We probably don't need to tell you how to operate your iPad. The operation of the Apple tablet is very simple and you probably already have that iPad in your possession. Nevertheless, small tricks and tricks still regularly appear that make working with an iPad just that little bit more pleasant. We highlight 10 tips for your iPad.
Tip 01: Split keyboard
While we understand that a physical keyboard isn't useful on modern devices, we're still not a fan of the software keyboard. We're used to two-handed typing, and somehow it just doesn't feel right to lay the iPad on your lap and type with two hands. Fortunately, that is not necessary either. Introduced a few versions of iOS ago, this feature allows two-handed typing without putting down the iPad. How it works? You open an app for which you need the keyboard and pull the keyboard apart (so one hand to the left and one hand to the right). So you pull the keyboard in half, with one part on the left and one part on the right. You can now type with your thumbs, while simply holding the iPad. That also takes some getting used to, but it quickly feels a lot more intuitive than typing on your lap. To rejoin the keyboard, drag both parts back together.
Tip 02: Keyboard Cursor
We are really a fan of this feature. When you're working on a text, it can sometimes be damn difficult to put the cursor in exactly the right place. Apple has come up with a trick for that. When you hold down two fingers on the keyboard at the same time, you will see that the letters on the keyboard disappear. At that point, the keyboard has turned into a trackpad: by moving your fingers, you can move the mouse pointer to exactly the right place. That really saves a lot of frustration (also, for example, when you try to remove a certain part from a url in the address bar of Safari).
Your iPad can just read ebooks to you Tip 03: Floating keyboard
Since the arrival of the iPad, we know no better than that the keyboard is attached to the bottom of the screen. What many people don't know, however, is that this doesn't have to be the case at all. It is perfectly possible to disconnect the virtual keyboard from its position. To do this, open an app that requires the keyboard, then press and hold the keyboard icon and down arrow (at the very bottom right) for a second. A menu will then appear in which you can choose the option Floating. When you do this, the keyboard detaches from its fixed position and you can simply drag it up and down. Interestingly, this also works with the split keyboard (Tip 01), allowing you to position the keyboard perfectly for typing with both thumbs.
Tip 04: Reading assistant
That it is possible to put audiobooks on your iPad is not news. But did you know that it is also possible to have ordinary books read to you? To do this, you use an option that is actually intended for the visually impaired. Go to Institutions / General / Accessibility / speech and toggle the option Speak screen in. Once you've done this, open iBooks or another app that has a document you want to read. When you have the book in front of you, drag down with two fingers from the top of the screen and the Speech menu will appear. Choose the speed you want (tortoise for slower, hare for faster) and now sit back and relax. Your iPad will read the text on the screen. Of course the voice takes some getting used to and the speech is not super natural, but in all honesty you get used to it quickly, and it is super nice that the text is read for you, so that you can possibly do something else.
Tip 05: Louder sound
The volume of the sound that your iPad produces is quite acceptable, but sometimes you wish it was just a little louder. In theory this is of course not possible, but the Equalizer in iOS has a setting that makes the sound sound a little louder in one way or another (that's no illusion). You can find this setting in the Settings menu, by navigating to Music and then to Equalizer. There you will see a lot of presets that you can choose, all of which have little influence on the volume. The only exception to this list is late at night. Secretly this feels unnatural, because if everyone is asleep we would just turn the sound down, but you don't hear us grumbling. Choose this setting and the sound will be just a little louder than before.
Notes is much more extensive than it seems Tip 06: Adjust control panel
This is a tip that, of course, applies just as much to the iPhone as it does to the iPad, but it's something we've been waiting for for a long time, while Apple hasn't really revealed much about it. When you drag from bottom to top on your iPad, you enter the control panel. But did you know that you can also customize this panel yourself since iOS 11? You do this by navigating in Settings to (you guessed it) Control panel. When you press in this menu Adjust controls, you can specify exactly which options you do and do not want to see in the Control Panel. Of course, Apple has full control over which options you can choose from, but we're hopeful that we'll be able to add features from third-party apps here in the future as well.
Tip 07: Scan in Notes
While we love typing documents in apps like Word or Pages, we secretly find Apple's Notes app really useful because it's so fast and simple. However, the power of Notes is that the app has a lot more features than you might think. They're just well hidden so the interface never gets crowded. For example, it is perfectly possible to scan documents within Notes. To do this, open the app and press the plus icon on the keyboard. In the menu that appears, press the button Scan documents. You can now scan a document or image using the iPad camera. This is added to the note as an image and can be moved freely, so that you can also make things a bit nicer.
Tip 08: Slide-over mode
With the arrival of iOS 9, Apple introduced the Split View mode, which allows you to display various apps side by side. A nice option for multitasking, but unfortunately this option is only available for those who have an iPad Air 2, iPad mini 4 or iPad Pro or newer. If you don't, then you don't have to miss the multitasking party completely, because there is also a mode called Slide-over. Suppose you are working in Safari and would like to keep a document next to it in which you want to type something. When you have Safari open, drag from bottom to top to bring up the Dock. Next, hold down your finger on the Notes icon, for example, and drag it upwards until you see the icon become a stretched bar. Now release and Notes will appear in a bar on the side of the screen, so you can type in it while still seeing Safari.
Tip 09: Take screen recording
Suppose your father or mother has an iPad and can't quite figure it out. Then you can spend hours trying to explain certain steps over the phone or iMessage, but it is of course much easier to just show what you have to do. Since iOS 11, this is finally possible without having to do all kinds of tricks. All you have to do is the option Screen capture enable in Control Panel. You do this by navigating (as explained in tip 6) to the Control Panel settings and selecting the Screen capture to turn on. When you've done this, the Screen Recording icon (a circle in a circle) appears in the Control Center. Press and a three second counter will count down and then recording will begin. Complete the actions and when you're done, press the Screen Recording button again. The video is now saved in the Photos app and can then be easily shared with the person you wanted to explain.
Tip 10: Many more apps
This last tip is interesting, because at the same time it is very hidden and has been right in front of you all this time. You probably know that the space for apps on the dock is limited, right? So that's not the case, that's how it was. The dock may not have changed much in appearance, but the way it works has. Previously you could only store about five apps in this place at the bottom of the screen of your iPad, now there are many more. When you drag an app to the Dock, the other apps will move up a bit to make room. The other icons then become a bit smaller, so that there is more space (you can easily fit fifteen icons on them). Combine that with the fact that you can of course also just put folders with apps on the Dock and that Dock has suddenly become very handy.
