Apple’s Universal Control is already a reality: it enters beta phase

Being able to work with all Apple devices in a unified way is one of the great dreams of Apple customers. Now we can say that it has begun to reach users.

Universal Control was first announced during the 2021 Worldwide Developers Conference keynote on MacOS Monterey.

However, the feature did not appear in the Monterey release last fall. Now, several months later, this feature is starting to be available in the latest beta versions of macOS Monterey (12.3) and iPadOS (15.4).

Universal Control lets you control iPad and Mac settings with the same keyboard and mouse, seamlessly moving between them as if they were separate screens on the desktop. You can also drag and drop content like photos and documents between devices.

Holy wow Universal Control is incredible.This is me moving between a MacBook Pro, an iPad mini, and an iPad Pro using just the MacBook trackpad and keyboard. It’s aware of position, lets you drag files, and supports iPadOS gestures.The hype was real and it all just works 🤯 pic.twitter.com/PWUTLYZtkW

— Federico Viticci (@viticci) January 27, 2022

Well, there is a bit of setup, but it’s not too complex. To connect an iPad and a Mac, simply move your cursor to the edge of the screen and the compatible device should appear. Note that you’ll need the latest versions of macOS and iPadOS to do this.

To manage multiple Macs and MacBooks, you can toggle Universal Control settings from the on-screen menu. You can also manage the screen layout for iPads in this menu.

Definitely, Universal Remote looks pretty cool and will be a great way to take advantage of all your Apple devices (such as using the iPhone as a hotel card).

Universal Remote is Apple’s great promise to convince users who have different devices of its own brand, being able to take advantage of the tablet, the laptop and the desktop. A multi-screen environment where we don’t need other dedicated screens.

Yes in the middle of last year it was leaked that it would arrive in 2022 at the earliest, it seems that Apple is going to keep its word, although at the moment we are talking about a tool in beta status, so we may have to wait several months to see the tool in a stable OS.