The 2018 iPad Pro is a big departure from every iPad that came before it. The Home button is gone, and so is Touch ID. You get edge-to-edge screen with Face ID, a new Smart Keyboard Folio and an Apple Pencil that’s not frustrating to charge or store.
This means that you’ll need to spend some time getting used to all the new features. There’s a whole new gesture interface to learn, and little features to master. But don’t worry, we’ve got your back.
1. Tap to Wake
Just tap on the iPad screen to wake it up.
2. Swipe Up to Unlock with Face ID
And as soon as you tap on the screen, Face ID will start looking for your face. Adjust your face so it lines up with the iPad screen and your iPad should unlock.
There’s no Home button anymore. Just swipe up from the bottom of the screen to unlock the iPad.
3. Swipe Up Again to Rescan with Face ID
Face ID will work most of the times, but sometimes, in weird angles, it still fails. Don’t worry. You don’t need to enter your passcode every time this happens. If you’re confident that your face is lined up correctly, just swipe up again to get a second try.
4. Double Tap Space Bar to Unlock
If you’ve got the Smart Keyboard Folio attached, you don’t even need to touch the screen to unlock your iPad. Just double tap the Spacebar, look at the screen and boom, you’re in.
5. Use Face ID Unlock in Any Direction
The Face ID system is in the top bezel when you’re holding it in portrait mode. But the TrueDepth camera is smart enough to figure out your face no matter which direction you hold it in. Landscape mode will work and so will using the iPad upside done. When the camera is in the bottom, iPad will prompt you to look down to unlock the iPad.
6. Swipe Up to Middle of the Screen for App Switcher
To get to the App Switcher, you swipe up from the bottom, till the middle of the screen. Make sure it’s a swipe and not a flick or you’ll end up closing the app or bringing up the Dock.
7. Short Swipe up for the Dock
To reveal the Dock, you now swipe up just a bit, like two inches and pause for a sec. This will bring up the Dock. I’ll admit, this is not an easy gesture to get used to. And it’s possible that you might never get used to it. To ease the pain, you can use a keyboard shortcut to bring up the Dock: Cmd + Option + D.
8. Top-Right Edge Swipe for Control Center
To access the Control Center, swipe down from the top-right section of the status bar. Where you see the time and status indicators for Wi-Fi, BlueTooth and more.
9. Use Apps in Split Mode
One of the best ways to use the iPad is to use apps in split screen mode. When an app is open, just swipe up to bring the Dock, tap and hold on an app, drag the app icon and drop it to the left or the right edge to dock it there. There are a lot more things you can do in Split View.
10. Bring In a Third Floating Apps
Even when you’re in Split View, you can still bring in a third floating app in Slide Over view. Drag in an app from the Dock and drop it on top of the two active apps. The floating app will stay on top and you can move it to the left or the right. You can dismiss it as well by swiping horizontally off the screen (and bring it back later).
11. Drag and Drop Between Apps
When you’ve got two apps open in Split View, try using Drag and Drop. It’s supported by all Apple apps and a variety of major productivity apps. Drag and Drop lets you select text, images, videos, links and more from one app and drop it in another. If you’re doing some research, you can quickly drag in paragraphs of text and images to a Notes document.
One of the most frustrating things in iOS is using copy and paste. Drag and Drop feature takes care of this annoyance.
12. Swipe Horizontally on Home Bar For Recent Apps
Swipe right horizontally on the big Home bar at the bottom of the screen to quickly access the most recent app. Swipe left and you’re back to the original app. You can use this gesture to quickly go back to the third or fourth most recently used apps.
But remember that if you interact with the app, the sequence resets. So you won’t be able to swipe left to go back to the original app. You’ll have to swipe right.
13. Charge Apple Pencil Magnetically
The 2nd Generation Apple Pencil is how the Apple Pencil should have always been. It doesn’t have the stupid cap anymore, or a Lighting connector.
Just put it on top of the iPad in Landscape mode and it connects to iPad magnetically. And it starts charging it wirelessly. If you keep your Apple Pencil docked like this, it’s always going to be charged and ready to go.
14. Tap Apple Pencil on Screen to Quickly Take Notes
Quickly tap on the iPad screen to automatically wake up the screen and open a blank note in the Notes app. This way, you can quickly start scribbling without the need to navigate the Notes UI.
15. Customize Apple Pencil Buttons in Apps
The Apple Pencil has a gesture pad on the side. And it has two actions – a single tap and a double tap. In Notes app, you can use tap to switch to the erase tool. Best thing is that apps will be able to customize this feature. So if you’re in a creative app, look for the option in the app’s settings.
16. Mirror Your iPad Display with USB-C
You don’t need a dongle, or an Apple TV to mirror your iPad display anymore. Thanks to the USB-C cable. Just get a USB-C to HDMI cable, plug it into the iPad Pro and native screen mirroring will start instantly. The iPad Pro can support up to 5K displays.
17. Connect External Display with Compatible Apps
But that’s not all. If the app is customized for it, the connected display can work as an independent, external display as well. This won’t work for all apps by default though.
But in an app like Keynote, the external display will automatically display the slides while your iPad will show you your presentation notes and a preview of the next slide.
18. Import Photos from Camera and Flash Drives
Sadly, there’s no way to browse or connect external drives to the iPad. Apple has said that third-party apps will be able to include this feature but those apps aren’t here yet.
But what you can do is connect an SD card using a dongle or connect your camera directly to import photos from it (both RAW and JPEG). They’ll be imported directly to the Photos app.
19. Connect Fun and Useful USB-C Accessories
A surprising range of USB-C accessories works with the iPad. You can connect a Microphone to record audio, an ethernet port (with up to 10-gigabit bandwidth). and a flashlight or a little fan. Printers are not yet supported.
20. Charge Your iPhone Using iPad
If you have a USB-C to Lightning cable, you can use it charge your iPhone with the iPad. In fact, it can even charge your Nintendo Switch!
21. Add Another Face to Face ID
You’ll probably share your iPad with your significant other or family members. Doing this with Touch ID was easy because you could add up to 10 fingers. But by default, iPad only allows 1 Face ID authentication.
But there’s a workaround for this. In the Face ID & Passcode section, use the Set Up an Alternative Appearance option to scan another face.
22. View All Keyboard Shortcuts For an App
Most of the productivity apps on the iPad support keyboard shortcuts and viewing a list of them is pretty easy. Just press and hold the Cmd key on the keyboard.
23. Take Depth Effect Selfies
The iPad Pro comes with a TrueDepth sensor for Face ID. A nice side effect is that you can take Portrait Mode selfies on the iPad Pro. Open the Camera app, flip to the front-facing camera and select Portrait option.
24. Make Your own Memoji Character
The new iPad Pro supports both Animoji and Memoji. Open the Messages app, go to an iMessage conversation and select the Animoji option. Now from the first option, you can build your own Memoji character by selecting the face structure, nose, eyes, hairstyle and glasses that reflect your look.
25. Use Screen Time
You’re going to end up spending a lot of time on the iPad. Whether it’s watching Netflix, sketching in Procreate or typing away in Ulysses. Use the new Screen Time feature in iOS 12 to know exactly how much time you spent being productive on a given day. Then you can choose to disable certain apps automatically for time being or put up time limits.
Your Favorite Tips and Tricks
What are some of your favorite tips and tricks for the iPad? Share with us in the comments below.
