USB Connectivity Improvements

Support & Troubleshooting
1

This thread will help us to improve Wifi connectivity on Mac/Win. Here is our last comment about this related to MGP 1.6.9 release:

  1. USB connectivity
    We need to figure out what’s happens on your system. Our internal test systems work fine - no problem with connecting two iPads. However, because of the way iPad handle the USB connectivity now, it may happen that you need to unplug/replug the USB cable after you hibernate/restart your system - with later iOS versions, MacOS/Win doesn’t see the connected iPad as an USB device and you need to replug it for the operating system to register it as hardware device. When both devices are unpluged/replugged after system shutdown/hibernation, the USB connection should work fine. At least how it works on our tests system - and yes, it is 2025 - and that’s why iPad/USB is handled as this by the operating systems. We have done tons of tests, system level logs etc - the iPads are not visible as proper USB devices both on Mac/PC after computer hibernation/restart I am afraid and they need to be recreated by re-plugin the USB cable.

here is @JTB’s answer:

And I didn’t realise that needing unplug and re-plug the iPad’s was a feature not a bug. Doesn’t seem very ‘Pro’ IMO. And considering that one of my two iPads always connects when launching Metasever, the whole USB OS spiel sounds implausible.

Let’s explain it once more:

On our test systems, both macOS and Windows occasionally stop recognizing iPads as USB devices after a reboot, system sleep, or hibernation. In such cases, the iPad disappears from the system USB device list and no longer shows up in system reports or tools like system_profiler (macOS) or Device Manager (Windows).

This issue appears to be related to how the USB stack is reinitialized during wake or reboot, and how iPadOS negotiates trust and data transfer capabilities over USB. Unfortunately, we have not found any reliable software-based method — including system commands or service restarts — that can force macOS or Windows to re-enumerate the USB connection.

And we spent substantial time on this.

now @JTB we need info from you:

Could you try the following steps with each iPad (separately and them in tandem)?

  1. Connect via USB and verify it’s visible in MetaServer and MetaGrid Pro and connected.
  2. Put your Mac/Windows to sleep or restart it, then wake it up again.
  3. Check if:
  • The iPad still appears in System Information → USB.
  • MetaGrid Pro regains the connection.
  1. If it doesn’t reconnect:
  • Try relaunching MetaServer.
  • Try different USB ports (direct vs. through a hub).
  • Try replugging the cable from our iPad and note if that immediately fixes the issue.

Please also let us know:

  • Mac/PC model and OS version
  • iPad model and iPadOS version
  • Whether you use a USB hub, and if so, which one