The iPadOS 15.4 and macOS Monterey 12.3 betas that Apple released today introduce support for Universal Control, the long-awaited feature that's designed to allow multiple Macs and iPads to be controlled with a single mouse and keyboard.
There are Universal Control settings available on both the Mac and the iPad, and the feature is enabled by default after updating to the new betas. On the Mac, the settings can be found under Displays > Advanced, and on the iPad, the AirPlay & Handoff section under General has a new "Cursor and Keyboard (Beta)" option.
With Universal Control, you can use the same cursor and keyboard on any nearby Mac or iPad that's signed into your iCloud account. So, for example, if you have a MacBook and an iPad next to it, your MacBook's trackpad and keyboard can be used right on the iPad.
Apple introduced Universal Control in June at the Worldwide Developers Conference and initially said that it would be introduced this fall, but the company was not able to meet that deadline and ultimately delayed the launch.
In December, Apple updated its macOS Monterey feature page with a "spring 2022" release date for Universal Control, which is aligned with when we are expecting to see iPadOS 15.4 and macOS Monterey 12.3 launch.
It works with an external display - just a generic 4K LG in my case. It works in clamshell and in non-clamshell mode. It works with the Apple Magic Keyboard & Mouse. It works with a generic cheap Logitech keyboard and mouse too.
And here's the real surprise... You can extend your MacBook display to the iPad to use as a second monitor then keep pushing towards the edge of the iPad screen to move from macOS to iPadOS on the iPad itself.
Got it working here. I had to explicitly link my iPad and Mac under the "Add Display" option in my mac's System Preferences to get it to work, but once I did it works as expected.
Dragging and dropping files between devices works, too.
Note it appears this is *not* compatible with Wacom tablets. I can only jump control and drag files if I use my mouse.
Thursday January 27, 2022 3:01 pm PST by Juli Clover
Apple today released new developer betas of iPadOS 15.4 and macOS Monterey 12.3, and the updated software adds the long awaited and highly anticipated Universal Control feature. We tested out Universal Control, and even in an early beta form, Universal Control is an easy to use and convenient multi-device control option. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. To use...
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Top Rated Comments
It works with an external display - just a generic 4K LG in my case. It works in clamshell and in non-clamshell mode. It works with the Apple Magic Keyboard & Mouse. It works with a generic cheap Logitech keyboard and mouse too.
And here's the real surprise... You can extend your MacBook display to the iPad to use as a second monitor then keep pushing towards the edge of the iPad screen to move from macOS to iPadOS on the iPad itself.
Crazy.
Dragging and dropping files between devices works, too.
Note it appears this is *not* compatible with Wacom tablets. I can only jump control and drag files if I use my mouse.
it looks like it works pretty good