Tips on how to Use Sidecar in MacOS Catalina to Make Your iPad a Second Display screen

Probably the most thrilling options to come back out of MacOS Catalina is its new second display assist function, Sidecar. The brand new tech turns your iPad right into a second display on your Mac, in addition to a drawing pill for illustrators and designers. However to get probably the most out of Sidecar you’ll must know the right way to set it up and what it requires to work correctly.

Right here’s what you’ll want get Sidecar working in MacOS Catalina, and a few easy directions about the right way to set it up.

1. Test your

Apple Newsroom/Apple Inc.

Sidecar solely works on the newer fashions of iPads and MacBooks. In line with that very same white paper Apple revealed about Sidecar, Catalina’s second-screen assist function does have a processor requirement for Macs: You’ll want a Mac with at the least a Skylake processor or later.

The white paper additionally gives a listing of supported Mac fashions that may run Sidecar which embody: 2016 MacBooks or later, 2018 MacBook Airs or later, 2016 MacBook Execs or later, 2018 Mac minis or later, 2015 iMacs or later, 2017 iMac Execs or later, and 2019 Mac Execs or later. It ought to be famous that it is a completely different system requirement than Catalina itself.

Moreover, Sidecar can solely be used on iPads that assist Apple Pencil. The white paper additionally went on to listing the person iPad fashions which might be in a position to run Sidecar: Sixth-generation iPads or later, fifth-generation iPad minis, third-generation iPad Airs, and iPad Execs (9.7-inch, 10.5-inch, 11-inch, and 12.9-inch fashions).

2. Replace to iPadOS and MacOS Catalina

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Subsequent up is software program. You’ll, in fact, want to start out by updating your Mac to Catalina. Begin off by backing up your Mac, after which ensuring you’ve at the least a minimal of 12.5GB of storage (or at the least 18.5GB of storage for Macs at present operating OS X Yosemite or earlier). When you’ve executed all that, you’re able to obtain Catalina.

Moreover, for those who plan on utilizing sure Sidecar-related options like Continuity Sketch and Markup, you’ll additionally must be sure that your whole units (by which you propose to make use of these options) have the precise working methods, as nicely. In line with Apple’s white paper about Sidecar, if you wish to use Continuity Sketch or Markup, you’ll must have a Mac operating Catalina, an iPad operating iPadOS, and/or an iPhone operating iOS 13.

three. Log-in to the identical Apple ID on your units

When utilizing Sidecar, you’ll additionally must be sure that the units you’re pairing up (your Mac and iPad) each have the identical Apple ID account assigned to them.

You gained’t be capable of use Sidecar with units that every have a special Apple ID.

four. Make the connection

When you’re all logged in, you’ll be able to connect with Sidecar through the AirPlay menu in your Mac. As soon as you choose the AirPlay menu, then choose your iPad from that menu. From there, your AirPlay icon ought to now seem as an iPad icon. Click on this icon to view your Sidecar-related choices.

Whereas it’s true that you should use the Sidecar function by both wirelessly connecting your units or through a wired connection, there are nonetheless two caveats value remembering. For wi-fi connections, it’s vital to recollect you can solely use your iPad wirelessly as much as 10 meters away out of your Mac and, in keeping with Apple’s white paper, each units must have “Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and Handoff turned on.”

For wired connections, the required cable sort largely is dependent upon which iPad mannequin you’re utilizing however regardless, you’ll want both a Lightning or USB-C cable.

5. Begin sidecarring!

As soon as your Mac is linked to your iPad through Sidecar, you can begin shifting your Mac’s app home windows to your iPad. This may be executed by both dragging and dropping the window itself in your iPad by utilizing your cursor, or through a menu choice. This latter methodology includes hovering over the inexperienced button within the app window you need to transfer. Hovering over this button ought to open a menu. From this menu, choose the Transfer to iPad choice to maneuver that app window to your iPad.

For probably the most half, Apple has mentioned that assist for Sidecar “is included on the system stage for all apps.” And this assist ought to embody “each normal navigation and drawing with Apple Pencil.”

Nonetheless, in a press launch dated Monday, October 7, Apple went on to say that for these planning on utilizing “an iPad show for pill enter to attract, sketch or write with Apple Pencil” it might should be executed so through “any Apple or third-party Mac app that helps stylus enter.” It’s additionally value mentioning that Mac apps that already provide assist for drawing tablets may run Sidecar.

And Apple’s primary webpage for Catalina has already listed just a few apps which might be suitable with Sidecar: Adobe Illustrator, Affinity Picture, Cinema 4D, Maya, and ZBrush.

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