One of the most anticipated features in Apple macOS Monterey and iPad OS 15 is Universal Control, which enables users to control multiple iPads and Macs using a single Mac. The feature was demonstrated at WWDC in June, but it has not officially appeared in any developer previews of macOS Monterey or iPadOS 15.
However, in the latest beta version of macOS Monterey Beta 5 released on August 13, the universal control can be turned on manually. According to the tutorial given in GitHub, you need to use the sudo administrator command to create Ensemble.plist (permissions may need to be changed to 777, or restart), and then general control can be used.
| <?xml version=“1.0“ encoding=“UTF-8“?> | |
| <!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC “-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN” “http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd”> | |
| <plist version=“1.0“> | |
| <dict> | |
| <!– not sure which one it is, so set both –> | |
| <key>Ensemble</key> | |
| <dict> | |
| <key>Enabled</key> | |
| <true/> | |
| </dict> | |
| <key>Enabled</key> | |
| <dict> | |
| <key>Enabled</key> | |
| <true/> | |
| </dict> | |
| </dict> | |
| </plist> |
However, we not recommend that you try it on the main device, as problems may arise. According to the test of MacRumors, the current state of this function is very smooth, but only between Mac devices, because iPadOS does not support it, and the operation of dragging and dropping files is not yet available.
Between two Macs, you can go to System Preferences -> Display -> Add a display, and then select the Mac you want to control in the Connect mouse and keyboard option.
