Big Sur and Sidecar

!!! This needs to be fixed ASAP. I am regretting updating to Big Sur SOOO much. I use Sidecar everyday for college assignments and found out the hard way today when I had something important due and spent precious time trying to problem solve this. APPLE PLEASE

Issue is still persistent for me also, it's really frustrating as I have come to rely on this and really don't want to invest in a third party service if this is to be fixed, especially as the feature is so new and a selling point for newer iPads.

the only work around ive found is connecting my MacBook pro to my iPad pro via USBC and it works. hopefully apple releases a fix for this in the next update.

Same here. Sidecar NOT WORKING APPLE! Please fix ASAP!

As Paull Said :

Connect your iPad to your iMac/MBP/MB/etc using a lightning cable.
Open Finder, click on your iPad's name.
Click Trust on the iMac/MBP/MB/etc
Tap Trust this Computer on your iPad and enter your PIN as required.
Open the Sidecar preference pane.
Your iPad should be available as a Sidecar device.

But this works only with USB-C cable connected.

I was getting so frustrated with this issue too. It worked when connected together with the USB-C cable, but not with Sidecar or Airplay. Somehow I just managed to get my iPad (Pro) to finally show up on my MacBook Pro (macOS Big Sur 11.0.1)!

1) Restart Macbook
2) On iPad, go to Bluetooth Settings, click on MacBook Pro, and then Forget Device
3) On Macbook, go to Bluetooth Settings and remove the iPad by clicking the x on the right side when you hover over iPad. iPad will disappear from the Devices list, but should shortly reappear with the “Connect” button
5) On iPad Bluetooth Settings, your MacBook Pro should also now show up under Other Devices. Click on it, and you should get a Connection Request pop up on your MacBook Pro. Click Connect.
6) iPad should now show up available to connect using either:

• Display options from the Menu Bar

• Sidecar Preferences or

• Display Preferences

Good luck!!

I Could finally connect through Sidecar without cable!!

What I did:
1) On iPad, go to Bluetooth Settings, click on MacBook Pro, and then Forget Device
2) On Macbook, go to Bluetooth Settings and remove the iPad by clicking the x on the right side when you hover over iPad. iPad will disappear from the Devices list, but should shortly reappear with the “Connect” button
3) Restart both devices.
4) On iPad Bluetooth Settings, your MacBook Pro should also now show up under Other Devices. Click on it, and you should get a Connection Request pop up on your MacBook Pro. Click Connect.
5) iPad should now show up available to connect (enter Bluetooth preferences in each device and reconnect).
6) Connect your iPad to your iMac/MBP/MB/etc using a lightning cable
7) Open Finder, click on your iPad's name.
8) Go to 'General'/ 'Options'
9) In Options, activate "Show iPad while connected to WiFi"(translated from my spanish version, I don't know how is written in the english version)
10) Go to "Preferences" / Sidecar: "Connect to" should be available now (disabled previous to this procedure) & Select iPad.

That should do. It did for me.

I found the bluetooth reconnect..., then wire then selected connect with Wifi steps .... didn't work on with my Big Sur on my MacBook Pro connecting to my iPad Pro 3rd gen. and all updates have been done. Well let me correct; the cable connection worked but ceased to show up or connect as SideCar use to without a USBC cable. Yes both are on the same network.

So after following steps 1-9 of Raul1Argentina you then disconnect from the cable from iPad to computer. Then follow step 10. In step 10 does you iPad show up under the “connect to” (again not connected to the cable)? It should, when you choose your iPad there it should now connect through sidecar. It is now that the sidecar option will show in the status bar.

For some reason the icon does not show in the status menu, like it did in previous MacOs, until you connect it through step 10. I am not sure why this is, or if there will be a fix, but for now it just means a couple more steps to get to true wireless sidecar.

I got it working with the following steps:

(1) remove iPad from bluetooth list on mac
(2) remove mac from bluetooth list on iPad (you might need to restart bluetooth for it to work, my mac was not removed from the known devices list although i tried "ignore" several times... and thus the mac was not showing up under "other devices", but this is a must of course)
(3) Then, and this is !important!: Pair the mac with the iPad FROM the mac, not the other way around!

No cable or restart necessary, works fine now.

Same problem with iPad OS 14.2 and Big Sur 11.0.1. Works fine via USB-C but no connection via Wifi. Both M1 MacBook Air and 2018 15in MacBook Pro have the same issue. Also via USB-C the Touch Bar doesn't work anymore either.

Ok signing in and out of iCloud on the iPad fixed the problem for me as well but its still a little messy. I had noticed Handoff wasn't working on my iPad but was across all my other devices. The signout and back in fixed this and also seemed to fix the Sidecar wireless issue as well but I did have to do a few reboots and USB connections. I don't remember any of this when it first came out so I'm hoping a few software updates will fix the issue. Also toucbar works on my M1 MacBook Air but doesn't on my 2016 MacBook Pro weird.

@PDS1, could you explain your process?

I used Raul's steps. Worked like a charm!

https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/651620?answerId=648752022#648752022

I Just removed my iPad from domestic hub on the "house" setting! Now sidecar run easy.