Apple added direct touch input to Sidecar with macOS 27 Golden Gate and iPadOS 27, allowing users to tap and interact with macOS interface elements using a finger on their iPad for the first time.
Previously, ‌Sidecar‌ was deliberately limited as a touch interface. While multi-touch gestures such as two-finger scrolling, pinch-to-zoom, and three-finger editing gestures for copy, cut, paste, and undo have been supported for years, tapping directly to click links, open apps, or interact with macOS UI elements wasn’t possible with one finger. These interactions required either the Mac’s connected mouse or trackpad, or an Apple Pencil.
The new Direct Touch feature fills this gap. In ‌macOS 27‌, users can now tap, swipe, and interact with macOS apps on their ‌iPad‌ screen using one finger, bringing ‌Sidecar‌ closer to the way third-party tools like Luna Display have worked for some time. Support for ‌Apple Pencil‌ continues alongside new touch capabilities.
The expanded ‌Sidecar‌ feature requires an Apple Silicon Mac running ‌macOS 27‌ Golden Gate and a compatible ‌iPad‌ running iPadOS 27. As with previous versions of the feature, both devices must be signed in to the same Apple ID, connected to the same Wi-Fi network, and have Bluetooth enabled, with both devices within 10 meters of each other.
This feature is likely another indication of impending support for touch on the Mac, along with other features like pull-to-refresh. Apple is reportedly considering launching a “MacBook Ultra” as a new high-end laptop featuring an OLED touchscreen, M6 series chip, Dynamic Island and a slimmer design. Reports suggest that the device is expected to launch in early 2027.
