How to make it easier to use a mouse or trackpad with your iPhone or iPad in iOS 26

3. On the Touch screen, tap or click AssistiveTouch.

4. On the next page, tap the toggle switch for AssistiveTouch to turn it on. Note: When you turn AssistiveTouch on, the pointer will change from an arrow to a circle.

5. By default, when AssistiveTouch is enabled, the AssistiveTouch menu appears on the screen. This enables you to perform a variety of tasks on your device, but if you don’t want to show the AssistiveTouch button all the time, tap or click the toggle switch next to Always Show Menu to turn it off. You can still use the AssistiveTouch menu by assigning a button to trigger it. 

6. You can customise what any buttons on your touchpad or mouse will do. Scroll down to the Pointer Devices section and tap or click Devices.

7. On the next page, you will see a list of all your connected devices. Select the one you want to customise the buttons for – in our example, we have chosen the Magic Mouse.

8. Tap or click Customise Additional Buttons. You will see a pop-up notification instructing you to press the button you wish to customise.  Press a button on your device now. By default, the standard left and right buttons are already set up to perform Single-Tap and Right-Click gestures. However, these buttons can also be customised to perform other actions.

9. On the next screen, select the action you would like that button to perform. Repeat as necessary for any remaining buttons.

10. To hear a sound when you click the mouse or trackpad, tap the toggle switch for Sound on Click to turn it on.

11. Dwell control is a useful feature that allows you to click just by hovering your mouse pointer over the same spot on the screen. To enable it, go back to the AssistiveTouch settings by clicking or tapping the blue back links near the top of the screen. Tap or click the toggle switch next to Dwell Control.

12. Dwell Control has its own useful settings. Fallback Action sets the action that Dwell Control reverts to after you have performed an operation. By default, this is turned off. Tap Fallback Action.

13. On the next page, you can choose between Tap (the default setting) or Pause Dwell. Selecting Pause Dwell can help if you find yourself clicking twice on icons or buttons by mistake.

14. Movement Tolerance controls how far you can move the pointer before a dwell action is cancelled. To adjust the tolerance, tap Movement Tolerance.

15. On the next page, adjust the slider. The grey circle will indicate how far you can move the pointer before a dwell action is cancelled.

16. With Hot Corners, you can perform actions by dwelling in the corners of the screen. You can choose from a wide variety of actions, such as taking a screenshot, going to the Home screen, opening the Control Centre, performing an accessibility action, or running a shortcut. You can assign a different action to each corner. To set these up, click or tap Hot Corners.

17. On the Hot Corners screen, tap a corner to assign an action to it.

18. On the next screen, choose an action from the list. Now, when you dwell in a corner, the chosen action will be performed.