At some point in the near future, Apple is going to launch macOS Catalina to the public. When that happens, it will come with a new feature called Sidecar. This new feature will allow Mac owners to extend their display onto the iPad, giving them a bigger workspace to, well, work with. Apple describes it as a quick and easy way to use one screen for something, and the other to do other work. The software makes it possible to mirror the screens, so if you just want to show off something on a different display that’s a possibility, too.
Sidecar is new to macOS (and iPadOS), but it’s definitely not a new feature by default.
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: a popular feature is pretty popular with its market thanks to a third-party app, or apps, available to buy (or download for free) from Apple’s App Store. Sometime later, Apple comes up with a similar feature of its own and offers it as a baked-in feature in its own software.
It feels like a tale old as time at this point, and it’s not going to stop happening anytime soon. Of course, some people will say that’s not a bad thing, as it adds more stock features into Apple’s operating systems. But your mileage on that idea may vary.
What’s not hard to argue is how helpful a feature like Sidecar is, especially for people who are already doing this with available third-party apps. Only if they plan on not using those third-party options, of course. If not, the existence of Sidecar probably doesn’t mean anything at all. Unless you really like the wireless feature, which is admittedly pretty nice.
Over the years I’ve loved the idea of owning an iPad. I’m fairly confident that I’ve owned every version of the Apple-branded tablet over the years, but, in almost every case it was never for very long. I ultimately realized that I just had no reason to have it, as I’ve just grown accustomed to working on a single computer for so long. Muscle memory won out every time.
But that has changed recently, with the launch of the 11-inch iPad Pro. I’ve been using it every single day, even if that just means playing a game or two on it instead of relying solely on my phone to handle everything. It’s worked out well so far, and I’ve actually started making myself write on it more often during the day.
Sidecar caught my attention when Apple announced the feature earlier this year, and it’s something that, like with the iPad itself, just seems like a cool thing that I’ll never really need. Because of muscle memory and all that. I’ve even tried some of the third-party options out there in the past, back when I was desperately trying to find a reason to keep the tablet in my life. But it just never panned out.
I don’t know if I’m going to use Sidecar when it launches later this year. I know that I’ll at least give it a try — it’s baked in after all. But I just don’t know if I’ll find a reason to use the feature on a regular basis.
So I want to reach out to you and find out why you use your iPad (or other tablet for that matter) as a secondary display. Is it something you do on a daily basis? Is it a feature that you can’t live without? Or are you like me, and your tablet lives a very independent life away from your main computer? And just for fun, do you use an external display in general, even if it isn’t a tablet? Let me know!