Macworld - USA (2020-03)

MARCH 2020 MACWORLD 45

behavior with taps of your
finger. The one thing it
doesn’t do is recognize when
you’ve got an actual pointing
device attached and just
behave like a normal web
browser.
In iPadOS 13, external
pointing device support has
to be awkwardly toggled on
and off every time you want
to connect a device. The
iPad should be able to sense
when a device is connected
and use it automatically, just
like it works on a Mac.
So that’s a place to start
with pointing device support
on iPadOS 14: Automatic recognition of
devices, support for text editing, support
for trackpad gestures, and support for
Safari desktop browsing. That’s the start of
a good wish list. Here’s the question,
though: Will Apple ever implement any of
these improvements, or does it consider
the current implementation one that’s
good enough?

THE BENEFITS OF
POINTING DEVICES
The iPad is always going to be a touch-first
tablet device. As it should be. But over the
years Apple has expanded the input
methods that are available for iPads to

include the Smart Keyboard and the Apple

Pencil. If it embraces pointing devices a bit

more, there are a lot of potential benefits

for Apple and the iPad platform in general.

First off, let’s go back to where this

feature comes from: Accessibility.

Providing more ways for users to use the

iPad makes the iPad more usable. Every

body is different. Supporting a rich iPad

experience with external pointing devices

could make the difference between

someone being able to use an iPad and

not being able to use one.

Let’s not forget, too, that accessibility

reaches different people in different

ways—and more of them than you might

In iPadOS 13, external pointing device support has to be

toggled on and off every time you want to connect a device.