Sidecar not working on Big Sur and iPad OS

Zathrak wrote:

Apple states they're aware of the issue but offered no resolution.

Getting Support, anybody's Support, to acknowledge awareness of an issue is always a huge leap towards a fix. Support never acknowledges a problem until all other attempts to evade have failed.

If I recall correctly, my original symptom is that the device simply was not detected after upgrading to Big Sur when it was wireless. It was detected when it was wired of course. After I signed out and back in to my Apple ID on the iPad, the device was then detected wirelessly but it would time out and that connection would fail. That’s when I found that my device was listed twice in my iCloud device list. Deleting the old device of the same name resolved the connectivity issue instantly.

Thank you for your reply.

I had the same issue as you and I found my iPad device by signing out and signing in, and then I encountered the "time out" issue. But unlikely, I did not find my device was listed twice in my iCloud, and I am still struggling with "time out" problem...

Thanks a lot, the Apple support center via chat and phone could not help me.

But this solutions works for me. Later to follow the steps you describe "sign out of iCloud on your iPad and sign" The other step I need to do was reset my iPad and my Mac an pair bluetooth between them. and Voila!

Thank a lot.

There is also a much smaller additional problem, even if it is only a matter of convenience. Even one manages to get Sidecar to work with an iPad as a second screen, connecting it with the laptop requires to open System Preferences. In Catalina, an icon appeared immediately in the in the control slip on the top of the screen; in Big Sur, I have not found any possibility to pin the icon on the control slip. IMoreover, although it appears in the control slip when Sidecar is in operation, but it is useless: there no option to "disconnect", which one actually needs occasionally. One has to open the System Preferences again. It seems that with Big Sur, Apple has simply forgotten to update SideCar properly.

Although logging out of iCloud worked for me, it’s a very poor solution. You then have to reset things such as re-enabling keychain on iCloud, responding to multiple devices telling you you have registered a new device, re-enabling find my iPhone, re-registering all your credit cards - which results in your providers re-sending physical letters with the bank’s T&Cs... Only do it if you have an hour or so to deal with the fall-out.

Ive tried the below fix and its still now working..

Does anyone have any other advice? I really need this working - every update we get seems to mess something up - the amount this stuff costs you'd think they would just code it properly

This helped to me.

After Sign off and Sign on into Icloud, Sidecar were working without any issue on my Ipad 6 and new Macbook Air 2020 M1.

I think problem is with Ipad OS.

It took for me about 10 min to do this.

Hi TRE757,

this was awesome, tried everything suggested on the net, including Apple's suggestions - nothing worked. This did straight away (MBP 13" M1 & iPad Pro 12,9") Thank you! Have numerous other problems with Apple over the last couple of weeks... Upgraded my iMac 27" to Big Sur, now neither the Bluetooth Keyboard nor the Mouse (both Apple) does not work anymore, so I have to boot up with the old USB keyboard. Tried bluetooth resets and so on, plus all the suggestions on the net, no success. Finally after having gotten the iPhone 12 mini and 12 Pro Max, my phone number can not be used on the mini for message and FT. It's there together with different e-mail/accounts. But you cannot select the phone number. I have dual SIM and it all worked before I upgraded to the latest os. On all the others, ie MBP's, iMac, iPad's etc. everything works. But not the mini...

Hi, I referred to TRE575 proposed solution,

"THIS SOLUTION WORKED FOR ME!

TLDR - Sign out of iCloud on your iPad and sign back in.

If you're trying to use your iPad as a 2nd monitor with a MacBook and Sidecar, sign out of iCloud on your iPad and sign back in. You'll receive prompts on your Apple devices to confirm the sign-in on the iPad. Afterwards, go to your MacBook where you should see a notification badge on your System Preferences. Click into Apple ID where you'll be prompted to enter your iPad passcode as well as your MacBook password. Once everything goes through, you should be able to go back to Sidecar in System Preferences and see your device as an option.

Hope this helps!"

And this worked out, straightaway, for me as well!

This solution seemed to work but, requires you to do it every time!

APPLE get it together. Sidecar is amazing and you have made it impossible to use!!!!!!! I HATE APPLE UPGRADES. they always make something virtually impossible to use.

The ‘solution’ works for a while, then the same issue re-emerges. Has anyone determined what is going wrong here? Is something else creating a conflict and breaking the link? This makes using sidecar even hardwired an awful experience.

Just be careful. Since Big Sur and padOS 14, you need an iPad 6th generation to use sidecar.

Apple has just made iPad 5th generation obsolete Grrrr. Thank you Apple.

I posted the requirements back in November and iPad 6th Gen has always been the requirement.

Hi Guys!

I have Big Sur 11.2.3 and iPad Air2 os 14.3. I can't use sidecar! Both devices are logged in the iCloud account on the same user and name. I have tried wireless connection (bluetooth connected and wifi the same network) but I can't. I have tried to use cable but it is still not working!

Moreover, I have tried to log out from iPad account and next to log in but this also not works!

Please help me!

I will appreciate that!

On your iPad Settings go to General-->Reset-->Reset Network Settings. It doesn't mean that you will lose your wifi, as you are just resetting the network parameters (ports etc.) back the way they were, at the time when you first started your iPad.