can i use a bluetooth mouse with ipad

Thanks for your information about Android. Hopefully I'll get a solution to mouse problem buying an Android pad. I was quite stupid believing that iPad is the best and other producers have not resolved the mouse problem. Many of my friends have the same issue, because they also want to have a pad for serious work - not only for reading FB.

skeezerweezer, you are my hero.

Thanks for you advise about what is the use of the iPAD.

Now I know.

Today I was lost about how finally I go to use my iPAD in my work, because in 3 year I don't see how.

Before I read you coments, I finally decided to buy and 11" laptop computer.

Meg St._Clair wrote:

Apple has not said why they have not made this feature available. Speculation on the reason is not permitted by the Terms of Use of these forums.

Haha, I hope this was intended as a joke. On the off chance it wasn't speculation is not covered in the terms of use.

Uh, no, it was not a joke. And yes, it is covered in the TOU.

https://discussions.apple.com/static/apple/tutorial/tou.html

Submissions

Stay on topic. Apple Support Communities is here to help people use Apple products and technologies more effectively. Unless otherwise noted, do not add Submissions about nontechnical topics, including:

1. Speculations or rumors about unannounced products.
2. Discussions of Apple policies or procedures or speculation on Apple decisions.

I stand corrected. This is a terrible policy.

Wow - that's a big miss. Bluetooth mouse works fine on other popular touch device operating systems fine. I've recently been given an iPad by work and have not regretted my decision to not buy Apple products for my personal use.

This whole bluetooth mouse issue is one of the biggest fails of Ipads. It's completely unacceptable and Apple should be ashamed. You need to change yoru software to adapt to the needs of the users. Clearly, hundreds of thousands of people would benefit from being able to connect a bluetooth mouse to be productive with their ipads in a pinch yet apple does nothing about it when they have all the power to. Android tablets have been able to connect both a bluetooth mouse and keyboard for years, even when their tablets were complete garbage they'd still open up their product to a bluetooth mouse... For those of you who use both platforms, you know it creates a completely different enhanced product (Microsoft Surface, you're really onto something embedding a mouse on your keyboard covers)... It's really pretty frustrating how apple doesn't allow the user such a basic feature (for any of you who use a bluetooth keyboard with your ipad and have tried to edit on a word processor or would love to just click around on magazines while at a table). I see people with ipads and bluetooth keyboards at coffeehouses, hotel lobbys and office spaces and it literally hurts my heart to see them fumbling around trying to tap over and over on their screen to do basic things like getting the cursor where they want it, to forward a page, to touch on a url etc. tablets and touch are meant to be used with fingers pointing down at the product. When you're forced to use touch sideways, it's incredibly clumsy. Why give the user a keyboard but not a mouse??? Even worse when you have the capacity to fix that problem in a single update you could have done four years ago!!!??? It's a feature they could now/could have added years ago to benefit the consumer and allow them the true laptop experience without having to shell out a grand for a macbook air...but instead opt not to. What's more confusing is so many people just use the ipad and settle for features that you don't have and should demand. I'm a fan of apple and android but the closed source software on apple is just awful. They make the most beautiful hardware on the planet but their software limits their options, their choices and how they experience the web. c'mon apple. People shouldn't have to root their ipads and iphones just so they can get an arrow on their screen from a bluetooth mouse. For all the good the apple is and for what they do, this intentional withholding of a very basic feature is just sad.

Why should Apple be ashamed that is exactly the way Mr. Jobs wanted iDevices to work. And yes I have used a keyboard with an iPad (and iPhone) without using a mouse and had no problems with it. My finger is the mouse.

The iPad is not a laptop so I don't know why you would expect "a true laptop experience" from it. The lack of a mouse, and the Surface implementation, must be why Microsoft owns this market and is making a fortune from selling them. Oh, wait...they aren't. In fact they are losing money.

By the way you root Android devices, not iDevices. It is just sad when people get the terminology wrong.

why not give the user options when it's easy to integrate? applaud you using an ipad with a bluetooth keyboard and your finger, deggie. nothing but happiness for the people that like to function in that manner. wish i could... keep in mind we're in a bluetooth mouse thread. it definitely is not a laptop but why limit it from being one when you need it to be when it has the capacity(there are thousands of traveling men and woman who would love to have it serve as a laptop in a pinch)? your argument is fine but once again, more options the better imo. and as for terminology, nice try. I rooted my Ipad2 in 2011 with IDOS. jailbreaking affords root access (aka, rooting). i've rooted every iphone i've owned so let me return the sadness when people throw rebuttals that make no sense. let's try to keep the personal insults at bay, yes? we all have our opinions and it makes these forums great hearing everyone's perspectives.

apple, android, amazon, etc...bottom line is why not give the user a simple option when you can? I think it has less to do with the integrity of a vision (a brilliant one at that), than it does about a business decision not wanting to prevent sales from another product in the product line. a macfanboy i am not. nor am i an android fanatic. what i'm a fan of, though, is great hardware for consumers and software that allows users the best possible experience with companies opening up their minds to the changing needs of the consumer experience.

btw, amen PJ-Mckay. too true.

No, that actually isn't quite what a jailbreak does and you did get the term right this time. Bad news for you doesn't look like BT mouse capability is in iOS 9 either. You can send feedback to Apple but I wouldn't count on it happening. The good news is as you said Android tablets and the Surface do have mouse capabilities so if you prefer that type of I/O you can buy one of those. Or you can go the route you have and remove the warranty and all security from your device and then you can get pseudo mouse capabilities. But Apple did not design the iPhone, iPod Touch or iPads, and iOS, to use a mouse, they are designed as touchscreen devices. Again, it is the way Mr. Jobs planned it. It seems to have been fairly successful and people who would prefer a mouse have options.

You can tell Apple here that you want to be able to use a mouse: https://www.apple.com/feedback/ipad.html

bad news for myself and a lot of people, unfortunately.

back to the thread. what kind of set up alternatives in android or windows 8.1 do those of you who use bluetooth mouse/keyboard/tablet combos have? How do they compare to your ipad/bluetooth keyboard setups? I've found it very hard to replicate the quality of the bluetooth apple keyboard experience. Any good setups for your ipads for those who have rooted (ex: the types of bluetooth mouse you're using)?

not everyone can spend the grand to get that macbook air, unfortunately. it sounds like a lot of people are just wanting more options and are frustrated they can't get it with such a great product (aka, ipad).

Thanks for that. Apple should remember than not everyone is physically capable for using a touch screen due to physical disabilities. My wife has a spinal cord injury and cannot use a touch screen well. Mouse support would enable her to use an iPad.

Thank you for bringing some truths to the light of day, and hopefully embarrassing APPLE into improving this serious lack of usability ... Lacking the ability to use a keyboard/mouse combination seriously limits any real use for this otherwise wonderful tablet ...there are many times that a mouse would improve my production tremendously and make for a much more pleasant user experience ... Keep on with the push and hopefully others will join the bandwagon to force an improvement for everyone ... 8)

You want mouse support? Buy a Samsung. I have a Tab3 and an iPad3 and use the Tab waaay more often. It's what I'm using right now. The iPad is what I use in bed to watch a Netflix vid, check emails or read, but the Samsung is what I use everyplace else, doing those things and more. Both have blue tooth keyboard folios, so you don't have to constantly hold them, and the battery life and charger receptacle placement is better on the iPad, but the Samsung's ability to accept the mouse makes it more useful. One of the other reasons the Samsung is better? It accepts an SD card. So to those that say, "you want a mouse? Buy laptop.", I say why? Why should I put up with the bulk or the expense of a laptop when, for about $250 I have a take anywhere, useful, thin netbook AND a tablet.