Sidecar randomly drops off on iPad, still shows as connected on Mac

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Sidecar randomly drops off on iPad, still shows as connected on Mac

hi, I have a 12.9. M1 iPad Pro and a M1 MacBook Air with 8GB of ram. When using Sidecar, occasionally, it’ll suddenly go back to the ipad screen, like it disconnected. But, on the Mac, it’s still showing as connected. I have to physically disconnect it on the Mac side to reconnect it. It seems to almost always happen while using Photoshop, so I don’t know if it’s maxing out RAM, causing the disconnection. But I don’t know

iPad Pro, iPadOS 15

Posted on Dec 28, 2021 6:15 PM

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Answer 1

destiny241

Community Specialist

Dec 29, 2021 12:24 PM in response to DaveJC76

Hello DaveJC76,

Thank you for using Apple Support Communities. Based on your post, Sidecar is disconnecting while you use Photoshop. We'll do our best to assist with this.

First, we'd confirm that everything is set up correctly, according to: Use an iPad as a second display for a Mac

Do you happen to use any other devices or accessories while using Photoshop? We ask because it might be related to environmental interference. If that's the case, this should help you out: Resolve Wi-Fi and Bluetooth issues caused by wireless interference

Should it persist, does this occur when using other apps or only Photoshop? Have you had a chance to test another user on your Mac? You could create a test user to check: Set up users, guests, and groups on Mac

Hoping to hear back, take care.

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Answer 2

destiny241

Community Specialist

Dec 29, 2021 12:56 PM in response to DaveJC76

Good to know, DaveJC76.

Were you able to test it out a bit in another user on the Mac? You can use these steps to create a temporary administrator account and then log into that account to see if you can reproduce the issue there: Set up users, guests, and groups on Mac

Let us know, cheers!

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Answer 3

DaveJC76 Author

Level 1

10 points

Dec 30, 2021 6:48 AM in response to destiny241

Still experienced the issue. Further things I've noticed. It has always happened when my Macbook is disconnected from Power and happens roughly 15 minutes or so into using it...which I've noticed in the settings is when the Mac is set to go to sleep while on the battery...though I'm using it. I wonder if it thinks it was still going to sleep. It's not just the M1 Macbook Air. I'd had that experience too during the brief time I had a 2020 Intel Macbook Pro, before I traded it in for the M1 Air. And it was the same amount of time as well. Right now, I dialed up the time before it goes the sleep to past an hour. I'll let you know if I experience any further issues

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Answer 4

DaveJC76 Author

Level 1

10 points

Dec 29, 2021 12:46 PM in response to destiny241

Everything is set up correctly. I've had that problem pop up when it was wireless as well as when it was connected via the USB-C cable. And the only time I've experienced this issue was using Photoshop

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Answer 5

DaveJC76 Author

Level 1

10 points

Jan 5, 2022 8:13 PM in response to DaveJC76

And I had it drop off again, even after adjusting the settings...once again, in Photoshop. Got 5 minutes in before it looks like it was disconnected on the iPad...though according to the Mac, its still connected. So frustrating.

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Sidecar randomly drops off on iPad, still shows as connected on Mac

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