As a part of the macOS and iPadOS upgrades released earlier this week, universal control (in beta) is finally here. We’ve been waiting for Universal Control since Apple announced it and demonstrated it at WWDC in June 2021. And now that it’s here, it works like magic!
What You Can do with Universal Control
Universal Control allows you to control your nearby iPad from your Mac, using your mouse or trackpad and keyboard. All you have to do is push your pointer up against the right edge of your Mac screen and it magically appears on your iPad, looking and acting like a mouse or trackpad connected to your iPad. You can do everything on your iPad that you would do with a trackpad or mouse connected to your iPad.
You can drag text or files from your iPad to your Mac and your Mac to your iPad. Text and files can be dragged to the Mac and dropped on the desktop if desired. However, to drag text to your iPad an app needs to be open to receive it. You can drag a file to your iPad and drop it on an app. As long as you have an app open with a text field on your iPad, you can use your Mac keyboard to type directly into the text field.
How to Set Up Universal Control
You don’t have to change any settings on your iPad to use Universal Control. But it does require you to make some changes to your Mac settings.
To set up your Mac to enable Universal Control, first go to the System Preferences, then open the Display preference. In the lower left hand of the Display window, click and open the “Add Display” list. Select the iPad you intend to use from the list of devices.
Next, click on the “Universal Control” button on the bottom row. This opens a dialogue with three options with checkboxes.
I recommend you select all three, then click on “Done.”
When you set up your iPad next to your iMac and drag the cursor to the edge of the screen, it should reappear in the form of the iPad cursor and you’re good to go.