Apple is again trying to convince fans that the iPad Pro is a suitable PC replacement. Earlier this week, the company rolled out new ads that remind us why its high-end slate is better (in some ways) than a desktop. But there’s just one problem.
iPad Pro, like other iOS devices, isn’t compatible with a mouse or trackpad. That’s fine in most cases, but many users would like to use a mouse for all manner of things, and Apple doesn’t allow it. Should this change in a future version of iOS?
Join us in this week’s Friday Night Fight as we discuss why mouse compatibility might be great for iPad Pro, and why it might be pointless!
Killian Bell: I have to disagree with Apple’s latest iPad Pro ads, since I don’t think the iPad Pro is a good laptop or PC replacement. It certainly has some nice features, and it does a small few things better than a desktop. But for the vast majority of people, a tablet running iOS isn’t enough to replace their Mac or PC entirely.
So, I’ve been thinking about things Apple can do to change that. It seems highly unlikely it will merge macOS and iOS anytime soon to make the iPad Pro a Surface-like 2-in-1, but it could make iOS more like a desktop operating system. I think a good start would be to make it compatible with a mouse or trackpad.
It sounds simple, but we do so many things with a mouse and trackpad that we have to use our fingers for on the iPad — and it can be a pain in many instances. If you’re using a Smart Keyboard for an extended period — maybe you’re working on a lengthy report — you don’t want to have to keep reaching up to the screen to adjust formatting or move the cursor. A mouse makes this so much easier. It could also give greater precision in image and video editing apps, and even improve the experience in some games — like first-person shooters that tend to be horrible with touch controls.
Android is already compatible with a mouse, so I can’t see why iOS shouldn’t be. It’s a simple change that is only going to improve the user experience for those who prefer to use a mouse or trackpad for certain tasks. What do you think?
Luke Dormehl: Honestly, I don’t hate the idea — but I think you’re making some fundamental mistakes. I’m not against accessories for the iPad at all. I use the Apple Pencil almost every day and, as accessories go, I’d probably have to go back as far as the Apple Extended Keyboard to find one I love quite so much. The brilliance of the multitouch technology is that, by allowing you to point directly with your finger, you remove the “middleman” of the mouse completely. The Apple Pencil takes that idea and adds finer levels of accurate control and different types of input, like using the side of the Pencil rather than just its tip, in a way that wouldn’t work with the finger.
So why have a mouse, rather than incorporating the Pencil more deeply into iOS?
Ultimately, I wouldn’t mind giving users a choice, in the same way you can choose a trackpad or a muse on the Mac, but I think you’re wrong when you suggest Apple should just slap the mouse technology on top of its existing interface. That reminds me very much of the gimmicky features that look promising, but remain “tacked on” extras and therefore don’t have a fundamental impact on the way you interact with a device.
If Apple allows a separate mouse to work on the iPad Pro, that automatically makes it less of a mobile device, because you need to have a surface to rest the mouse on. There’s no problem there necessarily: a lot of people would like to see Apple merge aspects of its mobile and desktop systems to create something new. But that requires a much more fundamental software-based rethink. Not just adding an option that gives you a mouse pointer on screen with the existing iOS.
Killian But in some cases, taking away the “middleman” has a negative impact on the task you’re carrying out. And as I mentioned before, it’s a pain to keep reaching up to the screen when you’re using an external keyboard for an extended period. The Apple Pencil — as wonderful as it is — presents the same problem.
Apple wouldn’t need to make any major changes to iOS to make it compatible with a mouse. There’s no reason why a pointer over the existing user interface wouldn’t work fine — just like it does on Android. Touch interfaces don’t need to be adjusted for mice in the same way that desktop interfaces need to be adjusted for touch input.
It doesn’t need to impact portability, either. Why can’t Apple just add a trackpad to the Smart Keyboard in the same way Microsoft integrates a trackpad into its Type Cover for the Surface? And compatibility for Bluetooth mice is an option for those who use their iPad Pro at a desk and would prefer that.
This wouldn’t be a gimmick. It’s a change lots of iPad Pro users would find incredibly useful. Adding it would not require any significant changes that would ruin the experience for others, so Apple has nothing to lose. It would be catering to a large number of people who want to use a mouse without alienating those who don’t. It’s a win-win.
Luke: Well, except for the fact that iPad sales continue to decline quarter-by-quarter. If you see that there’s enough demand to make the iPad Pro into the productivity tool Apple initially marketed it as, why not fully embrace that rather than making it an added extra that’s just going to fragment the user experience. I seem to recall you and I having a similar disagreement over the Touch Bar.
I get it, you like having gimmicky options that will fit certain use-cases, but I always appreciated that Apple chose the one best way to do something and then pushed ahead with it. Why do I get the feeling that, had we had this conversation in 1984, you’d be suggesting that the Mac give users equal access to macOS and DOS, and that the mouse pointer should be easily replaceable by the keyboard if you don’t want to use it? This half-hearted approach to incorporating new design elements may be okay in some cases, but I just see it as moving further away from Apple’s philosophy of a streamlined, simple UX.
Killian: In what way would adding a new input option — which would not require any interface changes — fragment the user experience? How would it be any different to adding Apple Pencil support? Everything you can do with Apple Pencil can be done with your finger; it’s just better and more accurate at some tasks. Using a mouse would be the same.
Again, this would not be a gimmick — and I’m confident readers will back me up on this, whether they would use a mouse with iOS themselves or not. As I keep saying, this would not have a negative impact on other iOS users; it would just improve the experience for a lot of people. It could even improve accessibility for those who find it difficult to interact with a touchscreen.
Maybe this philosophy of a streamlined and simple UX you’re talking about isn’t working here. You mention iPad Pro sales keep falling, while there’s increasing demand for 2-in-1s like the Microsoft Surface. Maybe it is time Apple acknowledged that and offered something similar, rather than just accepting no one is interested in iPad anymore and only rolling out incremental upgrades alongside fancy ads that try to convince us the iPad is a suitable PC replacement?
Luke The point is that by offering lots of alternative options, each with their own strengths and weaknesses, and then forcing them to do broadly the same thing, you don’t get to use them to their full potential. Again, what you’re suggesting is the equivalent of introducing a mouse with the first-gen Mac (or the Lisa before it), but making it an optional extra so that developers and Apple engineers have to make sure that whatever can be done with the mouse can equally well be done with the keyboard. It stifles innovation and it’s a lazy response.
Do I think a few users would like it? Of course — go back to the clone Mac era and there were a number of people who loved them, despite it being a fundamentally flawed move for Apple. Would I rather that Apple actually addressed the conflation of the mobile and desktop experience in a way that wasn’t just a quick “oh, let’s give them a mouse!” fix? Definitely.
But let’s turn this over to readers. Would you like to see a mouse incorporated onto the iPad? How would you like to see this done, and is it necessary for Apple’s tablet to reach its full potential? Leave your comments below. And have a great weekend!
Friday Night Fights is a series of weekly death matches between two no-mercy brawlers who will fight to the death — or at least agree to disagree — about which is better: Apple or Google, iOS or Android?
Killian Bell is a freelance writer based in the U.K. He has an interest in all things tech and also covers Android over at CultofAndroid.com. You can follow him on Twitter via @killianbell.
53 responses to “Should Apple make iPad Pro compatible with a mouse? [Friday Night Fights]”
Apple would be completely stupid to integrate a mouse into their iPad Pro. I have an iPad Pro with a pencil that I use everyday and I love it! If you want a mouse, buy a freakin laptop. The surface pro has the full version of windows which is not quite complete without a mouse, where the iPad Pro is fully complete without it. It seems like it would make more sense to integrate a touch screen into their MacBook or MacBook Air Lineup, rather than wreck the iPad. I do think that integrating Force Touch into the iPad Pro would be really nice, considering the fact that their phones that were released before the iPad Pros had force touch, Other than that, I wouldn’t change anything with the iPad Pro.
Apple is positioning their tablet as a laptop replacement. Personally I’ve tried using the 12.9″ iPad Pro as a general computing device. It works (more or less) for that if you don’t mind frequently needing to touch the screen or memorize several keyboard shortcuts (Apple Smart Keyboard). When using a keyboard with it, I want it to be as close to a laptop as possible. For me that means adding support for mouse/keyboard. And yes, after playing with the new Samsung Chromebook Plus I would appreciate a touch screen on my MBP (and a tent mode).
what MacOS apps could take advantage of touchscreen?
YOU DON’T HAVE TO USE THE MOUSE. How could a feature you don’t have to use, which would be completely invisible to you possibly “wreck” the iPad Pro? Apple is going to continue to lose laptop AND iPad sales to these convertible and other more capable devices unless they evolve. There is literally NOTHING “Pro” about the iPad Pro except the price. That and maybe the level of marketing spin Apple is applying to try and convince people that it’s anything other than the same “big iPhone” it’s always been. Ok, it’s has a very nice stylus accessory now. That’s great if you’re an artist. Most “Pros” type and use productivity apps, they don’t get to draw pictures and and airbrush unicorn photos for a living.
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I use my ipad pro for art and notetaking, which its amazing at, adding mouse support would really make it comparable with my macbook in terms of ability to do work.
not having a mose is the NUMBER ONE reason why I dont type documents on my ipad Pro. Adding a trackpad to the smart keyboard could acyually make the ipad pro suitable for work. adding a keyboard and not a mouse is what is fragmented.
“It could make iOS more like a desktop operating system.”
Yep – that’s one way to completely destroy iOS!
Seriously, if they tried to make iOS “more like a desktop OS” then there would be ZERO reason to stick with iOS. I’d switch to Windows and never look back.
Adding pointer API’s wouldn’t destroy iOS
No, but the attitude that it needs to be more like a “desktop OS” will.
I agree 100%. That mindset would harm iOS.
even iOS is better than windows
Absolutely. Reasons being:
1. They market it as a computer replacement, not a companion.
2. Most designers would tell you how a mouse/trackpad is necessary for precision. The Pencil, or any stylus, serves different functions. Putting down the pencil tip on the surface registers the “tap/click”, you have to hover above it to not regiester the click before you want something to be clicked. Putting down/lifting up the pencil moves the cursor. You can never achieve that kind of precision with the same level of efficiency like mouse for certain purposes.
3. Tons of websites, especially outside the western world, still are not optimized for touch inputs, but have lots interactions such as “hover” that require cursor movement. Apple can’t miraculously turn those sites around, it hasn’t after so many years. It’s not magic.
The website problem doesn’t really exists with hoovering on menu items using a touch device. Unless it is something that would be buggy also on a desktop browser, iOS Safari works fine with those menu and just opens them when touched the first time. Of course something more complex than a navigation menu with hoovering (and potentially not semantic…) might give some more problem.
Hovering is just one of the many examples. And the precision problem is far bigger
So your approach is not to force people making usable, compliant mobile sites, but rather to support uncompilant and not mobile ready web sites in 2016?
No. I don’t believe I ever said that. And I’ve addressed that it was only one of the several reasons. I do front end web development myself. As hard as we try to push the web forward, you cannot expect every single user and website to conform. User experience involves more than just covering the majority. Besides, it’s the third time I’m saying, the web issue isn’t my only reason. The cursor support can be an optional, app-specific feature for those who DO need such functionality. You not needing it doesn’t mean others don’t either. And I’d appreciate a discussion without these word-twisting rhetorical questions. We all have a right to express our opinions Thank you.
Well if the example you made didn’t turn out to be such a real case user scenario, it’s not my fault. You have expressed your opinion as I am doing too. There no need to start an argument on this.
Still regarding web-developing: fortunately in the past 6 years the situation as shifted towards a different approach than the one you’re implying, that’s because of the mobile environment becoming predominant ’till the point any webmaster tool of all major search engines do tests regarding mobile friendly designs. These same major search engines give a bonus on results positioning to mobile complilant pages.
There are many free tools that anyone around the world can use to build mobile and compliant web front ends, so it’s not a matter of first world vs undeveloped realities as you were implying at first. Indeed it has never been so in this field, the majority of problems were coming from one undeveloped browser… :)
Regarding other fields where a user might need a traditional point and click interface rather than a multi-touch one, perhaps you can do another example, and we can talk about that too, having given I don’t have to articulate my questions as if I were walking on eggshells.
My solution is for my $1000 piece of hardware to be capable of dealing with the world as it is, not as I would like it to be. Get real.
The solution you are talking about is not an Apple solution.
At least 25% of the websites I visit on my iPad are not fully functional or display and work the way they should because of Safaris limitations or the lack of proper cursor support (or both). I have seen many pages with menus or selectors that just don’t work. Most of the Internet is not optimized for touch screen smartphone browsers. That is a FACT. Apple’s solution is use the dumbed down mobile version or download yet another app. I’m not one of those who likes to have a seperate app for every company I do business with or website I visit. That’s the great thing about web browsers. They let you visit millions of sites and do millions of things inside ONE app rather than fiendishly pumping that damn home button and switching to a different app for every circumstance.
Thank you for reporting your experience. That’s a problem with the websites you are visiting not being designed for mobile, not the other way around.
And there’s the issue right there – the attitude that a mouse is required will mean that certain applications will start requiring a mouse, and that’s bad on a mobile OS.
Not everything is either black or white. The cursor support can be optional or app specific. For people who just view their photos and watch movies, of course it’s not necessary. But if you did lots graphic designs you’d know that marketing it as a computer replacement is just delusion. The fact that A. they call it a pro model, and B. there are more and more professional user oriented design apps specifically for the Pro models, without a cursor itms just a pain to do certain things, it’s the exact opposite of productivity.
There shouldn’t be an app on the iPad where you can’t use touch – this is a failure with Windows 10. Windows 10 is touch-enabled, NOT touch friendly – they figure if you really want to use that app, you’ll use a mouse. Instead of just saying “well, a ‘pro’ (big quotes) needs a mouse” ask the question how we can redesign the UI.
I’m not opposed to a mouse, I’m opposed to “desktopification” of iOS. Implement the mouse if it makes people happy – as long as UI and application guidelines remain with a touch-first mentality, I’m fine with a mouse. Don’t try and give me a UI like Photoshop, then tell me I should use a mouse with it.
if they added a keyboard that means the “desktopification” has already happened. Mouse support would be for productivity apps like Word, Excel, powerpoint, or Apple’s own iWorks.
I think you’re getting too hung up over how an app is started/navigated. No one is asking for iOS to become a pointer focused OS. Just give us the option to interact with it using a mouse or trackpad.
Careful – don’t say “no one” because there are a whole spectrum of people out there – everyone from “leave it the way it is” to “iPad should run MacOS” and everywhere in between.
I think that introducing a mouse pointing system on iOS would be a step back, rather than forward.
In my opinion the main problem relies on how certain Pro softwares are developed for iPad: some don’t implement stuff that exist on the macOS version, even though it could be espasily done.
For example LR mobile: there is no implementation of cataloging and metadata relating tasks (as adding/removing keywords, collections etc.).
A user would find these things very useful on an iOS device, allowing him to be more productive by being able to work on his photo archive too and not only on retouching.
Well there are some limitations in iOS. Especially in I/O functions
Like?
Are you serious right now? The list of iOS limitations is a mile long. I don’t even know where to begin. If you don’t even think it has limitations then you are beyond reasoning with. Enjoy the koolaid.
Start with reporting one. Otherwise this list you are talking is just in your head.
I don’t use a mouse anymore even on desktop Macs. What would be really great would a trackpad on the iPad keyboard.
Agreed. That requires the same cursor support though. Wouldn’t it be great to be able to use your iPad without your hand in the way? Imagine being able to type and select text normally without reaching up to smear and tap the screen every 5 seconds. If by some miracle this happens, I could see myself using iOS a lot more and in ways I don’t bother to now. Sadly I don’t think it will because Apple thinks their $hit doesn’t stink and that attitude is reinforced by the army of chuckleheads who think everything Apple does is perfection.
I totally agree with you.
I assume you are the keyboard shortcut master?
On a desktop or laptop, I really like the trackpad. If there was a iPad keyboard with a trackpad, that would be great.
The real mistake that Apple is making is to remain religiously stubborn on this type of issue. In some cases their UI religion slows their progress by years. Look at how many years they publicly scorned! the pen – until the market proved their religious bias wrong. I have MacBooks, iPad Pros, Windows laptops, and pen enabled tablets. I use them all with passion (using Wacom tech for 13 years). Finally Apple flipped 180 degrees (religious conversion!) with the pencil! Apple is making another stubborn, religious mistake by insisting that an iPad Pro with no mouse can replace my MacBooks or Windows machines. For robust use cases this becomes more than “spin” – it starts to feel like a lie. It’s just flat out not true and Apple has the credibility of a politician. Sad. I constantly have to switch my work stream from iPad to Mac OS or Windows (including tablets) because of sheer limitations of the iPad and how Apple has crippled iOS regarding UI with no pointing device. Only when they fix this by doing what Killian is arguing for will I not have to stop using my iPad and switch to a Windows or Mac in my work flow – every day. Killian right – Luke painfully wrong.
I love Apple, but this stubbornness and unwillingness to innovate or take chances anymore is going to be the beginning of a long slow decline into irrelevancy. It’s so sad because with all their money they could be doing amazing things if they weren’t so cautious and boring and stagnant. Ugh!
Well Stated
Being a cross platformer, I understand how useful the mouse is. But the mouse should never be implemented for the iPad. The iPad was the future of computing once, until the iPad Pro was released with its keyboard and stylus. Apple should’ve made more use of voice recognition and OCR!
The iPad is a big smartphone without the phone. It’s not “the future of computing”. If it was the future of computing the sales would not be lackluster and you would hardly see anyone using a laptop anymore. It’s not even close to replacing conventional laptops. Not until it matures a great deal. That or we all get jobs as graphic designers or Netflix movie reviewers.
Why would it be so awful if Apple offered mouse input as OPTION to those who want it? for productivity apps on the ipad
Luke’s argument reminds me of the typical sort of Apple apologist answer to any suggestion that Apple do anything differently. Vague prose about the beauty of Apple’s wonderful simple approach and how we wouldn’t want to complicate it with silly things like practical, proven functionality. Lillian absolutely nails it. iPad sales are flat. No one but those who have guzzled gallons of the Cupertino koolaid is buying Apple’s nonsense proposal that an iPad is a suitable PC replacement. 2-in-1 and Surface-type devices are selling well. There is nothing magical about the iPad UX that we have to tiptoe around. Luke and people like him act as if anything “impure” enters Apple’s scared design it will ruin the perfection. News flash. The iPad isn’t perfect. In fact, it’s fundamentally flawed. It’s a big iPhone. Design and UX fundamentals should tell you that a UX designed for a 3.5″ screen phone/MP3 player is not optimal for a 9.7-12.9″ tablet. Especially not one that you intend to do anything productive with, much less use as a laptop replacement. Apple has made a few small changes to iOS that make it less crippled, but they are about 25% of the way there at most. Throwing a keyboard and a stylus on it isn’t enough. The minute you start typing on an iPad for more than 5 minutes the compromise you are making by not having a mouse is painfully apparent unless you’re intensely unaware or drunk on that koolaid. The need to keep reaching up to place the cursor or select things with your fingertips is pure fail. It feels like compromise. Mouse support is the simplest and most logical solution. There is no need to try and be clever and invent something Jony Ive thinks is pretty and minimalist enough. No need to over think this. Add the mouse support and the iPad takes one more BIG step towards being what Apple is trying to convince us it is. I’ve given up all hope of Apple actually revamping the OS properly and evolving beyond the Playskool icon grid interface so for the love of God, can the purists stand aside for once and let us have the damn mouse support? I want to use Apple products. If I didn’t know better, I would think Apple is trying to get rid of me as a customer by being so willfully obstinate and stagnant in their evolution while their competitors are willing to take risks and are innovating circles around them. I mean the Lenovo Yoga products??? How did Apple not arrive there first? That’s the kind of creative design Apple used to do in the early 2000s. Seems like Jonny Ive has been half asleep for 10 years and just phoning it in. Everything is a silver rectangle. It just gets thinner. It’s like they are hardly trying. If Apple thinks they aluminum rectangle and iOS in it’s present form are really the pinnacle of technology and they can’t improve on that “perfection” then they are doomed I’m afraid.
NO! iPad is a touch screen device. If you don’t feel comfortable using a touch screen, don’t buy one. The Apple Pencil is understandable since it allows for very detailed drawing. I don’t use a mouse or external keyboard with my MacBook Pro. I love the trackpad, and the built-in keyboard is better.
The touch screen has precision limitations.
Lots of oppinions here. Adding my personal experience back from the days when I had my jailbraked iPad Air supporting bluetooth mouse. It was a joy to put my iPad into a stand, then use Apple bluetooth keyboard (and the shortcuts) and the mouse enabled precision drawing in vector graphic software. It felt like some proper creation tool even without the Pro in its name. I have a iPad Pro now with the a pencil but this combo is a toy. Try to set some exact values in slider with the pencil and it is more fustrating than useful- every time you rise the pen, it moves silghtly before the contact with the screen is lost and the value is different than you wanted this to be. Every time.
I dreamt a big iPad with a mouse.
Apple did it half, only the mouse is missing.
The day the mouse run on iOS, i would leave all my computers for the big iPad.
It would be the most versatile computer. But this is a dream.
Who dares to open this door? Mr Cook???… No. If mouse can run on iPad, that would also mean the end of Mac (and Desktop PC) for home use. People would be happy, but Mac and PC sellers/manufacturers won’t…
My 2009 MacBook Pro 13 has been a great servant but can’t update to sierra and probably needs replacing, my launch iPad mini retina is a great servant but is probably also a little long in the tooth. I can’t justify the money on a MBP or normal MB when I’d use the iPad more everyday and I don’t see any new features in the latest iPads to make a upgrade worthwhile (I have all the multi tasking stuff and even Siri switched off). However, I’d happily replace the two with a brand new iPad Pro 2 if it had the ability to dock to a keyboard and mouse when I needed that level of interaction; basic editing is ok but it’s pretty much impossible to manage a 4000 row spreadsheet with equations all over it on a touch screen. It doesn’t need to be a big thing with a total redesign, but an option would be nice.
I’m on my 3rd iPad – an Air2. I’ll buy at least one more when they add mouse support. But if they don’t and the Surface adds an internal modem , then I’ll switch to Microsoft. The iPad Pro is a very niche machine and it’s no wonder Sales have fallen off so much.
Many many many business users would love to throw their windows machines out. The iPad offers Apple a unique opportunity to pick up these folks given the user friendly nature and secure environment of iOS. However, the vast majority of business apps require a trackpad/cursor.
Apple was right to initially restrict iOS to touch only as the ecosystem needed to be built in a touch first way. 10 years on a millions of touch first apps and Apple could safely introduce desktop like features. Your move Apple.
Apple should make mouse support available for iPad Pro. It would make the iPad Pro a much better tool. Since it would be invisible for everyone without a mouse – it would not wreck anything for touch-only lovers. A laptop is not the same as an iPad with keyboard and mouse support. iPad is still a much more elegant and simple tool than a laptop. I think Apple would sell many more iPads if it had mouse support.