Apple’s iPadOS 15.4 and macOS Monterey 12.3 betas include Universal Control
What you need to know
Apple has seeded the first iPadOS 15.4 and macOS Monterey 12.3 betas to developers.
Both new betas are required to enable Universal Control.
Universal Control allows people to use one keyboard and mouse across multiple iPads and Macs.
It’s been a long time coming but it’s finally here.
After months of waiting Apple has finally made Universal Control available in the first betas releases of iPadOS 15.4 and macOS Monterey 12.3.
Both of the new beta updates can be downloaded and installed by developers right now and both will be needed by anyone wanting to take this new feature for a spin. Universal Control was first announced during WWDC in June 2021 and was originally expected to ship in September or October of the same year. The feature allows people to use a single mouse and keyboard to control Macs and iPads.
The addition of Universal Control was first spotted by MacRumors.
There are Universal Control settings available on both the Mac and the iPad, and the feature is enabled by default after updating to the new betas. On the Mac, the settings can be found under Displays > Advanced, and on the iPad, the AirPlay & Handoff section under General has a new “Cursor and Keyboard (Beta)” option.
There is no telling yet when these two updates will be made available to the public so it could be some time before most people get to try Universal Control out for themselves. But given some of us had given up on ever seeing the feature ship, today is at least one filled with positive news — now we wait to see whether it actually works as well as we all hope it will. Universal Control promises to be one of the best Mac and iPad features released in a long time.
