Nogard2008

Q: Mouse support for iPad pro

Will the iPad Pro have mouse support?

 

Something I would love to see and heard months back it might support, b

iPad, iOS 9.1

Posted on Nov 2, 2015 4:42 PM

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Q: Mouse support for iPad pro

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  • by spotsby,

    spotsby spotsby Mar 31, 2016 9:34 AM in response to Csound1
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mar 31, 2016 9:34 AM in response to Csound1

    Do what for myself? I didn't ask for help on anything.

    I'm ultimately attempting to give commentary on a larger issue, and my hope is that some reading this will see that. The issue being we all suck at constructive discourse. My sarcasm is meant to aid in continuing to demonstrate the very first point I alluded to regarding why Apple people get a bad reputation. I was originally trying to make a substantive argument and the response I got were obvious talking points that a.) inferred I was previously unaware of said talking points and b.) Makes the substance less effective by adding noise. It appears innocent but is actually kind of passive aggressive. For instance, did my story give you the impression that I was unaware "ios does not support mouse input at all?" That's a robotic response that shows someone as at best, being unwilling to engage in real and helpful discourse, or at worst passive aggressively squelching a legitimate argument. I'm not saying all Apple people are that way (I'm an Apple person myself), but in this case you've demonstrated exactly what I was getting at. Perhaps if we could turn this sort of thing around, maybe we could all help each other a little more in these forums as well as enjoy the discussions! With that said, I digress.

  • by Csound1,

    Csound1 Csound1 Mar 31, 2016 9:36 AM in response to spotsby
    Level 9 (50,953 points)
    Desktops
    Mar 31, 2016 9:36 AM in response to spotsby

    Thanks for the commentary.

  • by deggie,

    deggie deggie Mar 31, 2016 9:40 AM in response to spotsby
    Level 9 (54,686 points)
    iPhone
    Mar 31, 2016 9:40 AM in response to spotsby

    Where is is that Apple has this "bad reputation"? Other than with you.

     

    Apple is not going to be able to design a device that will appeal to and satisfy everyone and it would be unwise to attempt to do so.

  • by spotsby,

    spotsby spotsby Mar 31, 2016 9:56 AM in response to deggie
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mar 31, 2016 9:56 AM in response to deggie

    I don't know if you're trying to redefine what I said on purpose or accident, but either way it speaks to what I'm talking about. I said "Apple PEOPLE" have a bad reputation, as in a sect of their customers that roam the internet . Apple has a great rep! I love Apple!

    Adding mouse support for the admitted minority who want it would be very easy from a technical standpoint, and would in no way whatsoever decrease the quality of the ipad or interfere with it.

  • by Csound1,

    Csound1 Csound1 Mar 31, 2016 9:58 AM in response to spotsby
    Level 9 (50,953 points)
    Desktops
    Mar 31, 2016 9:58 AM in response to spotsby

    spotsby wrote:

     

    I don't know if you're trying to redefine what I said on purpose or accident, but either way it speaks to what I'm talking about. I said "Apple PEOPLE" have a bad reputation, as in a sect of their customers that roam the internet . Apple has a great rep! I love Apple!

    Adding mouse support for the admitted minority who want it would be very easy from a technical standpoint, and would in no way whatsoever decrease the quality of the ipad or interfere with it.

    More commentary?

  • by deggie,

    deggie deggie Mar 31, 2016 10:01 AM in response to spotsby
    Level 9 (54,686 points)
    iPhone
    Mar 31, 2016 10:01 AM in response to spotsby

    It isn't as easy as you make it sound (and I realize jailbroken devices can do it but it is very clumsy) and it pretty much goes against the base design of iOS. So why would Apple want to alter that? A small number of people have posted here wanting it and all have been advised to send feedback directly to Apple. So far after 9 years Apple still hasn't seen fit to do so.

  • by Michael Black,

    Michael Black Michael Black Mar 31, 2016 10:38 AM in response to spotsby
    Level 7 (24,938 points)
    Mar 31, 2016 10:38 AM in response to spotsby

    spotsby wrote:

     

    I don't know if you're trying to redefine what I said on purpose or accident, but either way it speaks to what I'm talking about. I said "Apple PEOPLE" have a bad reputation, as in a sect of their customers that roam the internet . Apple has a great rep! I love Apple!

    Adding mouse support for the admitted minority who want it would be very easy from a technical standpoint, and would in no way whatsoever decrease the quality of the ipad or interfere with it.

    What the heck is "an Apple Person"?  Do you really define people by the IT stuff they use?

     

    And I don't see antyhing about this thread being terribly useful discourse about anything.  These forums are about helping people solve technical issues, not debating individuals world-view of what a particular operating system should be or should not be or should or should not include.  Nothing stated here is going to change the simple fact that iOS, as designed by Apple, does not include a particular feature that a few people would like it to have and which apparently most couldn't care less about.

  • by everettwolf,

    everettwolf everettwolf Mar 31, 2016 11:43 AM in response to Michael Black
    Level 2 (159 points)
    Mar 31, 2016 11:43 AM in response to Michael Black

    @spotsby, I can tell you, you're fighting a losing battle in the comments. 

     

    I liked your story, and -- to me -- it was cogent to the conversation, in trying to get certain other posters to take the lack of a mouse seriously enough to think outside of the box in responding rather than posting feedback links, and raising awareness of "oh yeah, what about the mouse, maybe *I* should click on the 30 feedback links posted, too!"

     

    You're a level 1, which means you don't come on the forums often, so when there are "discussions" about "missing" features, the board gets pretty riled up, a lot of "jailbreaking" talk crops up, etc. etc., and the more frequent contributors start to get a little snarky, because it gets very, very old.  Also, the users that don't use or need the features that are causing the riling tend to make matters worse by contributing, for whatever reason.  Some who post the feedback links are sincerely trying to help, and many level 1's actually DO click on the links, not having known that it's the proper line to letting Apple know what they want.  Hence the "helpful" notes next to the posters, and their "level" in the forums.  Lots of times, this looks like a snarky conversation-ender, but it isn't.

     

    Ultimately, your choice of going a different route than the Pro despite being a big fan of the Pro, serves as a 1,000 posts to the feedback link, and to that point, the market will determine how important it is or isn't that the iPad support will support a mouse.  If the Samsung sales outpace the Pro sales, the Apple team will find out why, and if it's due -- in any large part -- to no mouse support, they will add it, just as they've done with other "they will never add that" features, that you hear in some forums.

     

    Sometimes, there ARE large enough threads to get noticed by the WSJ and such, which I'm sure gets Apple's attention, but I don't think this is one of them.

     

    However, having said that, I really DO want to get the Pro, much like you did, and I'm more than willing to learn how to do some of the more advanced functions I do without a mouse, so my quasi-challenge I mentioned earlier would be VERY helpful if it's addressed, to get more of a technical-type feedback rather than going a jailbreaking route.

  • by everettwolf,

    everettwolf everettwolf Mar 31, 2016 11:57 AM in response to deggie
    Level 2 (159 points)
    Mar 31, 2016 11:57 AM in response to deggie

    @deggie, in fairness, the ipad Pro hasn't been out for 9 years, and none of the earlier devices have been pushed as hard as "a laptop replacement", mouse support exists in Jailbroken form -- which you don't dispute -- and that's with far fewer developers on it and without the support of the vast Apple infrastructure that would remove the clumsiness, there is direct "Pro" competition that does support the mouse, and neither this thread, nor this forum, should serve as qualifications of what people do or don't want.  Unless you have access to the Feedback link data, the Apple website probably isn't the best place to make that determination, despite how vocal the few that do come here are.

     

    Also, this is the Apple "Support" Community, so if some of that support is purely psychological, so be it. ;-)

  • by spotsby,

    spotsby spotsby Mar 31, 2016 12:16 PM in response to everettwolf
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mar 31, 2016 12:16 PM in response to everettwolf

    Thanks for the reply! I'm well aware that this is a losing battle. I guess I just enjoy a good beating sometimes! This is also the reason for my "level" as I know this is mostly fruitless. But in this case, it was fresh for me since I just bought the tablet and just went through these decisions, so thought I'd try to power through.

    What you said about sales is right on. The market is a great truth detector. I wonder if there are others like me who have chosen android devices when they'd prefer to go Apple because of small things like this. Will Apple even notice it?

    I've heard that the sales of iPads are going down. I know I'd prefer one to a Macbook as I very much prefer the touch experience, lightness, and cost. I don't need a high powered computer. But I do need to use a mouse every now and then, download something off a website every now and then, and be able to access the file system every now and then. So I'm stuck using Android tablets, though I find them inferior to iPads. In all honesty there's also an element of principle here. I know I could buy an iPad and jailbreak and add that functionality. But I don't want to on principle. Appreciate the post!

  • by deggie,

    deggie deggie Mar 31, 2016 12:16 PM in response to everettwolf
    Level 9 (54,686 points)
    iPhone
    Mar 31, 2016 12:16 PM in response to everettwolf

    No, it hasn't been out for 9 years, neither was the iPad Air 2 but they both run iOS. The iPhoneOS/iOS has been out for 9 years and was designed from the ground up to not use a mouse. But cheer up it was designed for a stylus either and now the iPad Pro series have a stylus. So maybe in another 8 years they will add mouse support.

     

    No, I don't have direct access but just from reading here on ASC it is very easy to discern that mouse support is a small, small niche. I seriously doubt there have been hundreds of thousands of feedback requests for a mouse. I do see Android tablets as I'm out and about and I have yet to see even one person using a mouse with it. Again, given that Apple has not added it in 9 years I seriously doubt it is a large request.

  • by spotsby,

    spotsby spotsby Mar 31, 2016 12:29 PM in response to deggie
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mar 31, 2016 12:29 PM in response to deggie

    I can't speak specifically to the ease of adding it. I haven't had programming classes since college. But if a single dev can do it in his free time (even if it is a bit clumsy), Apple could add it if they wanted. Just like they could allow the option of downloading through Safari or accessing the file system if they wanted. They don't want to. And despite all the arguments about security and going against the base design, I think there are probably other reasons for them not doing this which I won't go into. Thank God they have an army of "Apple People" constantly screaming about security and design so they don't have to talk about the real reasons.

    Let me ask this... If Apple finally does decide to implement mouse support, will you feel as though the design of your iPad has been compromised? Will you feel it's been lessened? Because that's what I imply by all these comments about "going against the design."

  • by deggie,

    deggie deggie Mar 31, 2016 12:38 PM in response to spotsby
    Level 9 (54,686 points)
    iPhone
    Mar 31, 2016 12:38 PM in response to spotsby

    It wasn't my design and I don't take any ownership of it. As far as allowing downloading, having a closed filing system and sandboxing all applications, that is obviously designed for security. You can think there are other reasons all you want. Android has an accessible file system and had 36% of their devices subject to a breach last week. I'm not screaming about anything but any change that would affect the security of the device I would be adamantly opposed to.

     

    The fact that you think Apple could easily add mouse support but chooses not to do so should tell you a lot. And no, that is not what is meant by going against the design. If they add mouse support more power to you, your need will be met. But any reasonable person can look at this and see it is not likely it will happen anytime soon even if you post 100 threads here. I'm sure Apple marketing does research on how many sales they lose not having mouse support. I doubt it is that many.

     

    Not only are Apple tablet sales dropping, all tablet sales are dropping across the board. I doubt it has anything to do with mouse capability. I've yet to see any tablet maker with ads touting their ability to use a mouse. I did see ads about the ability to use a stylus.

  • by spotsby,

    spotsby spotsby Mar 31, 2016 12:38 PM in response to Michael Black
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mar 31, 2016 12:38 PM in response to Michael Black

    I understand that if you come here only to get or give technical help, that this conversation might be annoying. But people aren't robots. Our technology has a big impact on what we do and how we think. We're bound to chase a rabbit trail or two to non-technical conversation. Sorry that it bothers you.

    An "Apple person" in this context, is somebody I can't have a civil discussion with because they won't stop with the Apple rhetoric. See everettwolf's reply for a good example of the kind of conversation I was hoping to have.

  • by spotsby,

    spotsby spotsby Mar 31, 2016 12:42 PM in response to deggie
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mar 31, 2016 12:42 PM in response to deggie

    If you're so adamently against a design that would increase the risk of a security breach how do you sleep at night using a Mac or PC? Those aren't sandboxed...

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