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Apple’s Universal Control won’t arrive on Macs, iPads until 2022

By Chuong Nguyen Published December 13, 2021

After having dropped the latest releases of its operating systems — including iOS 15.2, iPad OS 15.2, macOS Monterey 12.1, watchOS 8.3, and tvOS 15.2 — early Monday morning local time, one highly coveted feature that Apple promoted during its WWDC presentation earlier this year was notably missing. Unfortunately, it appears that Universal Control, a KVM-like feature that allows you to share a mouse and keyboard and work seamlessly across a Mac and iPad, didn’t quite make the cut in the latest versions of the company’s new iPadOS and macOS operating system releases.

It appears that the release date for Universal Control on the Mac has now been adjusted from winter to “available this spring,” according to Apple’s information page for macOS Monterey. The company did not give any further details or explanation for the delay, though this could mean that the feature won’t arrive until macOS 12.2 drops.

The MacBook Pro with the default wallpaper, which hides the notch. — Apple

In addition to being able to share a single keyboard and mouse across devices, Universal Control also allows you to share content between devices, so you can choose the best device to do your work.

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“A single keyboard and mouse or trackpad now work seamlessly between your Mac and iPad — they’ll even connect to more than one Mac or iPad,” Apple said of the feature. “Move your cursor from your Mac to your iPad, type on your Mac and watch the words show up on your iPad, or even drag and drop content from one Mac to another.

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Macs and iPad tablets within close proximity of each other will be connected via Continuity and AirPlay. To work, all devices must be logged in to iCloud with the same Apple ID, and the hardware will need to have Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and Handoff enabled.

The much-anticipated feature has prompted tech-savvy users to create a workaround in the past to enable Universal Control on earlier betas of macOS Monterey prior to launch.

The company stated that MacBook, MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro launched in 2016 and later will be compatible with the feature, along with 2017 and newer iMac models, the iMac Pro, the 2018 and newer Mac mini, and the Mac Pro. All generations of the iPad Pro, the iPad Air 3rd generation and newer, iPad 6th generation and newer, and iPad mini 5th generation and newer will work with the feature.

In addition to Universal Control, macOS 12 brings a slew of features, including updated Maps, new privacy controls, recording indicators whenever apps access the webcam or microphone, iCloud+ privacy features like Private Relay and Hide My Email, SharePlay, and AirPlay.

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