Sidecar not working on new Mac mini M1

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Level 1

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Sidecar not working on new Mac mini M1

I have a new Mac mini (M1) and trying to get sidecar working with my iPad Pro (4th generation), when I select it after a few seconds I get a message saying unable to connect device timed out.

I have already tried logging out and back of iCloud on both devices, restarting devices, switching Handoff off and back on, trying by connecting the iPad by wire to the Mac mini, nothing seems to resolve the issue.

Is there anything else I can try apart from setting up an new user or is sidecar still too buggy in macOS Big Sur on Apple Silicon?

Mac mini, macOS 11.1

Posted on Jan 31, 2021 5:05 AM

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Answer 1

KMB_12

Community Specialist

Feb 2, 2021 6:35 PM in response to gwalther

gwalther,

Thank you for the additional information and steps you've taken.

If the issue only began after transferring over your data and setting up iCloud Drive, we'd recommend checking if the issue persists in a different account. Take a moment to set up a test account on your Mac and see if the issue persists there.

Set up users, guests, and groups on Mac

If Sidecar works properly in the test account, do you have any utilities in your main account that may change how it connects to your Wi-Fi? Such as a VPN that's always on, or a utility / antivirus app, things like that.

Let us know if the problem persists in that test account and we'll proceed based on that.

Cheers!

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Answer 2

Leanne_68

Community Specialist

Feb 2, 2021 11:07 AM in response to gwalther

Hi gwalther,

We see you're attempting to use Sidecar with your new Mac mini and an iPad Pro, however it times out.

You've taken some great troubleshooting steps so far. To aid us in isolating this further, can you confirm the following?

Sidecar requires the latest version of both macOS and iPadOS. Do you have an update available for either device?
Are both devices signed into the same Apple ID and do you have two-factor authentication enabled for that account? You can check by signing into the Apple ID website and look at the status for two-factor authentication under the Security tab: Apple ID
Are both devices on the same Wi-Fi network with Bluetooth and Handoff toggled on?
If you restart both devices, does Sidecar work then?

Let us know, and we'll proceed from there.

Cheers!

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Answer 3

gwalther Author

Level 1

10 points

Feb 2, 2021 11:31 AM in response to Leanne_68

Hi Leanne_68,

as of yesterday I have updated macOS to 11.2 and tried again. Both devices are signed into the same Apple ID with 2FA, both are on the same Wi-Fi network with BT and Handoff toggled on. I have also tried restarting both devices. Because I have read through other questions pointing out the same issue I have also tried resetting the network settings on the iPad, pairing both devices on Bluetooth manually, then forgetting them again as these measures did not resolve the issue.

What is strange is that on the very first day I have booted the new Mac mini Sidecar did work with my iPad. I finally started iCloud Drive with Documents and Desktop sync after I had transferred my local files from the old Mac mini (late 2014, i7 3.0 GHz) over the network to the new local storage on the M1 machine. From then on the problem with Sidecar showed up. So I logged out of iCloud altogether, logged back in, had to resync the whole iCloud Drive Document and Desktop folders (which took ages), still the Sidecar timeouts persist.

Thanks for looking into this, I am really upset that on the newest combo I have ever owned from Apple I now have to face a downgrade of features which bothers me even more when I compare the performance of the new M1 chip to that of the old Intel’s.

Kind regards.

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Answer 4

Mar 11, 2021 4:29 PM in response to KMB_12

Just bought a MacBook Pro M1 13.3" and an iPad 8th gen (regular). I'm using the MacBook with the lid closed connected to a CalDigit TS3 Hub sending signal out to an external monitor. I've followed all the steps you've listed too and cannot get around the "unable to connect - iPad has timed out" error. Frustrating as both are new out of the box. What to do? My main reason for purchasing a new iPad was to use it as an external controller with my digital audio workstation.

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Answer 5

Mar 11, 2021 6:12 PM in response to Grawgster

Actually, I've tried doing sidecar without an external devices or hubs attached and it just doesn't work. It shouldn't be this difficult with two new devices right out of the box, even if I synced my prior devices to them. Not what I expect from Apple.

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Sidecar not working on new Mac mini M1

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