It’s fair to say that I am committed to Apple’s so-called ‘walled garden’. I have a Mac Studio as my main computer, a MacBook Air for when I travel, an iPad Pro which is useful in meetings, when I’m speaking at events and for taking notes, and my trusty iPhone. And there are times when I want all four devices on and at my fingertips. In the past, that would have meant physically moving my hands from one keyboard and mouse to another. But Universal Control allows me to use the one keyboard and mouse (in my case a Magic Keyboard and Magic Trackpad) to control all those devices.
How to activate Universal Control on your Mac
Turning Universal Control on is straightforward. Go to System Preferences and launch the Display settings. Assuming you’re using a recent version of macOS, click the Advanced button at the bottom of the settings window and enable “Allow your pointer and keyboard to move between any nearby Mac or iPad”.
There are a couple of other settings there which you can leave as defaults although I’ve checked them on my system.
Setting up your systems for Universal Control
My Mac Studio is connected to a 42-inch widescreen display. I have my MacBook Air sitting between the display and my mouse and keyboard. My iPad is on a stand to my right. To ensure the mouse pointer moves to right system as I push it past the end of my main display, I had to set up the screen positions. Again this is handled through System Preferences.
Go to System Preferences, launch the Display settings and click on the Arrange button. You can move your displays around so they are laid out logically. Just one thing – it seems there are some limits as I could not move my MacBook Air and iPad Pro displays exactly where I wanted them. I’d have preferred the iPad Pro to be lower but that resulted in the MacBook Air display being “snapped” alongside it.
Using Universal Control
Once everything is set up, using Universal Control is as easy as 1-2-3. Work on one system and when you’re ready to use another, simply move the mouse past the edge of your display and the pointer will move on the other.
In my case, when I move the pointed past the bottom of the Dock on my Mac Studio, I take control of the MacBook Air. Or, if I want to use my iPad, I take the mouse off the right edge of the Mac Studio display and it appears on the iPad.
What about the iPhone?
I noted earlier that I can control my iPhone using Universal Control. That’s not strictly true. I do use Universal Control but that’s alongside the new iPhone Mirroring feature that’s been added macOS Sequoia. When the iPhone (which is running the beta of the soon-to-be released iOS 18) is connected to my MacBook Air running Sequoia, I can control it as well to answer calls, react to notifications or launch apps.
So there you have it – one keyboard, one mouse and four devices.
Anthony is the founder of Australian Apple News. He is a long-time Apple user and former editor of Australian Macworld. He has contributed to many technology magazines and newspapers as well as appearing regularly on radio and occasionally on TV.