Can’t reliably trigger Expose or app switcher with mouse on iPadOS

Question

Can’t reliably trigger Expose or app switcher with mouse on iPadOS

I’ve been using Windowed mode on my iPad Air M3 with my mouse and sometimes my external monitor. I’ve been having trouble with using my mouse to get into Expose with windowed apps or the app switcher for full-screen apps. I looked on Apple’s documentation for how to trigger it, but for the most part, I have to be on the Home Screen for the gesture to work, which is cumbersome for windowed apps because it minimizes all my windows.

Strangely, I can often get Expose to show up by sliding my cursor around the bottom right of the screen only on my external monitor. It seems like the gesture works better the bigger your screen is, and the iPad’s screen isn’t big enough.

Does anyone have tips for getting Expose to work with a mouse?

iPad Air, iPadOS 26

Posted on Oct 21, 2025 7:29 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

LotusPilot

Community+ 2025

Level 10

300,932 points

Oct 22, 2025 4:22 AM in response to itsblippingjbh

Keep your commonly used Apps in the iPad Dock.

To access Exposé, roll down off the bottom of the screen to expose the Dock - then select the App icon that corresponds with the current foreground App; this will open the associated Exposé view. It follows that tapping an App icon for any other App will simply open the App - and not the Exposé view. This technique should work using a Mouse or Magic Trackpad.

The equivalent finger-swipe gesture is to swipe-upwards from the bottom-edge of the screen - just enough to reveal the Dock - then tap the associated App icon. Swiping from the bottom-edge to mid-screen will instead open the App Switcher page - from which any open App can be selected.

Reply