iPad keep disconnecting as 2nd monitor after 3-4 min.

On a 2022 MacBook Air M2 with MacOS 13.2 and an iPad Pro 10.5 with iPadOS 16.3 and had the same issue where the it would remain connected for a few minutes. It eventually degraded to connecting for a second, reconnecting half a dozen times then finally give up.

Tried disabling auto lock by going to Settings -> Display & Brightness -> Auto-Lock and selecting Never but that had no affect.

Finally was able to fix it, hopefully this helps save someone some time and frustration.

Had to sign out of my iCloud account by going to Settings -> my user account -> Sign Out. Restarted the iPad then reset all settings by going to Settings -> General -> Transfer or Reset iPad -> Reset -> Reset All Settings and restarted again.

After it came up, signed into iCloud again and merged all files. Then connected the iPad to the laptop with a lightning cable and made sure the laptop and iPad trusted each other.

Disconnected the cable and tested. Screen Mirroring then worked perfectly.

Thank you mattdub619, My M1 Pro + iPad Pro combo wouldn't work for more than a few seconds then rapidly disconnect / connect / disconnect then done. I followed your suggestions and it's up and running solid for the last five minutes. So there is definitely something to your solution. A WiFi setting, a trust issue, iCloud sync, not sure but it's working........for now.

I've got the same issue fro M1 mini to iPad, it worked fine for months, then around 2 months ago got this bug. I've tried doing it via wifi, and turning wifi off and only doing it via USB, and it will keep disconnecting.

This same thing is happening to me as well and is incredibly frustrating. There are no errors when it happens, but it does swap over to the linked keyboard and mouse version (even though it doesn't work that way). I am fully up to date at time of post: Monterey 12.4 (21F79) and iPadOS 15.5. I am on a Mac Pro 2019 and the iPad Pro 4th generation.

I am using Mac M1 (that's up-to-date) along with iPad that is up-to-date. The iPad keeps disconnecting within a few minutes of setting it back up as an extended device. Is there an update about this?

Thank you

Same problem. It must be related to an update on one or the other devices. Both my devices (current version of iPad mini and a MacBook Pro) are up to date. This started happening perhaps a month or two ago. For the previous year or so, it worked perfectly.

Hello, I've been having the same problem as well when connecting my M1 MacBook air with my iPad Pro and both of them are up to date / also tried keeping them connected via USBC but doesn't seem to help

As others have mentioned in this thread. I also have an M1 Mac (Macbook Pro M1) and an iPad Pro. I tried wireless and via USB-C. Both times there have been disconnect issues. It seems random whether it will continue to disconnect (multiple times) or stay connected (until the laptop is powered off).

Hi Luk,

Thank you for posting to Apple Support Communities.

With the iPad disconnecting from your Mac, often this can be resolved by updating the software on both devices. Here's how to complete this:

1. Back up your device using iCloud or your computer.

2. Plug your device into power and connect to the internet with Wi-Fi.

3. Go to Settings > General, then tap Software Update.

4. If you see two software update options available, choose the one that you want to install.

5. Tap Install Now. If you see Download and Install instead, tap it to download the update, enter your passcode, then tap Install Now. If you don't know your passcode, learn what to do.

This information is provided in Update your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.

1. From the Apple menu  in the corner of your screen, choose System Preferences.

2. In the System Preferences window, click Software Update.

If your System Preferences doesn't include Software Update, learn how to upgrade to macOS Monterey or upgrade to an older macOS, and use the Updates tab of the App Store app to get app updates.

3. Click Update Now or Upgrade Now:

• Update Now installs the latest updates for the currently installed version, such as an update from macOS Big Sur 11.5 to macOS Big Sur 11.6. 

• Upgrade Now installs a major new version with a new name, such as macOS Monterey. Software

• Update shows only upgrades that are compatible with your Mac.

Additional details can be found in Update macOS on Mac.

If those steps don’t help, we’ll need some additional information to provide more specific support.

Do you see an error message?

Is your iPad near your Mac when it disconnects?

Does this seem to happen when you're using a specific app?

Cheers.

Very odd-I thought that my posted "reply" would be tagged to the post that was helpful!!

253838518

The suggestion was to turn off the Autolock on the iPad. Settings > General > Display & Brightness > Auto-Lock -- Never.

Working with Apple support, I have been able to resolve this and it's worked well now for about 3 days.

Steps:

• Shut down computer
• Restart computer in safe mode, use it for a couple of hours like this
• shut down computer again, and shut down iPad (turn off Bluetooth on both first)
• restart normally

Do you guys actually see Sidecar shows “disconnect” on iPad wenn it disconnects? By me when using iPad as extended display wirelessly, the display Sidecar is showing always freezes after a short time without any notifications. Restart the iPad stops the freezing temporarily. And when it starts freezing, every 30 minutes or so the Sidecar shows “connecting” for a couple of seconds and then becomes responsive for a few minutes or just refreshes the picture and freezes again.

Sometimes it also shows such ****** colors or just black, then restarting the Mac is necessary to get rid of it and go back to “freeze mode”.

And I discovered if you turn off iPad Display when in “freeze mode” and turn it back on after a certain time(too short it keeps frozen while too long it permanently disconnects), sidecar will show connecting for a few seconds and refresh the frozen picture and this repeats for ever or ends up with an error (-71148).

Don’t know if you guys experience the same. Meanwhile someone l asked don’t have problem using sidecar, which makes me upset.

I have the same problem, it's basically unusable. The mirrored screen turns off and then the mouse pointer appears on the iPad (if I was using that screen). Looks like a software defect / clash. I have an M1 Mac and iPad Pro running all the latest versions.

Seems your iPad after inactivity auto lock himself and become unresponsive for your macbook.

Like your mouse cursor still appear on the iPad screen but he is unresponsive if do :

Go to your iPad setting > search "auto lock" > set to never (or +10mn)

It should probably fix your problem.

Same here. It used to work just fine but not recently, iPad Pro and MacBook Pro (both fully up to date). Now the iPad won't stay connected. Sometimes it will disconnect completely and sometimes it will switch from being a second screen to being enabled for mouse and keyboard. I have experienced the same behaviour with and without USB cable (the official Apple cable).