Sidecar in macOS Catalina is limited to newer iPads and Macs

Apple released macOS Catalina with a ton of new features and improvements this week. One of the newly released features, however, has a notable limitation that may leave some iPad users to feel underwhelmed. And it’s about Sidecar.

Sidecar in macOS Catalina lets you use your iPad as an external display wirelessly or wired. When Apple previewed the feature at WWDC back in June, it got people excited (those who never used Duet Display). The feature made its debut with Catalina this week, and it turns out the availability of Sidecar is limited to newer iPads and Macs. 

In order to take advantage of Apple’s Sidecar feature in macOS Catalina, you must have an iPad with Apple Pencil support, and a compatible Mac. In a particular fashion, you’ll need any of the following iPads.

• iPad (6th generation)
• iPad (7th generation)
• iPad mini 5
• iPad Air (3rd generation)
• iPad Pro (all generations)

That’s not all. You’ll also need one of the following Mac machines or newer generation to make Sidecar work.

• iMac 27″ (Late 2015)
• MacBook Pro (2016)
• Mac Mini (2018)
• Mac Pro (2019)
• MacBook Air (2018)
• MacBook (Early 2016)
• iMac Pro (2017)

Apple has provided more information about the Sidecar feature in the Sidecar White Paper available here.