I have to be honest I haven’t used a mouse with my iPad much since it was introduced in iPadOS 13 but in the last few weeks I’ve found myself gravitating to using it again. This came from a need that I used to find myself using my MAC for - managing some of my personal productivity.
Changing to do apps seems like something I do to hurt myself but after being disappointed with TODOIST and OMNIFOCUS not syncing notifications or sometimes data between devices I moved over to REMINDERS. I’m glad to report that sync works flawlessly e.g. I created a load of new items on my iPhone that I wanted to get done today. When I picked up my iPad these items had already sync’d over and were in my widget on the home screen, this is the sort of feature that will keep me using an app.
Anyway, I’d brain dumped onto a notepad (yes using pen and everything!), which aside from having them somewhere not on iOS reminded me of some RSI issues I’m working with when it comes to writing with a pen these days, but I’m getting distracted. The next stage in my workflow was to take these handwritten notes and put them into the REMINDERS app.
In the past I’ve connected my mouse to my MACBOOK, sat down and put them in - somehow it felt more productive. Well this time I decided to keep my MACBOOK in the drawer it lives in and connected my mouse and entered it all on iPadOS and I have to say that it felt just as great and I got through them really quickly. The only downside I found was the date picker is a little fiddly with a pointer but I got used to it quickly and got them all in.
The mouse of choice for me is a cheap HP wired mouse that whilst isn’t ideal for my RSI as I usually use a vertical mouse, it was ok for these smaller stints. To connect the mouse to the iPad I used a lighting to USB/SD Card adapter I got off Amazon (a really cheap one, not even branded). I hate the wires so might have to look a vertical wireless mouse if I can but found that they don’t work when I’ve tried in the past. The USB wireless dongle that goes into the iPad adapter just doesn’t seem to sync across to the mouse itself. Please recommend me a wireless mouse that works with an iPad Pro 10.5”.
This is all to say that I forgot how great the mouse support is for me to get the job done and help me with some RSI issues when I want to swap my setup instead of lifting my arm to touch the screen (remember I’m docked with a Smart Keyboard most of the time).
10 years on and I’m still finding great ways to use my iPad.
