walii / sidecarpatcher

Enables Sidecar on old Mac and iPad for macOS 10.15

SidecarPatcher

Enables Sidecar on old Mac and iPad for macOS 10.15

Sidecar is disabled on these devices by Apple: iMac13,1, iMac13,2, iMac13,3, iMac14,1, iMac14,2, iMac14,3, iMac14,4, iMac15,1, iMac16,1, iMac16,2, MacBook8,1, MacBookAir5,1, MacBookAir5,2, MacBookAir6,1, MacBookAir6,2, MacBookAir7,1, MacBookAir7,2, MacBookPro9,1, MacBookPro9,2, MacBookPro10,1, MacBookPro10,2, MacBookPro11,1, MacBookPro11,2, MacBookPro11,3, MacBookPro11,4, MacBookPro11,5, MacBookPro12,1, Macmini6,1, Macmini6,2, Macmini7,1, MacPro5,1, MacPro6,1

and iPad: iPad4,1, iPad4,2, iPad4,3, iPad4,4, iPad4,5, iPad4,6, iPad4,7, iPad4,8, iPad4,9, iPad5,1, iPad5,2, iPad5,3, iPad5,4, iPad6,11, iPad6,12

You can type this in Terminal to get the model identifier of your Mac: sysctl hw.model.

You can get the model identifier of your iPad by using this app: Mactracker (iOS App Store)

This script disables this blacklist in macOS. This does NOT patch the iPadOS root system, jailbreaking is not required.

This is a command line script. If you want GUI application, try free-sidecar by ben-z.

Tested on macOS 10.15~10.15.4. Doesn't work with macOS 11.0.

How to patch

It is very unstable. There are many known issues. Read Issues. Please use this at your own risk.

1. Backup /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/SidecarCore.framework folder. This script doesn't provide original system file.

2. Install the latest version of Command Line Tools from Apple Developer website.

• Requires Apple Developer Account, you can use a free-tier developer account.

3. Disable System Integrity Protection. How to turn off System Integrity Protection on your Mac. After disabling System Integrity Protection, reboot into normal macOS.

• To check SIP is disabled: csrutil status

4. Open Terminal application and clone this repository by running this command: git clone https://github.com/pookjw/SidecarPatcher

5. Run main.swift: sudo swift SidecarPatcher/main.swift

• You will need to enter your macOS password.

• Ignore warnings. If you encounter error and you don't know how to fix, upload a log to Issue. (I can't reply all issues because I don't know all.)

• About xcrun error and crashing many apps after rebooting: #4

How to revert

Simplest Method (1)

Reinstall your macOS using macOS Combo Update. You can download macOS Combo Update from here. For example, if you're using macOS Catalina 10.15.4, download macOS Catalina 10.15.4 Combo Update. It won't erase your data and it will just reinstall the system.

Simplest Method (2)

Reinstall your macOS using Install macOS Catalina.app. Install it without erasing your disk it won't erase your data and it will just reinstall the system.

Using your backup

1. Disable System Integrity Protection. How to turn off System Integrity Protection on your Mac.

To check SIP is disabled: csrutil status

2. Run sudo mount -uw / command.

3. Copy the original SidecarCore folder: sudo cp /path/to/original /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/SidecarCore.framework

• Make sure you put the right path for SidecarCore /path/to/original.

4. Set permission as 755: sudo chmod -R 755 /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/SidecarCore.framework

5. Reboot. If you want to enable System Integrity Protection again, you can do so now. (Testing #54)