# ben-z/free-sidecar

Enable Sidecar on Unsupported iPads and Macs running iPadOS 13 and macOS Catalina

Repository: https://github.com/ben-z/free-sidecar
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/free-sidecar
Language: Swift
License: GPL-3.0
License Family: copyleft
Topics: sidecar, patch, unlock, older, catalina, ipados, macos-catalina, unsupported-ipads, apple, blacklist
Last push: 2021-06-09T11:29:24+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 23/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 0, release rhythm 8, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 2502, "days_push": 1911, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1559, forks 95 (observed 2026-08-28T04:05:03.627834+00:00)

## What it is
A macOS GUI application that unlocks Apple's Sidecar feature on unsupported iPads and Macs by patching the SidecarCore framework blacklist. It provides a simple interface for editing the binary blacklist file without needing root access.

## Use cases
- enable Sidecar on an older iPad running iPadOS 13
- use Sidecar on a Mac running macOS Catalina that Apple blacklisted
- patch the SidecarCore framework to remove device restrictions
- turn an unsupported Mac into a Sidecar-capable second display host
- avoid buying new hardware just to use Sidecar

## When to choose
- you have an older iPad or Mac running iPadOS 13 / macOS Catalina and want Sidecar
- you want a sandboxed GUI tool instead of manually hex-editing SidecarCore
- you are comfortable with a process involving recovery-partition restarts

## When to avoid
- you are on macOS Big Sur or later, since this targets Catalina only
- you need guaranteed wireless Sidecar, which may not work on older devices
- you are unwilling to modify system frameworks or restart into the recovery partition

## Facets
- artifact type: application
- maturity: maintenance
- function: security, developer-tools
- domain: apple-ecosystem, hardware, desktop-applications
- platform: -
- tags: sidecar, patch, hex-editing, system-tweak, ipados, catalina, unsupported-hardware, macos, desktop

## Member repositories
- ben-z/free-sidecar (main) score 23

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:05:03.627834+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T04:29:49.573683+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/ben-z/free-sidecar (fetched 2026-08-28T04:05:03.627834+00:00, sha 297e161cf0ae)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.