can i use a bluetooth mouse with ipad

By now it is 2017 and we have full Microsoft Office on the iPad - pushing any other office app off the table. Wouldnt that be a great app for a mouse? Of course. So, I stick to the first reply - If I want work done, I use my windows laptop. Some emailing, browsing, notes (OneNote!!!), videos: fine. Serious work: laptop. Still true 6 years after the first post.

Been using iPads for 6 years!

Got my "serious" work done on them without either a seperate keyboard or mouse (now have a Bluetooth keyboard as I use my iPad alongside my Mac, now and found the Bluetooth keyboard more versatile for those times when I use my iPad and Mac together)

I have the larger screen iPad Pro, now!

Getting even MORE serious work done now, STILL without the need for a mouse!

Everyone who posts here wants to turn a lightweight portable, flat "tablet" device into a freegun bulky laptop device with all sorts of extra inputs devices hangin' around it with a heavy and bulky keyboard case or seperate Bluetooth keyboard.

From the DAY the iPad arrived in 2010, I trained myself to type from the iOS software keyboard. After nearly 7 years, I am very fast at typing on this software keyboard.

Yeah, you can't touch type, but I was never a touch typist, anyways!

Where would I put a external BT mouse or trackpad when I am using my iPad in my lap to do work, as I often do?

Hmmm?...

No mouse for me, thank you!

Also, a little research on your part would reveal that Apple did, indeed, program bulit-in trackpad functionality into the iPad, itself.

Been there since iOS 9.

Look up

Turn iOS software keyboard into a trackpad and see what turns up!

I think Apple might think otherwise about MS Office "pushing any other office app off the table". Apple's own office apps (Pages, Keynote, Numbers) are available for free from anyone who buys an iPad or iPhone and activates it with their AppleID. For years, Microsoft ignored iOS users altogether, and then for quite awhile, hobbled their offerings by requiring a MS Office 365 account to actually use them. Many people had already found alternatives, some that they even like better, long ago and have no interest in MS Office for iOS.

If my employer did not rely on Office 365, I'd have no need nor desire for MS Office for any of my serious work on my iPad Pro. And even with it, I have never once been even slightly bothered by the lack of a mouse with it in iOS.

Everyone has their opinion about they'd like/want/need on a particular computing platform. But someone's opinion about anything does not make it a universal truth. If MS Office for iOS works for your usage, great. But don't presume that it is some universal gold standard everyone should or must follow to effectively use their iPad for what is for them, serious work.

No bluetooth mice or trackpads will not work. The apple bluetooth keyboard will work and stereo bluetooth headphones will work

there are no mouse drivers of any kind for the iPad, the only way to navigate is with your fingers or a capacitive stylus.

No, you can't - there is no cursor (just an insertion point when typing/editting text) on the iPad, so there is nothing for a mouse to control.

They are right, you can't. This cannot be done due to the decsion of the design of the Ipad. But that is not the answer. Can it be done? Yes. It's called "programming".

Despite the biased "AppleHood" of posts like "Why should you?" , It's a touch screen, get with it" attitude, the real world has to work, play and read boosk, etc.,later. The Ipad is awesome but it's singular flaw in getting in the enterprise is the ability to get things done. Some the touch screen is a short cut, to others, it's a death grip. Ever need to remote in to a Windows server and get some IT work done? Got FAT fingers? Forget it. In some cases, especially in work environments, the mouse is absolutely neccesary. Don't let these "Applehoods" tell you any different. Look, I love Apple stuff, have an Iphone 4 and a Ipad 2. But mostly they are my play things. not work things. Apple would go a long way to give the Ipad mouse support and would make other laptops "go away". Till then...I have my little trusty 299 netbook to get work done..and oh by the way...it plays Flash. I can actually see my clients websites. My Ipad? It is a fun little toy that I can read, check my email, and read books.

You are correct, it could be done, but it would not be a mere matter of "programming", it would take a major redesign of iOS and greatly increase the complexity of the OS leading to evermore bugs. The iPad is not a computer nor a netbook and it was never intended to be. Need something to remote in from Apple that you can use a mouse with? They have the MacBook Air.

I know you will find this hard to believe but lots of iPads are being used in enterprise very ably. Just because it doesn't suit your needs doesn't make it wrong for everybody nor give it a fatal flaw.

Wow, that was nice, but in the posts up to the one you provided, show me where anyone put on an AppleHood air and tried to put the question down?

Sorry to see that people here are so ill informed. You certainly can use a bt mouse on an ipad, and the software needed to do so is already available. It does not require "major redesign" of iOS, nor does it "greatly increase the complexity of the OS.". Thats just silly.

Sadly Apple won't let you do it, so you would have to jailbreak you ipad. I have no idea why.

Yes, if you jailbreak your iPad, which removes most of the security on the iPad and much of the sandboxing, and use a kludge to add the driver, and combined with Cydia, the layer to use a mouse pointer, then you can use a mouse. But doing so? That's just silly. If you want a mouse and a keyboard get a laptop. Or one of those Motorola Atrix things.

Apple does it that way because they designed a touch screen interface. If you want to use the keyboard and mouse driven interface they designed use OS X.

Exactly and see the remark below. "Applehoods" don't get it. IT can be done, it has been done, it SHOULD be done, but...oh wait....buy a laptop or buy something else. And furthermore, be happy with the "Applehood" way, the only way. What a joke. Why? Follow the money......

It's all so ********. The "Remote Desktop" apps allow you 2 access a windows interface, and then try to teach you convoluted ways to mimick mouse commands through touchy. Why? ***? OH wait,,, that's right...buy a Laptop. Ipad is just for reading and games......this is one who believes it can be way more than that. Give us mouse support please!

Adding mouse support to ipad would not remove anything from it's current functionallity. It gives the user an additional option. I have no idea why that would be a bad thing. It's an easy fix for a need many users have identified. I cannot see that it would cause any type of user, software or hardware problem that Apple would have to deal with.

The ipad is nice. It has a lot of potential, but sadly Apple restrict its usablilty in some strange ways. It's very frustrating. The Flash thing I sort of get (flash is terrible and compromises security), but just sort of. The mouse thing I don't get - at all. The Ipad would be even nicer with mouse support, and there is nothing to lose in adding it.

I have no interest in an OS X device, and a laptop would be a completely different animal than ipad+mouse. If Apple continues to make strange decisions like this, I might very well get a strong interest for an Android device though.

And I'm not suggesting that anybody should jailbreak their ipad. If I felt that jailbreaking was an OK way to go, I would probably not be here complaining ;)

^Totally agree 🙂

You guys can debate the issue till the cows come home, but the bottom line is, Apple didn't design the iPad to be compatible with a bluetooth mouse. That's it. End of story. Can't happen. Debating the pros and cons isn't going to change anything.

You don't like it, then the iPad is not for you. You should definitely buy a device that fits your needs, and if it's not an iPad, so be it. It's your money. Spend it how you choose.

But to debate the issue here on and on is a waste of time. Give your feedback to apple ( http://www.apple.com/feedback/ipad.html ) if you want. It's all you can do.

Move on.