Sidecar keeps freezing on iPad

Oh i forgot to mention, I also have Windows 10 via bootcamp (so i can game) on this same iMac as another boot option. When in Windows, I use a 3rd party app called Duet to use the iPad Pro as a separate wired display... It NEVER freezes. Im baffled as to how it works better in Windows with 3rd party software...... These are mac devices.

I am having the same problem... the video freezes within 20 seconds of connecting. However, the touch functionality continues to work. I can still run my Apple Pencil on the screen and the actions are viewable on my MacBook.

MacBook Pro on v. 13.0.1

iPad Pro on v. 16.1.1

Super frustrating!

Update - I work from home and just had one of my busiest days on record. Long story short, Universal Control / SideCar froze 38 times throughout the 8 hour work day amid the chaos. That is almost 5 times every hour... Flat out unacceptable... I will be selling my iMac Pro next week :).

I’ve contacted Apple Support multiple times since almost a year and every time they just end up responding no more. I even went to an Apple Store and two of the employees there told me they also experience sidecar freeze, but a friend says he never had a problem.

Now when it starts freezing, every 30minutes+ the Sidecar shows “connecting” for a couple of seconds and then becomes responsive for a few minutes or so and freezes again and so on…

Same issue here on up to date Monterey and up to date iPad Pro. Wired, wireless, no difference. It freezes after 20 seconds or so, but I've noticed the issue seems to be confined to when I am only using the iPad as a display without interacting with it. If I use it as a display and input device eg mirroring Adobe Illustrator display and using my Apple Pencil to draw on it in Sidecar mode then there are no issues. So it's like the iPad connection just times out or something.

Very frustrating. I've been considering getting a new 14inch laptop and relying on Sidecar to my iPad Pro when I need more screen real estate but this issue rules that out.

Does nobody at Apple use Sidecar? This feature has become completely unusable. I am running a 2018 iPad Pro with 2022 M1 Macbook Pro and get Sidecar freeze on my iPad Pro every 30 seconds to 20 minutes on a wired connection.

The disconnects seem to be more frequent when running content on the Sidecar screen such as with playing video. When I simply have content displayed with minimal mouse interactions, I can get much longer stability (in the 10+ minute range).

I have tried just about every suggestion from various forum posts. I will await for an update on this one, hopefully.

Well, my iPad Sidecar doesn’t freeze until 40 hours after restart.

And when it starts freezing, every 30minutes+ the Sidecar shows “connecting” for a couple of seconds and then becomes responsive for a few minutes and freezes again or it just refreshes.

And every time the iPad auto-locked or the screen is turned off by pressing the top button, within a minute the Mac will show „the device timed out“ error or sometimes it shows the error (-401), the attempts to connect afterwards results in just a black screen on iPad.

Im at Mac OS Monterery and my Ipad Pro 2018 is iPadOS 16.3.1 . It was working fine being a sidecar until I updated my ipad and my Mac OS. Previously I am on Big Sur and my ipad OS were still previous version which I am not sure which one. The sidecar kept hanging, whether with USB Cable connection or not. Really disappointing as I have been using my ipad as a make shift tablet while traveling and my 2nd screen for video editing for my youtube channel. Geez. Really disappointing.

I have managed to solve my problem through Apple Technical support over imessage! Ended up, it was the login items that actually cause the glitch. So I tested with Adobe Photoshop and tried using pen tool with my ipad wirelessly and also with USB C Cable connected to my macbook pro and it works like a breeze. No more freezing. Hope this comment help!

Don’t you want to wait for a couple of days to see if it freezes again if you restart the iPad?

ln my case it only freezes wirelessly, and downgrade to macOS Big Sur didn’t help, so it’s probably the problem of iPadOS.

Come on!

Update as of today, it freeze again after using today. There is no startup items in my login. Will need to set a time to talk to the apple support for the whole day to solve this issue. Sidecar is useful but now its useless again. I hope that it can be resolved soon.

i did a test by editing my video on premiere pro on my MacBook Pro retina with Touch Bar 2016 connecting extended desktop to my Apple TV wirelessly,run the whole edit fine. I connect the iPad via original usb c cable to my MacBook Pro and it freezes after I just added a text overlay over my video . I use the iPad to see my Program monitor. So really the iPad OS is crap after update!

Also via cable? It should work fine for a day or two if you restart the iPad.

It’s been glitchy over a year now ever since the OS versions of 2021.

I’ve contacted Apple Support countless times since a year now and every time they just end up responding no more or telling me they are still “investigating”.

WTF!

Like all of you guys, I've been having the same issue with sidecar to an old 2016 iPad Pro that I purchased only for this use. I like having my messaging apps on a separate screen and a second monitor would be an overkill for that.

I also have an iPad Air 3rd Gen which I share my Mac keyboard and mouse with so I can run iPad apps on it or watch the news through the Fire TV or Pluto app while I work, so both Sidecar and the Universal Control should be working for me. I don't have any issues with Universal Control, only Sidecar disconnecting or lagging really bad.

I had tried all the resetting, reconnecting, network reset, even reformatting the iPad and getting a wired ethernet adapter for it. None of it fixed the issue. I also tried the USB connection solution, which fixed the issue, but wouldn't keep the iPad charged.

I believe I may have found a workaround by luck as this solution I'll describe below has been working well for 3 days now:

I recently purchased an Orico Thunderbolt hub model TB3-S2, which connects to my Mac Studio via thunderbolt port and has an additional thunderbolt port behind it for daisy-chaining. The hub itself is powered through an 85W power supply, but only provides the host Mac with 60W, meaning it uses the other 25w to power itself and for additional hardware plugged to it. I used a USB-C to lightning cable to connect my iPad to the hub and now I don't get any disconnects anymore and the iPad remains 100% charged at all times. I didn't have to touch any login items config.

Even though my proposed solution uses a specific third-party hardware, I believe any powered Thunderbolt hubs capable of providing power over USB-C should be able to power the iPad at least enough for it to not turn off during the day.

I hope this helps meanwhile they work to fix it, but the wifi disconnecting issue definitely remains...

Unfortunately, I'm another one experiencing the same issue.

I have a MacBook Air with M1 chip and an iPad mini (latest) that I use to use as a secondary display and since last update, every time time that I connect the iPad to my Mac Air, the sidecare freezes after a couple minutes of use.

Both ( MacBook and iPad ) is running its latest firmwares. Wifi signal is perfectly fine and in my case, I don't even have Face ID feature. So... what's the problem ?

That's a big chame on Apple to break a feature that has working perfectly fine. The only reason I have an iPad is exactly to use as a nice wireless secondary display. Based in the comments dates, seems that Apple is not giving much attention to this issue.