Level 1

45 points

SideCar unstable in Monterey

Since upgrading to Monterey I find SideCar very unstable. Often when I try to connect it fails after a few seconds. If I retry enough times it usually eventually works, but even they after a while it spontaneously disconnects. I've also seen multiple times where my Mac seemed to think SideCar was still connected, but the SideCar display was not updating.

This used to work stably when I was running Big Sur. I'm also seeing this issue on two different Macs.

MacBook Pro with Touch Bar

Posted on Oct 29, 2021 5:43 PM

Top-ranking reply

mocny

Level 1

12 points

Posted on Mar 31, 2022 2:20 AM

After update to latest Monterey 12.3 (Mac mini M1) and iPadOS 15.4 (iPad Pro 9.7") I couldn't see Sidecar / Screen Mirroring via USB, though iPad was recognized just fine on Mac. I had a few chats with support, glad I didn't proceeded with reinstalling macOS (as they suggested after a few other options weren't successful).

Solution, that came to my mind and did the trick was actually very simple:

>> Reseting trusted devices on iPad

About the 'Trust This Computer' alert on your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch – Apple Support (UK)

I assume there is some "handshake" problem after update (?) (whether on macOS or iPadOS, can't tell).

Hopefully it will help others (I will report this also on chat support to add this to their guidelines, before proposing to reinstall any of the devices).

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68 replies

Nov 1, 2021 3:27 PM in response to kohster

Unusably unstable between my M1 MBP and iPad Mini.

benjark

Level 1

16 points

Nov 2, 2021 7:27 AM in response to Qythyx

Having the same issue on a 2017 MacBook Pro; sidecar is almost unusable. Recently it has frozen after just a couple minutes of use, and frequently it can't find my iPad and won't connect.

AlexE1

Level 1

8 points

Nov 5, 2021 10:01 AM in response to Qythyx

Thanks, this is unusable for me too on a M1 MBP 13" with an 12.9" iPad Pro 5th generation (M1).

Would love to hear from the team at Apple on when we can expect a fix here!

benjark

Level 1

16 points

Nov 8, 2021 6:29 PM in response to jinbee

I’ve been checking every day to see if there is an update that can fix this; it’s breaking my workflow.

Hope Apple knows about it and is working on it.

aprilten

Level 1

17 points

Nov 15, 2021 8:38 AM in response to Qythyx

Same on 2017 MBP with macOS 12.0.1 and a 4th gen 12.9" Ipad pro on iOS 15.1

Nov 19, 2021 6:59 AM in response to Qythyx

Same, MacBook Pro 15" 2018 and iPad Pro M1. All updates done.

hatttt

Level 1

8 points

Nov 22, 2021 10:58 AM in response to Qythyx

I'm having the same problem, 2017 iMac and 2021 iPadpro 12.9 inch

Nov 24, 2021 11:26 PM in response to Qythyx

Same here: iMac and iPad Pro. Sidecar freezes up after 2 minutes of use... everything was fine until the recent "update" to Monterey... wrrr so annoying.

Nov 29, 2021 9:53 AM in response to Qythyx

Same issue and I'm running it on 2021 MacBook Pro 16" with M1 Pro Processor. SideCar is lousy over WiFi and plugging in USB-C or Thunderbolt cable doesn't appear to make much difference.

aprilten

Level 1

17 points

Dec 2, 2021 4:03 AM in response to Qythyx

I don't know about you, but I'm starting to lose my patience over this.

I cannot count the number of times this breaks my workflow during the day

Dec 5, 2021 9:50 AM in response to EandJsFilmCrew

It actually doesn't involve that much resetting and it really is a synchronisation issue . Most of the items are saved state you need no further intervention after signing out and back in again.

ku4hx

Level 7

23,688 points

Dec 7, 2021 7:11 AM in response to Qythyx

I guess we're just lucky. Our 2020 MBP 13" Intel 16GB RAM has been stable so far.

Dec 13, 2021 9:53 AM in response to Qythyx

Same issue with MacBook Pro 2018 and iPad Air 3rd Gen. Issue just started today, iPad display freezing almost automatically when using Displays (old SideCar).

aprilten

Level 1

17 points

Dec 21, 2021 12:56 AM in response to aprilten

This problem is not fixed for me after upgrading to Ipad OS 15.2 and macOS Monterey 12.1 :(

rawitten

Level 1

11 points

Jan 4, 2022 2:57 PM in response to rawitten

For context: 16 inch MBP 2019

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SideCar unstable in Monterey