Jun 20, 2020 I was given an old laptop at work, a Dell Latitude E6430, and I couldn't resist to try to install macOS on it despite its age. Laptop Specs. MacOS Mojave 10.14.6; Intel Core i5-3320M 2.6Ghz Turbo 3.3Ghz (2 cores, 4 threads) Crucial Ballistix Sport 16GB DDR3-RAM @ 1600 Mhz (BLS8G3N169ES4.16FE) Intel HD Graphics 4000 1536 Mb. Oct 22, 2019 Sidecar, one of the most exciting new features in macOS Catalina 10.15, lets you use your iPad as a Mac display and your Apple Pencil as a graphics tablet for pressure-sensitive drawing and sketching in Mac apps, marking up screenshots and PDFs and more.
Let’s have a look at How to Use SideCar Feature in MacOS Catalina: Recently Apple released the new version of MacOS which is MacOS Catalina 10.15, However, this operating system has several major features which are more powerful then MacOS Mojave features. Legions of Mac user are getting into Mac OS Catalina because this Operating system is a great experience for users. Moreover, Apple introduced a new feature in MacOS Catalina called SideCar. Well, SideCar feature is handy and more powerful nowadays in the Mac operating system. this is the new version of Mac OS feature that allows the user to connect their Mac Computer with iPad and iPod, this means you can make your iPad and iPod as a second screen display.
However, you can extend or mirror your Mac computer with iPad as an external screen display. what I say, this tool is amazing and it helps you more to work on your project easily. whatever, you have on your Mac desktops such as apps, documents, photos, and many more files. Once you extend your Mac with iPad then you can see all the files in iPad too. it means you can make your iPad as a projector for presenting your project. So, this is the most powerful tools for the user to get a good experience of SideCar.
Therefore, SideCar is the best MacOS Catalina feature and once you extended Mac with iPad then you can access and control over Apple features like you can use markup, Apple pencil, and lots of other MacOS features. So, SideCar is the newly introduced feature and you might don’t know how to activate and setup SideCar in MacOS Catalina then read this article top to toe and you will get the idea how to use SideCar feature.
Which Devices support SideCar
Although you know SideCar is the new feature and all Mac’s computer can’t handle this feature. therefore, you have to run SideCar in the recent version of Mac’s computer which is shown below one by one. if you don’t have the below Mac’s computer then don’t worry you can use SideCar in the oldest computer such as running the one-line code in the terminal. So, copy the code and paste in the terminal and press enter key afterward you are able to use SideCar feature.
- iMac 27-inch (Old or newer model)
- MacPro
- Mac Mini
- Mac Pro
- MacBook Air
- MacBook
If you have the above version of Mac then go ahead and use SideCar if you don’t have then you need to run the below code in the terminal. However, those users turned on the SideCar in old models of Mac, then they faced the image qualities. Therefore, to apply SideCar in old Mac computer, go ahead to Dock and open terminal then apply this below code. the below code will allow you to turn on the SideCar icon in the system preferences.
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The application that supports SideCar
So, you get the idea which Mac’s computer support Sidecar, now I will tell you which apps support Sidecar. the below application will support SideCar and you can use those applications while you are on Sidecar mode.
- Affinity Designer
- Cinema 4D
- Adobe Illustrator
- Affinity Photo
- Maya
- CorelDRAW
- DaVinci Resolve
- Final Cut Pro
- Principle
- Motion
- Painter
- Sketch
- Substance Designer
- Substance Painter
- ZBrush
Before Running SideCar in MacOS Catalina
You are near to SideCar feature and for sure you want to know more about its function. So, here I should let you know that before going to use SideCar in MacOS Catalina you have to know about important requirements that we should full fill that. otherwise, you won’t be able to run the iPad as a second screen display in MacOS Catalina. Like, you must use the recent version of Mac’s computer which you read in the above heading and it should be compatible with MacOS Catalina. Moreover, SideCar functional with all version of iPad but your iPad should have an effective screen display of 1,024 x 768 it can be 9.7-inch iPad with Retina display, and 1,366 x 1,024 on a 12.9-inch Pro, to give two examples.
Therefore, the iPad screen should be fixed with MacOS Catalina because you are running two screens at the same time and both screens should have the same screen resolution.
How to use SideCar in MacOS Catalina
Step 1: Upgrade your Mac to the latest version
If you are running MacOS Mojave or MacOS High Sierra then you need to upgrade your operating system to the latest version of Mac which is MacOS Catalina.
Step 2:Open system preferences on your Mac
Once, your Mac is upgraded to MacOS Catalina then open System Preference on your Mac, then, you will see a square blue icon on the left-hand side that written SideCar, So clicks on the square.
Step 3: Configure your setting and launch Sidecar
Now, click on the Show SideCar on the left-hand side, then Show Touch Bar on the bottom, and Enable double-tapon the Apple pencil. these three tasks are the setting configuration of SideCar which allows you to use SideCar feature.
Step 4:Open SideCar
Once you are done with the above setting, then click the drop-down under the Connect to and select the iPad from the main menu. while you connect the iPad then you will see the screen display automatically on your Mac screen. this is the way you can use SideCar.
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Conclusion
This is about How to use SideCar feature in MacOS Catalina and I try my best to give you everything related to SideCar. therefore, I hope you learn something and if you get any question then feel free to ask me in the comment below. moreover, if this article was helpful to you then don’t forget to share your ideas and give us your feedback.
Yesterday saw the official release of macOS Catalina, completing the set of Apple’s major 2019 operating system releases. While Catalina is a somewhat less feature-packed upgrade than iOS 13 and iPadOS 13 were, it still packs in a few compelling features, the most exciting of which is Sidecar, Apple’s name for the new feature that lets you use your iPad as an external display for your Mac.
While Sidecar may not seem all that revolutionary on the surface, since Macs have long supported the ability to add external displays or even extend the display using AirPlay, it actually offers one huge benefit that previously hasn’t been readily available to Mac users: adding a touch screen display complete with Apple Pencil support.
This means that you can not only extend your display onto your iPad — in that respect it works the same as any other second display — but for the first time, you can also interact with macOS using multi-touch gestures and even the Apple Pencil.
This is great for creative apps, but there’s more to it than merely using the iPad as a second display screen; the iPad also makes a great place to put tools and pallettes, letting you move these off the main screen so you can focus on your main canvas while also offering quick and intuitive access to your app’s controls.
You also automatically get the MacBook Pro-style Touch Bar at the bottom of the iPad screen, even if your Mac doesn’t actually have a Touch Bar.
Setting up Sidecar
As you’d expect, Apple has made setting up Sidecar almost trivially simple.
- As long as both your Mac and your iPad are logged in with the same Apple ID, you should simply see your iPad shown in the same menu as other AirPlay devices.
- Click on it and your iPad will immediately enter Sidecar mode, and the icon on your Mac’s menu bar will change to show an iPad.
The feature largely works like AirPlay in other ways too, with options for mirroring your built-in display via Sidecar or extending it to another display, and a new Sidecar preferences panel lets you decide where to show the Sidebar and Touch Bar on your iPad screen.
No Sidecar Options?
Sidecar really should “just work” — but only if you actually have a supported device. Your Mac obviously needs to be running macOS Catalina, and your iPad also needs to be running iPadOS 13.
However, that’s not all. Unfortunately, while Apple still offers macOS Catalina and iPadOS 13 for a lot of older devices, you’ll need a more recent model in order to support Sidecar. If your Mac is not supported, you won’t see the Sidecar options at all — they’re simply hidden from view entirely as if the feature wasn’t even there.
So what iPad and Mac models do you need for Sidecar? There’s actually a pretty simple rule of thumb to follow here: Your iPad must support an Apple Pencil (although it doesn’t matter if you actually have one or not), and your MacBook must be one of the models with a butterfly keyboard — basically those introduced in 2016 or later. The iMac, iMac Pro, Mac mini and new Mac Pro are also all supported, but again only those models from late 2015 and beyond. Anything older than that — even the 2013 Mac Pro — is simply not supported.
More specifically, here’s the complete list, straight from Apple’s Sidecar white paper:
Sidecar-supported Macs:
- MacBook introduced in 2016 or later (now discontinued)
- 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
Sidecar-supported iPads:
- 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)
So essentially if you have any iPad Pro or a 2018 or 2019 iPad model you should be fine. However, despite supporting iPadOS 13, the 2017 fifth-generation iPad, iPad mini 4, and iPad Air 2 are not compatible with Sidecar.
Why Aren’t Older Models Supported?
On the Mac side, Apple says that Sidecar requires an Intel Skylake or newer CPU. One notable feature of the Skylake CPU that sets it apart from older Intel chipsets is direct support for the new High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) codec, which may be the technology Apple is relying on to efficiently mirror the display over a wireless connection with minimal latency.
Similarly, HEVC decoding is a feature that only came to Apple’s iOS devices with the A9 processor, while the ability to encode HEVC requires an A10. The iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 4 both use an A8-series chip, while the 2017 fifth-generation iPad uses an A9.
Devices that don’t support HEVC encoding and decoding in hardware can still do so in software, although this naturally results in a performance hit.
Macos Sidecar Hackintosh
While Apple hasn’t officially said anything about why older devices have been excluded, this explanation seems like the most plausible, especially as we’ve seen reports of those who have managed to hack Sidecar into working on older Macs indicating that the performance was extremely poor.
Macos Sidecar Hack Download
There’s also precedent for this; when Apple introduced AirPlay video streaming in OS X Mountain Lion, it utilized H.264 video encoding, and older Macs that didn’t include the Intel Sandy Bridge CPU necessary for hardware H.264 encoding were left behind. It seems very likely that Apple has made a similar choice in using HEVC for its Sidecar feature.
