July 2024, I’ve got a new iPad Air 5th generation. It’s supposed to support an external monitor. Connection through Display & Brightness - External Displays, but ‘external displays’ doesn’t appear in my settings. What am I doing wrong?
iPad mini 6, iPadOS 17
Are you:
1) connecting the iPad directly to the monitor using a USB-C to USB-C cable? If so, does the monitor explicitly support DisplayPort over USB-C (i.e., DP Alt Mode)?
2) connecting the monitor using an HDMI connection - and either a USB-C to HDMI Adapter, or UBC-C hub that incorporates an HDMI port?
3) connecting the monitor using a VGA (analogue) video connection via a USB-C to VGA Adapter?
Your monitor’s screen resolution will impact the available settings and external screen capabilities.
While undocumented, testing has demonstrated that 4:3 monitors with a display resolution of 1280x1024 and below are currently only usable with iPad screen mirroring; as such, associated settings to disable screen mirroring in favour of Stage Manager are not available in iPad Display settings.
When used with a 16:9 widescreen monitor, with a native display resolution of 1920x1080 or greater, the full set of Display settings - and access to Stage Manager - become available.
The iPad User Guide lists the upper resolution limit as 6K - but the Guide offers no lower limit, or suggestion of aspect-ratio, being a factor for compatibility:
Connect iPad to a display with a cable - Apple Support
In conclusion, your monitor must be capable of 16:9 widescreen 1920x1080 (FHD) to support Stage Manager extended desktop. Unless the monitor meets the minimum required specifications, you will not see the full range of controls in iPad settings.
Are you:
1) connecting the iPad directly to the monitor using a USB-C to USB-C cable? If so, does the monitor explicitly support DisplayPort over USB-C (i.e., DP Alt Mode)?
2) connecting the monitor using an HDMI connection - and either a USB-C to HDMI Adapter, or UBC-C hub that incorporates an HDMI port?
3) connecting the monitor using a VGA (analogue) video connection via a USB-C to VGA Adapter?
Your monitor’s screen resolution will impact the available settings and external screen capabilities.
While undocumented, testing has demonstrated that 4:3 monitors with a display resolution of 1280x1024 and below are currently only usable with iPad screen mirroring; as such, associated settings to disable screen mirroring in favour of Stage Manager are not available in iPad Display settings.
When used with a 16:9 widescreen monitor, with a native display resolution of 1920x1080 or greater, the full set of Display settings - and access to Stage Manager - become available.
The iPad User Guide lists the upper resolution limit as 6K - but the Guide offers no lower limit, or suggestion of aspect-ratio, being a factor for compatibility:
Connect iPad to a display with a cable - Apple Support
In conclusion, your monitor must be capable of 16:9 widescreen 1920x1080 (FHD) to support Stage Manager extended desktop. Unless the monitor meets the minimum required specifications, you will not see the full range of controls in iPad settings.
When connecting to your iPad using HDMI, complete all connections between the monitor and HDMI Adapter before connecting the Adapter to the iPad.
As a diagnostic exercise to test your HDMI Adapter and HDMI cable, do you have a TV with an HDMI input with which to test the connection?
That’s helpful - thank you.
i’m connecting via HDMI to usbc and it’s a 16:9 monitor. It is about 4 years old, hence perhaps the issue is the spec.
Would this explain the iPad not offering ‘external display’ in settings?
iPad Air 5 - External Display
