Trying to use your iPad as an additional monitor for your MacBook or other Mac and cannot get Sidecar to show up or work? Finding it challenging to connect your iPad to your Mac using Sidecar? Or seeing other errors when trying to get your Mac to see your iPad such as “unable to connect,” “device timed out,” or “you can’t open the Sidecar preferences pane because it is not available to you at this time?”
If these errors sound familiar, we got you covered with our top tips to get Sidecar working on your Mac and your iPad.i
Follow these quick tips to get Sidecar working on your iPad and Mac using iPadOS and macOS Catalina+
Make sure iPadOS and macOS are on the latest versions available–Sidecar requires iPadOS (iOS13) and macOS Catalina+
Sidecar requires Macs with Skylake processors and later models and iPads that support Apple Pencil
Reset the Trust This Computer setting on your iPad
Check that you are logged into the same AppleID/iCloud account on both your iPad and Mac AND have two-factor authentication enabled
Some users found that changing their Apple ID’s password and then updating both devices allowed them to connect with Sidecar wirelessly
Type in Sidecar using your Mac’s spotlight search
For device timed out errors, try disabling Keep Today on Home Screen in Settings > Home Screen & Dock (or under Display & Brightness)
If your iPad is showing a black screen, change the setting to Mirror Display and then go to your preferred setting
For problems connecting wirelessly or timing out, plug your iPad into your Mac using a Made For iPad (MFI) cable and then open Sidecar from your Mac’s System Preferences
For wireless connections, make sure both devices connect to the same WiFi network and that the signal is strong and stable. Keep your devices within 10 meters or less (that’s nearly 30 feet!)
Sign out of your Apple ID/ iCloud on both devices (iPad and Mac), restart both and then sign in to the same Apple ID on both, then reboot again–after that try using Sidecar
Make sure your Mac and your iPad are compatible with Sidecar
For older and unsupported Mac, you can try to force compatibility with your Mac using macOS Terminal app (for Catalina and above)–this may or may not work for your Mac
Sidecar is Apple’s latest addition to its Continuity portfolio–features designed to create a seamless experience between all types of Apple devices, from Macs to iPhones, iPods, and iPhones. Sidecar is for iPads and Macs only and is supported by iPadOS and macOS Catalina+.
Use Continuity to connect seamlessly between your Mac, iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and Apple Watch
Extend your Mac’s screen to your iPad
With Sidecar, folks that own iPads and Macs can now extend their Mac’s display to their iPad. Sidecar allows you to work with multiple apps on different screens, just like any other second monitor. And if desired, you can mirror the screens so both your iPad and your Mac show the same content, for easy sharing with others.
Sidecar even supports Apple Pencil, so when you pair your iPad with an Apple Pencil, you can use the pencil to draw, sketch or write in any Mac app that offers stylus support!
Sidecar works with wires or no wires (wireless)
And like all Continuity features, Sidecar can run on a wireless connection (or a wired connection), making it easy to add a second monitor when on-the-go.
Does Sidecar support portrait mode and landscape mode?
Sorry folks, but at this time Sidecar only works in landscape mode.
You can change your iPad to work on either the left and right side of your Mac’s main screen, but nothing happens when you move the iPad into portrait mode, it just stays in landscape mode.
Getting the error “you can’t open “Sidecar” preferences pane because it is not available to you at this time?”
Most folks see this error due to the following reasons:
Not signed in with the same Apple ID on Mac and iPad, so check that you are
Not updated to the latest version of iPadOS and/or macOS–update as needed
Using an incompatible Mac or iPad (click article link to learn how to make your older model Mac recognize Sidecar–this may or may not work depending on your model)
Search for “Sidecar” in Spotlight Search on your Mac to access Sidecar’s settings. On older unsupported Mac, you still might see these settings but find it will not open anything
Currently, these Mac models “officially support” Sidecar, running macOS Catalina
2016 or later MacBook
2018 or later MacBook Air
MacBook Pro introduced in 2016 or later
Mac mini introduced in 2018 or later
2015 or later iMac
iMac Pro introduced in 2017 or later
2019 Mac Pro
Using an older Mac?
If your Mac is not listed in the officially supported list, there are still some alternatives that might get Sidecar working. Check out this article to learn how to enable Sidecar on older Macs. Again, this sometimes works and sometimes doesn’t.
Using Sidecar on an unsupported Mac doesn’t look the best. The image quality is generally compromised, with lower screen resolution and may get choppy graphics, flickering, and laggy screen experience. However, most folks who tried this found that text is easily readable.
Seeing unable to connect errors?
Check Sidecar’s requirements
You must log into the same Apple ID on both devices for Sidecar to work
Two-factor authentication must be enabled on both the iPad and Mac
Bluetooth must also be active on both devices
If connecting wirelessly, make sure both devices connect to the same WiFi network
Try pairing your iPad to your Mac using Finder or the Music app (or any of the iTunes replacement apps.)
Connect your iPad to your Mac with a cable
Wait for your Mac to recognize the iPad
If asked, Trust the device and enter a PIN if needed
Reset the trust relationship
Go to Settings > General > Reset > Reset Location & Privacy
Connect your iPad to your computer
Wait for the Trust alert to ask you whether you trust that computer
Select Trust
iPad shows a black or dark screen when using Sidecar?
If you connect your iPad and see a black screen, try this:
Go to your Mac’s System Preferences > Display
Choose Arrangement
Toggle Mirror Display on and off
Check how you connect your iPad to your Mac
Connect your devices using your mac’s System Preferences
Turn on your Mac, then your iPad
Open System Preferences and click on Sidecar
Select your iPad from the Connect to the drop-down menu
Wait for your Mac screen to become visible on your iPad
Connect your devices using AirPlay
Turn on your Mac, then your iPad
Tap the AirPlay icon in the top menu bar on your Mac
If you don’t see the AirPlay icon in your menu bar, go to System Preferences > Displays and check the box for Show mirroring options in the menu bar when available
Wait for your iPad to show up under the listed devices to AirPlay to: or Connect to:
When your Mac and iPad connect to each other with Sidecar, your AirPlay icon changes to a rectangle, indicating it’s connected to another device (your iPad)
Seeing “device timed out” errors when trying to connect or maintain the connection to your iPad?
If you can’t connect your Mac to your iPad via Sidecar or keep the connection active because the device times out and you see a message on-screen, you are not alone!
A lot of folks report seeing the error that their devices timed out. But we’ve got a few solutions and a reader tip that should help.
Perform a restart or if that doesn’t work, a force restart, on the iPad
Check that your iPad is a trusted device. Connect the iPad to the Mac via the cable, select the iPad in Finder and establish the trust relationship to trust the iPad, then restart the iPad
Reset the trust relationship by going to Settings > General > Reset > Reset Location & Privacy. Then when you connect to your computer(s) again, the Trust alert asks you whether you trust that computer.
Try logging out of your Apple ID on both devices and then log back in on the iPad first, then the Mac
Temporarily disable your VPN, if you use it
Turn on iCloud Keychain on both your iPad (Apple ID > iCloud) and your Mac (System Preferences > Apple ID > iCloud)
Reader Dude discovered that if he toggled off Keep Today View on Home Screen in his iPad’s settings that he stopped seeing this error. Go to Settings > Home Screen & Dock (or Display & Brightness) and toggle this setting off
Reset All Settings works for some. Yes, it’s a bit drastic but quite a few people say it’s the only thing that worked for them. Go to Settings > General > Reset All Settings
Resetting all your settings doesn’t delete any content.
Getting poor connection errors?
If your WiFi signal isn’t stable or strong, then Sidecar struggles to connect to your iPad wirelessly.
Wake up your Mac! Make sure you Mac isn’t power napping, asleep, turning the display off automatically, or putting its hard drive to sleep–these things cause poor connection errors on your iPad when using Sidecar
The easiest remedy is to connect your iPad and Mac using a cable, if possible
If not, try connecting to a 5 GHz network and/or check that your Mac and iPad have the same DNS nameservers associated with your chosen network
Restarting the iPad often helps get a better connection between devices
Sidecar only working with a wired connection?
If Sidecar is working when you connect your iPad to your Mac using an MFI cable, but it’s not working wirelessly try these tips:
Verify you use the same WiFi network on both devices
Enable Bluetooth on both the Mac and iPad
On both your Mac and your iPad, sign out of iCloud, reboot both, sign back into iCloud, and finally restart again. Then, try Sidecar using WiFi
Not seeing Sidecar in System Preferences?
If you do not see Sidecar in your Mac’s system preferences, the first thing to check is your iPad and Mac model’s compatibility. And if using an older Mac, follow these steps to get Sidecar to show up.
Learn what to do is you don’t see Sidecar in System Preferences in macOS
If your Mac and iPad support Sidecar (or you used the older Mac workaround), but you still don’t the Sidecar icon in your Mac’s system preferences, try the following:
Check that you turned on Bluetooth on both the Mac and iPad
Connect to the same WiFi network on your Mac and iPad
If connecting wirelessly, move your iPad closer to your Mac
Tap the AirPlay icon on your Mac’s top menu bar and try connecting to your iPad from there. You may need to wait a few minutes for AirPlay to see your iPad
Plug your iPad into your Mac with a lightning or USB-C cable and see if it connects with a direct-wired connection
Check that you are logged into the same Apple ID on both devices
Is Sidecar not recognizing your touch on your iPad? Only works with Apple Pencil?
Apple designed Sidecar to extend or mirror your Mac’s display, but it did not make Mac apps responsive to your touch on your iPad’s screen. You can use your finger to change options in Sidecar’s sidebar and the touch bar–but that’s about it within the Sidecar app on iPad.
You can use your Apple Pencil because it is like a mouse or pointing device, but Apple claims our fingers are not sufficiently precise for Sidecar.
Sidecar Setup doesn’t work with Apple Pencil? Update macOS Settings
If you are having issues getting your Apple Pencil to work with your Sidecar set up, you may want to re-visit your security settings on your MacBook running macOS Catalina using the following steps.
Click on System Preferences
Choose Security and next click on the Firewall tab
Click on the lock at the lower-left corner and enter your password
Choose Firewall-Options
uncheck “block all incoming connections” (or something similar – depending on your language settings) on the very top of the window
Restart Sidecar
How to use Sidecar on your iPad
Where are my iPad’s Sidecar settings?
There are no settings for sidecar on an iPad–you find sidecar’s settings on your Mac only, using System Preferences >Sidecar and the AirPlay Menu.
How to change which side Sidecar places my iPad?
Sidecar defaults to placing your iPad’s screen to the right of your Mac. But many folks want to change this to the left side of your Mac’s main display.
Luckily, changing that is easy!
Visit System Preferences > Displays > Arrangement to make any changes to your iPad’s display location, resolutions, and color profiles.
Want to Mirror your Mac’s screen?
You can also mirror your Mac’s screen on your iPad by check-marking the option to Mirror Display in your AirPlay’s menu.
You can also find a checkbox to mirror your display in System Preferences > Displays> Arrangement.
Sidecar’s default is to use your iPad as a separate display.
How to send apps to your iPad using Sidecar
Sidecar lets you use your iPad just like you would any external monitor. That means you can drag and drop apps and windows between the two monitors.
Sidecar add another way to send apps to your iPad
Hover your cursor just over the green dot that normally expands a window to see some new options. Choose Move to iPad to send that app to your iPad’s screen.
If you want to quickly send it back to your Mac’s main display, hover over the green dot again and choose Move Window Back to Mac.
Sidecar includes three different ways of interacting with content on your iPad
The Sidebar. When your iPad connects to your Mac with Sidecar, you see a Sidebar full of options on the left edge of your iPad’s screen. These sidebar options include controls and modifier keys for apps that support Sidecar. The sidebar also has your on-screen keyboard access toggle and a button to disconnect
The Touchbar. The bottom of your iPad’s display includes controls similar to a MacBook’s TouchBar for things like volume, mute, screen brightness, and contrast, launchpad, player controls, and Siri. Press the arrow to expand and see all the available controls!
Your iPad’s keyboard: Tap the keyboard icon in the sidebar to access the on-screen keyboard in order to type on your Mac app using your iPad’s floating keyboard. At this time, Sidecar supports only the floating (small) keyboard, not the full-size iPad on-screen keyboard
Yes, you can use your iPad as an iPad even when in Sidecar mode!
Sidecar works just like any app on your iPad, so you can switch to different apps using the app switcher, even when connected via Sidecar to a Mac. Pretty awesome.
When launching the app switcher, you’ll see Sidecar listed as an app preview, just like all open apps.
And you can force close Sidecar, just like normal
When you force close Sidecar, it automatically disconnects from your Mac
You see a message on your Mac that it is unable to connect to your iPad as the device was disconnected
Want to use Sidecar without your Apple ID and iCloud?
Sorry folks, Sidecar doesn’t work unless you sign in with your Apple ID and log in to iCloud. That’s true even if you connect your iPad to your Mac via USB-C.
Does SideCar support multiple iPad displays?
At this time, you can only connect one iPad with Sidecar. So there is no multi-iPad support in Sidecar–at least not yet.
How to disconnect your iPad from Sidecar and your Mac
To stop using your iPad as an additional Mac display, tap the AirPlay icon in your Mac’s top meny bar and choose Disconnect
You can also disconnect in System Preferences > Sidecar > and press the Disconnect button underneath your iPad’s name
Wrap up
For folks on-the-go with MacBooks and iPads, Sidecar is a perfect companion to your workflow. Having an extra monitor at hand to work on makes things like photo and video editing on a MacBook so much easier.
Even though most of us prefer to go wireless, it’s awesome that Apple allows wired connections between your Mac and iPad for times when a WiFi network isn’t available, is slow or unstable, or when we get connection errors.
Reader tips
I couldn’t get Sidecar to connect for the life of me with my iPad 12.9 and my 2019 MBP–turned off Today View and presto no problems! Sidecar now works perfectly!
Turning on Keychain in system preferences and on my iPad’s iCloud did the trick for me–I was always get timed out errors!
My iPad Pro and 2019 MacBook Pro worked fine connected with the USB wired connection but I couldn’t get it to work wirelessly for the life of me! I tried everything over and over with no success. Then, as a last ditched effort, I changed my Apple ID password. Once I updated that password on both devices I was able to use Sidecar wirelessly!
Nothing worked until I turned off iCloud on both the iPad and iMac–then waited while iCloud synced everything up again. Then Sidecar worked wirelessly and wired!
Try connecting your iPad with a cable and selecting your iPad in Finder first to establish a trust relationship. See if your iPad shows up in AirPlay and then see if you can extend your Mac’s display to it. And check in System Preferences too for the Sidecar icon.
For me, I had to reinstall of Catalina to get Sidecar working on my Mac and iPad (both listed as supported models)
I had to sign out of iCloud on both my iPad and my Mac, reboot, then sign back in with my Apple ID (same on both devices.) After that, Sidecar worked perfectly!
I had to rename my iPad to something different, but once I renamed my iPad–no problems connecting to Mac using Sidecar
Check that you have Two-Factor authentication enabled on both your iPad and Mac. For Macs, go to Apple menu > System Preferences > iCloud > Account Details. Enter your Apple ID. Click Security. Click Turn On Two-Factor Authentication. For iPads, go to Settings >Apple ID > Password & Security and turn on Two-Factor Authentication
Disabling my VPN was the only thing that got Sidecar working for me
I had to sign out of iCloud on my devices, reboot, sign back into the cloud, then restart once more. After that Sidecar worked!
For most of her professional life, Amanda Elizabeth (Liz for short) trained all sorts of folks on how to use media as a tool to tell their own unique stories. She knows a thing or two about teaching others and creating how-to guides!
Her clients include Edutopia, Scribe Video Center, Third Path Institute, Bracket, The Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Big Picture Alliance.
Elizabeth received her Master of Fine Arts degree in media making from Temple University, where she also taught undergrads as an adjunct faculty member in their department of Film and Media Arts.
The USB cable connection worked after these steps:
1) Remove all sharing options in MacOs > System Preferences > Sharing
2) Restart the device, with the USB cable still connected
3) Open the device from Finder
I’ve tried all of these options and unfortunately nothing works; my device still just says “Device timed out” when I try to connect it. This is a bummer and makes me not want to purchase Apple products moving forward since this was a big part of the reason I ever purchased an iPad in the first place.
I had the same problem of Sidecar not connecting. Said it had Timed Out. The problem for me was I had a remote mouse program running in the background on my Mac Mini. Turned it off and everything worked just fine. Only took 5 hours of troubleshooting to figure this out. Said remote mouse software has been uninstalled from both iPad and Mac Mini. Works like a charm now.
Here is one more thing to check. Has the name of your iPad changed? I chatted with 90 minutes with Apple Care Support yesterday because SideCar over wifi, which had worked perfectly for me ever since SideCar came out, stopped working. All the settings needed to support SideCar were correct.
I happened to notice that when I used an older MacBook Pro, that SideCar worked over Wifi except it the iPad showed up in the SideCar panel with the name I had given the iPad when I first set it up. Somehow the name of my iPad had reverted from the name I gave it to just “iPad”. I changed the name of the iPad back to the name I had given it, and I could connect with SideCar over wifi again from the MacBook Pro that wasn’t connecting over wifi.
None of this worked for me until I opened Finder and found my iPad listed on the left-hand side towards the bottom. Then I clicked that and there was a question to trust the connection with the iPad. I did this on my MacBook Pro. That may help some.
Hello dear,
Thank you very much because of providing all these solutions in order to fix sidecar issue. In fact, I have tried to apply all these solutions with no luck. However, the only solution that fixed my sidecar issue easily is to Reset All Settings in iPad Pro 11. It fixed the issue immediately.
Thanks for the write-up on the sidecar connection issues. None of these solutions worked for me though, and I kept on getting this device timed out message. Then I recalled that a dongle connected via the USB-C port can interfere with the wifi. Although I was working on a 5G connection that is not (or less) affected, the connection with my iPad worked instantly when I disconnected the dongle. This may suggest that a dongle can interfere with the sidecar connection even though the internet connection is 5G. I now connect my dongle at the left side of my MacBook Pro and have not experienced any further problems.
I have to add that the dongle interference is not consistent. I have worked with the dongle connected on the right side of my MBP for some time without sidecar problems. But for now, it works.
First, make sure you enabled Handsoff on your iPad (Settings > General > Handoff) and Mac (Apple menu > System Preferences > General and select “Allow Handoff between this Mac and your iCloud devices” )
If you use a VPN on either device, temporarily disable it.
On your Mac, check any login items listed in System Preferences > Users & Groups. Remove any login items (you can add them back)
Then turn on iCloud keychain on both your iPad and Mac in iCloud’s settings.
Wow!
It worked! I got Sidecar to work by logging out of my Apple ID on both the computer and the iPad, ignoring all the scary messages about “removing data”.
Thank you SOO much for your extensive article.
Had VPN on, Cisco Anywhere connect, and could not connect to the ipad. Since it essentially changes the laptops IP address and thus subnet, it can’t route local traffic to the iPad. Not sidecars fault, just the limitations of networking.
You are correct on the resolution issue when using the iPad in Sidecar–at least for now. Most people have not found this a challenge, given how good the iPad manages its display–however it remains an issue.
There are third-party apps that do not reduce the resolution–check out Luna Display and Duet Display. Those may be more in-line with what you want.
Our suggestion if possible (time and location) is to go to an Apple Store and ask them to demonstrate Sidecar for you using the new MacBook and iPad–then you can make your judgment via the evidence and testing.
I see that there is a workaround to enable sidecar on an older version mac, but what about on an older version ipad?
I’m using Mac pro 2015 (as I type in Sidecar on spotlight, the function appears tho there’s no such thing on my Settings), AND iPad Mini 4.
So even tho I open the terminals on my mac and copy and paste the command, it still says that I need to connect to a device (while ipad is connected by the USB).
Is that because it still doesn’t recognize an older version of ipad?
Sadly, Apple limited which iPads support Sidecar to those models that support the Apple Pencil. And there is no workaround on this unfortunately.
Sidecar-supported iPad models:
• 12.9-inch iPad Pro
• 11-inch iPad Pro
• 10.5-inch iPad Pro
• 9.7-inch iPad Pro
• iPad (6th generation or later)
• iPad mini (5th generation)
• iPad Air (3rd generation)
I tried it with my 6th gen iPad and worked fine, although I did not find it that useful with my MacBook Air. Mostly because the 9.7 inch screen is too small and dragging anything from my MBA to iPad sometimes doesn’t fit screen properly. It also would be a bit more useful if the MacBooks had touch screens so that you could use the Pencil option on both the Mac and iPad. Also limiting the Side Car feature to iPad’s with Pencil support, and Mac’s with SkyLake or newer CPU’s sort of limits the appeal. I am sure this would be a more useful feature on a bigger iPad Pro model. However for myself if I want more screen I would probably just connect to a desktop monitor.
Ok, I tried all of these on my Macbook Pro and iPad Pro. Terminal commands to get Sidecar to appear in System Prefences do nothing more than that. The iPad is seen in Finder and trusted, I have signed in and out of the same account multiple times. I have to keep in mind this is software brought to you by the people who created iTunes.
Sidecar is still not working with a wired connection even after iPados 13.2 and Catalina 10.15.1. This has been reported everywhere since early betas of Catalina and apple has done nothing about it. I bought an iPad purely because of Sidecar and it only works on wifi which means I cannot charge my iPad without having to carry two chargers.
Apple are really annoying me lately. Catalina and iOS/iPadOS 13 are so full of bugs they are almost unusable for professionals.
Sidecar was only working for me with a wired connection. Tried everything, even disabling Today View “Keep on Home Screen” feature, but nothing worked until I turned off iCloud on both the iPad and iMac.
It was a bit of a pain, all the restarting and waiting for iCloud apps to reload on both devices, but totally worth it to have a wire free set up. Love it!
Try connecting your iPad to your MacBook via a cable, then restart both devices. Open System Preferences and see if you see Sidecar listed. If not, follow the steps in this article and use the Terminal command to force your Mac to see Sidecar.
I am having a problem that I haven’t found searching around on the internet. My MacBook Pro (2016) model is converting to secondary display and the iPad Pro as the primary. I have tried to rearrange the displays in the display preferences to no avail. Any help on this would be awesome thanks!
On the first Sidecar connection with my Macbook Pro, everything works great. Then if the connection drops (for whatever reason) there is no longer an Airplay/Sidecar icon in on my Mac menu bar. It’s as if the Mac is now unaware of the iPad next to it. On the Mac in system preferences, there is no Airplay display option except “Off”. Toggling the Mirroring options checkbox does nothing. If I look in the iPad’s control center, no Airplay icon there either. So, for now, when I lose the menu bar Sidecar icon (in its guise as the Airplay icon) my only recourse is to reboot the Macbook.
Apple does support Sidecar on some older Macs that don’t have USB-C–but it is not supporting models older than 2015/16. Sidecar requires Mac to have the Skylake
processors or later.
Here’s the official list:
• MacBook introduced in 2016 or later
• MacBook Air introduced in 2018 or later
• MacBook Pro introduced in 2016 or later
• Mac mini introduced in 2018 or later
• iMac introduced in late 2015 or later
• iMac Pro introduced in 2017 or later
• Mac Pro introduced in 2019
There are third-party apps like Duet Display that support both older Macs and older model iPads.
As the article mentions, not all iPad or Mac models support Sidecar.
With a supported model, your iPad needs the latest version of iPadOS and your Mac needs the latest version of macOS Catalina.
Try updating both your iPad and Mac to the latest versions–after updating, restart both devices again. Then connect your iPad to your Mac and open System Preferences–see if Sidecar shows up. If so, try a wireless method and if that fails, try the cable. If not, open spotlight search and type in Sidecar.
Apple has removed the ability to use the force commands to enable the older MacBooks, I just updated to the latest beta which is 7 right Now, and it’s still not working.
it seems that older models had the option of using this tool, some models better than others but pretty much capable, and that wasnt good for apple business so they decided to remove the option that allowed it to work! at least i try it a little bit and i love it! i guess that proves apple right!
Mauro says
The USB cable connection worked after these steps:
1) Remove all sharing options in MacOs > System Preferences > Sharing
2) Restart the device, with the USB cable still connected
3) Open the device from Finder
Caitlin says
I’ve tried all of these options and unfortunately nothing works; my device still just says “Device timed out” when I try to connect it. This is a bummer and makes me not want to purchase Apple products moving forward since this was a big part of the reason I ever purchased an iPad in the first place.
Eric Booth says
I had the same problem of Sidecar not connecting. Said it had Timed Out. The problem for me was I had a remote mouse program running in the background on my Mac Mini. Turned it off and everything worked just fine. Only took 5 hours of troubleshooting to figure this out. Said remote mouse software has been uninstalled from both iPad and Mac Mini. Works like a charm now.
Daniel says
Here is one more thing to check. Has the name of your iPad changed? I chatted with 90 minutes with Apple Care Support yesterday because SideCar over wifi, which had worked perfectly for me ever since SideCar came out, stopped working. All the settings needed to support SideCar were correct.
I happened to notice that when I used an older MacBook Pro, that SideCar worked over Wifi except it the iPad showed up in the SideCar panel with the name I had given the iPad when I first set it up. Somehow the name of my iPad had reverted from the name I gave it to just “iPad”. I changed the name of the iPad back to the name I had given it, and I could connect with SideCar over wifi again from the MacBook Pro that wasn’t connecting over wifi.
Kevin Purcell says
None of this worked for me until I opened Finder and found my iPad listed on the left-hand side towards the bottom. Then I clicked that and there was a question to trust the connection with the iPad. I did this on my MacBook Pro. That may help some.
Mohamed Hasan Al Lawati says
Hello dear,
Thank you very much because of providing all these solutions in order to fix sidecar issue. In fact, I have tried to apply all these solutions with no luck. However, the only solution that fixed my sidecar issue easily is to Reset All Settings in iPad Pro 11. It fixed the issue immediately.
Thank you again.
Arnoud Steemann says
Thanks for the write-up on the sidecar connection issues. None of these solutions worked for me though, and I kept on getting this device timed out message. Then I recalled that a dongle connected via the USB-C port can interfere with the wifi. Although I was working on a 5G connection that is not (or less) affected, the connection with my iPad worked instantly when I disconnected the dongle. This may suggest that a dongle can interfere with the sidecar connection even though the internet connection is 5G. I now connect my dongle at the left side of my MacBook Pro and have not experienced any further problems.
I have to add that the dongle interference is not consistent. I have worked with the dongle connected on the right side of my MBP for some time without sidecar problems. But for now, it works.
blob says
Hello, I’m having trouble getting my iPad to work with SideCar over a wireless connection (works with a wired connection).
I followed these steps listed above of signing out, rebooting, and signing back into iCloud.
This did allow my iPad to be listed, but now I’m getting error (-6709).
Any idea about what could be happening?
Elizabeth Jones says
Hi Bob,
First, make sure you enabled Handsoff on your iPad (Settings > General > Handoff) and Mac (Apple menu > System Preferences > General and select “Allow Handoff between this Mac and your iCloud devices” )
If you use a VPN on either device, temporarily disable it.
On your Mac, check any login items listed in System Preferences > Users & Groups. Remove any login items (you can add them back)
Then turn on iCloud keychain on both your iPad and Mac in iCloud’s settings.
Ove Fredriksson says
Wow!
It worked! I got Sidecar to work by logging out of my Apple ID on both the computer and the iPad, ignoring all the scary messages about “removing data”.
Thank you SOO much for your extensive article.
Paul Huckit says
Had VPN on, Cisco Anywhere connect, and could not connect to the ipad. Since it essentially changes the laptops IP address and thus subnet, it can’t route local traffic to the iPad. Not sidecars fault, just the limitations of networking.
Bill says
Question: I have the latest iPad Pro 12.9 (late 2018). I am considering buying a newly released Macbook Pro 16″ (late 2019).
If I use Sidecar with this combination will I be using the full resolution of the iPad (2732×2048)?
I have seen comments that lead me to believe that the resolution on the iPad will be cut in half.
If that is the case the lower resolution will not work for me.
Elizabeth Jones says
Hi Bill,
You are correct on the resolution issue when using the iPad in Sidecar–at least for now. Most people have not found this a challenge, given how good the iPad manages its display–however it remains an issue.
There are third-party apps that do not reduce the resolution–check out Luna Display and Duet Display. Those may be more in-line with what you want.
Our suggestion if possible (time and location) is to go to an Apple Store and ask them to demonstrate Sidecar for you using the new MacBook and iPad–then you can make your judgment via the evidence and testing.
Jay says
Hi, thanks for the detailed posting.
I see that there is a workaround to enable sidecar on an older version mac, but what about on an older version ipad?
I’m using Mac pro 2015 (as I type in Sidecar on spotlight, the function appears tho there’s no such thing on my Settings), AND iPad Mini 4.
So even tho I open the terminals on my mac and copy and paste the command, it still says that I need to connect to a device (while ipad is connected by the USB).
Is that because it still doesn’t recognize an older version of ipad?
Would appreciate your help so much!
Elizabeth Jones says
HI Jay,
Sadly, Apple limited which iPads support Sidecar to those models that support the Apple Pencil. And there is no workaround on this unfortunately.
Sidecar-supported iPad models:
• 12.9-inch iPad Pro
• 11-inch iPad Pro
• 10.5-inch iPad Pro
• 9.7-inch iPad Pro
• iPad (6th generation or later)
• iPad mini (5th generation)
• iPad Air (3rd generation)
JohnIL says
I tried it with my 6th gen iPad and worked fine, although I did not find it that useful with my MacBook Air. Mostly because the 9.7 inch screen is too small and dragging anything from my MBA to iPad sometimes doesn’t fit screen properly. It also would be a bit more useful if the MacBooks had touch screens so that you could use the Pencil option on both the Mac and iPad. Also limiting the Side Car feature to iPad’s with Pencil support, and Mac’s with SkyLake or newer CPU’s sort of limits the appeal. I am sure this would be a more useful feature on a bigger iPad Pro model. However for myself if I want more screen I would probably just connect to a desktop monitor.
exnsmoag says
Ok, I tried all of these on my Macbook Pro and iPad Pro. Terminal commands to get Sidecar to appear in System Prefences do nothing more than that. The iPad is seen in Finder and trusted, I have signed in and out of the same account multiple times. I have to keep in mind this is software brought to you by the people who created iTunes.
Allan says
Sidecar is still not working with a wired connection even after iPados 13.2 and Catalina 10.15.1. This has been reported everywhere since early betas of Catalina and apple has done nothing about it. I bought an iPad purely because of Sidecar and it only works on wifi which means I cannot charge my iPad without having to carry two chargers.
Apple are really annoying me lately. Catalina and iOS/iPadOS 13 are so full of bugs they are almost unusable for professionals.
Dani says
Such a helpful article, thank you!
Sidecar was only working for me with a wired connection. Tried everything, even disabling Today View “Keep on Home Screen” feature, but nothing worked until I turned off iCloud on both the iPad and iMac.
It was a bit of a pain, all the restarting and waiting for iCloud apps to reload on both devices, but totally worth it to have a wire free set up. Love it!
Thanks again 🙂
Dude Duderson says
Fixed my DEVICE TIMED OUT error by disabling Today View “Keep on Home Screen” feature on my iPad Pro. 2 hours of frustration.
Elizabeth Jones says
Hi Dude,
Thanks for sharing this tip! Never thought of that.
Liz
Patty says
I’m using a Macbook Pro 13-inch 2017 and an iPad 6th generation.
The Airplay icon doesn’t show up on my Macbook’s menu bar and the SideCar doesn’t recognize my iPad as well.
I made sure that both devices are logged in to the same iCloud account, connected to the same WiFi, and Bluetooth is turned on as well.
I still couldn’t use my iPad as a secondary screen.
Elizabeth Jones says
Hi Patty,
Try connecting your iPad to your MacBook via a cable, then restart both devices. Open System Preferences and see if you see Sidecar listed. If not, follow the steps in this article and use the Terminal command to force your Mac to see Sidecar.
Hopefully, that does the trick!
Liz
Marc says
Just a quick observation. I was getting the “Unable to connect…” error when attempting to use sidecar.
I have an MBP connected to my network via an ethernet cable (wifi turned off).
When I switched wifi on, the iPad was found and connected just fine.
Don’t know why the MBP can’t see the iPad when they are on the same network but connected via an ethernet cable rather than wifi…
Can’t replicate this as I only have one of each device. It would be interesting to see if anyone else can replicate this issue…
Marc
Jacoby Hickerson says
I am having a problem that I haven’t found searching around on the internet. My MacBook Pro (2016) model is converting to secondary display and the iPad Pro as the primary. I have tried to rearrange the displays in the display preferences to no avail. Any help on this would be awesome thanks!
Elizabeth Jones says
Hi Jacoby,
Sorry to hear about this sidecar issue. What a pain!
Try changing your iPad to mirror your Mac, use it like this for a few minutes, and then change it back to the extended display.
Go to the AirPlay menu (the blue rectangle that shows at the top when using Sidecar) and change your display option to mirror your display.
Terence says
On the first Sidecar connection with my Macbook Pro, everything works great. Then if the connection drops (for whatever reason) there is no longer an Airplay/Sidecar icon in on my Mac menu bar. It’s as if the Mac is now unaware of the iPad next to it. On the Mac in system preferences, there is no Airplay display option except “Off”. Toggling the Mirroring options checkbox does nothing. If I look in the iPad’s control center, no Airplay icon there either. So, for now, when I lose the menu bar Sidecar icon (in its guise as the Airplay icon) my only recourse is to reboot the Macbook.
Anon says
I just realized that Sidecar isn’t supported with my rMBP late 2013.
I was getting that error message when searching for Sidecar after updating.
Apparently, if your Mac doesn’t have a USB-C port, you don’t get Sidecar.
What a load of hot garbage, I was looking forward to that feature. It’s just straight up disabled.
You can’t even use a USB-A-to-C cable or WiFi, wtf?
Elizabeth Jones says
Hi Anon,
Apple does support Sidecar on some older Macs that don’t have USB-C–but it is not supporting models older than 2015/16. Sidecar requires Mac to have the Skylake
processors or later.
Here’s the official list:
• MacBook introduced in 2016 or later
• MacBook Air introduced in 2018 or later
• MacBook Pro introduced in 2016 or later
• Mac mini introduced in 2018 or later
• iMac introduced in late 2015 or later
• iMac Pro introduced in 2017 or later
• Mac Pro introduced in 2019
There are third-party apps like Duet Display that support both older Macs and older model iPads.
Liz
Eric says
Hi, I have connect ipad to the macbook pro using cable, but the sidecar still shows no devices, I wonder if there is a solution? thanks!
Angus Gray says
hey Eric I have the same problem now, did you find a solution
Elizabeth Jones says
Hi Angus,
Are you seeing any error messages?
As the article mentions, not all iPad or Mac models support Sidecar.
With a supported model, your iPad needs the latest version of iPadOS and your Mac needs the latest version of macOS Catalina.
Try updating both your iPad and Mac to the latest versions–after updating, restart both devices again. Then connect your iPad to your Mac and open System Preferences–see if Sidecar shows up. If so, try a wireless method and if that fails, try the cable. If not, open spotlight search and type in Sidecar.
Liz
Aric Cressey says
Apple has removed the ability to use the force commands to enable the older MacBooks, I just updated to the latest beta which is 7 right Now, and it’s still not working.
There probably won’t be another way to force it.
rodriguez rodriguez says
it seems that older models had the option of using this tool, some models better than others but pretty much capable, and that wasnt good for apple business so they decided to remove the option that allowed it to work! at least i try it a little bit and i love it! i guess that proves apple right!