Adam Kos When Apple presented macOS 21 Monterey and iPadOS 12 at WWDC15, it also showed us the Universal Control feature. With its help, we can seamlessly switch between multiple Mac and iPad devices with one keyboard and one mouse cursor. But it's the end of the year and the function is nowhere to be found. So is the situation with the AirPower charger repeated and will we ever see this?
Apple can't keep up. The coronavirus crisis has slowed down the whole world, and probably also Apple's developers, who simply do not manage to debug the promised software features of the company's device operating systems in time. We saw it with SharePlay, which was supposed to be part of the main releases of the systems, we finally got this feature only with iOS 15.1 and macOS 12.1, or the absence of new emojis in iOS 15.2. However, if we ever get universal control, it is still in the stars.
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Already in the spring
Universal Control was not available during the beta testing of the base version of iPadOS 15 or macOS 12 Monterey. Before the release of the systems, it was clear that we would not see it. But there was still hope that it would come this year with tenth system updates. But that took over with the current release of macOS 12.1 and iPadOS 15.2. Universal control still hasn't arrived.
Gallery
Before the release of the systems, you could find a mention of "in the fall" in the description of the function on Apple's website. And since autumn doesn't end until December 21st, there was still some hope. Now it is clear that it has gone out. Well, at least for now. Just after the release of the new systems, the date of availability of the function was adjusted, which now reports "in the spring". However, the "already" is somewhat meaningless here.
Of course it is possible, and we all hope that we will see this spring and the feature will actually be available. But, of course, there is still nothing stopping Apple from moving the date even further. From already in the spring, it can be already in the summer or in the fall, or maybe never. But since the company is still introducing this functionality, let's hope that it will be available one day.
Software debugging
Of course, it wouldn't be the first time that the company's ideas didn't match reality. I'm sure we all have vivid memories of the AirPower wireless charger debacle. But she mainly struggled with hardware, whereas here it is more a matter of software tuning.
Apple says the feature should be available on MacBook Pro (2016 and later), MacBook (2016 and later), MacBook Air (2018 and later), iMac (2017 and later), iMac (27-inch Retina 5K, end of 2015), iMac Pro, Mac mini (2018 and later), and Mac Pro (2019), and on iPad Pro, iPad Air (3rd generation and later), iPad (6th generation and later), and iPad mini (5th generation and newer).
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Both devices must be signed in to iCloud with the same Apple ID using two-factor authentication. For wireless use, both devices must have Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and Handoff turned on and be within 10 meters of each other. At the same time, the iPad and Mac cannot share a mobile or internet connection with each other. To use via USB, it is necessary to set up on the iPad that you trust the Mac. Device support is thus quite broad and certainly not only focused on devices with Apple Silicon chips. As you can see, it's not so much hardware as software.
