Surprisingly, using your iPad as a vertical second display isn’t supported by Apple Sidecar. Vertify is a free macOS menu bar app that makes it possible.
- Vertical iPad sidecar support
- Auto-start projection when a chosen iPad display appears
- Launch at login support
Download the latest Vertify-vX.Y.Z.dmg asset from GitHub Releases for a packaged build.
- Install Xcode 15 or later.
- Clone the repository and open the project in Xcode.
- Build the app bundle with
scripts/build-app.sh. - Package a DMG with
scripts/build-dmg.sh dist/Vertify.app v0.1.0.
- Launch
Vertify.app. - Grant Screen Recording permission when prompted.
- Choose an iPad display from the menu bar icon.
- Toggle the same iPad display again to stop vertical mode.
Vertify creates a virtual display on your Mac, captures your iPad’s screen, and reprojects it onto that virtual display using the ScreenCaptureKit framework.
Because of this, the virtual display may appear as an unused monitor in macOS Display Settings, and the mouse pointer will not be visible within the original iPad display space.
To avoid unintended cursor behavior, it is recommended to position your iPad display at the edge of the virtual display layout.
Small, targeted fixes are preferred. Before changing capture or virtual-display behavior, run the unit tests and manually verify monitor attach/detach, permission denial, and auto-start flows.
Released under the GPL 3.0 License. See LICENSE.