I am curious to know how in the world someone thought changing the cursor on the iPad Air from a precise pointer to a very imprecise dot was a good idea. To have to re-click because the cursor wasn’t actually in the precise location it needed to be—BECAUSE WE CAN’T TELL FOR SURE WE’RE EXACTLY WHERE WE NEED TO BE is a waste of time—and unnecessary change. This really should have been an easy NO.
iPad Air, iPadOS 17
While the size of the dot-cursor can be altered, you cannot change its style from a dot (representing the “touch” point) to an arrowed pointer.
Available information about customising the Mouse/Trackpad pointer can be found here:
Use a Bluetooth mouse or trackpad with your iPad – Apple Support
Apple do invite submission of comments and feature requests via its Product Feedback portal. If you would like to see additional features and capabilities in a future version of iPadOS, this would be the appropriate channel through which to make such a request. For iPad and iPadOS:
While the size of the dot-cursor can be altered, you cannot change its style from a dot (representing the “touch” point) to an arrowed pointer.
Available information about customising the Mouse/Trackpad pointer can be found here:
Use a Bluetooth mouse or trackpad with your iPad – Apple Support
Apple do invite submission of comments and feature requests via its Product Feedback portal. If you would like to see additional features and capabilities in a future version of iPadOS, this would be the appropriate channel through which to make such a request. For iPad and iPadOS:
Observations
1) For iPad, the touchpad/mouse cursor represents the relative "touch" point of the screen.
2) While the cursor style cannot be changed to that of pointer, the cursor size and colour is configurable in iPad settings:
Settings > Accessibility > Pointer Control
The screenshot above shows the pointer/cursor in its default colour - with the Pointer Size setting at its minimum.
3) Apple does invite submission of comments and feature requests via its Product Feedback portal. If you would like to see more control over the pointer style in a future version of iPadOS, this would be the most appropriate channel through which to direct your request:
While there are no guarantees that the requested change will be implemented, if sufficient requests are received by Apple, change is perhaps more likely to occur.
It’s nature of past and current touchscreen technology and how it uses smart algorithms to determine what spot on the screen you clicking. Please look at the end of one of your fingers and please tell me (screen shot would be great) which finger looks like the fine point of an arrowhead you’d prefer for the pointer?
Fingers are not really a very precise implement. Yet, Apple has managed to make fingers fairly accurate, depending on your fingers and in some cases your finger nails. There is also an option if you need more precise control of cursor. You can always purchase a MacBook and have the cursor of your choice.
The bottom line is until technology changes we’ve got the best of both worlds in an iPad. Agreed, using a mouse is a compromise, but an alternative is an Apple Pencil or a third party pencil that may fit your needs.
Jeff, look at the end of ANY of your fingers and please tell me (screen shot would be great) which finger looks like a two-dimensional flat disc and/or which one of your fingers function without the use of your brain. God gave us a brain enabling us to use our fingers to even create and use tools of precision where more precision is needed. The tip of a finger is three-dimensional and provides MUCH more precision than a flat disc. Calling the new cursor a dot is a misnomer. A dot would much more precise than the disc that is now showing up on my screen. And no, as amazing as the touchscreen technology is with Apple's products, it still does not always respond correctly to our touch. So going from a more precise cursor on the screen to a more imprecise disc for a cursor is not an advancement in the technology, it's going backwards. And to suggest, as you have, that an additional tool or device should be purchased to provide the precision that before already existed without those items but has since been eliminated doesn't make the case that an advance has been made. Quite the opposite in point of argument. And I don't care if the cursor looks like an arrowhead or whatever. Just give us something better than that big, flat disc.
How to change the cursor on the iPad Air
