Do you use a Mac computer at home and do you also have an iPad? Did you know that a feature has been introduced for some time that allows you to use IPAD as the second screen of your Mac computer? This feature is called sidecar and is extremely convenient so you can’t help but know it.
So, if you are a happy owner of a mac and an ipad and you want to have a small second screen on your desk for your mac computer then take 5 minutes to read this guide and immediately get to work to configure sidecar on your computer.
Index
- Use IPAD as a second screen
- Use an iPad as a second monitor with Sidecar
- Use an iPad as a second monitor with Duet Display
Use IPAD as a second screen
First of all, it must be said that to configure sidecar and use IPAD as a second screen you will need to have Catalina or higher operating system installed on your Mac (if you do not know how to obtain the macOS version, read this guide) and iPadOS 13 or higher on your iPad. If you do not have these requirements or do you want to connect the iPad as a PC monitor windows then you can use the same the iPad as a second monitor but only via cable and only after you have downloaded and installed on mac and ipad application Duet Display but it is not free but costs 11.99 euros.
The sidecar function, on the other hand, allows you to use IPAD as a second screen either by connecting with the normal cable you use to recharge your ipad (by connecting it to the USB port of the mac) or directly by means of a wifi connection; if you have to use the ipad as a mac screen for a long time it is advisable to use the cable to prevent the battery of your ipad from draining.
Use an iPad as a second monitor with Sidecar
To use IPAD as a second screen via sidecar it is first of all necessary that both the ipad and the mac are connected to the same Apple ID and, only the first time you use it, it is necessary to configure sidecar. Don’t worry, configuring the sidecar is very simple and requires just a couple of steps that I’ll explain right away
Before configuring sidecar check that the ipad and the mac are connected to the same wifi network or alternatively connected via USB cable. Then from the Mac computer open the Apple menu at the top left (the menu with the apple symbol) and select the System Preferences item and then Sidecar , the sidecar configuration window will open from which you can configure the main parameters. In the Connect to item, select the ipad to use as a second monitor, if you enable the Show the sidebar item, the sidebar will be displayed directly on the ipad and you can decide where to place it, if you enable the Show Touch Bar item the Touch Bar (where present) will be displayed directly on the iPad and you can decide where to place it.
At this point your ipad will be ready to be used as a second monitor.
Whenever you want to connect the ipad as a monitor on your mac, just select the Airplay item from the mac menu and select your ipad. Then, when you want to disconnect your iPad, just press the disconnect icon (with the symbol of a rectangle with a cross line) present at the bottom of the sidebar on iPad.
From the sidecar menu you can decide how to use the iPad as a monitor, i.e. as a real extension of the main monitor, as a duplication of the screen or to contain command bars (find more information directly on the Apple support pages ).
Use an iPad as a second monitor with Duet Display
Is your Mac or Ipad old and does not support the operating system with sidecar? Don’t despair, you can still use the iPad as a second monitor using the Duet Display application ; not only that, with this application you can also use the ipad as a second screen using windows. The biggest difference of Duet Display compared to sidecar is that it only works if the ipad is connected to the Mac or PC via usb cable (the cable you normally use to charge the ipad).
To use ipad as a second monitor with Duet Display, first connect to the manufacturer’s web page and download their application by clicking on the top button that says Windows or the MacOS button according to your operating system. Once the installation package has been downloaded, launch it and follow the on-screen instructions to complete the Duet Display installation.
Then on your ipad download the Duet Display app (completely free app) from the Apple store, necessary to use the IPAD as a second screen.
All done! You don’t have to do anything else to configure Duet Display; now you can immediately start using IPAD as a second screen in this way:
- Launch the Duet Display application on your mac or PC
- Launch Duet Display app on ipad
- Connect the ipad to the mac or PC via the ipad usb charging cable
At this point your ipad will automatically be configured as an extension of the computer screen. The Duet Display system fully supports TouchOS and is compatible with mac (from macOS 10.9 onwards) and windows (from version 7 onwards).
So in conclusion, if you want to use your ipad as a second monitor for your mac and you have quite up-to-date operating systems on both devices then you can use the native apple function called sidecar; if you want to use your ipad as a second screen on a windows computer or a fairly dated mac then you can use the Duet Display system which will work just as well but will require the ipad to be connected via usb cable to the computer.
