In last week’s episode of the ConnectedFM podcast, MacStories editor Federico Viticci revealed a pretty interesting scoop he’d been sitting on: mouse support is apparently coming to iPad with iOS 13, which will be previewed for developers at WWDC 2019 on June 3 ahead of launch some time this fall.
Viticci’s claim was corroborated by Irish developer Steve Troughton-Smith who said on Twitter that “As far as I’m aware, that is indeed in the works.” Mouse support seems to be an iPad-only feature and it will be buried in your accessibility settings.
“I feel like every pro user will turn that on, day one,” Troughton-Smith added. This has a lot to do with Project Marzipan, Apple’s upcoming framework for building cross-platform apps for iPhone, iPad and Mac.
Previewed last year, an improved version of Marzipan will be released to developers at WWDC 2019. “With UIKit adopting all kinds of API for mouse support for the Mac, it makes a ton of sense to let that be leveraged on iPad, too, if somebody has a mouse connected,” opined Troughton-Smith.
In simpler terms, Apple won’t be de-emphasizing the touch paradigm in iOS 13. Touch is still going to be the primary method for a vast majority of users. But for power users, mouse functionality will be there should they need it.
“Mouse support on iPad is a band-aid that needs to be ripped off so that we can move on, just like for the stylus—which is now one of the most important iPad accessories,” he added. “New input devices beget whole new categories of apps, and that’s a good thing for iPad.”
Are you looking forward to mouse support on iPad? And if so, will this feature make iPad Pro so much more pro, do you think?
Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
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