First impressions of using a mouse on iPad with iPadOS 13.4

As I type this in the Wordpress app I’m suddenly finding that I go to look for the menu bar, that’s right i forgot I was on my iPad for a second. I’ve got a really cheap HP mouse plugged in, one of the three button and scroll wheel ones. I’ve used it with Assistive Touch before but this new mouse support really does feel like a game changer for someone (like me) that lives on iOS.

There are pros and cons of using this type of mouse because the new cursor support really is intended for trackpads only. When you use a mouse you can no longer go home or swipe between pages of apps or home screens (this only works by also turning on assistive touch). It’s pretty limiting but I crammed all of my apps onto one page and can access apps from within apps but simply moving the cursor down to the bottom of the screen and bringing up the dock.

On using apps, being able to right click to access the context menu is amazing.

Another area that impressed me (whilst I was making my one page home screen) was the ability simply click and hold and drag an app to move it.

Something you’ll notice that the cursor changes depending on the context, so it’ll stick as a circle when scrolling for example but as soon as you hit a bit of text it changes to allow you to manipulate the text, genius.

I’ve probably had a couple of hours with it so far and completely sold, Apple software at it’s best.

Next up is to try and get my hands on a trackpad to see what it really can do!

Lee Peterson @LJPUK