resolved: fixing Universal Control connection between Macbook and iPad

I have a potential solution for anyone who's been unable to use "Universal Control" to share a keyboard and mouse between their mac and their ipad (potentially other devices). A commonly cited solution is to log out of icloud on the mac, but that's kind of a big deal and a pain for me. This simple terminal-based solution has finally worked for me where nothing else has since I first started trying to use it in 2023.

We think this is caused by a corruption in the universal control configuration cache. Make sure system preferences are quit (not sure if that's necessary), then open the terminal app and run the following two console commands (just copy and paste them). This deletes the universal control saved preferences. I haven't experienced any side effects.

sudo rm -rf ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.universalcontrol.plist
sudo rm -rf ~/Library/Preferences/ByHost/com.apple.universalcontrol.*

(You'll be asked for your system password for the first command.)

Then restart. My mac rebuilds the cache ... and I suddenly have access to Universal Control in my Mac's display preferences.

This worked for me yesterday, but something caused the connection to fail when I left work and was unable to connect when I started work today. I ran the above console commands, restarted, and it worked again. It's not ideal but it's better than nothing.

I hope this saves someone some trouble and inspires Apple to address a potentially long-standing bug.

For reference, here are my current specs, but I've put up with this problem in Ventura, Sonoma and Sequoia.

ipad:

• ipad pro (11-inch, 3rd generation)
• ipados 18.3.1
• signed into my icloud
• bluetooth and wifi are ON (same wifi network)
• Settings > AirPlay & Continuity > "Cursor and Keyboard" is ON.

macbook pro:

• 14-inch, 2021, 32gb ram
• sequoia 15.0.1
• signed into my icloud
• bluetooth and wifi are ON (same wifi network)
• firewall is off (but this works with my firewall on, at least.)
• System Settings > Displays > Advanced > "Allow your pointer and keyboard to move between any nearby Mac or iPad" is ON.

FYI, I don't seem to need wifi or cellular on the ipad to use Universal Control. It works fine with only bluetooth enabled.