Universal Control 1.7.6 Download
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Universal Control is designed to allow you to control multiple Macs and iPads with a single trackpad/mouse and keyboard, and this Universal Control guide covers the ins and outs of the feature and answers all the questions you might have about how it works.
With Universal Control, you can use your main Mac's trackpad and keyboard to control additional Macs and/or iPads nearby, so you don't need a desk cluttered up with more than one set of input devices.
Universal Control is a system-level feature that is designed to work automatically when a Mac running macOS Monterey 12.3 or later is paired with another Mac also with macOS 12.3 or an iPad running iPadOS 15.4. There is no setup for Universal Control - it works right after updating to the latest operating system updates.
In addition to simply navigating around two or more devices with the same cursor, you can also use a single keyboard to type into text input fields, such as in Notes or Safari, effectively allowing you to use a single set of peripherals with all of your Apple devices.
You can copy and paste content from one device to another using one keyboard as long as it's an app that supports text input, but this feature does not yet appear to be working properly with apps like Safari. Features like copy/paste will likely see some refinement during the beta testing process.
No. Universal Control does not work with the Apple Pencil. Input and control are limited to connected trackpads, mice, and keyboards. A single mouse/trackpad and a single keyboard can be used to control multiple iPads and Macs.
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I have an M2 Mac Mini connected to an Apple 27" Studio Display and next to it (24") there is an M1 MacBook Pro 13" connected to an LG HDR 4K display. Both of the Macs are running MacOS Sonoma 14.3.1 at the time of this posting.
I am using an Apple wireless pro Magic Keyboard and a gen 2 Apple Magic wireless trackpad with Universal Control to operate both computers. This is especially helpful because it's difficult to reach the keyboard/mouse on the MacBook Pro while it is connected to my external monitor.
Ever since setting this up almost a year ago I have frequent (sometimes 20+ times a day) disconnects of Universal Control between the two computers. Occasionally (maybe 5% of the time) this is also accompanied by the Apple trackpad completely no longer responding. When this happens the mouse/cursor will jump back to the Mac Mini (primary) and no longer push through to the MacBook. After anywhere from 10-90 seconds it will automatically become reconnected and begin working normally again... for some period of time anyway.
This is incredibly annoying and definitely the worst thing about upgrading from Ventura to Sonoma. (It worked perfectly fine under Sonoma!) I'm using it to share an Apple Magic Trackpad and Apple Magic Keyboard with Numeric Keypad between two MacBook Pros.
When I get disconnected (which happens a lot), often times it eventually re-connects automatically. Other times I can just un-minimize System Preferences (left showing the Displays pane because I have to use it so often) and then minimize it again. Other times I have to click the "Advanced..." button and turn off and back on "Allow your pointer and keyboard to move between any nearby Mac or iPad".
The whole thing really seems to be exclusively a Bluetooth problem. I have now found a workaround that has been working for days without any disconnects between my MacMini M1 and MacBookPro M1 Pro under Sonoma 14.5.
I have exactly the same issue. I have a usb keyboard and a bluetooth mouse. The mouse is connected fine. The Wifi is solid. The UC connection is fine...until it isn't. Sometimes it comes back in a minute or so, but frequently it will not come back at all unless I reset.
Update here: Last week, I followed half of Tom AdS's workaround. I didn't reset the Bluetooth controller, but I activated BT sharing and paired both Macs once. It's been working fine so far, with no disconnects.
You will see these interfaces configured with IPv6 link-local addresses, and it's likely that awdl0 will show "status: active". AWDL is a peer-to-peer Wi-Fi interface used by Apple for low-latency, high-speed communication between devices, and is commonly used for features like AirPlay, Sidecar, etc. which require quick and reliable data transfer. My guess is that it's also used for Universal Control. (llw0 is another low-latency Wi-Fi interface, which operates with an access point and is designed to minimize latency by avoiding power-saving modes, but it shows "status: inactive" for me.)
(I do find it somewhat interesting that the lines with "AWDL-CCA" show it checking 2 different 5GHz Wi-Fi channels. Channel 149 appears to be some sort of "master" control channel that gets used along with the 5GHz channel of the Access Point I'm connected to.)
I seem to be able to resolve the issue by turning Wifi off, then back on again. Then turning "Allow your pointer and keyboard..." off in Displays->Advanced (hit "done") then turning it back on again (hit "done").
Have to say, I'm very disappointed as an apple customer by how much of their efforts are soley focused on creating new sales, rather than making good on the sales they made. I feel like I'm doing their job both discovering and resolving their bugs for them.
This solution does not work reliably for me. It does seem like the issue may in fact be Bluetooth-related, as after pairing my two computers, they seem to drop off the list of "My Devices" at the same time as Universal Control dies, but reseting the controller and pairing the devices doesn't seem to permanently fix anything.
I have the exact same problem with almost the exact same setup ( I don't have the studio display). I have an M2 Mini as the main with an M2 MacBook Pro 13 as the side, and the Mini is connected to an LG HDR 4K display, both running Sonoma 14.3.1.
Universal Control was disconnecting 20+ times a day until I changed my whole WiFI setup from a TP-Link AC1750 to a Decco XE75; now, it disconnects maybe twice a day. The Magic mouse disconnects once or twice every two days, and the Magic keyboard works fine.
Hello. After updating my Macbook pro (14, M1Pro) and my 2022 iPad Air 5, universal control stopped working. Nothing helps, I turned off and on handoff, wi-fi, bluetooth, restarted both devices several times.
I have three Apple devices on my desk - a MacBook Pro, a MacBook Air, and an iPad. All have everything necessary turned on, same local network, strong WiFi connection, etc. In short, everything necessary to make Universal Control work is there. Has always been there for the whole duration of this year and worked every.single.day.
I was able to make universal control appear exactly once across MacBook Pro and iPad, and exactly once across MacBook Air and MacBook Pro, but after sending the devices to sleep - it stopped and did not appear again.
Well, after a day I can say, that problem is actually in Handoff... While some parts of Continuity are working (like airdrop), Handoff is dead completely. Turning it off and on and restarting all device does nothing....
So after trying everything (safe mode, removing bluetooth devices, rebooting a million times, etc). My keyboard and mouse on my Mac Studio still couldn't control the MacBook Pro right next to it. This had been working since Universal Control first rolled out in the public betas. Although I would have issues from time to time with laggy mouse or keys repeating, it never just died like it did this morning. Here is what I did:
Apple really needs to work on these weird bugs. For years the USB sleep function was broken on Macs causing external drives to be ejected improperly. They seemed to just recently fix that. So disappointed. A company I have relied on because "it just works" I'm finding more and more often I have to troubleshoot edge cases.
I have the same problem. My iPhone and iPad still work fine using Handoff but my Mac seems to be the issue. I signed out of iCloud and back in on my Mac. That worked yesterday but this morning it's broken again.
Been having this problem all week. Just drops out randomly between two M1 Macs (one mini, one MacBook). Usually have to reboot one of the machines to get a chance of it working again. Highly annoying.
I stumbled upon this Handoff issue with iOS/iPadOS 16.4 after I found that Universal Clipboard is working only iPhone-to-Mac and iPad-to-Mac, but NOT Mac-to-iPad, Mac-to-iPhone or iPad-to/fro-iPhone. Needs an immediate fix.
Agreed - again and again Apple are dropping the ball on bug fixes and quality control. I have been a full-on iPhone / Mac / iPad / HomePod / Apple Watch consumer for many years, but I can see the company's software products' quality control slipping all the time. It's a downward trend.
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Future quantum computers capable of solving relevant problems will require a large number of qubits that can be operated reliably1. However, the requirements of having a large qubit count and operating with high fidelity are typically conflicting. Spins in semiconductor quantum dots show long-term promise2,3 but demonstrations so far use between one and four qubits and typically optimize the fidelity of either single- or two-qubit operations, or initialization and readout4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11. Here, we increase the number of qubits and simultaneously achieve respectable fidelities for universal operation, state preparation and measurement. We design, fabricate and operate a six-qubit processor with a focus on careful Hamiltonian engineering, on a high level of abstraction to program the quantum circuits, and on efficient background calibration, all of which are essential to achieve high fidelities on this extended system. State preparation combines initialization by measurement and real-time feedback with quantum-non-demolition measurements. These advances will enable testing of increasingly meaningful quantum protocols and constitute a major stepping stone towards large-scale quantum computers.
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