MacOS update may include external display support for iPads

By Anita George Published April 16, 2019

A stock photo of group of Apple products sitting on a table — Pixabay/Pexels

You may not need a Luna Display for your MacOS external display needs after all.

According to 9to5Mac, Apple may include its own native external display support feature in the next version of its operating system. Code-named “Sidecar,” the feature is expected to be rolled out in MacOS 10.15.

Recommended Videos

Sidecar is supposed to allow MacOS users to send the windows of Mac apps to an external display, including iPads. 9to5Mac went on to mention that the rumored feature should be accessible via the green “maximize” button located at the top of Mac app windows. The green button is expected to contain a menu of options that includes the external display feature. Once the desired external display is connected and the feature is selected from the menu, Mac users should be able to quickly move app windows to their chosen external display.

Please enable Javascript to view this content

In addition to being able to move app windows to another display, Mac users who opt to use an iPad as their external display may benefit from another perk of using the new feature: If the iPad they use is able to support the use of an Apple Pencil, Mac users can still draw on their iPads even when it is being used as an external display.

As Sidecar is expected to be a part of MacOS 10.15, its availability is tied to the upcoming operating system’s release date, which has yet to be announced. According to MacRumors, MacOS 10.15 is slated to be released in the fall of 2019. A preview of the new operating system, however, is likely to be unveiled in June during its Worldwide Developers Conference.

Until then, Mac users still have other third-party options to manage their use of external displays. In addition to Luna Display, there are less expensive options like Duet Display and Moom that can serve as decent workarounds for the lack of external display support in current versions of MacOS. While the Luna app is free to download, use of the Luna Display is still the most expensive option as it requires the purchase of its $80 hardware. The Moom and Duet Display apps are both $10.

Topics

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Anita George has been writing for Digital Trends' Computing section since 2018. So for almost six years, Anita has written…

Computing

I found an app that fixes macOS Sequoia’s annoying pop-ups

macOS Sequoia being introduced by Apple's Craig Federighi at the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2024.

Years ago, back when I used Windows Vista, I got so annoyed by the constant User Account Control (UAC) pop-ups asking for permission seemingly every time I did anything that I downloaded an app that could silence them for good. Perhaps not the most sensible thing to do from a security perspective -- OK, definitely not the most sensible thing to do -- but I was a desperate man. These days, I’m getting similar vibes from macOS Sequoia.

That’s because Apple’s latest operating system will nag you about permissions on a monthly basis for anything that records your screen. Granted, it’s not as frequent as what I’d get in Windows Vista -- and these prompts were actually weekly in the macOS Sequoia beta, which caused such a blowback from users that Apple changed the frequency -- but it still feels like it’s going to be a real pain for me and a lot of users. Sure, macOS Sequoia hasn’t actually been out long enough for me to be bugged by these alerts every month yet, but I don’t want to hang around until I start pulling my hair out. I need to take action now.

Computing

Two of the best Apple Intelligence features on Mac still need work

Apple Intelligence in macOS Sequoia being used to summarize a selection of text.

Recently, Apple launched the macOS Sequoia 15.1 beta, and with it came a bunch of new Apple Intelligence features. Not everything, mind you – many of the flagship tools, like the Image Playground and Siri’s more powerful capabilities, might not debut until next year. But there’s enough Apple Intelligence here to get a feel for the new system.

Ever since the beta came out, there have been two areas of Apple Intelligence I’ve wanted to focus my attention on: Mail summaries and Apple’s suite of Writing Tools. These are some of the most fleshed-out Apple Intelligence elements that exist in macOS Sequoia right now, and also potentially two of the most useful, so it made sense to channel my efforts toward them.

Computing

macOS Sequoia fixes a problem that’s bugged me for years

The iPhone Mirroring feature from macOS Sequoia being demonstrated at the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2024.

Sometimes, people think it’s the big, headline features -- like Apple Intelligence -- that make an operating system great. But there’s one new feature in macOS Sequoia that shows the opposite is true -- that a collection of less glamorous, yet meaningful changes can have a much bigger impact.

I’m talking about Apple’s new iPhone Mirroring feature. Or rather, one particular element of iPhone Mirroring: its new drag-and-drop ability. Even in the few short days it’s been available, it’s managed to improve my daily workflow and fix an issue that’s been bugging me for years.