can I use a mouse with my ipad air
can I use a wireless mouse with my ipad air
iPad Air
No.
Barry
10 replies
No, you can't. the iPad has no cursor to be moved with a mouse. It responds to touch only.
NO external Bluetooth mice work on Apple iDevices and iOS.
There is no physical pointer/cursor programmed into iOS for an external mouse or trackpad input device to navigate on screen.
Your fingers are your mouse input device.
iOS has an insertion point "I" beam cursor that can now controlled by invoking the iOS software keyboard and then do a two-finger single tap to turn the entire software keyboard area into a giant trackpad.
If you useb two-finger double tap within the keyboard area, you can highlight words, lines of text or entire paragraphs for editing.
It depends on what you want to do with the mouse. You can use a mouse to a remote windows desktop.
Read Multiform post. You can use a mouse with remote Windows and vnc desktop apps on the ipad. You need the right app store app.
Read his article here:
It's on page 2 of this discussion about half way down.
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7319286?start=24&tstart=0
The citrix mouse.
https://www.citrix.com/products/mouse/overview.html
Demo of Swiftpoint GT travel mouse with Windows remote session. Stop & start to see the details.
Are we going to start splitting fine hairs on this issue, now?
Really???...
iOS on an iDevice does NOT, natively, supoort any type of Bluetooth external input device such as Bluetooth mice or trackpads.
NOT some remote VNC application that allows a certain type of Bluetooth mouse to use with Windows.
Come on!!!...
This is not what users are asking about using Bluetooth mice or trackpads for.
Users asking this question want to control the iOS GUI and apps like using a mouse/trackpad on a MacBook.
You are confusing AND clouding this issue..
You're pointing out a single, isolated instance of certain Bluetooth mice working with certain, specific, and not all that common Windows/VNC app combinations.
This is not a common user use for external Bluetooth mice/trackpad input on iOS and iDevices.
Stop with this minutae, already.
It is NO for ANY normal use of any Bluetooth mice or trackpads on an iOS device!
PERIOD!
rccharles is correct. There is a cursor you just can't access it with a bluetooth mouse. Download the Puffin Web Browser and see for yourself.
Read the OP's question. You CANNOT use a wireless mouse with an iPad. Period. The question was not about some app or arcane way to use a mouse in some Windows process.
Barry
I was not addressing the OP's question. The subject of a cursor was introduced into the thread. An app cannot do anything the operating system is incapable of. There is a cursor. You cannot access it.
I made no comment as to the correctness of your answer.
That's was interesting, but since there appears no way to use that cursor with that software trackpad, what's the point?
And whats with that trackpad?
I can't get that onscreen trackpad to work well with my finger.
And I don't think that is really a cursor from the iOS Developer's toolkit.
This whole thing on this app looks as if it has been klugded together somehow.
Is the browser available to the Android masses?
Those onscreen input devices maybe for Android users who CAN use Bluetooth mice and trackpads. No?
Really strange.
I don't even use that web browser.
The Original Poster says:
can I use a wireless mouse with my ipad air
There is a class of users who want to connect to their Windows machine from the ipad. With these users the main stumbling block is the lack of a mouse with their remote Windows app. They are happy with using touch for apps designed for the ipad. One can hardly say that windows is designed for touch, hence the desirability of the mouse.
I do not think many people know that mouse support can be added to an app if the developer wants.
I do not know if ios has a cursor or not. It doesn't make any difference. I would suppose the app implements all the code for the mouse itself.
Let's get the facts straight.
R
can I use a mouse with my ipad air