MARCH 2020 MACWORLD 43R
ecently, Brydge, the company
that makes my favorite add-on
keyboard for the iPad (go.
macworld.com/adky),
announced a new iPad Pro accessory (go.
macworld.com/keyp) that includes both a
keyboard and a trackpad. Adding external
pointing devices to the iPad wasn’t
possible until iOS 13 added support for
Bluetooth mice as a part of the Assistive
Touch suite of accessibility features.
While some will consider the mere
possibility of adding a mouse or trackpad
to an iPad to be sacrilege, I prefer to
see it as an additional option that can
improve the iPad’s flexibility in certain
circumstances. However, Apple’s support
for external pointing devices is very much
a first draft. It needs to continue pushing
this feature forward in iPadOS 14—and in
doing so, the platform could reap some
surprising rewards.MOUSING IN iPADOS 13
In iOS 13, Apple added support for a
cursor—with caveats. If you attach aIMAGE: BRYDGE
Why the iPad needs to embrace
mice and trackpads
Using an external pointing device can help make the iPad a better device.
BY JASON SNELL