Q: Mouse support for iPad pro

It is possible to use certain Bluetooth 4.0 Mice on unjailbroken devices on apps hat support it. The Citrix X1 mouse was the firt to support this, but only to Citrix connections. The excellent Swiftpoint GT travel mouse can also pair to iOS,,,,, and has a working Microsoft Remote Desktop app. Jump desktop for iOS which can connect VNC (Any platfrom) and Windows Remote Desktop currently has support for both X1 and Swiftpoint GT mouse in Beta. I'm running the beta on iPad Air2 and it's the missing link that finally allows me to travel lightly with only iPad + Bluetooth keyboard + Mouse.

Your justification conflates can't with won't. Yes, it's a company, profits matter, and they have a lot of inventory left to unload. However, there's no reason the Pro couldn't support a mouse, keyboard, stylus, bluetooth headset and speakers, all at once. None. The A9 chip is fully capable, the OS is capable, absolutely nothing stops it except Apple. There are many other basic computer functions that iPads and iPhones could perform, which would greatly enhance the ecosystem. The concept of a touchscreen laptop is hardly revolutionary, and it's embarrassing that Apple didn't get there first. Clearly, maintaining their overlapping, multi-generational product lines' sales volume is more important than innovation.

Wanting what is obvious, what is achievable, and what is conceivable is hardly arrogant. It's not even imaginative; just a perfectly reasonable request by a paying customer. Markets are based on demand. Consumers have the right to expect more, especially when the technology they pay so much for is purposefully restrictive.

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The aggressive people trolling you are exactly what gives the company's customer base such a bad reputation. It makes me want to stop using the products, just to remove any potential association. There will be real competition within a few years that meets our reasonable expectation for true multitasking devices. When companies like Xiaomi start selling advanced products internationally, it will force others to accelerate as well. They can only hold it back so long.

I saw this thread because I'm shocked that the iPad Pro doesn't natively support a mouse or trackpad. The developmental laziness and infantilization that is ingrained in iOS has gone on since its introduction, but I'd expect something dubbed 'Pro' to remedy that.

Just thought you should know that others agree with you. Most just don't bother with these forums.  

xrating wrote:

 

The aggressive people trolling you are exactly what gives the company's customer base such a bad reputation.

Disagreeing strongly but with civility about ideas is what adults do. Calling people names when they disagree with you is what children do.

xrating wrote:

 

Your justification conflates can't with won't. Yes, it's a company, profits matter, and they have a lot of inventory left to unload. However, there's no reason the Pro couldn't support a mouse, keyboard, stylus, bluetooth headset and speakers, all at once. None. The A9 chip is fully capable, the OS is capable, absolutely nothing stops it except Apple.

Correct. nobody is saying the iPad cannot drive a mouse. We are simply saying Apple has chosen not to include support for one. There are many many reasons behind such a decision as has already been explained.  People can want a mouse on an iPad all they want, the reality is Tim Cook has said, that that is not what the iPad was designed for, and will never have it. So what more do you want.

There literally dozens of alternatives out there that do have a mouse.  But people simply want to shoehorn it on a device that was not designed with one in mind. And has clearly been established will not have one.

I think the major point is yes, incorporating a mouse onto the iPad would effectively displace most of the Laptop lineup.  you may think that is unimportant, but again, Apple is a company that needs to think about profits first. And also think about what the consumer may require overall. If a consumer requires a mouse, they are not left dangling. There are lots of options out there.  MacBook Air, has a mouse, is very very lightweight, and and is better suited for the tasks people want to perform that require a  mouse.

xrating wrote:

 

The concept of a touchscreen laptop is hardly revolutionary, and it's embarrassing that Apple didn't get there first.

How is it embarrassing to realize, that the concept of  Touchscreen Laptop may sound great in theory, but in practice its pretty much as useful as a Car the can drive on water,  It ends up not doing  either one well.

I have a touchscreen Dell for work.  I hardly ever use the touchscreen. Its mostly wasted. The touchscreen features are not too bad, but for a desktop OS, a mouse is still a better option.

This works the same way on the other side.

Apple recognized that having a touchscreen and a mouse means inevitably that one or the other input option would be left unused or would not work as well as intended. Once you have complete mouse support, you will likely have less use for the touchscreen. That means wasted cost and hardware, that may not be used. Why add a feature that is not going to be used.  Its not arrogant to want a feature, its arrogant to think that you know better than a multinational corporation  that thrives on giving users the best experience possible. And has analyzed this scenario 55 ways from sunday. Again I would give a little credit that they have found the mouse not be a viable option on an iPad at the end of  the day for any number of reasons.  Instead of immediately thinking, they have no idea what they are doing, and mouse support is what people need.

xrating wrote:

 

. Markets are based on demand.

 

Correct, and you seem to think there is enough demand for a  mouse on an iPad to warrant its inclusion. I'd like to see actual numbers for that. Because so far the number of people wanting a mouse, does not reflect even 1% of the iPad using population.

xrating wrote:

 

Consumers have the right to expect more, especially when the technology they pay so much for is purposefully restrictive.

 

Consumers also have the right to go elsewhere if a product being offered does not meet their expectations. Consumer's do not have the right to dictate what a company does with their products. They may influence there decisions, but at the end of they day, if the company died because it chose not to listen to their customers its on them. However, Apple seems to be doing fine.  55 million iPads sold just last year, that's without mouse support. I doubt mouse support will increase that by any significant amount.

I agree with the idea that the Ipad should have support for a mouse. I work for a company that gives me an Ipad as my main device. I use a virtual desktop app with it to do most of my day to day duties. I can tell you that using a Ipad with a windows desktop is a royal pain, but that's what I have to use. I truly believe that if Apple wants to gain bushiness customers then they should get with it and gain the support that people are asking for. Arguing about why they do what they do is pointless. This is a main reason that most of the development staff refuses to use the ipad anymore and most of us are starting to migrate to surface pro's even though we like the ipad for ease of use in most things. And I know your going to say that it was never meant to do that so you should move, well I work at a fortune 50 company, so is it really our loss? Apple should consider this if they intend to be relevant to buusiness.

jeremymmays wrote:

 

I truly believe that if Apple wants to gain bushiness customers then they should get with it and gain the support that people are asking for.

Then tell Apple:

http://www.apple.com/feedback

I posted a few days ago about the known non-jailbreak mouse support options for iPad. It's kind of surprising to still see posts about the iPad not supporting a mouse as an input device - when there are workable options, albeit only with specific devices and remote desktop software packages....

Now where do I go stop getting email notifications of new posts? ...

Multiform wrote:

 

 

Now where do I go stop getting email notifications of new posts? ...

Go to the top right of the page. Tap the blue check above the word "Following".

Does anyone remember when the iPhone 1st gen first came out and didn't support video recording through the camera? Or the fact that you couldn't re-arrange the icons?

All of you "I just don't understand it" type people were saying things like "WHY WOULD YOU WANT TO RECORD VIDEO WITH A PHONE!?!?!" or "I like my icons just the way they are, why should I want to rearrange them?"

I personally don't understand the people who say things like this... I mean, you spent quite a bit of money on this device, and use it every day, wouldn't you want it to be the best it can be? What is the point of spending money on something that is only half-baked? Maybe I'm too used to the 90s version of Apple which used to pour their heart and soul into products, and genuinely tried to make their devices the absolute best at everything (anyone who remembers the Performa 5200 series with the built-in capture card knows what I'm talking about).

Rob328 wrote:

 

I personally don't understand the people who say things like this... I mean, you spent quite a bit of money on this device, and use it every day, wouldn't you want it to be the best it can be?

Because different people have different ideas about what constitutes "best". I'm not a big mouse fan. I much prefer track pads for operating systems that require them. iOS works fine for me without such a device. Adding mouse support would not improve it for me in any way as I would never use it. What I don't understand is not why people want mouse support on an iPad but why they bought an iPad in the first place if they needed a device with mouse support. It's not as if it's a secret that iPads don't support them. I don't understand spending lots of money on something without researching it to make sure it has the features I need. I don't understand buying something without the features I need and then hoping that, maybe, it will get that feature someday.

I didn't buy an iPhone until the 4 came out. The earlier ones didn't meet my needs.

Meg is right. not everybody needs a mouse, and clearly that vast majority of iPad users do not. However, nobody is saying an iPad should not have mouse support ever. We are simply saying currently it does not have one, and its unlikely to have one based on all the statements from the company and its voices.

Immediately claiming Apple has no idea of what they are doing simply because they do not add  mouse support is again just making a tantrum because you don't get what you want on an iPad. Unless of course you really think Apple has not already researched the inclusion of a mouse to death and decided it was not required.

Yes iPads are expensive. The more reason to research them thoroughly before buying to see if they meet your needs. There are literally 100's of other devices out there that do support a mouse. But It absolutely needs to be an iPad which does not hide the fact it does not support one?  Why?

Why can't you possibly consider using any other device that does support a mouse?

I Agree that the iPad should't have an OSX type GUI.

That being said when I use a keyboard (about 20% of the time) with my iPad Pro I do long for limited touchpad support. Maybe something like Apple has done with the AppleTV touch remote, which proves that apple supports touch in IOS doesn't it.

My guess is that most of the people who want a mouse or touchpad on the iPad Pro doesn't want a mouse arrow on the screen, but would just like to be able to select a folder or app again like on the AppleTV, have basic two finger gesture control (moving a web page up, down, back, and pinch to resize), and have cursor control while typing. Again no arrow, no right click with onscreen menu options, and only whlie using the iPad Pro with an accessory keyboard.

I do not believe that adding basic touchpad control will cause anyone to stop using the touchscreen. Apple has designed for the GUI for iOS to be primarily used as a handheld device, but the fact that they are positioning the iPad Pro as a step up from the iPad Air, or a super iPad on par with a high end laptops makes me believe that added touchpad control in a limited but useful way can only add value to it and make it insanely great!

bill103 wrote:

 

I Agree that the iPad should't have an OSX type GUI.

 

That being said when I use a keyboard (about 20% of the time) with my iPad Pro I do long for limited touchpad support.

Submit your feedback to Apple:

http://www.apple.com/feedback

Aren't you tired of beating this dead horse yet?