No Sidecar on 2015 MBP

Rod


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Your Mac's Specs
2021 M1 MacBook Pro 14" macOS 14.4.1, Mid 2010MacBook 13" iPhone 13 Pro max, iPad 6, Apple Watch SE.
One of the features I was looking forward to was Sidecar, an option to use the iPad as a second wireless display for my MBP. I wont go into all the things I was imagining I could do with this feature but you can understand my disappointment when after not finding the Pref Panel in System Preferences I did a quick online search only to find that although my iPad 6 is willing and able my 2015 MBP is too old.
Apple have decided to limit the feature to 2016 MBP's or later.:'(

So here is a list of the devices that are compatible with this new feature:

Apple has decided to restrict Sidecar only to iPads with Apple Pencil support. Even if you’re running iPadOS 13, you won’t be able to use your tablet as a second display if you have an older iPad that doesn’t work with Apple Pencil. These are the models that will not have Sidecar, even with the latest update:

iPad Air 2
iPad mini 4
iPad (5th generation)

That being said, here’s all the iPad models that can be used with Sidecar running iPadOS 13 and later:

iPad (6th generation)
iPad (7th generation)
iPad mini 5
iPad Air (3rd generation)
iPad Pro (all generations)

With these models above, even if you don’t have an Apple Pencil, you can use Sidecar without touch interaction. It’s also important to note that with macOS Catalina, the following Macs are required to use Sidecar:

iMac 27″ (Late 2015) or newer
MacBook Pro (2016) or newer
Mac Mini (2018)
Mac Pro (2019)
MacBook Air (2018) or newer
MacBook (Early 2016) or newer
iMac Pro (2017) or newer
 
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Rod

Rod


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Your Mac's Specs
2021 M1 MacBook Pro 14" macOS 14.4.1, Mid 2010MacBook 13" iPhone 13 Pro max, iPad 6, Apple Watch SE.
So after looking forward to being able to use my iPad as a second monitor I was a bit miffed to say the least when I discovered the above restriction.
I do a lot of document editing and I had imagined how good it would be to have the original on one monitor and edit on another. It's not that my MBP is old, I bought it brand new from Apple only 3 years ago albeit a 2015 model. My iPad is only 1 year old so I was surprised that Sidecar did not work.
Anyway I have spat the biscuit and not to be denied purchased Duet.


Sent from my iPhone using Mac-Forums
 

chscag

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Don't feel disappointed, lots of folks are having problems with Sidecar not working. Couple of threads over at MacRumors about all the problems with Sidecar. Not sure Apple is working on a fix though.
 
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Rod

Rod


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Melbourne, Australia and Ubud, Bali, Indonesia
Your Mac's Specs
2021 M1 MacBook Pro 14" macOS 14.4.1, Mid 2010MacBook 13" iPhone 13 Pro max, iPad 6, Apple Watch SE.
Thanks Chas, I am now playing with Duet and it works really well. Everything I had hoped for in Sidecar, just not free. Looks like I'm going to get my money's worth anyway so maybe I saved myself some headaches.
 

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