Level 1

96 points

Broken: Universal Control Keyboard Mouse Sharing OS Sequoia 15.0

After MacOS Sequoia 15.0 was installed Sept 18, 2024 (on both my MBP 2021 14in and MM 2018), the linking of keyboard and mouse between MBP and MM is now broken (universal control). If I can get it to work for 1 minute, it then breaks, despite the display icon showing that such sharing is active on both devices. Yes, I have restarted Bluetooth, WiFi, and both devices too.

The "universal control" to share the keyboard and mouse seems broken and buggy, even if it works for a minute, then breaks.

Yes, the keyboard and mouse are official Apple products too.

I use this feature all the time, and hope there will be a bug fix very soon.

Anyone else having this problem? Any solutions?

Mac mini, macOS 15.0

Posted on Sep 19, 2024 8:45 AM

Top-ranking reply

greg2u Author

Level 1

96 points

Posted on Oct 30, 2024 8:18 AM

I agree with @TCC Bob.....I updated both the MM and the MBP to Sequoia 15.1, then restarted both machines, then turned on the sharing of keyboard and mouse.

It appeared to be working fairly well most of day. However, I still experience intermittend "drops" and "freezes", where the mouse AND keyboard control seem to be frozen, and stuck between the two machines.

I have been able to get the universal control back by using the MBP's touchpad and keyboard, then toggle and hit esc on one or both machines. So far, that has "unstuck" the keyboard and mouse when that has happened (which originally this approach was not working).

Therefore, with Sequoia 15.1 updates and restarts, things have definitely improved. The function is not flawless.

For Apple, having this function achieving only a "functional and intermittently annoying standard" still leaves room for improvement.

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75 replies

Wallabebe

Level 1

105 points

Feb 10, 2025 7:10 PM in response to greg2u

I have UC working again on macOS Seqoia 15.3. To get it working in the first place, I logged out of iCloud across all of my machines, and then logged back in again. After doing that, there are a few things to know:

Occassionally, the keyboard and mouse will be 'lost' and when that happens you hit <CTRL> + <OPT> + <CMD> + <DEL> and it will reset a few things, returning the mouse to the centre of a screen (on the controlling computer).
I've created an alias to reset bluetooth, (i.e. it runs `sudo pkill bluetoothd`). I use this occassionally to reset things as well.

So, while I loose connectivity occassionally, it's completely functional to the point where I'm using it again. I do still have Teleport 1.5.3 installed as backup. I'm much happier with the setup at the moment and hopefully it will stay reliable.

Stolas6

Level 1

14 points

Oct 31, 2024 12:22 PM in response to greg2u

Having the same issue here, after the last update Sequioa 15.1. I did all the steps you can do. Toggle on off the universal control, restart Mac and iPad, Shutdown both, turn off and on Bluetooth and wifi, use terminal to kill bluetooth (sudo pkill bluetoothd), and lastly re-install MacOS Sequioa. The same issue kept happening, It will connect for a few seconds and disconnect, when connected is laggy or it doesn't connect it all no matter what you do! Sooooo I talked to apple support, and they told me that apparently this been happening and they have reports of this, so he escalated this issue to engineer to see if they can fix it in the next update.

dazawood

Level 1

32 points

Oct 29, 2024 7:01 AM in response to dazawood

The update seems to have fixed the issue. I updated to 15.1 yesterday afternoon, and it's been smooth sailing so far.

ssuess

Level 1

68 points

Oct 20, 2024 11:56 PM in response to greg2u

Also having this problem in 15.0.1. The connection between two mac breaks every few minutes, requiring me to toggle Displays/Advanced/"Allow your pointer and keyboard to move between any nearby Mac or iPad" to get it to work again briefly

ssuess

Level 1

68 points

Oct 29, 2024 4:54 AM in response to TCC Bob

fingers crossed it SEEMS that 15.1 fixed this problem for me.

Wallabebe

Level 1

105 points

Dec 17, 2024 1:10 AM in response to Wallabebe

Back to Teleport 1.3.5 for the time being.

dasoga

Level 1

26 points

Jan 28, 2025 7:24 AM in response to greg2u

I’m testing macOS 15.3 now… it’s been more than 30 minutes, and it seems the issue has been fixed.

rmore

Level 1

4 points

Oct 2, 2024 7:55 AM in response to kboswe1

For me, it also works for a few minutes, but locks up and/or disconnects often. Sometimes you can toggle wifi and/or universal control on both Macs or use Activity Manager to Force Quit the Universal Control process and it will work for another minute or two.

I consider it unusable as it stands today.

Dec 17, 2024 11:39 PM in response to greg2u

To be honest, I hope that the "Link keyboard and mouse" feature will be available without a Wi-Fi connection.

Based on the previous unstable reports, my Mac mini and MacBook Pro devices are connected via Ethernet; however, this feature will be unavailable if they are connected without Wi-Fi.

Now, I have to use the Synergy app to share my keyboard and mouse between computers.

greg2u Author

Level 1

96 points

Jan 10, 2025 8:40 AM in response to TheodoreE

Hello TheodoreE....let us know if things are still working....

On my side, things still break. Both my Macs are fully updated to Sequoia 15.2 (MM with MBP). However, it took less than 30 minutes before I encountered the dropped connection.

With the MM as the "main" computer, I always have to go to settings on the MBP (using the trackpad). Once I open the Display settings, it will usually reestablish the UC within and few seconds. That may work for many minutes, even beyond 30-45 minutes. However, it will just drop the UC connection at some point, and I then have to repeat the whole reconnect process.

In my experience, this is still broken, with no improvement.

Greg2u

Wallabebe

Level 1

105 points

Jan 30, 2025 1:16 AM in response to Wallabebe

Okay, this worked all afternoon. Amazing. It did "lock-up" a couple of times, but that can be fixed by resetting using <CTRL> + <OPT> + <CMD> + <DEL>. I've had to do that about 4 or 5 times in as many hours. I don't want to call it, but ... well, it's working for now.

greg2u Author

Level 1

96 points

Feb 10, 2025 2:14 PM in response to TheodoreE

I too have found that UC is still dropping. For me, it is every 10-20 minutes. I am lucky if 30 minutes can go by before I get the freeze up, and I have go to the secondary MBP to open System Settings/Displays, and once I am on that, everything reconnects automatically.

My MM and MBP are not far apart, and you may have identified another potential factor in this problem.

Therefore, going back to even 15.0 to now at 15.3, there is not much difference. UC is still grossly inadequate and wholly unreliable.

Apple should be ashamed to say this is a "feature", when it more accurately fits a "PITA" description.

Greg

greg2u Author

Level 1

96 points

Feb 14, 2025 2:27 PM in response to davehellbent

Thanks for pointing out another UC relationship in Accessibility settings. On both my primary MM and secondary MBP, I checked that setting, and it was off in both cases.

I too have done all of the steps such after all updates, logging out completely from iCloud, and then logging back in, etc.

For me, UC control may work for many minutes, but I do not need to be working for more than 20-30 minutes before I experience the "lock-up" condition.

For me, I have always had to go to the Display settings on my secondary MBP, and once there, it seems to recognize and establish the UC connection.

However, it still breaks and freezes for me, two to three times per hour, when I am actively using both computers, and moving across from one to the next. I have yet to identify a set of conditions or combination of website, application, folder, etc.

Therefore, UC is still very problematic.

If it is working flawlessly for you, you may be the lucky one. Most folks in this conversation thread have found it to break again eventually.

Perhaps you can report back to let everyone know if things are working unbroken, or has it stopped or locked up on you again too.

Good luck.

Wallabebe

Level 1

105 points

Jan 29, 2025 6:41 PM in response to TCC Bob

This appears to have worked with macOS Sequoia 15.3. It's been over 20 minutes now. Normally it's seconds before it drops out.

kboswe1

Level 1

8 points

Sep 26, 2024 8:57 AM in response to greg2u

I have only been successful following a restart and re-enabling both devices as well as re-selecting the mouse and keyboard control; however, it seems that it will only remain connected for a minute at most as greg2U has also indicated.

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Broken: Universal Control Keyboard Mouse Sharing OS Sequoia 15.0