If you’ve just got your shiny new iPad Pro and can’t wait to use it, follow our step-by-step guide on how to set up and start using it.

• Turn on your iPad Pro by pressing the Sleep/Wake or Power button at the top right-hand side.

• You will be greeted by the Hello screen as seen below. Swipe from left to right on the screen to begin the set up process.

• You will be prompted to select the Language. Tap on your preferred language. It will set up the language.

• Next select your country or region from the list.

• You will be prompted to select the Keyboard. By default, the language based on your country will be selected along with the Emoji keyboard. Then tap Next.

• Next tap on your preferred Wi-Fi network from the list, and enter the password for your Wi-Fi network (if it is a secure network), and tap Join to proceed.

• If you’re setting up an iPad Pro Wi-Fi + Cellular model then you will get a message informing you that the device is ready. Tap on Continue to proceed. Unlike the iPhone, your iPad will be activated even without the SIM card.

• On the next screen, tap on Enable Location Services to enable location services such as Find My iPad or tap on Disable Location Services. I would highly recommend you to enable location services.

• In the next step, you will be prompted to to set up Touch ID finger fingerprint sensor. Touch ID allows you to use your fingerprint to unlock your iPad Pro without needing a passcode. If you don’t want to set it up immediately, tap on Set Up Touch ID Later, otherwise place your finger or thumb that you normally use to unlock your iPad on the Home button to start the set up process. Lift and rest your finger on the Home button repeatedly. You will see that the fingerprint animation on the display fills up with red color as you progress. It should take less than a minute to set it up.

• After the entire fingerprint animation turns red, it will prompt you to adjust your grip to capture the edges of your fingerprint. Tap on Continue to proceed.

• Again place your finger on your Home button, this time however, lift and rest the edge of your finger on Home Button repeatedly.

• After the entire fingerprint animation turns red, it will inform that Touch ID is ready, and your fingerprint can now be used for unlocking your iPad Pro. Tap on Continue.

• You will be prompted to create a Passcode. Enter a six-digit passcode, and then re-enter it. If you want to set a 4-digit passcode or a custom numeric passcode then tap on Password Options and select the appropriate option. While you will be able to unlock your iPad without entering the passcode, you still need it to unlock your iPad Pro for the first time after rebooting your iPad.

• Here you can set up your iPad Pro as a New iPad, or restore from iCloud Backup or from iTunes Backup or Move Data from Android. Personally, I prefer setting up my new iOS device as a new device rather than restoring it from the backup. It is a lot more time consuming as you need to reinstall apps from scratch, but it also ensures that I only install apps that I plan to use. This approach gets rid of all the apps that you had installed on your iPad for the past one or two years but not using them and taking up unnecessary space. Cloud-based features such as iCloud Photo Library have made that decision even more easier. For the purpose of this guide, I’m setting up the device as a new iPad so I will tap on Set Up as New iPad. If you’re switching from an Android phone, you can check our guide on how to transfer data from an Android smartphone to the iPhone. The process would be similar to transfer data from an Android tablet to the iPad.

• You will then be prompted to sign in with your Apple ID or create a Free Apple ID. If you already have an Apple ID, select sign in with Your Apple ID. Tap Next, after entering the Apple ID and password.

• You will be prompted to Verify your identity, if you’ve two-step verification enabled. You can tap on the device to receive a verification code to select it, and then tap Send.

• This will send the 4-digit verification code to your other device. Enter the verification code on your new iPad to proceed.

• You will be prompted to agree to the Terms and Conditions. Tap on Agree in the bottom right corner of the screen. You will again prompted with a popup asking you to agree to the Terms and Conditions. Tap on the Agree to proceed.

• It may take a few minutes to set up your Apple ID, and update iCloud settings.

• You will now be prompted to set up iCloud Keychain on your new iPad. You can do this by approving from other device or use iCloud security code or choose not to restore passwords. If you tap on Approve from Other Device, it will inform you that the Approval Request has been sent to the other device. You can continue setup and approve this iPad at any time from the other devices using iCloud Keychain.

• Next, you can set up Hey Siri. Tap on Turn On Siri to continue.

• Next tap on Send to Apple if you want to send diagnostics and usage data automatically to Apple. If not, tap on the Don’t Send option.
• Tap on Get Started to go to the Home screen, and start using your new iPad Pro.

• If you use multiple iOS devices, then it is also a good idea to change the name of your iPad Pro as by default it will use your first name and append iPad, for example: Gautam’s iPad. I prefer to change it to the model name so I can easily identify it.

Let us know how it goes. Please feel free to drop us a line if you’ve any questions.