MASTER YOUR MAC

Expand Your View With Sidecar

Turn your iPad into a second screen for your Mac.

Your Mac and iPad already make an incredibly powerful pair. With the Sidecar feature in macOS and iPadOS, they do even more—together.

Sidecar-optimized apps bring out the best in both devices: Annotate a PDF or screenshot on your iPad with your Apple Pencil, then insert that into a document on your Mac. Or use your iPad to draw, sketch, write, and edit directly in a Mac app.

Sidecar puts a virtual Touch Bar at the bottom of your iPad screen.

Here’s a quick guide to using Sidecar—and the apps that make the most of this powerful feature.

Make a connection

To enable Sidecar, open Control Center on your Mac, click Display, and choose your iPad. (In macOS Catalina, choose your iPad from your Mac’s AirPlay menu.)

That’s it!

The feature works wirelessly over Wi-Fi. To charge your iPad while you work, connect it to your Mac with a cable.

You’ll find your iPad in the Display section of your Mac’s Control Center. (In macOS Catalina, it’s in the AirPlay menu.)

By default, your iPad shows your Mac’s desktop and menu bar, the Sidecar sidebar, and a Touch Bar for apps that support it. To move or disable these, choose Sidecar Preferences from Control Center’s Display section. (In macOS Catalina, choose Open Sidecar Preferences from the AirPlay menu.)

Expand your space

Want to move a window from your Mac over to your iPad, or vice versa? Just drag it normally or hover over the window’s green button, then chose the appropriate option.

The green button does more than go full screen. Click and hold to see the new options.

You can also move your Mac’s Dock to your iPad. Just tap the Dock button at the top of the iPad sidebar.

Get some input

When a Mac app is displayed on your iPad screen, you can use familiar gestures like pinch-to-zoom, or use your Apple Pencil in lieu of a mouse or trackpad for drawing, clicking, dragging, and more.

You can also use your iPad’s onscreen keyboard to type in Mac apps—to bring it up, tap the keyboard icon in your iPad’s sidebar.

Mirror your Mac

Use your Apple Pencil and iPad to draw, sketch, or mark up documents in any Mac app. Just mirror your Mac’s screen on your iPad by choosing Mirror in Control Center’s Display section. (In macOS Catalina, choose Mirror from the AirPlay menu.)

All Mac apps work with Sidecar, but some offer specific features and Apple Pencil support. Here are a few to take for a spin: