Works great and smooth for me. But the scroll wheel on my mouse is scrolling the “wrong” way for me, it should have the same behaviour as on the Mac IMO (scroll wheel down = scroll down on web page). Also I hate that it uses the iOS typing behaviour and not the mac typing behaviour
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Universal Control is awesome!
- Thread starter SupremeMayo
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Just having fun with Universal control... it is pure magic
I have an external monitor with my MacBook at the lower right and placing my iPad at the lower left. Whenever I place my iPad to the lower-left of my main external monitor it keeps popping over and moving itself to the lower-left of my MacBook. Plus scroll doesn't work on my iPad or things like cmd + tab to switch apps.
For me it's definitely in beta mode and not ready for prime time.
I had the same problem. I just kept at it until it took.
At the same time, I had exactLy the same problem with placing multiple monitors normally.
Once I realized that under Add Display in the Displays options there was two sets of items "Link Keyboard and Mouse" and "Mirror or extend to" I finally was able to share my mouse and keyboard with two machines. The first problem is if the main machine sleeps then it does not share the keyboard and mouse.
thread is TLDR, so can I ask a quick question - can I control my Mac mini FROM the iPad? IE with no mouse or keyboard , just the iPad?
So yeah this is pretty cool, I just noticed that if I add my MacBook Pro to my MacPro using universal control and both machines are setup to accept, the mouse and trackpad from the MacBook Pro also lets you move to the Mac Pro.
And yeah the file copying from one to the other is badass.
Bravo Apple, something worth mentioning for once.
*edit* once you grab the mouse from the Mac Pro, the keyboard from the MacBook Pro no longer sends input. This is a good thing. The pointer gets reset to the center of the MacBook Pro screen. This also works both ways, if you are doing something from the host machine to the target machine and you grab the mouse/trackpad on the target machine the host machine mouse resets back to the center of the main local monitor.
And yeah the file copying from one to the other is badass.
Bravo Apple, something worth mentioning for once.
*edit* once you grab the mouse from the Mac Pro, the keyboard from the MacBook Pro no longer sends input. This is a good thing. The pointer gets reset to the center of the MacBook Pro screen. This also works both ways, if you are doing something from the host machine to the target machine and you grab the mouse/trackpad on the target machine the host machine mouse resets back to the center of the main local monitor.
Same here. There are some issues using the Ipad's Magic Keyboard namely:
- no gestures. Which should be a basic feature.
- scroll speed is horrible. There is no reason it should differ from the normal experience?
- I tried using a trackpad next to it, so you can use scrolling and gestures. Downside is that you can't type with the MK and use a separate trackpad. You have to push your MK mouse back on screen to type... making it difficult to switch between devices.
Conclusion: you can't throw away your mouse and keyboard just yet...
Hi avkills,
I wish that there was a switch that either allows UC to act in the fashion you describe above, where touching the non-controlling device's trackpad returns the other device's pointer to the center of its main display, or actually takes over control of the cursor where it was initially. In other words, this second option would act like a two sets of inputs to one cursor. This second behavior would act just as if I had a BT keyboard/trackpad attached to a single MBP, then either the MBP's internal keyboard or internal trackpad or the external BT keyboard or external BT trackpad can exert control or enter text over one cursor in an either/or case. For presentations, this last behavior would be useful for me (and perhaps I'm alone in this). The first behavior is fine most of the time, but if you have multiple screens being controlled using UC, then having one computer grab control from another means that the second cursor returns to its main screen which may then require moving the cursor across multiple screens to return to the original position of the cursor.
I also wish there was a fast and easy way to switch UC on and off (this is related to the above second option, but slightly different ... however could be made to implement both of the above options).
... just my personal wishes ...
Solouki
For everyone who's had trouble with making this work, I've found the weirdest fix for my iPad Pro + MacBook Pro connected to an external display. UC worked right off the bat with an iPad mini I have, but there was no way of having the iPad Pro to show up in the screens menu, which meant it was not possible to connect to it at all (airdrop worked fine, though). I tried everything (wifi, BT on/off, reboot...), short of logging in and out of iCloud.
I found this tip in a forum someplace: try holding the power button for a couple of seconds on the iPad Pro, and it instantly shows up in the menu, and everything starts working as advertised.
One thing I've noticed is that every once in a while the cursor on the iPad has an intermittent lag about every second. Just moving the cursor on the Mac and back again usually fixes it.
Dragging layers directly from procreate to the desktop on the Mac without going through the share menu is a dream come true.
I found this tip in a forum someplace: try holding the power button for a couple of seconds on the iPad Pro, and it instantly shows up in the menu, and everything starts working as advertised.
One thing I've noticed is that every once in a while the cursor on the iPad has an intermittent lag about every second. Just moving the cursor on the Mac and back again usually fixes it.
Dragging layers directly from procreate to the desktop on the Mac without going through the share menu is a dream come true.
Awesome? A bit of a stretch! ?
I have a new 16" MacBook on my desk with an external 27" monitor sat behind it that extends screen "above" it. I put the iPad Pro on the desk next to the MacBook on the right. But in displays settings the iPad screen either jumps to lining up with the external monitor - as if the iPad's floating up in the air 1.5 ft above the desk, so to go across to it I have to go up to the top external screen above everything and right, not just right across from the screen I'm using. Or when trying to move that iPad "display" downwards in preferences, it jumps to below the laptop i.e. "under the desk". Then I managed to get to it by going diagonally out the bottom right of the MBP screen. But then I got the mouse stuck on the iPad and no amount of wiggle and searching all edges seemed to get it back on the MacBook screen, so in the end had to sleep the iPad to get my mouse back. It just plain won't go physically where it is in the display preferences. Same with the left hand side. I can't have it just to one side of my MacBook on the same table as it, when using an external screen above it.
Generally controlling my iPad though was a great feature. Clicking, scrolling, swiping, adjusting its volume. Using 2 fingers to pull down and open search. Whereupon I tried the keyboard - should be super useful, and... it typed the first letter, then none of the keys worked anymore. So I couldn't then type anything else in the box!
I haven't had very long with it and haven't tried moving any files yet, but it seems more a great useful feature, but still very much a buggy beta "on its way", rather than awe-inspiring. So, no, not awesome for me...
I have a new 16" MacBook on my desk with an external 27" monitor sat behind it that extends screen "above" it. I put the iPad Pro on the desk next to the MacBook on the right. But in displays settings the iPad screen either jumps to lining up with the external monitor - as if the iPad's floating up in the air 1.5 ft above the desk, so to go across to it I have to go up to the top external screen above everything and right, not just right across from the screen I'm using. Or when trying to move that iPad "display" downwards in preferences, it jumps to below the laptop i.e. "under the desk". Then I managed to get to it by going diagonally out the bottom right of the MBP screen. But then I got the mouse stuck on the iPad and no amount of wiggle and searching all edges seemed to get it back on the MacBook screen, so in the end had to sleep the iPad to get my mouse back. It just plain won't go physically where it is in the display preferences. Same with the left hand side. I can't have it just to one side of my MacBook on the same table as it, when using an external screen above it.
Generally controlling my iPad though was a great feature. Clicking, scrolling, swiping, adjusting its volume. Using 2 fingers to pull down and open search. Whereupon I tried the keyboard - should be super useful, and... it typed the first letter, then none of the keys worked anymore. So I couldn't then type anything else in the box!
I haven't had very long with it and haven't tried moving any files yet, but it seems more a great useful feature, but still very much a buggy beta "on its way", rather than awe-inspiring. So, no, not awesome for me...
I wonder if there are hardware limitations with the Magic Keyboard that keep these features from working correctly and we won't ever get them? Worth noting. My guess is the iPad MK is not the intended main device to control the Macs, but rather the other way around.
UC created all sorts of issues with iPad Pro being utilized as a second display. I had to disable it.
Hi Srinivasankh,
Just to be clear, you can UC three devices, including 3 Macs. I have UC running on three Macs with the cursor and input being controlled by an external BT keyboard and external BT trackpad connected to one of the Macs through BT -- in total the cursor is moved between 4 displays from the external trackpad since one of the Macs also has an external monitor connected to it.
Solouki
thanks for this. Does the shift/cmd/option in external keyboard work in all macs (which are not connected to BT keyboard)?
I am only running it on 2 macs but yes I have not found a keystroke combo that doesnt work.
There is a difference between Airplaying to a display and universal control; I did not have to add my laptop's display via air playing to get universal control working. I think the distinction is the space it puts on the display control panel; my 2nd monitor is butted right against my main display, the universal control display shows space from the main display.
I have a 2021 Mac Mini as my main system, 2017 rMBP as my work system, and 2021 Mac Mini as a Plex server, and they all sit on my desktop. Until UC came out, I used Synergy - and I'm about to disable UC and go back to Synergy. Why? Because UC will just stop functioning/forget a device randomly. During a meeting, as I was using my keyboard and mouse on my main system, it suddenly "forgot" my work computer while I was in a meeting. That lasted about 20 minutes, then randomly came back.
Now it's forgotten my Plex server, which has been working just fine since Monday. No amount of pushing my cursor to the side of the screen is doing anything, and even if I Screen Share with my Plex server, UC still won't recognize it.
The other issue I've had is waking devices up in the morning (none of these devices get shut off at night). I have to Screen Share into each device to get it to wake up instead of UC recognizing an incoming network request from the UC computer with the keyboard and mouse.
I was really, really looking forward to this software, but I have to go back to Synergy. Guess I need to wait for V2 to come out.
Now it's forgotten my Plex server, which has been working just fine since Monday. No amount of pushing my cursor to the side of the screen is doing anything, and even if I Screen Share with my Plex server, UC still won't recognize it.
The other issue I've had is waking devices up in the morning (none of these devices get shut off at night). I have to Screen Share into each device to get it to wake up instead of UC recognizing an incoming network request from the UC computer with the keyboard and mouse.
I was really, really looking forward to this software, but I have to go back to Synergy. Guess I need to wait for V2 to come out.
Hi walterhpdx,
I have found that executing either of the Terminal commands, "$ pkill -9 Universal\ Control"
or "$ killall -9 Universal\ Control", will allow an immediate UC reconnection.
Good luck,
Solouki
Sorry, but this did absolutely nothing. My Plex server suddenly stopped responding again, and doing the kill did squat. So I've turned off Universal Control and gone back to Synergy. It's a little buggy once in a while, but I don't have to worry about stuff like random disconnects and workarounds to wake up my keyboardless/mouseless systems.
Answered my own question by getting a refurb M1 Mac Mini and setting it up with two of the monitors along with Blender, Unity, and Xcode; and the 2018 Mini (32Gb RAM) with the Affinity apps and the pen display.
Universal Control worked perfectly for me — no disconnects, no glitches — so it was almost like I was still working with one computer. Dragging Affinity files from the M1 to the 2018 was great other than it creating a new copy, but that’s no worse than when I used to use my iPad for the art work, having to move it using iCloud. (Actually, iCloud was a PITA, which is why I’ve moved to a pen display.)
In the end, though, the speed of the M1 just didn’t impress me enough to warrant the price. Only Blender seemed to have the real speed gains, cutting render times in half, though half of a long time is still a long time, so why do this juggling.
Gotta say, though, that after getting the two Macs set up (requiring a keyboard and mouse for each), Universal Control was awesome.
Walterhpdx, sorry it didn't work for you ... it has always worked for me (so far). Did you try the "kill"s on both computers? Did you try both the "pkill" as well as the "killall"?