HOW TO Set up Universal Control

1 Select the device

With macOS 12.3 installed on your Mac, go to > System Preferences > Displays. In this tutorial we’ll work with a solo MacBook Pro, but Universal Control is still available if you also have an external display.

2 Choose your control

Click on Universal Control and you should see these options. For best results you’ll want to ensure that the first two are both checked. This enables you to move seamlessly between devices that share the same iCloud account.

3 Add your device

Now we need to click on the Add Display drop-down at the lower left of the Displays window. This will give you a list of available devices, and it’s in two sections: ‘Link Keyboard and Mouse’ is the one we want here.

4 Move it around

The Displays window will now show two screens: your Mac’s, and the iPad or Mac you’ve added. By default the new arrival sits to the right of the main display so to move your cursor across just keep moving to the right.

5 Relocate the device

If you’d rather have your iPad or second Mac in a different position, no problem: you can simply drag the screen position to whatever location you prefer. Here we’ve put our iPad to the left of our Mac.

6 Change the role

If you’d rather use your iPad as an extended display, where it acts as an extra bit of your Mac desktop instead of a remote controlled iPad, you can change its role in the same window: just click Display Settings.