How to Use an OTG Cable to Plug a Mouse/Keyboard into a Phone

What OTG Actually Does

USB On-The-Go (OTG) lets a phone's USB port act as a host rather than a peripheral — instead of the phone being the device that gets plugged into a computer, it becomes the "computer" that other USB devices plug into. This is what lets you connect a mouse, a full-size keyboard, a USB flash drive, or even a wired Ethernet adapter directly to a phone. It's genuinely useful for triaging a bricked PC (using the phone to look up error codes), doing quick admin work on a tablet, or turning an old phone into a barebones terminal.

What You Need

• An OTG-capable phone. Almost every Android phone from the last decade supports it; it's a mandatory part of the USB spec for USB-C ports on modern devices, though a small number of ultra-budget phones disable it in firmware to save power. iPhones and iPads with USB-C (iPhone 15 and later, most recent iPads) also support USB peripherals natively; older Lightning-port iPhones need Apple's separate Lightning to USB 3 Camera Adapter, and even then, support is limited mostly to input devices and cameras rather than general USB storage.
• The right adapter or cable. If your phone has USB-C, you need either a USB-C-to-USB-A OTG adapter (small dongle) or a USB-C-to-USB-C cable if your peripheral already uses USB-C. Older Micro-USB Android phones need a Micro-USB OTG adapter instead.
• A USB hub if you want multiple peripherals at once (mouse and keyboard simultaneously) — a single OTG port usually only exposes one downstream connection unless you add a powered or unpowered USB hub in between.

Connecting a Mouse and Keyboard on Android

1. Plug the OTG adapter into your phone's USB-C or Micro-USB port.
2. Plug your keyboard and mouse (via a hub, or one at a time into the adapter directly) into the adapter.
3. Android detects both automatically — no driver installation needed for standard HID (Human Interface Device) keyboards and mice, which covers the vast majority of consumer peripherals.
4. A mouse cursor appears on screen immediately; the keyboard works in any text field right away.

Most standard Android keyboard shortcuts work as expected: Ctrl+C/Ctrl+V for copy/paste, Alt+Tab to switch between recent apps on many launchers, and arrow keys to navigate lists. Right-click on the mouse typically opens a context menu equivalent to a long-press.

Connecting a Mouse and Keyboard on iPhone/iPad

1. For USB-C iPhones and iPads: plug a USB keyboard and mouse directly (via a hub for both at once) into the USB-C port.
2. For Lightning iPhones: use Apple's Lightning to USB 3 Camera Adapter, which also has a Lightning passthrough for charging while peripherals are connected — useful since the adapter alone can't power a keyboard and mouse simultaneously without external power.
3. iPadOS (13 and later) and iOS both support a mouse cursor natively — it appears as a small circular indicator rather than the arrow you'd see on desktop, and can be customized under Settings > Accessibility > Touch > AssistiveTouch > Pointer Style.
4. The keyboard works immediately in text fields, and standard shortcuts like Cmd+Tab (app switching on iPad), Cmd+C/Cmd+V, and arrow-key navigation function as expected.

Practical Use Cases

• Emergency PC troubleshooting: if a Windows machine won't boot and you need to search error codes or download a recovery tool onto a USB drive, an OTG-connected phone with a keyboard lets you work far faster than typing search queries with a thumb.
• Reading USB flash drives: plug a flash drive directly into the OTG adapter, and Android's Files app (or iOS's Files app for USB-C models) mounts it as browsable storage — useful for pulling files off a drive with no computer nearby.
• Turning a spare phone/tablet into a lightweight terminal: paired with an SSH client app, a phone plus keyboard and mouse becomes a genuinely usable, if cramped, admin terminal for quick server checks.

Troubleshooting

• Nothing happens when plugged in: confirm the phone actually supports OTG — search "[your phone model] OTG support" if unsure, since a handful of budget models genuinely lack it despite having a USB-C port.
• Devices disconnect randomly: almost always a power issue — switch to a powered hub, or unplug other peripherals sharing the same port.
• Keyboard works but mouse doesn't (or vice versa) through a hub: try a different hub; some cheap unpowered hubs don't properly negotiate multiple simultaneous HID devices.