Whether you’re working on a project, expressing your creativity, or playing an immersive game, iPad is a fun and powerful way to get it done.
7 cool things you didn’t know you could do with an iPad
Dig a little deeper however, and you’ll discover that the iPad is veritable Swiss Army knife of interactivity. You can buy or rent movies and shows from iTunes directly from the iPad, or stream them using a service such as Now TV or Netflix for a monthly fee. If you don’t fancy paying – you can watch Freeview TV or catch up on missed shows using a free app such as BBC iPlayer. An iPad is like taking your entire board game collection with you – ideal for travel, family get-togethers or dreary afternoons stuck inside when it’s raining.
With most costing less than £6, board game apps are cheaper than their cardboard counterparts and there’s no chance of losing the dice. And, if you’re more musical novice than virtuoso, GarageBand includes a collection of piano and guitar lessons to get you started.
Whether you fancy creating a few home movies or a film worthy of an Oscar, the iPad is the perfect tool for budding filmmakers. Apple’s free movie-making app iMovie lets you create films and blockbuster-style trailers easily.
You simply select a theme and add your video clips, then throw in some audio and special effects if required.
Whether you’re interested in doodling, sketching, drawing or painting a masterpiece with virtual oils, there are loads of free art apps for hobbyists and professional artists alike.
iPad vs. iPad Air: Apple’s basic and cheapest tablet will serve most people, but the Air is our pick for power users
Get honest reviews on top products & services — delivered weekly to your inbox. In short, I’d recommend the standard iPad to most people who want a simple, effective tablet to use on the couch or in bed for video streaming and running basic, normal apps, and even light productivity, like writing emails. That’s because it offers the same processor inside as the iPad Pro models, but it doesn’t come with frivolous features that some creative professionals might not need, like a dual-lens camera system or Apple’s super-smooth ProMotion display tech.
I’d also argue that the screen and design upgrades the iPad Air offers aren’t “$270” better for casual users, either.
Specification 2021 iPad 2022 iPad Air Display 10.2-inch (2,160 x 1,620) Retina LED 10.9-inch (2,360 x 1,640) Liquid Retina LED Processor Apple A13 Bionic Apple M1 Memory and storage 3GB RAM (estimated) / 64GB, 256GB storage 8GB RAM / 64GB, 256GB storage Battery and charging 32.4 Wh, 20W charger included 28.6 Wh, 20W charger included Cameras 8MP main camera 12MP main camera Front camera 12MP FaceTime HD camera with Center Stage 12MP FaceTime HD camera with Center Stage Audio Two speakers Stereo speakers Authentication Touch ID Touch ID (on power button) Price Starting at $330 Starting at $600 That’s a huge amount of power for a tablet, but casual users aren’t likely to notice it with normal apps, or even with graphics-heavy games.
I played a little “Call of Duty Mobile” on both tablets, and the experience was practically identical. Meanwhile, the standard iPad’s A13 Bionic processor from the iPhone 11 series offers less power, but it’s still perfectly capable of running normal apps, games, and streaming video. The standard iPad lasted five hours and 25 minutes in our battery test, where we continuously stream a YouTube video at full brightness and at the closest resolution that matches the iPad’s display. Still, if you’re out for battery life as a primary concern, the standard iPad generally lasts longer due to its smaller display. For taking notes and doodling, the standard Apple Pencil works just fine. Indeed, if you’re navigating around iOS and apps often and quickly, lifting your arm and tapping the screen can get surprisingly tiring — more so than simply using a mouse.
You certainly can get the iPad Air if you want to, but the benefits aren’t immediately obvious outside of its sleeker, larger design. Plus, those creative professionals can benefit from the iPad Air’s speedy 10 Gigabit-per-second (Gbps) USB-C port for quickly transferring work files and data from an external SSD drive that can support 10Gbps.
15+ Best iPad Air 5 Tips and Tricks
At the company’s Peek Performance event, Apple finally unveiled the next-generation iPad Air 5 with a desktop-class CPU. Powered by M1, the new iPad Air can be an ideal cheaper alternative to the expensive Pro models. Read through the best iPad Air 5 tips and tricks to level up your tablet experience if you are planning to get one or already managed to get your hands on one. Tap on it and find all the apps and games neatly organized in relevant categories. You can also swipe left to the end of the iPad home screen to check the App Library in action. You can scroll through the Twitter Home and open Google Chrome side-by-side for a seamless news reading experience.
While widgets are still not interactive, they offer a quick glance at app updates and valuable information right from the iPad Air 5 home screen. Find relevant apps widgets from the list, scroll through the available size options, and add it to the iPad Air 5 home screen.
The recent update is one step closer to offering the perfect web-browsing experience.
Using the must-have accessory for iPad, you can write quick notes and take screenshots using corner gestures. Step 1: Open Settings on iPad, select General and navigate to the Gestures menu. We hope to see more functions besides screenshots and quick note gestures to utilize the iPad Air 5’s corners.
You can also change the default browser and mail app on iPad Air 5. Paid iCloud users can create temporary email addresses to use on the web. In the rare recent that Apple services suffer an outage, you could run into issues surfing the web on Safari. You might even notice a dip in internet speeds if iCloud Private Relay is enabled.
Step 2: Select iCloud > Private Relay and disable the function from the following menu. The iPad suggests frequently used apps on the dock based on your usage pattern.
Step 2: Disable Show Suggested and Recent Apps in Dock toggle. You can easily add notes to iCloud password entries on iPad Air 5. Step 3: Tap on Add Notes to append required information to the password. The best part is, when you are using Universal Control, you can perform the same gestures on the MacBook trackpad and switch between apps on the iPad Air 5. You can enable Focus mode on iPad Air 5 and disable all the calls and notification pop-ups on the device. The iPadOS Control Center allows you to access most functions such as dark mode, connectivity options, voice recorder, etc., with a single swipe.
You can enable Scheduled Summary and ask the system to send notifications during free time only. You can add email, news, and social media apps to the notification summary. RELATED :This Small Improvement Could Make the iPad Air 5 Easier to Repair
Looking at the chip’s capabilities, it’s clear that a limited iPadOS 15 software holds back the hardware.
These iPad Air tips and tricks will help you get the most out of the tablet
Apple’s latest tablet — which came out later this year — is chockfull of party tricks, each designed to assist in ways you didn’t know you needed. What’s also unique about the iPad Air is the new Touch ID sensor integrated into the top button — a first for an Apple device. Available in five colours for every personality — Silver, Space Grey, Rose Gold, Green and Sky Blue — the new iPad Air and the iPadOS 14 brings new capabilities for those who want portability with efficiency. If you’ve suddenly come upon a fantastic idea, simply tap on the lock screen with the Apple Pencil to prompt the tablet into pulling up an instant note.
You can do the same via the notification center too, otherwise, the Scribble function works with any field that requires typing, so you can always use the nifty accessory to input any website or write a quick text to a friend easily. If you rely on all your devices to function for maximum productivity, using Continuity to connect your Mac, iPad Air, iPhone, and even Apple Watch can be extremely useful.
The Apple Smart Keyboard isn’t exactly a secret tip, but the investment will make your life infinitely easier if you want to work more efficiently with the iPad on the go. With it, you’ll essentially get a more compact clamshell laptop, with backlit keys and even Apple’s trackpad to make working more efficient.
Best Apple iPad tips and tricks
Here we look at some of the ways you can maximise your work-flow on the go or just enjoy your iPad more around the home. These are the best iPad tips and tricks to help you master your Apple tablet and the iPadOS software. Swipe down from the battery icon at the top right of your iPad screen to access Control Centre. Pressing and holding icons within the Control Centre will also offer more options and settings. Swipe down from the Home page on your iPad to access the search bar. For other iPad models, double tap the Touch ID home button.
If you have another iPad, press the Touch ID home button. If you’re reading a document in iBooks, tapping on the left side of your iPad’s screen will take you back to the previous page.
If you want to stop your iPad’s display from rotating when you turn it, swipe down from the top right corner of the Home screen to pull up the Control Centre and then tap the icon with the circle and arrow around the lock. You can also open an app and tap on the three dots at the top of your display to enter Slide Over or Split View. To move the secondary Slide Over app to the other side of the screen: Drag from the top of the window (you’ll see a grey long line there). How to adjust the split point between two apps when multitasking on iPad
If you want to make the secondary app the primary or larger app or make it smaller, move the dark split line left or right and the screens will change size accordingly. Have Safari running alongside Notes in the Split Screen view.
Tap on the text you want to copy, then long press it, and drag it across to Notes.
There’s a feature called Focus within iPadOS 15 that allows you to automatically filter notifications based on what you are doing. To add widgets to your Home screen: Touch and hold the Home screen > Tap “+” in the top left corner to add more widgets > Done. Smart Stack shows you relevant information throughout the day, such as weather, your next calendar event or photos from your library.
To add a Smart Stack to your Home screen: Touch and hold the Home Screen > Tap on “+” > Tap on Smart Stack > Add Widget > Done. Any iPads that support iPadOS offer Dark Mode.
If you want to know what kind of iPad you have or find out the generation: Open Settings > General > About.
It’s possible to add Today View to your iPad’s Home screen.
Today View will give you timely information from your favourite apps, at a glance. If you have lost your iPad and you have another Apple device: Open the Find My app (green circle with a blue dot on a white background) > Tap on Devices at the bottom > Tap on your iPad from the list > You can then choose a number of options, including playing a sound if you think you have lost your iPad nearby, or getting directions to its last known location.
With iPadOS and macOS Catalina or later, it’s possible to use an iPad as a secondary display to your Mac. By default, there’s a small section of the iPad’s Dock reserved for recently used apps.
If you don’t want recent apps to appear at all: Open Settings > Home Screen & Dock > Toggle off the Show Suggested and Recent Apps in Dock.
The iPad keyboard makes it easy to get to the symbols and numbers you use frequently. Swipe down quickly on the corresponding key to get to your primary punctuation symbols and numbers. In iPadOS, you can pinch to shrink the keyboard and move it wherever you like on your iPad’s display.
This not only allows for one-handed typing, but you can also see more of what is on your iPad’s display without the keyboard getting in the way. Once the picture is taken, the iPad can then automatically realign it to make it a flat, editable document.
Open Settings > Tap on Bluetooth > Make sure your mouse’s Bluetooth is turned on > Select the mouse from the Other Devices section > Follow the pairing instructions. How to setup Face ID for more than one person on iPad Pro (2018) or later If you have a Touch ID iPad model, you can add up to five fingerprints so either different fingers or different people can use Touch ID to unlock your iPad without having to enter the passcode. For iPad Pro (2018) models and newer, you can use Memoji and Animoji in a FaceTime call.
You can then carry on the conversation or change characters at the press of a button. If you want to change the homepage on Safari – set it to Google for example – then you’ll need to open Safari on your iPad > Go to the page you want to set as your homepage > Tap the rectangle with the arrow in the top right of your screen > Add to Homescreen > Rename the page if you want to > Tap Add in the top right. To do this, swipe down from the top right corner of the iPad’s Home screen and tap the Airplane. You’ll then need to confirm pairing and your iPad and the App Pencil will be connected and ready to use.
If you have the second generation model, simply attach it to your iPad via the magnetic strip. How to access Notes from Lock Screen with Apple Pencil If you have an Apple Pencil and an iPad that supports it: Wake the screen > double tap on the Lock Screen with the tip of the Apple Pencil and you’ll be able to open Notes and start creating a new note. If your iPad is running iPadOS 15 or later, then you can swipe from the bottom corner with your finger or the Apple Pencil to take a Quick Note.
If you’ve handwritten a note and you want to copy the text into another app, like Mail or Safari, it’s easy.
Simply double tap on a handwritten word and drag the points to cover everthing you want to copy. Once everything is selected, tap once to get the option bar and press “Copy as text”. If you are using the Apple Pencil (2nd gen) with the iPad Pro (2018) models or newer, you can change what the double tap feature does.
Cmd + Shift + 4: Takes a screenshot and then automatically opens it in mark up mode.
50 iPad tips and tricks: how to make the most of your Apple tablet
Today we’re sharing not one, not 10, but 50 of our favorite best kept secrets that will have your iPad truly working for you and making your life a whole lot easier. While the best MacBooks and Macs can make your work life a breeze and the best iPhones are great for staying connected while you’re out and about, there’s something about an iPad that can’t be beat.
It’s not as cumbersome or heavy as a laptop, which makes it great for taking on holiday and its screen is bigger than that of a smartphone, which means it’s easier to operate Excel or Word. But not every user is familiar with the true breadth and depth of what this genius device can do.
From organizing your apps to making Siri sing, here are 50 of our favorite iPad tips and tricks. One of our favorite iPad tips and tricks, swipe up from the Dock and you’ll see your recent apps with large thumbnails to make them easier to identify.
Swipe down from the top right of the Home Screen to show Control Center, which has shortcuts for everyday tasks such as adjusting the brightness and volume, turning Bluetooth on and off, locking the screen orientation and so on. Does your iPad store data you don’t want to fall into the wrong hands, such as your top secret plans for world domination?
Go into Settings > Touch ID & Passcode and scroll down to Erase Data. This enables you to automatically erase your iPad if there are ten failed passcode attempts. It seems like every app wants you to enable notifications, and some of them take advantage of your trust by blasting you with unwanted ads. This enables you to create shortcuts, so for example we’ve got a semicolon followed by “sorryno” to automate polite replies to product pitches.
The default iPad keyboard takes up a lot of room, especially in landscape mode. If your device isn’t AirPlay-enabled but has a rival system such as ChromeCast, look for an app such as Tubio, which streams to all kinds of things in pristine HD. The screenshot is automatically added to your Photos library but a thumbnail appears on screen for a moment: tap on that and you can edit it before saving or sharing it. Touch and hold the icon for the second app and drag it upwards; it’ll now appear in its own panel.
If you find you keep triggering these by mistake you can turn them off in Settings > General > Multitasking. When you’re watching a film or having a FaceTime video call in full screen mode you’ll see a little icon of a screen with an arrow in it, so for example if you’re watching a music video in Apple Music it’s up by the close icon at the top left of the window. Printing wirelessly is easy if you’ve got an AirPrint printer: assuming your printer and iPad are both on the same Wi-Fi network it’s just a matter of tapping the Share menu in your app and choosing Print. Some apps like to do things in the background, which can be useful: for example it’s handy to have your newspaper ready to read when you turn on your iPad in the morning, or to have the current weather forecast in your widget. But background refresh could also mean apps using bandwidth and battery for no good reason, which isn’t ideal if you’re on a cellular connection.
And you can customize it: if you tap on it, scroll right and choose More, you’ll see which features can be turned on or off.
Your iPad Home Screen can include widgets to show calendar items, weather forecasts, news headlines and anything else you fancy. Press and hold on a blank bit of your first Home Screen and you can add the widgets you’d like your iPad to display.
If you change your mind just press and hold again, and you’ll see little circles with minus signs in each widget. It doesn’t take long to fill up even the most enormous iPad with photos, apps and videos. Go into Settings > General > iPad Storage and you’ll see what’s taking up space. You can now make a number of changes, including offloading unused apps. This removes the app from your iPad but keeps its icon and data; when you need it, just tap on it to pick up where you left off. When you’re typing you can add punctuation and symbols without switching from the ABC keyboard. Mail offers a useful feature to tame unnecessary notifications: you can ask it to notify you only when a message comes from a Very Important Person, and to have an inbox folder that only shows messages from those VIPs. In Safari on your Mac, iPhone or iPad you can share open tabs with your other devices.
Maps offers real-time public transport information, and when you search for an address you can choose public transport options including underground railways, buses, trains and ferries.
If you choose public transport in the Directions tab you’ll also see advisories of timetable changes and other issues that might affect your trip.
In the US, you can also get directions for cyclists that warn of steep hills, stairs and other issues. Apple has been beefing up Maps’ capabilities over the years, and it can offer a lot of useful information about places: photos, contact details and TripAdvisor reviews of hotels, whether retailers accept Apple Pay and whether dentists are sadists.
It’s handy for online articles that might not stay available, such as things you’re reading as part of a subscription. You can also take a screenshot of an entire webpage, not just the bit you’re currently viewing: to do that, take a screenshot as normal (the home and power buttons, or the sleep/wake and volume up buttons) and then tap on the thumbnail to open it in editing mode.
At the top you’ll see an option to grab the entire page, which you can then save or share.
No problem: just tap the correct object or area and the camera will refocus and re-meter.
You can also switch Smart HDR mode on or off in Settings > Camera for high dynamic range shots: they’re good for dramatic shots such as foul weather on bright days. You don’t have to leave FaceTime’s picture-in-picture window in its default location.
In the camera app tap on the Pano option and you can use your iPad to create a huge panoramic image. You can also get similar adapters that enable you to connect USB devices such as flash drives or musical instruments.
If you’re typing a web address in Safari, press and hold the full stop key to see a selection of domain options including .com, .co.uk and so on. If you’ve enabled iCloud for Safari this is synced between your devices, so you might save an article from your work Mac to read on your iPad when you get home. Some sites do a great job of hiding useful content behind bad design or invasive ads. Tapping the AA icon in the Safari address bar switches in to reading mode, which strips out a lot of unnecessary clutter, and if you tap the icon again when you’re actually in reading mode you can adjust the font and color and size.
It’s important to stress that both of these things only affect what’s recorded on your iPad: the sites you visit and their advertising trackers will still know you were there and what you were looking at. The screen will now open the link in the right and retain the original page in the left.
On the Home Screen, slide down with two fingers to bring up the search box. This will include some Siri suggestions of commonly used options, such as “Send a message to Julie”. Depending on where you live you can choose between multiple options, so for example in the UK we have a choice of male and female voices with US, Indian, Irish, South African, Australian or British accents. For example, animation can make some people feel ill, while other users may have motion difficulties or vision issues. There are lots of options in Settings > Accessibility to make the iPad more usable, including changes to the way it displays text and its support for assistive devices. Apple’s voice recognition can understand punctuation, which can make your dictated texts and emails much easier to read.
27 iPad tips and tricks to transform your workflow
Now, compared to the wow factor of macOS Big Sur, you may think your iPad doesn’t look much different after installing this latest major update – iOS 14.2. That’s partly because it’s the desktop OS, this time, that’s borrowed ideas – and quite a lot of code – to catch up with the tablet, rather than the other way around. But you’ll soon find plenty that’s new, and this article lays out 27 brilliant tips to help you make the most of the new update – use the quick links on the right to jump to your preferred section. Freed from the iPhone, iPadOS is finding its way towards the power and flexibility of an all-purpose computer without losing the simplicity and immediacy of multitouch. And this season brings to the fore the accessory Macs can’t match: the Pencil. Now that every current model supports either the first or second-generation accessory, pen input (while still optional) can take its place at the centre of the iPad experience. Universal widgets may sound like a rust-belt normcore band, but they’re the new big noise on the iPadOS 14 Home screen. On the first Home screen, swiping right squishes up the icons to reveal Today View, where you’ll start to see the differences: widgets appear in a new format, and no longer show titles.
To change widgets, press one and hold – ignoring the pop-up menu – until the Home screen goes into ‘jiggly mode’. To add widgets not updated for iPadOS 14, scroll to the bottom of Today View (still jiggling) and tap Customise. Another smart option is the Siri Suggestions widget, which constantly repopulates itself with relevant actions. Tap the three dots (…) icon on a shortcut to open a revamped editor view, with more actions, automation triggers and scheduling options.
Similarly, Search, accessed as before by swiping down on the Home screen, now appears in a bubble rather than taking over the display. Protecting your personal data while simultaneously using it to power real-time services is all in a day’s work for iPadOS 14 While iMacs and MacBooks have a green LED to show their built-in cameras are active, iPads don’t. Safari’s new Privacy Report doesn’t directly reflect ITP, but lists attempts by websites to share data with tracking services.
But data you’re using in web apps that you ‘install’ using the Add to Home Screen option in Safari’s Share menu shouldn’t get deleted. Sites that support Sign in with Apple, which lets you set up an account without sharing personal data, can offer to ‘upgrade’ you to it from an existing login.
For the first time in iPadOS (and iOS), you can set a third-party app as your default browser or email client instead of Safari or Mail. Safari’s Privacy Report shows which tracking sites the page tried to communicate with, for marketing or analytics. In Safari itself and on most web pages, you can now use Scribble to write with your Pencil into text entry fields. As in iOS and macOS Big Sur, the Messages app fortuitously gains a bunch of new features amid a virtual communication bonanza. Separately, you can reply to a specific user in the group by typing their name, then tapping to turn it blue. Probably of wider interest is the ability to pin conversations to the top of your list, keeping your partner’s texts more prominent than the plumber’s.
After finding a location from the search box, tap it to open a place card that may include third-party guides with themes such as ‘famous hotels’ or ‘best walks’. Look Around, Apple’s new equivalent of Google Street View, is impressively smooth and clear, although only a few cities have been photographed so far. Apple is also adding support for electric vehicle charging and cycling routes, but these have yet to reach the UK. Many of the enhancements to Apple’s augmented reality API, ARKit, take advantage of hardware innovations exclusive to the 2020 iPad Pro models.
This also works with direct Apple Pencil alternatives like the Logitech Crayon, but may not with other third-strokes, not just the end result. Forming letters idiosyncratically can trip it up, though: if you draw a clear A, but heavily it’s relying on autocorrect to recognise words.
While lending many of its ideas to the Mac, the iPad continues to gain features of its own that make it feel less unlike a desktop computer. Many of iPadOS 14’s default apps, including Photos, gain sidebars to organise your content at a glance (Image credit: Adam Banks/Apple)
Like the earlier introduction of the Files app, this acknowledges a need resisted in early versions of iOS for fear of complicating things. The Files app itself showcases new desktop-style pull-down menus, reminiscent of macOS Big Sur. These complement the now ubiquitous options menus, which pop down from an icon showing three dots in a circle. VoiceOver Recognition now detects interface components in third-party apps and websites to help you navigate successfully, and can read out text recognised within images.
A new feature, General > Accessibility > Sound Recognition, offers a list of everyday noises, from ‘Fire’ and ‘Water Running’ to ‘Dog’ and ‘Baby Crying’, that can be detected through your iPad’s microphones and trigger a notification. Headphone accommodations are among several notable additions for AirPod users, allowing you to adjust frequencies to suit your hearing. Voice Memos gains folders and a nondestructive Enhance Recording option to cut background noise and echo. It made much more sense on the four-inch screens of contemporary iPhones, but as those have grown, it has felt like overkill for a while in iOS too.
Developers of other Voice over IP (VoIP) apps can also respect this option, turned on by default in Settings > FaceTime > Incoming Calls. The picker is neat, but neither this nor the full onscreen keyboard has iOS 14’s ability to search for emoji by keyword.
These 10 tips will help you get the best out of M1 iPad Air (2022)
Apple introduced the new iPad Air last month alongside the iPhone SE (2022) model. It is slightly smaller in size than the iPad Pro and comes with a 10.1 inch Liquid Retina display.
The fifth-generation iPad Air gets a 12-megapixel camera on the front for video calls, along with a 12MP rear lens. While a detailed review is on the way, here is a quick look at some tips and tricks to get the best out of the M1 iPad Air (2022). This is already present on iPhones but makes a lot more sense on the iPad as you are likely to use the latter for specific tasks. Here, you can name the mode, add people to allow calls from and also, select apps that can send you notifications.
You can directly copy text from any image and paste it on the notes app or email. Center Stage adjusts the front-facing Ultra-Wide camera of the iPad when you are using the compatible video apps such as FaceTime.
So, the next time you open FaceTime, the iPad will add blur to the background.
It not only allows you to charge the tablet from the phone’s charger but, also opens up a lot of options in terms of connectivity. The port can be used to connect to an external storage device or display and use it with the iPad Air. However, this is not a thunderbolt display, so it can’t be used with high refresh rate screens.
The tablet also gives the option to open two apps on top of each other and switch between them with a simple swipe. The Control Centre on the iPad Air gives you a lot of flexibility in terms of what you can achieve on this device. My favourite is Notes because you can simply press and hold the icon to open multiple shortcuts, including one to scan documents. These are just some tips ranging from very basic ideas to more advanced or hidden tricks that should help you get the best out of the new iPad.
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