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Minecraft Adds Bluetooth Mouse and Keyboard Support on iPhone and iPad

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The latest release of Minecraft for iPhone and iPad introduces Bluetooth mouse and keyboard support for in-game controls.

Minecraft-Banner.jpg

To use a Bluetooth mouse or keyboard, update to version 1.19.10 of Minecraft for iOS and iPadOS, released on the App Store on July 12. As noted on Reddit, keys can be remapped in the Settings app under General → Keyboard → Hardware Keyboard → Modifier Keys.

The update also adds music directly to the iOS and iPadOS app, eliminating the need to download music from the marketplace, according to the release notes.

Minecraft is one of the most popular iPhone and iPad games. Priced at $6.99 on the App Store, the game ranks #1 in the "Paid Games" category.

Article Link: Minecraft Adds Bluetooth Mouse and Keyboard Support on iPhone and iPad
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2022/07/13/minecraft-ipad-bluetooth-mouse-keyboard-support/
Last edited:
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What'd be nice (in addition to a macOS version) would be adjusting the game resolution based on any externally connected display.

Plug in or AirPlay to a TV and the game now runs at 1080p/4k, or whatever resolution the display is

That combined with a controller or mouse/keyboard would be very nice.
 
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DavidSchaub said:
How about finding the courage to allow the iPadOS version to run on macOS too (this would allow the Mac to run both Java and Bedrock for the first time)?
Click to expand...
Or better yet: Just properly port it to macOS and Linux already!
somnolentsurfer said:
And AppleTV while they’re at it.
Click to expand...
That isn’t going to happen.
www.macrumors.com

Minecraft for Apple TV Discontinued Due to Lack of Players

Minecraft has reached its end of life on Apple TV. The game has been removed from the tvOS App Store through lack of sales, while existing owners of...
www.macrumors.com www.macrumors.com
star-affinity said:
Now, switch rendering from OpenGL to Metal. Or have they done that (I guess not)?
Click to expand...
They’re still using OpenGL. I have no clue why they haven’t switched to Metal yet, but at least there’s an Apple Silicon version now!
appleinsider.com

'Minecraft: Java Edition' gets Native Apple Silicon support | AppleInsider

"Minecraft: Java Edition" gets native Apple Silicon support in "The Wild Update" version 1.19 which also introduces new biomes.
appleinsider.com appleinsider.com
 
Cool, i hope more will follow, despite i am not a gamer at all, the more versatile the IPAD becomes the more it can replace the need for a imac/macbook, which i hope to be doing in one point in the future.

My daily workhorse at work is a MS Surface (5 year old if not more by now lol), and i know it is not the same thing, but man it is small and compact and light for traveling and light work on the go.

My macbook pro 2019 has a cracked screen bezel as one of my kids shut the lid with something on the keyboard :(
It still works fine with ducktape covering the crack but still not willing to fork out 2k USD again for a laptop, hope that my ipad mini 6 can become my main machine at some point if the 2019 macbook pro decides to die.

I know you can use a ipad mini as a desktop replacement already but it is kinda janky and has tradeoffs that makes it a bit of a wonky setup, but if developers from various apps start to support mouse and keyboard we are getting a step closer.
 
The upcoming 14.1” iPad Air will make a nice children bedroom PC with mouse, keyboard, Minecraft and Stage Manager.
 
Finally! Now the question is was it just worded poorly, or does it also support the Magic Keyboard and other physically connected keyboards?
 
JayAgostino said:
That isn’t going to happen.
www.macrumors.com

Minecraft for Apple TV Discontinued Due to Lack of Players

Minecraft has reached its end of life on Apple TV. The game has been removed from the tvOS App Store through lack of sales, while existing owners of...
www.macrumors.com www.macrumors.com
Click to expand...
That was back before Unified Purchase was a thing, and when Apple still required games to support the Siri Remote. These days it could be bundled as an extra for the millions of people who buy it on iOS, rather than having to be sold separately, and it could use the same standard controller support that the iOS version includes, which should significantly reduce the platform overheads.
 
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Mousse said:
I'll give y'all a hint: $ € ¥ £.

I don't even need to do a cost analysis to come to this conclusion.
Click to expand...
Could you elaborate? What would it cost them? Don’t they have the financial backing of their parent company (Microsoft)?
giggles said:
The upcoming 14.1” iPad Air will make a nice children bedroom PC with mouse, keyboard, Minecraft and Stage Manager.
Click to expand...
Children use Stage Manager?
somnolentsurfer said:
That was back before Unified Purchase was a thing, and when Apple still required games to support the Siri Remote. These days it could be bundled as an extra for the millions of people who buy it on iOS, rather than having to be sold separately, and it could use the same standard controller support that the iOS version includes, which should significantly reduce the platform overheads.
Click to expand...
Still, are there enough tvOS users to justify it?
MacsRgr8 said:
Cool. How about more FPS-styles games to have true keyboard and mouse support?
Click to expand...
Could you name a few games you had in mind? I wonder if it’s worth it for them to add “true keyboard and mouse support” in the long run…
Adamszt said:
Hopefully Roblox on iPad will do the same.
Click to expand...
Maybe you should tell the developers that? I hope there’s enough demand!
Mr. Awesome said:
Finally! Now the question is was it just worded poorly, or does it also support the Magic Keyboard and other physically connected keyboards?
Click to expand...
Yes, it doesn’t only support Bluetooth keyboards/mice.
 
JayAgostino said:
Could you elaborate? What would it cost them? Don’t they have the financial backing of their parent company (Microsoft)?
Click to expand...
They would have to do a rewrite/debug the code. That costs time and money. There is not enough financial incentive for them to do this. Why bother making the game a bit faster when all they need to do is wait for to Apple makes the hardware faster? They just need to coast along, collecting the cash.
 
Mr. Awesome said:
Finally! Now the question is was it just worded poorly, or does it also support the Magic Keyboard and other physically connected keyboards?
Click to expand...
I tested it on my ipad 10.5 with the logitech keyboard/trackpad case and it works fine, it even supports the trackpad (though no one in their right mind would play a first person game via a trackpad, lol)
 
JayAgostino said:
They’re still using OpenGL. I have no clue why they haven’t switched to Metal yet, but at least there’s an Apple Silicon version now!
Click to expand...
Likely not worth the effort especially when Minecraft Bedrock with the render distance all the way up still gets good framerates.
 
Mousse said:
They would have to do a rewrite/debug the code. That costs time and money.
Click to expand...
Everything costs "time and money" these days, so what's your point?
Mousse said:
There is not enough financial incentive for them to do this.
Click to expand...
How do you know that?
Mousse said:
Why bother making the game a bit faster when all they need to do is wait for to Apple makes the hardware faster? They just need to coast along, collecting the cash.
Click to expand...
They can't remain complacent forever. OpenGL has been deprecated for years now. Newer versions of Metal provide significant improvements compared to OpenGL.
Unregistered 4U said:
Likely not worth the effort especially when Minecraft Bedrock with the render distance all the way up still gets good framerates.
Click to expand...
I'm pretty sure the iOS/iPadOS version of Minecraft does use Metal. I could be incorrect though.
 
Mr. Awesome said:
Finally! Now the question is was it just worded poorly, or does it also support the Magic Keyboard and other physically connected keyboards?
Click to expand...
I was wondering the same thing. I hope it works with USB mice and keyboards, too. Guess I'll have to try.
 
JayAgostino said:
I'm pretty sure the iOS/iPadOS version of Minecraft does use Metal. I could be incorrect though.
Click to expand...
I found a post that said the the game uses the LWJGL graphics library, which renders using OpenGL from 8 months ago. I don’t think they’ve made any changes since then.
 
DavidSchaub said:
How about finding the courage to allow the iPadOS version to run on macOS too (this would allow the Mac to run both Java and Bedrock for the first time)?
Click to expand...

RIGHT!? We're so close. With adding keyboard and mouse support this is stone's throw away.

My guess is that because there's that weird price discrepancy ($6.99 of iOS // $29.99 for Java for Mac) but seriously this is no longer an issue and would get bedrock running on the Mac. I like Java, but I like the convenience and features of Bedrock too
 
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