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Apple’s Universal Control is finally here to make multitasking a breeze

It’ll be hitting the public builds soon.

apple universal control using a mac and an ipad
Image: Apple

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Apple’s long-anticipated Universal Control feature is now usable. The feature lets you use iPads or another Mac as secondary screens, and control them as if they were attached to your Mac.

The catch? You’ll have to be on iPadOS 15.4 and macOS Monterey 12.3, both of which are only available as a developer beta. Once updated to the betas, MacRumors reports that Universal Control will be enabled by default.

https://twitter.com/viticci/status/1486795252484685827?s=20&t=6OuIAaYYe5CMa6WcAwsJsA

People on Twitter, like @MacStoriesNet‘s founder, Federico Viticci, have been showing off the new feature. In the tweet to the right, he’s using his MacBook’s touchpad to control two other iPads.

Universal Control lets him control things on those iPads, drag and drop files between all three devices, and even use iPadOS gestures.

It all seems like a multitasker’s dream and really shows how tightly integrated Apple’s entire hardware and software stack is.

Note that Federico has an iPad on either side of his MacBook, and Universal Control just knows which side they are, and responds accordingly as he moves the mouse cursor to the side.

Would that be possible on the fragmented PC ecosystem, or even on Android?

Anyway, we’ve almost waited a full year to see Apple release Universal Control from the labs.

With the feature being in beta right now, it’s not clear when Apple will release it to the public. Perhaps the full release will come at this year’s WWDC, in June.

Have any thoughts on this? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.

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Maker, meme-r, and unabashed geek with nearly half a decade of blogging experience at KnowTechie, SlashGear and XDA Developers. If it runs on electricity (or even if it doesn't), Joe probably has one around his office somewhere, with particular focus in gadgetry and handheld gaming. Shoot him an email at joe@knowtechie.com.

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