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

That’s never worked as far as the six-minute connect was concerned!

Good post. Sums the problem up perfectly.

Good job! Let us know what you hear!

mine is not connected after 30min. (Apple thunderbolt3 0.8m)

may be there're some differences each iPad and M1macPro

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 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.

Is anyone able to get it working with sidecar however? I also experience the same problem (same ipad and macbook specs), but cannot get Sidecar over-the-wire to work.