Innholdsfortegnelse for The iPadOS 14 GuideBook i The iPadOS 14 GuideBook

It packs some great new features, including big updates to the Music, Files and Photos apps, a powerful new universal search feature and redesigned Home page widgets. The Home page sidebar is now even more customisable than before, putting all sorts of information gleaned from your iPad at your fingertips. Connecting a Bluetooth mouse is much easier and more productive and the iPad can make better use of a keyboard or a gaming controller too. With our help, you can get the very most from your iPad and its iPadOS 14 operating system, so let’s get started!…

It was a strange keynote. Thanks to the coronavirus lockdown, there were no crowds filling Apple’s Steve Jobs Theatre as Tim Cook, Craig Federighi and the rest of the Apple crew introduced new operating systems for the iPad, iPhone, Mac and more. Instead, we had an online-only Worldwide Developers’ Conference presentation. The absence of crowds clapping, cheering and shouting ‘Woooo!’ every time a new feature was announced didn’t detract from the excellence of the new software. iPadOS 14 really is feature-packed and has a great new design that’s far less intrusive than before. It’s free too, and it runs on every iPad that can run last year’s initial iPadOS release. But if it’s only the second release of iPadOS, why is it called iPadOS 14? Before iPadOS, the iPad ran…

1 Open Settings from the Home screen and scroll to the top of the left hand column. Tap ‘Sign in to your iPad’ right at the top of the list, then in the pop-up window, tap ‘Don’t have an Apple ID or forgot it?’ 2 Tap ‘Create Apple ID’ in the next window and then, when instructed, enter your first name, last name, and date of birth. When you’ve entered these details, tap Next in the top right to move on to the next step. 3 Next, you’re asked whether you want to use your current email address (if you have one) for your Apple ID, or get a free iCloud email address by tapping the ‘Do not have an email address?’ link. Choose one and tap Next to continue…

Set Up iCloud Mail 1 Tap the Settings icon located on the Home screen of your iPad and scroll down on the left side panel and select the Mail option. From here, tap the Accounts option and then tap the Add Account link to start adding a new account on your iPad. 2 Your Apple ID’s iCloud email is likely already signed in; when you first set up. If you want to add another iCloud email account, tap the iCloud link and enter the Apple ID and password. Tap Next to automatically verify your details. 3 You’re taken to an options screen and asked what apps you want to sync over iCloud. Some apps and features, such as bookmarks, Photos, iCloud Drive, Notes, Backup and Find My iPad aren’t available…

Control Centre in Focus Tap and Hold Items You can tap and hold most Control Centre icons for access to further functions. For example, if you tap and hold the Camera control, you get a window offering to open the FaceTime camera (Selfie), record video, take a photo and more. The Music Controls Just like before, the Music controls show you the currently playing song, including album art. In addition to volume adjustment, play/pause and skip forwards/backwards, you can tap the icon in the top right to output to connected speakers. Airplane Mode The iPad’s Airplane Mode switches off its Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connections, as required by some airlines but it’s useful even if you’re not flying. If your battery is low and you’re reading an eBook, for example, putting…

Transfer Files with AirDrop. 1 You can send files to other Apple devices using AirDrop, but Wi-Fi and Bluetooth must be switched on. Open the file, tap the Share icon. People to whom you can AirDrop are shown at the top of the window; look for the AirDrop icon. Tap the person to whom you want to send the file. 2 Use Settings > General > AirDrop to determine whether receiving via AirDrop is on or off, share only with people in your Contacts app, or share with everyone. If you accept AirDrops from everyone, when you’re sent an AirDrop file you have to accept it first. Pairing with Bluetooth 1 Bluetooth can wirelessly connect your iPad with devices such as speakers, headphones and keyboards. The item you wish to…

Safari in Focus Bookmarking Pages and Organising Bookmarks 1 To bookmark a page, tap and hold the Book icon at the top of the screen until a menu appears. From here, you can bookmark the page, add it to your Reading List or add bookmarks for all your open tabs. 2 Tap Add Bookmark and a new window appears. You can edit the name of the website as it appears in your bookmarks; just delete the text indicated here and type whatever it is you want to call it. 3 You can change the save location. Tap the location offered and select a new one. This lets you organise your bookmarks into folders. Sites in the Favourites section appear on the panel found by tapping the URL bar. 4 Tap…

Notes in Focus Pinned Notes. You can pin a note to the top of your list, where it remains until you unpin it. Just swipe the note to the right and tap the pin icon. Repeat this process to unpin it. Getting Started. 1 When you first open Notes, you see a list of previously saved notes. If you haven’t made any yet, this list is, of course, empty. To create a new note, tap the Pen-and-paper icon in the top right corner. 2 To delete a note, swipe it left and tap the dustbin. Or, tap and hold on a note in the sidebar and select Delete from the pop-up. Tap the sidebar’s three-dots icon and choose Select Notes and you can select and delete several at once. 3…

Setting Alarms 1 Tap Alarm at the bottom of the screen to create and edit alarms. To set a new alarm, use the ‘+’ icon (top right). This opens an Add Alarm window. Use the keypad and the AM/PM switch to pick a time for the alarm to sound. Tap Save then choose which days the alarm plays, the sound, whether it can be snoozed and what it’s called. When set, an alarm clock icon appears at the top of the Home screen to show it’s active. 2 You can set multiple alarms, and set up an alarm to repeat at the same time on specific days of the week or never repeat. To turn each alarm on or off independently, tap its On/Off button. To edit or remove an…

Maps in Focus Please make sure you follow the road signs and drive legally; according to the vehicle you’re driving in. Don’t neglect your road skills. Using Route Planning 1 Enter the name of the place you want to go in the Search field and, in the sidebar, tap Directions. If your starting point isn’t your current whereabouts, tap My Location at the top of the sidebar and change it. You can change your intended mode of transport using the icons at the foot of the sidebar. 2 The Maps app quickly calculates the best route for you to follow, based on the mode of transport you chose, and displays the chosen route on the map marked as a blue line as seen here. The total distance and estimated travel…

1 On the TV app, tap the icon, in the top right corner of the screen, to sign into your Apple account. Enter your Apple ID and Password in the fields provided and then tap the Sign In link below them. If you haven’t yet got an Apple ID, set one up now. 2 When signed in, tap the top right icon to obtain this window, from where you can manage: your account (tap your name), services to which you’ve subscribed, or add funds or gift cards to your Apple account (to spend on apps and media). 3 Tapping Connected Apps (in the window in Step 2) shows the TV and catchup apps you’ve downloaded from the App Store, and consequently are linked to your TV app. Tap the switch…

FaceTime in Focus Signing In. Before you can use FaceTime, you have to sign into it. Open the app and sign in with your Apple ID and password where asked. You only have to do this once; after that, you remain signed in. Using a Stand. You can use either camera in FaceTime but most of the time you’ll be using the front camera, so both you and the caller can see each other. Try putting your iPad on a stand so you can sit back a little from the screen. Initiating a FaceTime Call 1 To initiate a FaceTime call, open the app. In the sidebar is a list of recent people with whom you’ve FaceTimed, whether as a video or audio-only chat. Tap a name for the same…

App Store in Focus Updates Available. When updates are available to one or more of the apps on your iPad, the App Store app is badged, as you see here. The number in the red circle refers to the number of apps that can be updated. Buying Apps on the App Store 1 Navigate to the app or game you want to buy. Information on that title is offered. When ready, tap the price (or for free apps, Get) under the title. Unless you’ve already done so in the last few minutes, you’re asked to sign into your App Store account. 2 Sign in if necessary, then follow the on-screen instructions to continue. The app downloads and an Open button is shown. You can open the app from here, from…

Slide Over 1 When using an app, you might find you need access to a different app, maybe to look up or transfer some information. Swipe up from the foot of the screen to access the dock, then drag another app to the side of the screen, as shown. 2 Let go of the new app, and it’s shown on a card-like window. With the grey line at the top of this window, you can drag it across the screen or to the side, from where it can turn into a Split Screen app for another sort of multitasking. 3 To close the sidebar app, simply swipe it off the right hand side of the screen or tap the main app. You can open several apps at once as Slide…

Changing Your Wallpaper 1 Go to Settings > Wallpaper and tap Choose a New Wallpaper. You can choose from Dynamic wallpapers or Stills, or a pic from the Photos app. Dynamic wallpapers are lightly animated, but Stills are completely static. 2 Tap the pictures found underneath the Dynamic or Stills options to navigate your way through your Photo app’s images. Choose a photograph by tapping on it; it’s automatically scaled and sized to fit your screen. 3 The Circular icon at the foot of the screen toggles between a ‘flat’ and a perspective view. Try each in turn and tilt the screen. Tap Set, and you can choose between setting it as your Home screen, Lock screen, or both of them. 4 Still wallpaper images with the Light/dark icon found…

1 Whether you’re on the Home screen or using an app, you can access Notification Centre at any time, simply by swiping your finger down from the top of the screen. You can also swipe the Notification Centre screen to the left to open the Camera app. 2 The most recent notifications you have received are shown on top of the Notification Centre. Notifications can be automatically grouped by app, topic and more. Tap on a stack to open it up so you can see the individual notifications. 3 To clear notifications that you don’t want to deal with, all you have to do is tap the cross next to the appropriate one and then tap Clear when prompted. This removes the notification, enabling you to keep Notification Centre tidy…

Setting Up Continuity Calls on Your iPad To take iPhone calls on your iPad instead of your iPhone (known as Continuity Calls), you must make sure of the following; Both devices must be signed in to iCloud with the same Apple ID. Sign both devices in to FaceTime with the same Apple ID. Both devices must have Wi-Fi turned on The iPad and iPhone must be connected to the same wireless network. Now you must turn on the Continuity Calls feature. On your iPhone, go to Settings > Phone > Calls on Other Devices, and turn on Allow Calls on Other Devices. On your iPad, go to Settings > FaceTime, and turn on Calls from iPhone. With that, you’re ready to make and take calls. Making and Taking Continuity Calls.…

The App Store app now gives more in-depth information on age ratings. Tap the rating in the box at the top of the app description for more information. Along with age ratings, information such as user ratings, chart position, developer, whether a game controller is supported, language support and install size are presented in an easy-to-find way. Tapping any of them takes you to more information. As you know, some apps require a subscription to use. In iPadOS 14, these apps can now function with Family Sharing, so all the family can enjoy them. Their developer has to enable this feature, though.…

1 If you have a Bluetooth keyboard connected to your iPad, you can use keyboard shortcuts as you do on a Mac. To find out which keyboard shortcuts are currently available, hold the Shift and CMD keys until the window appears. 2 The keyboard shortcuts you’re offered depends on the app you’re currently using. For example, in the Files app, you can create a new document with CMD-N, a new folder with Shift-CMD-N, open with CMD-O and more. 3 On the main iPad screen, you can use CMD-H to go back to the first page of the Home screen. The app switcher is especially useful; as on a Mac, you can tap CMD-Tab and switch between open apps. 4 On the App Store app, the keyboard shortcuts are used for…

iPads with a Home Button iPads with No Home Button Charging Your iPad. To charge, you need the Lightning or USB-C cable supplied with your iPad. Connect the larger end of this cable (the USB plug) to a computer or the mains adapter that came with your iPad. Make sure it’s the right way up in the socket. The smaller end (the Lightning or USB-C plug) goes into the slot in the base of your iPad (see below) and can go either way up. When it’s being charged, assuming it’s switched on, you can see a lightning icon in the top right corner of your iPad’s screen, on the battery icon. Turning On and Off. To turn your iPad on, press and hold the On/Off button until you see the…

1 Power Up Your Device When you first power up your new device you’re greeted with this welcome screen. To move on, press the Home button, as instructed. You can toggle the iPad’s VoiceOver function by triple clicking the Home button. The word ‘Hello’ in several different languages is displayed. Tap the ‘i’ icon in the bottom right for regulatory information. 2 Choose Your Language You’re now asked to select your iPad’s language, which is used to display all information and menus. Scroll up and down to find your choice and then tap it to select. The most commonly used languages are at the top of the list. The iPad supports over 30 languages, several with regional variations, such as UK, American or Australian English. 3 Choose Your Country You’re…

Setting Up Face ID 1 Open the Settings app and scroll down the list of apps and features until you get to the one called Face ID & Passcode. Tap it to open these settings. 2 If you’ve set up a passcode on your iPad, whether four-digit, six-digit or alphanumeric, you must enter it now to get to the main Face ID settings screen. 3 Tap Set Up Face ID and on the next screen read the instructions; then tap Get Started. You can add two faces to Face ID. 4 Make sure the iPad is in portrait mode, then position your face within the frame. Move your head in a circle until the small white lines go green. 5 Tap Continue. You’re then asked to do exactly the same…

Touch To activate items such as applications, to use the on-screen keyboard, or to press on-screen buttons, touch them with your finger. The touchscreen is sensitive to the tiny electrical charge in our bodies, so you don’t need to press hard. Touch and Hold You can touch and hold an item on the screen by placing your finger it and not lifting that finger until an action occurs. This action depends on what you’re touching; it could be a menu opening or an icon lifting off the screen and showing it’s able to be moved. Double-tap Tap quickly twice on a web page, map, a photograph or other screen to zoom. Double-tap a section of a web page in the browser to zoom fit it to the width of the…

Starting Out 1 You can set the Widgets sidebar to sit permanently on the Home screen or be shown and hidden as you please. Go to Settings > Home Screen & Dock, and use the switch marked ‘Keep Today View on Home Screen to set it. 2 With the switch on, the sidebar is always visible on the Home screen. If the switch is off or the iPad is in Portrait Mode, the sidebar can be opened and closed by swiping the screen right to show the sidebar and left to hide it. 3 You can scroll the sidebar up and down to access more widgets. If you tap one of the individual widgets, whether it’s for an Apple app or a third-party app, you open the application that created…

Mail in Focus Email in Action. Email is a type of electronic message sent from one Internet-capable device to another. Unlike text messages, it can be as long as you wish and you can send attachments like photographs or videos too. How to Send an Email 1 Tap the Pen-and-paper icon in the top right corner to open a new email, then in the To field, type the email address of the person to whom you’re sending it. You can enter more than one email address in the To field if you wish, and send it to more than one person. 2 If the receiver is in your Contacts app, you can simply type their name instead of their email address. Predictive hits are displayed; when you see the correct…

Reminders in Focus Reminders on the Web. If you sync your Reminders with iCloud, you can take a look at them from any Internet-capable device that has a web browser. Just go to www.icloud.com and enter your Apple ID, and there they are. Creating and Using Reminders 1 To create a new list, on the home page tap the Add List link in the bottom right. Add a title for your list and tap one of the coloured circles to give it a colour. Scroll up and pick an icon for the list; you can use emojis or symbols. Tap Done when finished. 2 To add a reminder to a list, tap the list and tap New Reminder. Add a name and, if you wish, tap the ‘i’ icon next…

Calendar in Focus Emailing Events. A quick and easy way of sending an event to someone is to drag it off your Calendar app onto your desktop (it’s not deleted from Calendar), where it appears as a .ics file; and then send it by email. Exploring the Calendar App 1 Tap the Calendars icon in the top-left of the screen to bring up a sidebar showing a list of all your calendars. To turn different calendars on and off, just tap on them. Active calendars have a tick next to them. 2 The sidebar also lets you show or hide all calendars by tapping the link at the top or bottom. A tick box lets you show or hide events you’ve declined to attend or add a new calendar with…

Camera in Focus The iSight Camera. The iPad’s iSight camera is mounted on the rear of the tablet. Both sizes of iPad Pro have a camera that takes 12-megapixel still photos and can manage 4K HD video recording. Both photos and videos can be geotagged. Capturing Still Photographs and Video 1 To flip between your iPad’s front and back cameras, tap the circular arrows icon found above the large white shutter button on the right-hand side of the screen. 2 To switch between video and camera modes, move the slider on the right, moving between Time-lapse, Slo-mo, Video, Photo, Square and Pano (panoramic). 3 With the rear iSight camera in use, you can zoom in and out by placing two fingers on the screen and moving them apart to zoom…

Measure in Focus Measuring Regular Shapes. No doubt some objects you measure will be square or oblong. Measure can automatically recognise some such regular shapes, particularly screens. When it does, a yellow mask appears in the rough vicinity of the shape it recognised, and an extra ‘Add a rectangle’ option appears beneath the + button. Tap this and then line up the iPad accurately to calculate the fixed area. Make the Most of the Measure App The Measure app is bundled with iPads but only those powerful enough to run it. Open the app and you’re asked to move your iPad around so it can get a feel for the space you’re in. When the virtual box disappears, it’s ready to use. Move your iPad towards the object you want…

Books in Focus Thumbnail Scrolling. Some, but not all, books show you thumbnails of the pages as you scroll through them. This can prove very useful if you’re looking for a specific page in a picture book. Books with only text tend not to show these thumbnails. Buying and Reading Books. You can buy your digital books directly through the Books app and download them to your iPad. When they are there, you can browse your library, read your books and delete those you’ve finished to save space. To buy digital books, open the Books app and tap Book Store at the foot of the screen to see titles listed under categories such as Staff Picks, recommendations For You, New & Trending and more. Tap the Browse icon (top left)…

The People Tab 1 The Find My app is divided into three sections, represented by icons at the foot of the screen; People, Devices, and Me. Unsurprisingly, the People tab is for finding your friends. If it isn’t already selected, tap it. 2 To start sharing your location with friends or family members, tap the large Start Sharing Location button. You should then enter the name, Apple ID email, or phone number of the person with which you want to share locations. 3 As is usual, you can tap the + sign to the right and select a person from your Contacts app. Add as many people as you wish, and tap the Send link. Then you can choose whether to share for an hour, the rest of the day,…

An Introduction to iCloud 1 You receive an iCloud account, with a complimentary 5GB of online storage space, with your Apple ID. Open the Settings app; at the top of the sidebar, you should see your name. If you don’t, you need to sign in with your Apple ID; tap the Sign in to your iPad link to do so. 2 To use a photo with your Apple ID and iCloud account, tap the grey circle at the top of the right hand column and then take or add one from your Photos library. If you don’t have one yet, just leave it; you can come back and take or add one whenever you choose. 3 In Settings > [your name], tap the iCloud link for a list of apps…

1 Go to Settings > Do Not Disturb. Flick the switch at the top of the Do Not Disturb options screen to activate Do Not Disturb mode. This blocks incoming FaceTime calls and silences incoming alerts and notifications, for when you need peace and quiet. 2 Under the Phone options, you can set it to allow calls from some people to get through. This can be set as everyone, no one or specific groups from your Contacts app. This is a useful option if you only want to block unnecessary calls. 3 You can also set up to allow repeated calls to get through, so if the same person rings you twice within three minutes, the second call is assumed to be an emergency and gets through as normal. To…

Screen Time in Focus You can access Screen Time from the Widgets page. Swipe right from the Lock screen or the Home screen and then scroll all the way up to here. Tap Screen Time to go to the overview (see item number ‘2’ above). Setting Up and Using Screen Time 1 First of all, go to Settings > Screen Time. The first time you open this setting, you get a window telling you what this iPad feature can do. Have a read, then tap Continue to go to the next screen. 2 Screen Time lets you monitor and regulate your child’s iPad use as well as review your own. If this is your child’s iPad, you can tap this option and set up various parental controls. If it isn’t,…

1 Go to Settings > Display & Brightness. At the top of the screen, you can choose between Light and Dark modes. Tap the one you want to use throughout your iPad. This changes the screen on a permanent basis (or at least until you change it again in the Settings app). 2 If you want to change between Light and Dark modes automatically according to a schedule, turn on the Automatic switch. You can then tap Appearance Schedule underneath it to set the times at which it changes. By default it’s set at Sunset to Sunrise. 3 To have it change according to a schedule, tap Custom Schedule and then tap the times and type in when you want the iPad to go to Light and then go to…

1 To activate a search on your iPad from the Home screen, swipe down on the Home screen (not from the top) with one finger. If you have a Bluetooth keyboard, you can activate a search from anywhere, even within apps, by pressing CMD + Space Bar. 2 Tap the search field at the top of the search window. Type your search terms on the keyboard or tap the microphone on the right and speak your search terms. Auto-complete responses appear as you type/speak. Tap one to access that app or item. 3 The new universal search covers the whole of your iPad and returns apps, Safari pages you’ve recently viewed, people and organisations in your Contacts app, notes, files, folders and more. At the bottom of the search results,…

Introduced in iPadOS 13, Sneak Peeks lets you tap and hold a link for a preview of its contents. It works across all apps. Here, for example, we tapped and held a link on a website and got a sneak peek at what we’d get if we tapped it. We also get a pop-up menu that lets us open in a new window or in the background, add it to the reading list and more. Naturally, the Safari app is where the feature is most useful, as you can preview links without leaving the web page you’re on. However, it also works well in Notes, News, Photos and other apps. It’s a great time-saving feature.…

Apple’s gaming subscription service also benefits from an iPadOS 14 update. It’s now directly integrated into Game Centre, so you can see what your friends are playing and earn achievements as you play. Just access the Game Centre dashboard within your Apple Arcade games and check out your progress, leaderboards, achievements and more. Finding your favourite games is easier, as you can now search available titles using filters and there’s an option to preview upcoming titles too. But perhaps the best new feature for Apple Arcade is that you can play a game on one Apple device, put it down and then continue playing on another. Game on your Mac at home and when it’s time to leave the house and catch a train, carry on playing on your iPad.…

When you tap a web link in an app, that link opens up in the Safari app. When you tap an email address, a new email is opened in the Mail app. But what if you prefer to eschew Apple’s web browser and email client and use a third-party alternative such as the Chrome web browser or Canary Mail for emails? With iPadOS 14, you can at last use third-party web browsers and email clients as your default apps but only when developers incorporate this feature into their apps. It’s easy to set up. Just open the Settings app and look for your third-party web browser or email client in the sidebar. Tap it and there’s an option called Default Browser App (initially Safari) or Default Email App (initially Mail).…

9th July, 2020 The date on which the first public beta of iPadOS 14 was released by Apple. fifteen The number of iPad models that can run iPadOS 14. It runs on any iPad that could run the very first release of iPadOS. VP9 With iPadOS 14, the iPad natively supports Google’s VP9 video encoding format. Forty iPadOS 14 is available in 40 different languages. 5 iPadOS 14 is written in five different programming languages; C, C++, Objective-C, Swift and Assembly. smaller The iPad’s user interface is far more streamlined with iPadOS 14. Incoming telephone and FaceTime calls are offered as notifications and Siri no longer takes over the whole screen. 2 iPadOS 14 is the second release of iPadOS since it split from iOS. The number ’14’ was used…

System Requirements. If you want to update to iPadOS 14, your iPad must be one of the following. To find out which iPad you have, go to https://apple.co/35mb9oe. 12.9-inch iPad Pro 11-inch iPad Pro 10.5-inch iPad Pro 9.7-inch iPad Pro iPad Air (3rd generation) iPad Air 2 iPad (7th generation) (6th generation) (5th generation) iPad mini (5th generation) iPad mini 4 Auto Updates. To download and install updates automatically, open Settings and go to General > Software Update > Customise Automatic Updates. On this screen, you can choose to automatically download iPadOS updates and/or install them automatically overnight. To do either, your iPad must be connected to a Wi-Fi network. 1 When there’s a new version of iOS, the Settings app icon on the Home screen is badged with a…

1 To turn on Wi-Fi, go to Settings > Wi-Fi and turn Wi-Fi on (or you can use the Control Centre; see Control Centre tutorial), after which, the iPad searches for all networks in range of your device. 2 If you’re at home, pick your home network from the list and enter the security details to be allowed access. Take care to enter your password correctly, making sure, for example, that you don’t confuse the letter ‘O’ and a zero. 3 If you are in a public hotspot, maybe at a cafe or a hotel, it’s very unlikely to have security so you can just connect. You probably need to find out the login details from whoever is providing the Wi-Fi service. 4 From now on, whenever you are in…

The Keyboard in Focus New Formatting Window. Tap the ‘Aa’ icon for the new formatting window, which offers editing and formatting options such as fonts, typography, and colours. Finding Accented Letters When you have to type an accented letter, such as ‘é’ or ‘ö’, you can easily do so by simply pressing and holding the letter you wish to type in an accented version until a pop-up window appears, as shown here for the letter ‘a’. Now just tap on the version of the letter you wish to use. Auto Punctuation Some punctuation is added automatically. If you wish to add (for example) an apostrophe to form a contraction such as “I’m”, simply type “Im” and the iPad does the rest. It’s a very useful feature and greatly increases your…

1 To create a folder of apps, on the Home screen tap and hold an app until a pop-up appears. Choose Edit Home Screen and the icons wobble and a small X icon appears in their top left corner. Drag one app onto another and they’re grouped into a folder. Tap outside the folder box to return to the Home screen. Drag the other apps you wish to store there onto the new folder. 2 Tap Done (top right corner) to stop the apps wobbling. You can see that we’ve put five separate apps in this folder here. As they’re all productivity apps, it’s automatically named Productivity. Tap the folder to open it, then tap one of the apps to use it in the usual way. It’s a great means…

Home in Focus HomeKit compatible? There’s a regularly updated list of HomeKit-compatible gadgets on the Internet, found at www.bit.ly/2wLpcmh. It’s very useful for checking compatibility before you buy. When in the shops, look for items showing the ‘Works with Apple HomeKit’ logo, as seen here. Adding Accessories 1 When you first open the Home app, you see this screen. The app is currently empty, as no accessories have been added. To change the name (currently My Home) or the wallpaper, tap the Home icon and select Home Settings. 2 Adding a device to Home is easy. After tapping the Add Accessory button or under the + sign in the top right, use the iPad’s camera to scan the HomeKit Code that comes with the device. Follow the on-screen instructions to…

Messages in Focus Sending a New Message 1 Tap the Pen and paper icon in the top right corner of the sidebar to open a new message. In the To field, type the mobile number, or email address, of the person you want to message. If that person is in your Contacts app, type their name instead or use the + icon on the left. 2 If the To field (and outgoing messages) are blue, they’re sent over the Internet for free. If they’re green, they go as regular SMS. A red To field means the device you entered can’t receive messages. When the other person is typing, three dots in a speech bubble appear. 3 You can add photos or videos too. Tap the Camera icon to take a…

Contacts in Focus Active Contacts. Your Contacts app does more than simply display contact details. You can utilise these details directly from the app. Tap an email address to send a mail, or a message icon to send a message in Messages. Syncing Contacts You can sync your contacts with your Mac and Apple mobile iOS devices using iCloud. Go to Settings > [your name] > iCloud, and switch Contacts on. Any changes you make to your contacts are then synced with any device linked to the same iCloud account, as long as it also has iCloud syncing switched on. Merging Duplicate Entries If you have contacts that appear in your contact list multiple times, it’s easy to merge them into one. Just select one of the contacts you wish…

Photos in Focus Under the Sidebar. With the sidebar hidden, in the top-left corner, you see the name of the currently open album and the dates when the shots were taken. General Tips for Using the Photos App. 1 Tap a photo or video to view it. To zoom in on a picture, put your finger and thumb on the screen and slide them apart. When zoomed in, you can move it around by dragging with your finger. 2 You can also scroll them using the photo bar found at the foot of the screen. The open image can also be dragged left and right to swipe through your photo collection, picture by picture. 3 To delete a single photo or video, open it and tap the Trash icon; if…

Music in Focus On the Web. Subscribers to Apple Music can stream their sounds to any computer or mobile device with a web browser. Just go to https://music.apple.com and sign in. 1 When you first open the iPad’s Music app, you get an intro screen. Tap Continue and you’re invited to join the Apple Music service. If you’re already a member, tap the link at the foot of the screen to log in. Otherwise, tap the red button to begin the sign-up; or go to My Music to play what’s already stored on your iPad. 2 Alternatively, Tap See all plans to choose a plan. An individual membership is £9.99/$9.99/€9.99 or a family membership (up to six members) is £14.99/$14.99/€14.99. Family memberships use Apple’s Family Sharing. Whichever membership option you…

News in Focus Closing the Sidebar. Rotating the iPad sideways (into landscape mode) gives you a handy sidebar you can use to navigate your way through the News app. To open and close this sidebar, tap the icon in the top left of the main window, as seen here. Getting Started with News 1 The News app is better when customised. In the sidebar, add topics Suggested by Siri. Tap the plus icons to add those topics to your favourites, and tap the three dots to stop suggesting or block a topic. 2 Again in the sidebar, tap Discover Channels and Topics. Tap on subjects and sources you wish to follow. You can come back later and unfollow a topic or channel by tapping it again. Making the Most of…

iTunes Store in Focus Apple Music Adverts. The row of rectangular purple banners near the bottom of the screen are adverts for the Apple Music streaming service. Tap one for more information on this service, which we talk about in this book in the Music tutorial. Buying Music from iTunes. Find the album or song you want and tap on it. You can see a review if available. When looking at a complete album, a track list is also shown. From here, you can tap the price at the top, for the whole album or an individual track’s price to buy a single song. If asked to sign in, do so, and the album or track is downloaded to your Music app, from where you can play it on your…

Files App in Focus The Search Facility. You can add multiple terms in a Files search. Here we entered ‘Last Year’ for documents we’ve edited in the last 12 months, ‘Pages Document’ to limit the search to data created by that app and then typed what it is we’re looking for. Sharing & Collaboration 1 To share an individual file, navigate to it in the Files app and tap and hold to get the pop-up menu. You can then share it using Messages, AirDrop, Mail and more. Scroll to Add People and tap it to invite someone to collaborate on it, with edits visible to all. 2 You can share and collaborate on a folder as well as an individual file. To do so, tap and hold on the folder,…

1 To talk to Siri, hold down the Home button (or the top button for Face ID iPads) for a few seconds. You hear a beep and Siri appears on the screen. You can also activate Siri by saying, “Hey, Siri”. 2 Begin speaking and the coloured effect at the bottom-right pulses to let you know Siri can hear you. If it doesn’t, tap it and talk to Siri again. Your question is answered in a notification-like window. Tap it for more info. 3 In the Settings app, tap Siri & Search. If you activate the Listen for “Hey Siri” switch at the top, you can activate Siri just by saying “Hey Siri”. If you dislike this feature, turn it off. 4 Having switched on the Listen for “Hey Siri”…

1 First of all, from the Home screen, go to Settings > Accessibility > Voice Control. There’s a range of options on offer to configure the Voice Control feature but first, we must switch it on. Tap the switch at the top of the screen. 2 The iPad downloads the filters needed for Voice Control. Tap Learn More when its done and you’re shown instructions, including a list of commands you can use. It’s worthwhile taking a moment to read through these guidelines but it’s not compulsory. 3 When it’s done, Voice Control is switched on; look for the Blue icon in the top left corner. You can turn Voice Control on and off by saying ‘Hey Siri, turn on/off Voice Control’. You can now begin using this accessibility feature.…

Sidecar If you have a Mac running macOS Catalina and an iPad running iPadOS, you can use your tablet as a second screen for your Mac, expanding your desktop space. This is especially good news if you also use an Apple Pencil. You can draw on your iPad, using it as a high-resolution input device for your Mac. To use Sidecar on your Mac and iPad, first of all, on your Mac, open System Preferences. Click on the Sidecar preference pane, and you can set where the Sidecar Sidebar and Touchbar appears on your screen, if at all. When you’re done, in the pull-down menu labelled ‘Connect to’, choose your iPad. There’s a brief flash, and your Apple devices connect, sharing screen space between your Mac and your iPad. If…

Apple introduced controller support with iPadOS 13.4, which launched along with the Apple Arcade gaming subscription service. iPadOS 14 takes things a step further. The range of joypads has been increased, with support for Microsoft’s Xbox Elite Wireless Controller Series 2 and Adaptive Controller being added. New controller features added for iPadOS 14 include custom button mapping, force feedback and speciality features like motion sensors, lights and battery level. Mouse and trackpad support is no longer a throwaway feature tucked away in the Accessibility options. The new operating systems bring support for the mouse and trackpad to the fore, with better, more highly integrated options. The iPad can, for the first time, register multiple key presses. This is essential for some games. In first-person shooters, for example, it means you…

The Voice Memos app got an update with iPadOS 14. You can now organise your memos into folders, with favourites and smart folders also catered for. To arrange your memos into folders, w first tap the sidebar icon in the top-left corner. In the sidebar that opens, tap the folder icon in its bottom-right. Name the new folder anything you like. To move a memo into a folder, swipe it left and tap the folder icon, then choose a folder to move it to. To move more than one voice memo at once, tap the Edit link above the recordings list and tap the circle next to every memo you want to move. Then tap the Move link at the bottom of this list and again choose a folder. You…

AirPods are Apple’s own wireless earbuds. They connect to your iPad through Bluetooth, are Siri-compatible and if you need to pause the music to listen to something going on in the room, just take one of the buds out of your ear. Some great new features are coming to AirPods with a software update too. If you have your AirPods paired with several Apple devices, when you put one down and pick up another, the AirPods’ connection is automatically transferred. For example, if you’re watching a movie on your Mac and you get a phone call, as soon as you pick up, the AirPods’ connection moves from the Mac to the iPhone. You might then want to call someone on FaceTime using your iPad. Again, the AirPods’ connection is seemingly…