All iPads Do you use Sidecar with your iPad?

[Marty_Macfly]

Hi Guys,


If you have a magic keyboard on the ipad, can that be used as well?

Thinking in terms of the track pad for the ipad screen.


Cheers
Martin

 

[jakeuten]

The trackpad on the Magic Keyboard does not work when the iPad is in Sidecar. The keyboard however does. You could get a Magic Trackpad 2 and that would work however.

 

[dmccloud]

I use my iPad Pro with Sidecar, but I don't have either the Smart Keyboard Folio or Magic Keyboard. I do use the trackpad on the MBA when in Sidecar mode though.

 

[throAU]

Yes, I do. it had some bugs I saw a few months ago (connection drop outs over wifi), but I haven't noticed any to speak of as of late (but that could be because I exclusively use the lightning cable now).

It works a lot better with a lightning cable than it does over WIFI. It definitely works well enough as a second monitor for those times you want one.

I use it between MBA 2020 and iPad Pro 10.5" with a Logitech keyboard case. The keyboard works.

 

[thisismyusername]

I used to but stopped because it was too unstable. Even with a wired connection to my laptop, there would be times when it would disconnect, the touchscreen wouldn't work on the iPad, etc. Sure, it worked most of the time but I stopped using it after it would quick working at the worst times (e.g. on a video conference call).

I really like the idea of sidecar but Apple needs to up the quality of it.

 

[tegranjeet]

Trying to set it up with an iMac Pro and iPad Pro 11 2020 w/Magic Keyboard (iPad position centered in front of iMac)

Finding it very buggy:

• The Touch Bar won't show the control strip, yet the specific app buttons show up
  • Although, the app buttons only show when the app is on the iPad display
  • If an app is active on the iMac display, the Touch Bar doesn't update
  • this is my main complaint, since the iPad magic keyboard doesn't have the top row of buttons
• cannot use the trackpad to steer iMac cursor
  • however, the keyboard input is reflected
  • however however, using the cmd modifier reflects to the iPadOS, not macOS
  • not all the time though, cmd+arrow operations seem to work

Overall, the magic keyboard is inconsistent, and currently not feasible as a standalone input device for Sidecar, which is a bit sad, considering the magic keyboard costs more than any new combo of keyboard and mouse from Apple. But it's not the main function, so it is forgiven.

Plus, the 11 inches is only really good for a single terminal or chat, but better than nothing I guess. I would really love to ditch the keyboard and mouse and only use the iPad and magic keyboard as an input source.

Not getting my hopes up though as bootcamp will probably never work with magic keyboard, and I like using bootcamp for games.

Hopefully some of issues are fixed in the very soon comings of iPadOS and macOS.

 

[merseysideRed]

Yes, I use it all the time (2017 15" MBP + iPad Air 3). I found it extremely useful when writing my master's thesis

 

[kazmac]

Not yet, Mac is too old.

 

[bluespark]

I view Sidecar as practically a secret weapon when I travel -- my 13" MBP nearly doubles in screen size with my 11" MacBook Air next to it, and I can keep one app (usually e-mail) always open next to whatever I'm devoting the main screen to. It's great.
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Hi Guys,


If you have a magic keyboard on the ipad, can that be used as well?

Thinking in terms of the track pad for the ipad screen.


Cheers
Martin

The Mac's pointing device controls for both.

 

[dmccloud]

I view Sidecar as practically a secret weapon when I travel -- my 13" MBP nearly doubles in screen size with my 11" MacBook Air next to it, and I can keep one app (usually e-mail) always open next to whatever I'm devoting the main screen to. It's great.
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The Mac's pointing device controls for both.

I'm actually using my 11" iPad Pro via Sidecar right now as I'm also in a Adobe Connect meeting. In fact, this website is on the iPad while the meeting is on my MBA's screen. I haven't had any issues with responsiveness or intermittent connectivity using the iPad and MBA in this manner. It's great to have a truly portable dual screen setup that weighs less than a 16" MBP on its own.

 

[Marty_Macfly]

... It's great to have a truly portable dual screen setup that weighs less than a 16" MBP on its own.

Hello again D,


That’s a really good point!

I‘m also thinking about the landing strip of space on the table needed, when you use a 16” MBP.

Perhaps having 2 smaller devices, arranged in the space avail on the table, is a good option for many


Cheers
Martin

 

[dmccloud]

Hello again D,


That’s a really good point!

I‘m also thinking about the landing strip of space on the table needed, when you use a 16” MBP.

Perhaps having 2 smaller devices, arranged in the space avail on the table, is a good option for many


Cheers
Martin

The flexibility of the MBA + iPP combo is great. I can put the iPad on either side of my MBA based on where I am at the moment, if I need to plug one device into power, etc., and I have a dual screen setup which has become more and more of a requirement over the last few months. I know you can buy those USB-powered external monitors for cheap, but that $99 model Best Buy sells is only a 768p screen, and a 1080P (FHD) screen can easily cost at least twice that. At least with my iPad Pro I have the option to just use it without the MBA being powered on.