup working pretty well pairing a 2018 iPadPro w a 2010 mac mini media server & 2015 MBP w busted screen. can’t wait to upgrade either one on a shoestring as this would be a game changer as I wouldn’t have to use Screens.app anymore & data transfer would be seamless!
 
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