78 MACWORLD APRIL 2020
FEATURE iPADOS 14 WISH LISTW
ith iPadOS 13, Apple made
it easier to take the iPad
seriously as a laptop
replacement. Suddenly,
that “What’s a computer” ad (go.macworld.
com/1pad) didn’t sound quite as wacky
as it did the year before.
But Apple could do a little better.
iPadOS 13 revealed an Apple that’s willing
to include features like mouse support that
would have seemed unthinkable in iPads
only a couple of years before. Apple
should keep the ball rolling now that it’s
set it in motion.
Here are a few suggestions for how
Apple could go about that. I don’t want
Apple to sacrifice the iPad’s identity as a
device with more versatility than, say, a
Microsoft Surface, so you won’t catch me
saying that Apple should just let us boot
macOS on its tablet. If Apple takes these
steps, though, I’d be willing to consider
ditching my MacBook for good.BETTER MOUSE
SUPPORT
You can finally use a mouse with
the iPad (go.macworld.com/usms), and—
surprise!—the world hasn’t ended. Now it’s
time to make it better. Apple could start by
letting you change the pointer to look more
like the arrow-shaped pointer you find on
the Mac. As it is, Apple promotes mouse
support on the iPad as an Accessibility
feature called AssistiveTouch, so instead of a
true pointer you have to deal with a big
circle that’s meant to
mimic a fingerprint.
Considering that you
can be far more
precise with an Apple
Pencil with the same
interface, though,
there’s no reason why
Apple can’t make the
iPad’s pointer design
smaller and more
familiar.
Apple could also
introduce support for
more buttons on mice
You can pair most mice through the AssistiveTouch menu. and the ability to use
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