Mouse, Keyboard and Shortcuts: Making It Feel Like a Real Computer

Using a Bluetooth mouse

Pair it in iOS Settings › Bluetooth before opening XeOS. Once it's connected you get a pointer on the external display, with hover states, right-click menus and a working scroll wheel.

Right-click works everywhere it should. On pages it gives you the browser's context menu, on files the file operations, on tabs and dock items and sidebar entries their own menus, and in any text field Cut, Copy, Paste and Select All.

Using your phone as a trackpad

No mouse? Your device's screen becomes one. Swipe to move the pointer, tap to click, two-finger scroll.

Dragging works by long-press then drag: press and hold until the drag engages, then move. It's deliberately not double-tap-then-drag, which fires by accident far too often. Long-press is how you move windows, resize them and drag files around.

Using a Bluetooth keyboard

Pair in iOS Settings › Bluetooth. Typing goes to whatever field has focus on the external display, and every shortcut below works.

The on-screen keyboard

With no physical keyboard, tapping a text field raises the on-screen keyboard on your phone while the field itself stays on the big screen. With a mouse connected the on-screen keyboard is suppressed by default, on the assumption that you have a keyboard too. When that assumption is wrong, the keyboard glyph in the status bar raises it, and there's a setting to keep it available whenever a mouse is connected.

Dictation

The microphone glyph in the status bar starts speech recognition, and what you say is typed into whichever field on the external display has focus. Faster than a trackpad for a long search query or a message.

Shortcuts

Windows

• Drag a title bar to move a window; drag an edge or corner to resize it.
• Drag a window to a screen edge to snap it to that half or corner.
• Double-click a title bar to maximise.
• Windows are kept on screen. Change resolution and nothing gets stranded off the edge.
• Whatever is open when you unplug reopens where it was next time.

Making it yours

Settings › Appearance covers theme (dark, light or automatic), accent colour, wallpaper and reduced transparency. If you came over from Windows, the window buttons can move to the right-hand side there too.