Question: Q: I need to use a mouse with my ipad pro. What gives?

Nothing has changed.

No mouse support.

Woudn’t hold my breath for it any time soon!

There is no on screen software pointer/cursor programmed into iOS for an external mouse or trackpad input device to navigate such a software pointer.

If you use the onboard iOS software keyboard,

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 area.

You can place insertion "I" beam anywhere you want, then use the delete key to delete a letter and/or replace a letter in a word.

If you use two-finger double tap within the keyboard area, you can highlight words, lines of text or entire paragraphs for editing.

That’s as close to a regular mouse/trackpad the IOS has available.

Nope. There has never been, and likely will never be any mouse support on an iPad.

Apple has made it clear that mouse support is not something they are likely to consider on an iPad, as it goes against every design cue and usage philosophy the iPad follows.

If you need a mouse that badly, use a computer or tablet that supports one.

If you need some arrow key/“I” beam navigation keys, look at third party software keyboards

The one I recommend is called PadKeys

PadKeys Keyboard for iPad by Natural Designs Software, Inc.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/padkeys-keyboard-for-ipad/id975022995?mt=8

https://padkeyskeyboard.com/

netman09 wrote:

I know this has been a question before. Has Apple pulled their head out yet and made it possible to pair a mouse with this thing. I have things to do and little time for what the world will be like in the future. Right now I need a mouse to work with my ipad pro. Or send me some kind of futuristic device that allows me to place my cursor where I want it without having to reach out and touch the **** display everytime i want move something or cut and paste or select an object, etc. The pen has it's moments but touch screens are for drawing not for a replacement to the mouse. I would like a pair of glasses that know exactly what my eyes are looking at within a micron and then when I blink that would place the cursor then I could say "select next word" and it would just do that. You know or,.... maybe for now a mouse....

I don‘t quite understand the tone of your post. iOS was designed from the ground up to be a touch-only interface. A mouse was never part of the equation and remains clearly not part of the equation. Apple “pulled its head out” back in the early 2000’s when it began designing iOS and the first iOS devices and said - no mouse, touch only.

No iPad has ever supported a mouse, and there is no indication that any iOS device ever will. If you’ve been waiting for that to happen, I suspect you’re in for an endless wait.

One can argue it’s not Apple being stubborn at all. It’s all the people persistently asking for something iOS does not have, never had, and never plans to add.

iOS and iOS devices have been around for over a decade now. They have always been, from day one, purely touch devices, as designed to be. Just as iOS has no central user file system, does not support Bluetooth FTP file transfer, etc. It was deliberately and consciously designed not to have those features.

It’s not inherently stubbornness when a company simple remains true to its product design concept and principles. Why people even continue to expect or demand this to change is what’s behind me. It’s a touch interface operating system - has been since day one and remains so today 10+ years later. Hundreds of millions of users world wide seem fine with that if persistent sales figures indicate anything.

I have been using iPads as a cheaper laptop replacement since the iPad was introduced 2010.

Unlike many "old school” computer users, I learned how to use the device and the device paradigm that I purchased.

I learned to use my iPads as they were designed to be used.

I learned to be fast and proficient using the software/onscreen keyboard.

I have never needed the use of an external trackpad or mouse when using my iPads.

I learned to use the tools I purchased and to make the best of these modern day electronic tools.

iOS and iDevice are touch ONLY devices.

What's the point to having a truly lightweight and portable mobile tablet device if you have to schlep around bulky heavy keyboard cases or a seperate Bluetooth keyboard and trackpad/mouse with you all of the time wherever you take your iPad?

I am surprised that Apple, in 2015, finally decided to add native stylus support to iPads with the iPad Pro and Apple Pencil after 5-8 years!

Everyone remember when Steve Jobs kept stating how adding a stylus to a mobile device meant the device would already be an epic fail before launch?

Yet, iPads now have native stylus support with the Apple Pencil.

Actually, third party stylus makers were already supporting iDevices with stylii of all types, including smart, Bluetooth ones.

It's going to be a much longer wait for Apple to offer REAL wireless Bluetooth support for wireless mice and trackpads, though.

I think we’ll see improvements to the iOS software trackpad functionality, first, before Apple will, if ever, offer support for any conventional wireless pointing devices.

It's the way it is.

If you feel the iPad doesn't meet your needs, sell it and purchase/get a mobile device/tablet that does!

Not everyone likes or can adapt to the iOS/iDevice paradigm.

Find and purchase the mobile device that works best for your needs.

It maybe the iPad isn’t for you!

I agree 100%. If I'm editing a document without a mouse, forget it. It is useless. For other types of work it is ok. The iPad Pro will never replace a laptop unless it has a mouse or pointing device. Period.

I mostly type and edit word processing documents and long typed or written notations on my iPad quite frequently.

All without the aid of a mouse or trackpad.

iPads, to date, aren’t really full laptop computer replacements AND, as long as full blown laptop/MacBook computers continue to exist, iPads WILL NEVER BE a full laptop replacement!

As the iPad is, currently, I get plenty of real work done on an iPad.

Period.

The iPad IS NOT the right tool for YOU, either!

Always purchase the right mobile computing device/tools that works best for the way YOU work and do things!

The alternatives ARE out there and available.

An iPad has always met most of my computing needs and is conducive to the way I work and do things.

Good Luck on your search for your preferred mobile device of choice.

Be Well,...Stay Well!

There is no mouse for iPad because iPads are “Touch” screen. Meant for using hands. Mouses are for computers. If you need a mouse, I recommend selling your iPad and getting a computer. The point is, you can’t use a mouse on iPad, and by the looks of it, that will never change. Lol.

Michael,

Simply put, iOS never before claimed the device that could replace your actual computer. But they did, and either did not think it through or thought that the majority of people using computers simply use market apps, watch videos, and play games, as the term Pro to me means a whole lot. There is no Pro to the iPad as it lacks integration into most notebook/tablet markets when it lacks mouse/trackpad functionality. Sales figures when talking phones maybe but iPad sales are failing year over year. The market is demanding more, and Apple is not reacting in time :-(

http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-new-ipad-is-too-fragile-expensive-and-impra ctical-for-school-2018-3

Making a discount version to find an outlet that may stomach there short comings:

https://www.theverge.com/2018/3/27/17167054/new-apple-ipad-announced-cheap-price -students-2018

How about that marketing campaign, replace my Surface Pro with an iPad pro, not without a mouse. Maybe some people at Apple should read "who moved my cheese" and then come to grips that maybe finding that cheese should be the priority. Tip: Cheese is with the Mouse

Yet according to various analyses of sales figures reported in February of this year, the iPad remains the best selling tablet on the market (e.g. Detachable Tablets Return to Growth During the Holiday Season as Slate Tablet Decline Continues, According to IDC), outselling both Samsung and Amazon combined. So clearly the lack of a mouse is not missed by a great many users. Yes tablet sales, overall, are declining, but Apple’s iPad still dominates the market.

There are lots lots of things about any tablet that don’t make them a laptop/desktop replacement to my mind. Not having a mouse though is actually not one of them for me as I find the touch interface just fine for a tablet. I still need a computer for true pre-emptive multitasking, multiple large screen display support, RAM for very large files (my computers all have 16 to as much as 128GB RAM), full featured support for numerous apps (with or without a mouse, I could not write papers - no tablet word processing app offers the full functioned formatting and page layout features of their desktop older brothers), etc.

I’ve been using iPads to write and edit text documents for years. All without the aid (crutch?) of using a mouse or trackpad!

Let’s be honest about the Surface Pro Products.

Microsoft Surface devices are, basically, smaller form factor mobile Windows laptops.

On the Surface/SurfacePro devices, Windows looks to be pretty unweidly to use and navigate by touch alone and so do all of the regular apps for Windows.

Windows and all of the available applications that run on Surface devices are NOT optimised, AT ALL, for touch.

That is the REAL reason Microsoft allows 5 different input devices (keyboard, which looks a LOT like an Apple keyboard , BTW, mouse, trackpad, pen AND Surface Dial) because all the UI elements in both Windows and Windows applications are too small to navigate with your fingers!

Microsoft and Windows forces you to use another input device, mostly, instead of your fingers!

Kinda defeats the idea of having a “touch” screen interface if you STILL need the use of a, seemingly, integral pen, mouse or trackpad.

IPads and iOS are designed from the ground up, to be, primarily, touch ONLY devices.

Microsoft Surface products are not true touch screen computing devices.

They are a regular full blown laptop computers with touch screen capabilities added to them.

Whole different animal!

Other than stylus support, I would not hold my breath or hold out hope for Apple to add native wireless mouse or trackpad support to iPad any time soon.

It took Apple nearly 20 years to offer multi-button mice with Apple Macs.

We are only year 8 into iPads.

So, you will have, at least, another 12 year wait for this to, possibly, happen and by that time, new computing input device technologies will surely be with us, by then, with mice and trackpads, possibly, being obsoleted by that time.