Drag-and-drop is part and parcel of everyone who works online. But Apple did something very cool with that feature during its Worldwide Developers Conference on Monday -- it dragged an item from the screen of one device and dropped it on the screen of another. Naturally, netizens can't have enough of it.
The feature called Universal Control allows the user to use a Mac's mouse or trackpad to control the cursor on another Mac screen or iPad. Craig Federighi, Apple's VP of Software Engineering, clicked on a photo on an iPad and dragged it across two other computers to drop it into a Final Cut.
While this feature is not all that new, users do require certain softwares for this jump. Apple's version does not need anything of that sort.
Universal Control’s cross-device drag-and-drop makes AirDrop more literal#WWDC21pic.twitter.com/KGkQG8dYax
— Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) June 7, 2021
Can't get enough of the Universal Control demo. Of all the handy features announced at #WWDC21, this is the one that felt most like that classic Apple magic. pic.twitter.com/pHzhIvwgFB
— Jason Rechtman (@jsr7) June 7, 2021
Kudos, @Apple 👌 Craig Federighi’s Universal Control demo just caused everyone in the room to “oooh, aaaaah” 🤣 … UX on steroids. #WWDC21pic.twitter.com/CtljoHzZXQ
— Mustafa K. Isik (@codesurgeon) June 7, 2021
#Apple Universal Control’s cross-device drag-and-drop makes AirDrop more literal#WWDC21pic.twitter.com/cjZrhfUxSK
— Pradeep Kumar (@AnswerPicker) June 8, 2021
Of all the features coming to Apple products after watching #WWDC21, I am looking forward to Universal Control (ability to move content between devices with a single keyboard and mouse) and iPadOS widgets. For my workflow, everything else was great but not game changing. pic.twitter.com/8dUzDSQawr
— Matt Woodfine (@PiXLMattTheApp) June 7, 2021
However, this enticing feature only works with three Apple devices. Users of MacBook Pro (2016 and later), MacBook (2016 and later), MacBook Air (2018 and later), iMac (2017 and later), iMac (5K Retina 27-inch, Late 2015), Mac mini (2018 and later), iMac Pro, Mac Pro 2019, iPad Pro, iPad Air (3rd generation and later), iPad (6th generation and later), iPad mini (5th generation and later) will be able to use the Universal Control feature. The feature will have to be initiated on Macs.
Apple said that the feature does not require any setup -- but one has to have two devices logged in with same Apple ID and turn on Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and Handoff.