MacBook Pro M1 max can only connect to iPad Pro M1 with original Apple Cable

I just tried it with a few Thunderbolt 3 / 4 cables (Belkin and Cable Matters, etc) between MacBook Pro M1 and iPad Pro M1... The iPad starts to charge fine with all of them but IF you want to data transfer it needs a cable that is an "Active cable" ,not passive...

So, with my Belkin active Thunderbolt 3 cable, I was able to transfer data... However, did not work with the Cable Matters passive Thunderbolt 4...

More info:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0OcuKGYzPA

https://www.startech.com/en-us/blog/thunderbolt-3-the-basics

I have the same issue between an M1 max 14" and and Ipad Pro M1. It charges for about 20 seconds then disconnects and reconnects all while the mac fails to detect the Ipad in finder. I'm using a 12" passive Apple Thunderbolt cable but the same thing happens with my passive cable matters cable and passive StarTech cable.

The mac does detect the ipad when using the included USB 2.0 charging cable though. I have not tried an active thunderbolt cable yet but good to know that it may work.

Apple - fix this now. It's not a good look to launch a four thousand dollar machine that cannot perform advertised features such as wired sidecar.

The answers here citing the need for an active TB cable are wrong. Also: It's not just 3rd party cables.

NO Thunderbolt cables will allow an M1 iPad Pro and an Macbook Pro M1 Pro or M1 Max laptop to connect. The connection repeatedly connects and drops. The iPad never shows up in Finder. My iPad Pro never shows up in network preferences (I have a cellular model).

I have tried with Apple's own TB3 cable. I have tried with an active Anker TB4 cable. I have tried with passive CableMatters cables. NONE of them work.

I have tried on my personal 16" Macbook Pro M1 Max. I have tried on my company 14" Macbook Pro M1 Pro.

I have tried removing all VPN profiles, disconnecting my folio keyboard, and resetting Network Settings on the iPad. Nothing works.

This problem is specific to the Macbook Pro M1 machines with the iPad Pro M1. When I tried connecting my M1 iPad Pro to an Intel-based Macbook Pro (16" 2019), Thunderbolt cables work just fine.

The only way to connect an iPad Pro M1 to a Macbook Pro M1 is via a normal USB-C 3.1 cable, such as the charging cable that comes with the iPad Pro. These work, and the iPad show up in System Report on the USB hub.

This is a bug, and Apple needs to address it.

This bug is still present as of iPadOS 15.2 / macOS 12.1.

I can at least confirm that the provided USB-C Cable that came with my M1 iPad Pro (2021) does work between it and my M1 Max MacBook Pro (2021).

I connected the cable directly to both and the first time, I only received a stable charge. After disconnecting and trying again, I received the "Trust this computer" pop-up and was able to continue after entering my password on my iPad Pro.

I have a fix that might help people:

I have an Anker 7-in-1 USB-C hub. I connect my iPad Pro M1 to that using a Thunderbolt cable, and everything works then flawlessly. Hope this helps and works for everyone too.

Apple please fix this!! There is a lot of people claiming it 'works' with the supplied USB-C charging cables. Although it does connect it's only at USB2 speeds! Check "About this mac" -> "System Report" and scroll down to USB. You will see that the max throughout is only 480mbps! 480mbps / 40GB/s = 0.12% capability!

I faced same issue with my MacbookPro(14inch M1Pro) and iPad Pro(M1 12.9inch wifi + cellular)

The Cable I tried "Anker TB4 cable", "USB 3.1 cable" and "apple usb-c cable"

The situation I didn't face this issue is just started my Mac or using "apple usb-c cable".

If My mac is gone into sleep mode one time, and be Restarted after sleep mode, this issue has occur...

I bought the top of the range M1 MacBook Pro the day that it came out and it would only connect to my iPads or iPhone after a six minute wait. Same every time, six minutes doing nothing then connect! If you did anything else whilst waiting the six minutes started again when you came back to it. Spent a total of five hours on the phone to Apple (2x2 hours and a 1 hour call). The first operator agreed hat i had grounds to return it which I did.

The other day, I Sent Mac(M1Pro) and iPad(M1) to Apple to verify this bug.

Just while ago, Incoming call from Apple I recived.

Apple said "The operation to connect between Mac and iPad by using USB3.0 or Thunderbolt cable(apple official product incrudes) is not guaranteed. We recommend Apple USB-C(2.0) cable only this operation. And, we don't have the plan about this bug fixing."

I can't convinced of that conclusion.

But, It's Apple's official comment about this Bug.

Thanks.

If anyone has this problem of connecting with certain cables, would they please try this to see if I had the same problem or a different one?

Please try to connect your iPad to the MacBook Pro and when nothing happens just leave them both completely untouched for ten minutes.

Many thanks.

This is a problem that has existed with the I Mac pro as well. Let me say that the Apple brand Thunderbolt three cable is short enough that you do not need the active chipset and it is compatible theoretically with the thunderbolt ports on the new MacBook Pro and Pro Max. Interesting in that it will not connect with that cable, which is backward compatible with standards to USB 2.0, and it will connect with its original data/charging cable. The connection that is established is not via the thunderbolt port but rather a USB 2.0 connection which is limited to 480 Mb per second which is extremely slow and backing up a 2 TB iMac Pro to the computer takes an entire day. Apple advertises that the thunderbolt three connection is compatible in the iPad M1 and with its computers that have a thunderbolt three or a thunderbolt for pork. This is not happening. It has been nearly 5 months since I discovered that problem with the iMac Pro and it still is not solved by Apple. Interesting that the iPad Pro 13 inch M1 model and the MacBook Air M1 model Will connect using the Apple thunderbolt three cable but it's connection is USB 3.1 and the speed there is 10 Gb per second. Granted that is 20 times faster than the USB 2.0 standard but is nowhere near the 40 Gb per second advertised using the thunderbolt three connection. I connected a USB 3.0 hub to my MacBook Pro Max and then connected the iPad Pro M1 chip to the USB 3.0 port using the Apple thunderbolt cable. This connection worked but was limited to a USB 3.0 standard which is 5 GB speed. I have all this documented with multiple iPad with the M1 chip and multiple MacBook Pro models and MacBook Air models. I have been told Apple is working on it but the fact that the same problem existed with the iMac Pro and it has been five months does not give me much optimism for a quick solution. Something is going on and Apple needs to fix it.

I would like to let you know from Japan that I am facing the same problem. (Thunderbolt4cable between MBP14 and iPadpro5th)

I have contacted Apple and they have assured me that they will support the genuine product, so if this doesn't work with thunderbolt3, I will complain to them.

I only just received my M1 MacBook Pro through the school I work for and I'm having the exact same problem when my 2018 iPad Pro is connected to it: the iPad indicates that it's being charged for about 20 seconds, then it stops.

I reported it to Apple support and they wanted me to ship the MacBook Pro in for service, but I'm chalking this up to a Monterey and/or M1 MacBook Pro hardware bug which will eventually be fixed. I also just reported to through Apple's feedback page. Hopefully this will be fixed in macOS 12.3.