This is how it works, on paper, Universal Control
After a big change in macOS Big Sur, Apple did not introduce excessive new features in the future version of Monterey. However, the one from Universal Control is tremendously interesting and, at least without having tried it, it seems to be very useful for those who work with Mac and iPad simultaneously. And the idea of this function is to make both devices can be controlled with a single mouse and keyboard which, in this case, would be the Mac.
Now we have the possibility of using the Sidecar function available, which what it does is show the iPad screen as a second Mac monitor, being able to interact with it with the computer’s own keyboard and mouse and with the Apple Pencil. However, this function is very different from that of Universal Control, since in the latter we can continue to use the iPad without giving up its operating system. Therefore, it can be useful if there is an application or tool specific to the tablet that the user needs for their task.
Will this functionality end up arriving?
Dragging photos, documents or folders, quickly open an app to consult data that can later be used on the Mac … There are many possibilities that Universal Control could give us (and will give us). However, nowadays no developer or person who has the public beta can give feedback on the behavior of this function. As we told you before, it has not yet been integrated into any of the five betas that we know of macOS Monterey so far.
In the last beta there was a hint, since in the developer notes the company had indicated the integration of this function. However, this mention was quickly deleted because it had not really been added. This sat like a jug of cold water to many beta testers and even users who await the official arrival of this operating system, among other things, to be able to use this functionality.
The good news is that this does not necessarily mean that it will not arrive. We understand that the fact of not having it enabled even in the betas may be due to a malfunction and some details are still being polished. And while it is true that this could make it arrive in macOS 12.1 instead of macOS 12.0, it is not necessarily the most likely. In fact we are still in August and it is presumed that the first version of macOS 12 will arrive in October at the latest, so there would still be time to integrate it into the betas and finally be one of the novelties that arrives in the first batch.
