iPads Articles

Cheat Sheet / Updated 03-26-2024

Can't wait to use your new iPad? The Apple iPad neatly combines an audio and video iPod, an e-book reader, a powerful internet communications device, a handheld gaming device, and a platform for millions of apps. After you open the box and see what’s inside, you need to know about its buttons and controls and how to use the multitouch display. And if you ever catch your iPad behaving badly, check out the five tips for setting your iPad back on track.

Article / Updated 08-03-2023

The most obvious differences among iPad models (several models are shown below) are their size and weight, with the Pro being biggest, followed by iPad Air, then iPad, and finally the smallest, iPad mini. All models come in a variety of colors to suit everyone’s taste. All models come either with Wi-Fi only (so you access a Wi-Fi network for Internet access) or with Wi-Fi + Cellular for connecting to the Internet through Wi-Fi or a cellular network (as your cellphone does). The iPad models also differ in available memory and price based on that memory (prices are accurate as of this writing and are subject to change): iPad Pro 11-inch: Wi-Fi models come in 128GB for $799, 256GB for $899, 512GB for $1,099, 1TB for $1,499, and 2TB for $1,899; Wi-Fi + Cellular models of each memory configuration cost $200 more than their Wi-Fi–only counterparts. iPad Pro 12.9-inch: Wi-Fi models come in 128GB for $1,099, 256GB for $1,199, 512GB for $1,399, 1TB for $1,799, and 2TB for $2,199; Wi-Fi + Cellular models of each memory configuration cost $200 more than their Wi-Fi–only counterparts. iPad Air: Wi-Fi models come in 64GB for $599 and 256GB for $749; Wi-Fi + Cellular models come in 64GB for $749 and 256GB for $899. iPad (ninth generation): Wi-Fi models come in 64GB for $329 and 256GB for $479; Wi-Fi + Cellular models come in 64GB for $459 and 256GB for $609. iPad (tenth generation): Wi-Fi models come in 64GB for $449 and 256GB for $599; Wi-Fi + Cellular models come in 64GB for $599 and 256GB for $749. iPad mini: The Wi-Fi model comes in 64GB for $499 and 256GB for $649, and the Wi-Fi + Cellular model comes in 64GB for $649 and 256GB for $799. Finally, the iPad models vary in screen quality and resolution, camera quality, and so on. Logically, the bigger the iPad, the bigger the price and (usually) the higher the quality. How much storage do you want? Storage is a measure of how much information — for example, movies, photos, and software applications (apps) — you can store on a computing device. Storage can also affect your iPad’s performance when handling such tasks as streaming favorite TV shows from the web or downloading music. Streaming refers to playing video or music content from the web (or from other devices) rather than playing a file stored on your iPad. You can enjoy a lot of material online without ever storing its full content on your iPad. Your storage options with the various iPad models range from 64 gigabytes (GB) to 2 terabytes (TB), which is equivalent to 2,000GB. You must choose the right amount of storage because you can’t open up the device and add more components as you typically can with a desktop computer. However, Apple has thoughtfully provided iCloud, a service you can use to store content on the Internet. How much storage is enough for your iPad? Here’s a guideline: If you regularly work with large media files, such as movies or TV shows, you might need 512GB or higher. For example, if you shoot 4K video at 60 frames per second, that will take roughly 1GB of storage space for every two-and-a-half minutes of footage. In light of this fact, at least 1TB of storage may be more appealing if you shoot a lot of video. If you like lots of media, such as movies or TV shows, you may need at least 256GB. For most people who manage a reasonable number of photos, download some music, and watch heavy-duty media, such as movies online, 128GB is probably sufficient. If you simply want to check email, browse the web, and write short notes to yourself, 64GB is likely plenty. Do you know how big a gigabyte (GB) is? Consider this: Just about any computer you buy today comes with a minimum of 256GB of storage. Computers have to tackle larger tasks than iPads, so that number makes sense. The iPad, which uses a technology called flash storage for storing data, is meant (to a great extent) to help you experience online media and email; it doesn’t have to store much because it pulls lots of content from the Internet. In the world of storage, 64GB for any kind of storage is puny if you keep lots of content (such as audio, video, and photos) on the device. Using the iPad with a computer and Internet Although you can use your iPad on its own without any Internet or Wi-Fi access and without a computer to pair it with, it's easier if you have Internet access and a computer that you can (occasionally) use with your iPad. Basic Internet access for your iPad You need to be able to connect to the Internet to take advantage of most iPad features. If you have an Apple ID, you can have an iCloud account, Apple’s online storage service, to store and share content online, and you can use a computer to download photos, music, or applications from non-Apple online sources (such as stores, sharing sites, or your local library) and transfer them to your iPad through a process called syncing. You can also use a computer or iCloud to register your iPad the first time you start it, although you can have the folks at the Apple Store handle registration for you if you have an Apple Store nearby. If you don’t have a store nearby, visit this Apple Help page for assistance. You can set up your iPad without an Internet connection and without going to an Apple Store: The best way to find out more information is to contact Apple Support through an Internet connection on another device, or at a public library or Internet cafe. You can use your iPad without owning a computer and just use public Wi-Fi hotspots to go online (or a cellular connection, if you have such a model). To go online using a Wi-Fi–only iPad and to use many of its built-in features at home, however, you need to have a home Wi-Fi network available. Pair your iPad with a computer For syncing with a computer, Apple’s iPad User Guide recommends that you have: A Mac or PC with a USB 2.0 or 3.0 port and one of these operating systems: macOS version 10.11.6 (El Capitan) or newer Windows 10 or newer iTunes 12.8 or newer on a Mac running macOS El Capitan (10.11.6) through macOS Mojave (10.14.6), Finder on Mac’s running macOS Catalina (10.15) and newer, and iTunes 12.12 or newer on a PC, available at the iTunes Store or via the Microsoft Store An Apple ID Internet access An iCloud account Apple has set up its iTunes software and the iCloud service to give you two ways to manage content for your iPad — including movies, music, or photos you’ve downloaded — and to specify how to sync your calendar and contact information. There are a lot of tech terms to absorb here (iCloud, iTunes, syncing, and so on). My book iPad For Seniors For Dummies, 2023-2024 Edition covers all of these things. Wi-Fi Only or Wi-Fi + Cellular? You use Wi-Fi to connect to a wireless network at home or at other places, such as an Internet cafe, a library, a grocery store, or any public transportation that offers Wi-Fi. This type of network uses short-range radio to connect to the Internet; its range is reasonably limited, so if you leave home or walk out of the coffee shop, you can’t use it anymore. (These limitations may change, however, as towns install community-wide Wi-Fi networks.) Cellular technologies allow an iPad to connect to the Internet via a widespread cellular network. You use it in much the same way that you make calls from just about anywhere with your cellphone. A Wi-Fi + Cellular iPad costs more than the basic Wi-Fi–only model, but it also includes GPS (Global Positioning System) service, which pinpoints your location so that you can get more accurate location information and driving directions. Also, to use your cellular network in the United States, you must pay a monthly fee. The good news is that no carrier requires a long-term contract, which you probably had to have when you bought your cellphone and its service plan. You can pay for a connection during the month you visit your grandkids or friends, for example, and get rid of it when you arrive home. Features, data allowance (which relates to accessing email or downloading items from the Internet, for example), and prices vary by carrier and could change at any time, so visit each carrier’s website to see what it offers. Note that if you intend to stream videos (watch them on your iPad from the Internet), you can eat through your data plan allowance quickly. How do you choose? If you want to wander around the woods or town — or take long drives with your iPad continually connected to the Internet to get step-by-step navigation info from the Maps app — get Wi-Fi + Cellular and pay the additional costs. Don’t bother with cellular if you’ll use your iPad mainly at home or via a Wi-Fi hotspot (a location where Wi-Fi access to the Internet is available, such as a local coffee shop or bookstore). You can find lots of hotspots at libraries, restaurants, hotels, airports, and other locations. If you have a Wi-Fi–only iPad, you can use the hotspot feature on a smartphone, which allows the iPad to use your phone’s cellular connection to go online if you have a data-use plan that supports hotspot use with your phone service carrier. Check out the features of your phone to turn on the hotspot feature.

Article / Updated 08-03-2023

iPad users are a diverse group, and some face visual, motor, or hearing challenges. If you’re one of these folks, you’ll be glad to know that Apple offers some handy accessibility features for your iPad. To make your screen easier to read, you can use the Magnifier app, adjust the brightness, or change the wallpaper. You can also set up the VoiceOver feature to read onscreen elements out loud. Voice Control, Numbers, and Grids are welcome accessibility features to help you navigate more easily. And you can turn on or off a slew of features, including Zoom, Invert Colors, Speak Selection, and Large Type. If hearing is your challenge, you can do the obvious thing and adjust the system volume. The iPad also allows you to use mono audio (useful when you’re wearing headphones) and to set an LED to flash when an alert sounds. Features that help you deal with physical and motor challenges include an AssistiveTouch feature for those who have difficulty using the iPad touchscreen, and Switch Control for working with adaptive accessories. Also included are the Home Button and Call Audio Routing settings, which allow you to adjust how quickly you have to tap the iPad screen to work with features, and whether you can use a headset or speaker to answer calls. The Guided Access feature helps if you have difficulty focusing on one task. It also provides a handy mode for showing presentations of content in settings where you don’t want users to flit off to other apps, as in school or a public kiosk. This article covers some of the accessibility features of iPadOS 16. For more comprehensive coverage, check out the book iPad For Seniors For Dummies, 2023-2024 Edition. How to use the Magnifier app on an iPad The Magnifier app uses your iPad’s camera to help you magnify objects. Magnifier is considered an accessibility feature, but almost everyone needs a magnifier at one time or another. To use Magnifier: Tap the Magnifier app icon to open it. By default, the app resides on the second Home screen. Point your iPad’s camera at the object you want to magnify. Drag the magnification slider (shown in the figure below) to increase or decrease magnification. By default, Magnifier offers an advanced controls pane (see above) with more controls to help customize your experience. You can select which camera to use, adjust brightness and contrast levels, and apply color filters. You can also take freeze frames (to freeze something onscreen momentarily) by tapping the large round button. Freeze frames are not saved to Photos. They disappear into the ether when you close the Magnifier app. Tap the customize controls icon (gear) in the lower left of the advanced controls pane, and then tap Settings in the resulting menu to open the Customize Controls dialog, shown in the figure below. From here, you can determine which controls appear in the advanced controls pane. To remove a control, tap the red circle containing the minus sign (–) found to the left of the control name; then tap the Remove button that appears on the right. To add a control you’ve removed, simply tap the green circle containing the plus sign (+). You can combine magnification with your iPad's portability so that you can reach up to (or behind) an object and magnify something that is not only too small to see otherwise but also out of view entirely. How to set up VoiceOver on an iPad VoiceOver reads the names of screen elements and settings to you, but it also changes the way you provide input to the iPad. In Notes, for example, you can have VoiceOver read the name of the Notes buttons to you, and when you enter notes, it reads words or characters that you’ve entered. It can also tell you whether such features as Auto-Correction are on. VoiceOver is even smarter in iPadOS 16 than in previous incarnations. It includes support for apps and websites that may not have built-in accessibility support. It can read descriptions of images in apps and on the web, and it can identify and speak text it finds in images. To turn on VoiceOver, follow these steps: Tap the Settings icon on the Home screen. In Settings, tap Accessibility. In the Accessibility pane, tap VoiceOver. In the VoiceOver pane, shown in the figure above, tap the VoiceOver switch to turn on this feature (the button becomes green). With VoiceOver on, you must first single-tap to select an item such as a button, which causes VoiceOver to read the name of the button to you. Then you double-tap the button to activate its function. Tap the VoiceOver Practice button to select it and then double-tap the button to open VoiceOver Practice. Practice using gestures (such as pinching or flicking left), and VoiceOver tells you what action each gesture initiates. Tap the Done button and then double-tap the same button to return to the VoiceOver dialog. Tap the Verbosity button once and then double-tap to open its options: Tap the Speak Hints switch and then double-tap the switch to turn the feature on (or off). VoiceOver speaks the name of each tapped item. Tap once and then double-tap the VoiceOver button in the upper-left corner of the Verbosity window to go back to the VoiceOver screen. You can change the language that VoiceOver speaks. In General settings, tap Language & Region, tap iPad Language, and then select another language. However, this action also changes the language used for labels on Home icons and various settings and fields in iPad. Be careful with this setting, lest you choose a language you don’t understand by accident and have a difficult time figuring out how to change it back. If you would like VoiceOver to speak descriptions of images in apps or on the web, swipe up with three fingers to scroll down and then tap and double-tap VoiceOver Recognition, tap and double-tap Image Descriptions, and finally tap and double-tap the Image Descriptions switch to toggle the setting on (green). Don’t ignore the Sensitive Content Output setting in the Image Descriptions page. If the content of an image is something you’d like to keep everyone in the room from hearing, select any option other than Speak. Return to the main VoiceOver screen. If you want VoiceOver to read words or characters to you (for example, in the Notes app), scroll down (use a three-finger swipe to do so), tap and double-tap Typing, and then tap and double-tap Typing Feedback. In the Typing Feedback dialog, tap and then double-tap to select the option you prefer in both the Software Keyboards section and the Hardware Keyboards section. The Words option causes VoiceOver to read words to you but not individual characters you type, such as the dollar sign ($). The Characters and Words option causes VoiceOver to read both the individual characters as you type them and each word as you complete it. Press the Home button or swipe up from the bottom of the screen (iPad models without a Home button) to return to the Home screen. You can use the Accessibility Shortcut setting to help you more quickly turn the VoiceOver, Zoom, Switch Control, Grayscale, AssistiveTouch, or Invert Colors features on and off. In the Accessibility screen, tap Accessibility Shortcut (near the very bottom of the screen). In the screen that appears, choose what you want three presses of the Home button (or top button, for iPads without a Home button) to activate. Now three presses with a single finger on the Home button or top button (depending on your iPad model) provide you with the option you selected wherever you go in iPad. How to use VoiceOver on an iPad After VoiceOver is turned on (see preceding section), you need to figure out how to use it. I won’t kid you — using it is awkward at first, but you’ll get the hang of it. Here are the main onscreen gestures you should know how to use: Tap an item to select it. VoiceOver then speaks its name. Double-tap the selected item. This action activates the item. Flick three fingers. It takes three fingers to scroll around a page with VoiceOver turned on. The first time my iPad locked when using VoiceOver, I had no idea how to unlock it. Luckily, I found the answer by consulting Apple’s support site from a computer. If your iPad has a Home button, just press it to unlock — simple. However, if your iPad doesn’t have a Home button, you need to look at your iPad (for Face ID to recognize you) and then slowly move your finger up from the bottom of the screen until you hear two tones, which indicate that your screen is unlocked. If tapping with two or three fingers is difficult, try tapping with one finger from one hand and one or two from the other. When double- or triple-tapping, you have to perform these gestures as quickly and as precisely as you can for them to work. The table below provides additional gestures to help you use VoiceOver. If you want to use this feature often, I recommend the VoiceOver section of the iPad online User Guide, which goes into great detail about using VoiceOver. You can find the User Guide on Apple Support's iPad Manuals page. Once you're on the iPad Manuals page, just click the model of iPad or the version of iPad OS you have to read its manual. You can also get an Apple Books version of the manual through the Apple Books app in its Book Store. VoiceOver Gestures Gesture Effect Flick right or left Select the next or preceding item Tap with two fingers Stop or continue speaking the current item Flick two fingers up Read everything from the top of the screen Flick two fingers down Read everything from the current position Flick three fingers up or down Scroll one page at a time Flick three fingers right or left Go to the next or preceding page Tap three fingers Speak the scroll status (for example, line 20 of 100) Flick four fingers up or down Go to the first or last element on a page Flick four fingers right or left Go to the next or preceding section (as on a web page) Check out some of the settings for VoiceOver, including a choice for Braille, Language Rotor for making language choices, the ability to navigate images, and a setting to have iPad speak notifications. How to change additional vision settings Several Vision features are simple settings that you can turn on or off after you tap Settings, tap Accessibility: Zoom: The Zoom feature enlarges the contents displayed on the iPad screen when you double-tap the screen with three fingers. The Zoom feature works almost everywhere in iPad: in Photos, on web pages, on your Home screens, in your Mail, in Music, and in Videos. Give it a try! Spoken Content: Options here include the ability to have your iPad speak items you’ve selected or to hear the content of an entire screen and highlight content as it’s spoken. Display & Text Size: Includes such features as Color Filters (aids in case of color blindness) Reduce White Point (helps reduce the intensity of bright colors) Invert Colors (which reverses colors on your screen so that white backgrounds are black and black text is white): Classic Invert inverts all colors, and Smart Invert does not invert colors for items like images, multimedia, and some apps that may use darker color styles. The Invert Colors feature works well in some places and not so well in others. For example, in the Photos application, pictures appear almost as photo negatives (which is a really cool trick to try). Your Home screen image likewise looks a bit strange. And don’t even think of playing a video with this feature turned on! However, if you need help reading text, White on Black can be useful in several apps. Larger Text (under Accessibility tap Display & Text Size): If having larger text in such apps as Contacts, Mail, and Notes would be helpful to you, you can turn on the Larger Text feature and choose the text size that works best for you. Bold Text (under Accessibility tap Display & Text Size): Turning on this setting restarts your iPad (after asking you for permission to do so) and then causes text in various apps and in Settings to be bold. Button Shapes (under Accessibility tap Display & Text Size): This setting applies shapes to buttons so that they’re more easily distinguishable. For an example, check out the Accessibility button near the top of the screen after you enable Button Shapes by toggling its switch on. Turn it back off and notice the difference (shown in the figure below; the button name is underlined). Reduce Transparency (under Accessibility tap Display & Text Size): This setting helps increase legibility of text by reducing blurring and transparency effects that make up a good deal of the iPad user interface. Increase Contrast (under Accessibility tap Display & Text Size): Use this setting to set up backgrounds in some areas of the iPad and apps with greater contrast, which should improve visibility. On/Off Labels (under Accessibility tap Display & Text Size): If you have trouble making out colors and therefore find it hard to tell when a setting is on (green) or off (white), use this setting to add a circle to the right of a setting when it’s off and a white vertical line to a setting when it’s on. Reduce Motion (under Accessibility tap Motion): Tap this accessibility feature and then tap the on/off switch to turn off the parallax effect, which causes the background of your Home screens to appear to float as you move the iPad around.

Article / Updated 03-21-2023

Apple’s iPad gets its features from a combination of hardware and its software operating system (called iPadOS; the term is short for iPad operating system). As of this writing, the most current version of the operating system is iPadOS 16. It’s helpful to understand which features the newest iPad models and iPadOS 16 bring to the table (all of which are covered in more detail throughout my book iPad For Seniors For Dummies, 2023-2024 Edition). Models and sizes of the latest iPads The iPad is currently available in various sizes, depending on the version you choose. Here are the five basic sizes, by iPad type (for price and memory capacity information, see the article What To Look for When Buying an iPad): iPad: There are two models of iPad. The ninth-generation model features a touchscreen that measures 10.2 inches diagonally and sports a super-fast 64-bit desktop-class A13 Bionic processor. The tenth-generation model takes the iPad up a notch with a touchscreen that measures 10.9 inches diagonally and boasts an even faster 64-bit desktop-class A14 Bionic processor. iPad Air: The fifth-generation iPad Air employs a touchscreen measuring 10.9 inches diagonally and features a powerful Apple M1 processor. iPad mini: The iPad mini 6’s screen measures 8.3 inches diagonally. This iPad uses a 64-bit A15 Bionic processor to do the behind-the-scenes work. iPad Pro: The two iPad Pro models are the fastest of the bunch. One's screen measures 11 inches diagonally, and the other's is 12.9 inches; they both come with blazing-fast M2 processors, which are the same processors used in many of Apple’s newest Mac desktop and laptop computers. Dimensions of devices are typically shown in the units of measurement commonly used in a region. This means, for example, that the basic tenth-generation iPad is shown on Apple’s U.S. site as being 9.79 inches (248.6 mm) high and 7.07 inches (179.5 mm) wide. In metric-system countries, both dimensions are given, but the order is reversed. When it comes to screen sizes, however, the dimensions are given in inches. Features of the latest iPads In addition to the features of previous iPads, the latest iPad models offer the following. Retina and Liquid Retina displays In addition to screen size, screen resolution has evolved so that Apple’s Retina and Liquid Retina displays, both of which support very high-resolution graphics, now appear across the line. The name derives from the concept that individual pixels on the screen are so small that they can’t be distinguished at normal viewing distance. Apple Pencil Originally designed exclusively for use with iPad Pro models, the Apple Pencil now works with all the latest iPad models. (Be sure to check which version of Apple Pencil will work with your iPad by visiting the Apple Pencil web page. Apple Pencil lets you draw and write on the screen with a familiar pencil-style tool rather than with your finger. The device contains a battery and sophisticated processing powers that make the experience of using it very much like (and sometimes better than) a traditional pencil. Third-party pencils and drawing tools exist, but Apple’s integration of Apple Pencil is remarkably smooth; the product has taken off quickly among graphic artists, illustrators, and designers. As other people have discovered its usability for marking up documents, it is becoming more and more common in business environments. Neural Engine The Neural Engine is a component of the processor in every iPad that focuses on handling specialized tasks related to artificial intelligence, image and speech processing, and more cool things. Touch ID This security feature is included on several iPad models. Sensors in the Home button (ninth-generation iPad) or top button (iPad Air, iPad mini, and tenth-generation iPad) allow you to train the iPad to recognize your fingerprint and grant you access with a finger press. Touch ID also allows you to use the Apple Pay feature to buy items without having to enter your payment information every time. Facial recognition Touch ID is replaced with Face ID on iPad models that don’t have a Home button. Using Face ID and the front-facing camera, your iPad unlocks when it recognizes your face. Barometric sensor On all iPad models, this sensor makes it possible for your iPad to sense air pressure around you. This feature is especially cool when you’re hiking a mountain, where the weather may change as you climb. Perhaps more to the point, the changes in barometric pressure can be sensed on a smaller scale so that elevation can be measured as you move normally. More keyboard options The iPad Pro has a full-size onscreen keyboard. Because the screen has more space, the top of the keyboard can contain extra commands for filling in passwords and using more advanced input techniques. Smart Connector for Smart Keyboard In addition to the onscreen keyboard, you can use a Smart Connector to hook up a Smart Keyboard, an external keyboard that makes getting complex work done much easier. Smart Connector is supported for all iPad models, with the exception of iPad mini. Live photos Using the 3D Touch feature, you can press a photo on the screen to make it play like a short video. The Camera app captures 1.5 seconds on either side of the moment when you capture the photo, so anything moving in the image you photographed, such as water flowing in a stream, seems to move when you press and hold the still photo. The iPadOS 16 update to the operating system adds many features, including (but definitely not limited to) the following: Stage Manager Stage Manager (supported for iPad Air fifth generation, all generations of iPad Pro 11-inch, and iPad Pro 12.9-inch third generation and later) is a new way to switch between apps and their windows on your iPad. Windows for the app you’re working in are in the center of the screen, while other apps’ windows are located on the left side, within easy reach. It’s a game-changer when working with multiple apps at once. Weather I shouldn’t be this excited about a weather app, but I’m not the only long-suffering iPad user who’s ecstatic that Apple has finally seen the light and made their iPhone Weather app available for iPadOS. Good things come to those who wait, I hear. New Mail features iPadOS 16 gives Mail a couple of much-needed new features that enable you to unsend an email and to schedule emails to be sent at a later time. Live text Live text lets you interact with text in images, and now with iPadOS 16, it works with videos, too. For example, you can select text from a paused video and copy it into a document. Or if the text is an address, you can copy it into Maps to find the location. Built-in apps have been updated iPadOS 16 provides performance enhancements and interface upgrades for all the apps that come preinstalled with it, bringing many into the realm of their desktop computer counterparts. Don’t need all the built-in apps? You can remove them from your Home screen. (Note that built-in apps take up very little of your iPhone’s storage space.) When you remove a built-in app from your Home screen, you aren't deleting it — you’re hiding it. And if you change your mind, you can easily add them back to your Home screen by searching for them in the App Store and tapping the Get button. These are but a very few of the improvements made to the latest version of iPadOS. I highly suggest visiting Apples iPadOS 16 web page to find out more.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 03-10-2023

iPads cost a pretty penny, especially if you have a Wi-Fi + Cellular model. This is why you should know how to take care of your iPad, troubleshoot any problems it might have, and get Apple support for iPads.

Article / Updated 07-08-2020

Apple TV+ is Apple's new original content subscription service. Apple TV+ offers subscribers TV shows and movies developed for and available exclusively though Apple TV+. Currently, Apple TV+ is just $4.99 per month, with a one-week free trial when you first subscribe. For a limited time —Apple hasn’t said when it will end — people who buy a new iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Apple TV, or Mac get an entire year for free. It’s not expected that Apple will offer that free year forever, but it makes sense to do it now, while the service is new. That's because Apple is rolling out new shows as they go, and while many of those shows are great, there's not yet a deep catalog to justify the price. This is especially true when you consider Apple TV+'s competition is Disney+, Amazon Prime, Hulu, Netflix, and other services with more extensive catalogs of original and sometimes third-party legacy content. Apple TV+ has launched shows such as See, The Morning Show, For All Mankind, Servant, Truth Be Told, and Little America, as well as documentary movies such as The Elephant Queen and kids shows such as Ghost Writer and Helpsters. Dozens of other shows have been signed by Apple and are in development, and Apple adds new shows every few weeks. To watch Apple TV+ shows, tap the Apple TV app on your Home screen, and then tap the Watch Now icon at the bottom of the screen. Scroll down and tap one of the Apple TV+ buttons. You see a landing page dedicated to Apple TV+ content. If you haven't already subscribed to Apple TV+, you'll be able to browse the content with frequent opportunities to start a 7-day free trial. During that trial, you can watch as many shows or movies as you want. If you don't cancel your subscription before the 7 days is up, you'll be automatically billed $4.99 per month. If you have a free year because you purchased an Apple device, you won't start paying until that year is up. To view a movie or episodes of a show, tap the cover art for that movie or show. Then tap the Play First Episode button to start a new show, or play Next Episode for a show you've already started. Scroll down on the show's information page to see a list of seasons and episodes. You can download any show to your iPad by tapping the iCloud download icon below the episode. By downloading, you can watch shows offline, say on an airplane, a long car ride, or anywhere else you may not have Internet access. You will, of course, need a Wi-Fi or cellular data connection to stream shows. Streaming video can use a lot of bandwidth, so be mindful of your cellular data caps if you're watching a show over your cellular connection. To leave the Apple TV+ section of the TV app, tap the Watch Now button in the upper-left corner, or tap one of the icons at the bottom of the TV app screen. This service is a great experience on the iPad. When added to all the awesome apps you’ll have on your iPad, you can do so many great things!

Article / Updated 07-03-2020

Killer app is familiar jargon to anyone who has spent any time around computers. The term refers to an application so sweet or so useful that just about everybody wants or must have it for their iPad. You could make the argument that the most compelling killer app on the iPad is the very App Store itself. This online emporium has an abundance of splendid programs, many of which are free. These cover everything from food (hey, you gotta eat) to showbiz. Check out the App Store and discover your favorite killer iPad apps. TripCase Frequent travelers can benefit from an intelligent repository for travel-related information, one that is smart enough to alert them of gate changes, weather delays, flight cancellations, and the like, and one that was easy to configure, convenient to use, and free. TripCase is all that and more. It’s a free app (and website) that organizes details of each trip in one place, with reminders and flight alerts delivered directly to your iPad. TripCase has a lot to like, but one of the best things is that it’s drop-dead simple to add your travel events — without copying and pasting or even typing. You simply forward your confirmation emails — for flights, hotels, rental cars, and other travel-related services — to [email protected]. TripCase parses the details, creates an itinerary, and sends you an email to confirm that our trip is ready to view in TripCase. You can forward confirmations from at least a half dozen travel providers, and TripCase has never failed to interpret them correctly. (And you can always enter details the old-fashioned way — by copying and pasting or typing.) After TripCase has your info, you can view it in the TripCase iPad app or in any web browser. The app is well-organized, with a timeline view of the itinerary. Other details are but a tap away. TripCase also includes an action view with flight alerts, reminders, and other messages. Any way you look at it, TripCase does most of the work for you. TripCase can even help you locate an alternate flight based on your original reservation should your flight be cancelled or delayed. And it reminds you to check in and print boarding passes 24 hours before each flight. Sweet! TripCase’s motto is “stress-free travel.” Although it may not make travel stress free — or increase the legroom in and around a cramped airline seat — it definitely makes travel less stressful. And one more note about TripCase. If you purchase their Receipts feature ($5.99), you can take pictures of your receipts, and TripCase will collect them for you until you’re ready to download them as a PDF. Handy! Shazam Ever heard a song on the radio or television, in a store, or at a club and wondered what it was called or who was singing it? With the Shazam app, you may never wonder again. Just launch Shazam and point your iPad’s microphone at the source of the music. In a few seconds, the song title and artist’s name magically appear on your iPad screen. In Shazam parlance, that song has been tagged. Now, if tagging were all Shazam could do, that would surely be enough. But wait, there’s more. After Shazam tags a song, you can Buy the song at the iTunes Store Watch related videos on YouTube Tweet the song on Twitter if you set up Twitter in Settings Read a biography, a discography, or lyrics Take a photo and attach it to the tagged item in Shazam Email a tag to a friend Shazam isn’t great at identifying classical music, jazz, show tunes, or opera. But if you use it primarily to identify popular music, it rocks (pun intended). It has worked in noisy airport terminals, crowded shopping malls, and even once at a wedding ceremony. Oh, and one more thing: You can have Siri (with Shazam’s assistance) identify a song for you even if you don’t have the Shazam app installed. Flipboard Flipboard is a socially oriented personal magazine app for the iPad that is great for news and information junkies. To get started with Flipboard, tap the topics you’re interested in: business, technology, sports, arts & culture, wine tasting, music, cute animals, and a lot more — over 30,000 topics, in fact. Flipboard then delivers articles based on your selections, all presented in a handsome, intuitive interface. Swipe left and right to move from page to page. Tap on the articles you want to read. Fine-tune the articles that Flipboard delivers by tapping a thumbs-up (more like this) or a thumbs-down (less like this) icon. You’ll find articles in Flipboard that are a lot more appetizing than that one. As a bonus, you can link Flipboard to various social media accounts. Movies by Flixster If you like movies, try the Flixster iPad app. Feed it your zip code and then browse local theaters by movie, showtimes, rating, or distance from your current location. Or browse to find a movie you like and then tap to find theaters, showtimes, and other info. Another nice feature is the capability to buy tickets to most movies from your iPad with just a few additional taps. You can read reviews, play movie trailers, and email movie listings to others with a single tap. You will also enjoy the movie trailers for soon-to-be-released films and DVDs. Other free movie showtime apps are out there, but Flixster is one of the best. IMDb Movies & TV While you’re on the subject of the silver screen, try opening IMDb, shorthand for Internet Movie Database (owned by Amazon). And what a database it is, especially for the avid filmgoer. This vast and delightful repository of all things cinema is the place to go for complete cast/crew listings, actor/filmmaker bios, plot summaries, movie trailers, critics’ reviews, user ratings, parental guidance, famous quotations, and all kinds of trivia. You can always search for movies, TV shows, actors, directors, and so on by typing a name in the search field at the top of the iPad screen. You can also browse various menu choices to find current movies by showtimes, what’s coming soon, or what’s popular. You can browse TV recaps, too, or find people born on the day you happen to be looking and poking around the app. It’s also fun to check out Trending Celebrities on IMDb. The recent roster included Jaimie Alexander, Tom Hardy, Alexandra Daddario, Priyanka Chopra, Emilia Clarke, Johnny Depp, Leonardo DiCaprio, Marion Cotillard, Natalie Dormer, Michael Fassbender, Rooney Mara, among many others. One piece of advice to movie buffs: Avoid IMDb if you have a lot of work to do. You’ll have a hard time closing the curtain on this marvelous iPad app. Netflix Flixster, IMDb, and now Netflix. You’ve no doubt detected a real trend by now, and that trend is indeed our affection for movies and TV shows. If you love TV and movies, too, you’re sure to be a fan of the Netflix app. From the iPad, you have more or less instant access to thousands of movies and TV shows on demand as well as Netflix’s original content. You can search by genre (classics, comedy, drama, and so on) and subgenre (courtroom dramas, political dramas, romantic dramas, and so on). Netflix Originals include popular shows such as Orange Is The New Black, the huge hit Stranger Things, Jessica Jones, The Irishman, the Lost in Space reboot, The Witcher, Mindhunter, and The Crown. Although the app is free, you have to pay Netflix streaming subscription fees that start at $8.99 a month. You also need an Internet connection, preferably through Wi-Fi, though it will stream over cellular networks, too. Streaming movies over 3G or 4G can quickly eat up your data, so be mindful of your data plan. Comixology The Comixology app is a fantastic way to read comic books on a touchscreen. Its online store features thousands of comics and comic series from dozens of publishers, including Arcana, Archie, Marvel, Devil’s Due, Digital webbing, Red 5, DC Comics, and Zenescope, as well as hundreds of free comics. Furthermore, many titles are classics, like issue #1 of The Amazing Spider-Man. Released in 1963 for $0.12, a copy in excellent condition goes for at least $25,000 today! Other comics are priced from $0.99 per issue, though many issues of many series are available for free as a teaser. Finally, this app provides a great way to organize the comics you own on your iPad so that you can find the one you want quickly and easily. New releases are available every Wednesday, so visit the web store often to check out the latest and greatest offerings. Both the store and your personal comic collection are well organized and easy to use. And reading comics in Comixology is a pleasure you won’t want to miss if you’re a fan of comics or graphic novels. Epicurious Recipes & Shopping List Do you love to eat, but now your gourmet chef skills could use a boost? You can get a lot of that culinary assistance from Epicurious, which easily lives up to its billing as the “Cook’s Companion.” This tasty recipe app comes courtesy of Condé Nast Digital. With more than 33,000 recipes to choose from, we’re confident you’ll find a yummy one in no time. From the Home screen, you can browse categories, often timed to the season. Recipe collection categories include Halloween Treats, Vegetarian Thanksgiving, Lunches Kids Love, and Chocolate Desserts. Some recipes carry reviews. If you tap Search instead, you can fine-tune your search for a recipe by food or drink, by main ingredient (for example, banana, chicken, pasta), by cuisine type, and by dietary consideration (low-carb, vegan, kosher, and so on), among other parameters. When you discover a recipe you like, you can add it to a collection of favorites, email it to a friend, pass along the ingredients to your shopping list, summon nutritional information, or share it on Facebook and Twitter. If you want to sync favorite recipes on your iPhone and iPad through a personal recipe box on Epicurious.com, you can now do so for free. Bon appétit. Evernote Let’s take a quick look at the problem Evernote resolves for most iPad users: storing our little bits of digital information — text, pictures, screen shots, scanned images, receipts, bills, email messages, web pages, and other info you might want to recall someday — and synchronizing all the data among all our devices and the cloud. Evernote is all that and more, with excellent free apps for iOS, macOS, Android, and Windows, plus a killer web interface that works in most browsers. You can create notes of any length on your iPad by typing, dictating, or photographing. You can add unlimited tags to a note, and create unlimited notebooks to organize your rapidly growing collection of notes. Getting words and images into Evernote couldn’t be much easier, but the info will be useless if you can’t find it when you need it. Evernote won’t let you down, with myriad options for finding and working with your stored data. In addition to the aforementioned tags and notebooks, Evernote offers searching and filtering (Tags and Notebooks) to help you find the note you need. Two other nice touches are worth noting about Evernote: Notes are automatically tagged with your current location (as long as you create them on your iPad or other location-enabled device), so you can filter by Places. You can attach reminders to notes and receive notifications on the date and time you chose. Best of all, you’ll be notified on your iPad as well as on your other iDevices, Macs, PCs, and on the Evernote website! Our two favorite Evernote features are syncing notes with all your devices and the cloud automatically and that everything — creating, organizing, and syncing notes — is free. Pandora Radio This custom Internet radio service is available gratis on the iPad. And you can play Pandora music in the background while doing other stuff. Pandora works on the iPad in much the same way that it does on a Mac or PC. In the box at the upper left, tap + Create Station and type the name of a favorite artist, song title, or composer via the iPad keyboard, and Pandora creates an instant personalized radio station with selections that exemplify the style you chose. Pandora will also suggest some stations you might like based on the stations you’ve already established, and you can browse genre stations. Suppose you type Beatles. Pandora’s instant Beatles station includes performances from John, Paul, George, and Ringo, as well as tunes from other acts. And say you type a song title, such as Have I Told You Lately. Pandora constructs a station with similar music after you tell it whether to base tunes on the Van Morrison, Rod Stewart, or another rendition. You can help fine-tune the music Pandora plays by tapping the thumbs-up or thumbs-down icon at the bottom of the screen associated with the music you’ve been listening to during the current session. Pandora also takes advantage of the generous screen real estate of the iPad to deliver artist profiles, lyrics, and more. You may see ads, too, unless you opt for Pandora Plus ($4.99 a month) or Pandora Premium ($9.99 a month), premium upgrades that eliminate them. Both plans add other benefits as well, such as permitting you to more often skip music you don’t like, on-demand listening, and more. If you tap the share icon below an album cover of the currently playing song, you can write a message about the song, and then share it on Facebook or Twitter or email it. Other options in Pandora let you bookmark the song or artist that’s playing or head to iTunes to purchase the song or other material from the artist directly on the iPad (if available). You can instantly create stations from artists or tracks or also indicate when you’re tired of a track. Want to learn more? Check out these ten iPad hints, tips, and shortcuts.

Article / Updated 07-02-2020

The iPad is a great device for browsing and sharing your favorite content. Do you ever want to share the love? The iPad offers you several options for sharing. When you find a great website on your iPad that you just must share, tap the share icon or tap Share after pressing down on a link, and you find these sharing options: One Tap Suggestions: The top row in the iPadOS Sharing pane is one of the best new features in iPadOS. It contains people and places Siri thinks you're most likely to want to share with, such as nearby AirDrop devices, as described next, as well as a combination of your most-used and recent Messages contacts. Sharing with your closest friends and family is now even easier! AirDrop: Share the page with other people who have compatible devices and AirDrop. You’ll need to turn on AirDrop in Control Center (swipe down from the top-right corner of the screen). Then choose whether to make your iPad discoverable to everyone or only people in your contacts. Messages: Send a link to the web page in a text or an iMessage. Mail: The Mail program opens, with a new message containing a link for the page and the name of the site or page in the Subject line. News: Using this option isn’t so much sharing as opening the web page you're viewing in Apple’s News app. Tap the News icon to go to the Apple News version of that article. Here are other ways to find news and information on your iPad. Reminders: Add to a new reminder a link to the web page you're viewing so you don’t forget! If you tap Options, you can be reminded on a given day or location. Notes: Your iPad opens a pane that allows you to save the web page as an attachment in an existing or new note. Tap Save to finish the process and return to Safari. Books: Convert the web page you're viewing into a PDF that is then added to your Books library. More: Display other recent apps — including social networking apps such as Twitter, Facebook, Tencent Weibo, and others. If you've been using your iPad for a while, you’ll see your frequently used apps. Copy: Copy the page in question. Add to Reading List: You can add web articles to your Reading List. Add Bookmark: Bookmark a web page. Add to Favorites: When you tap the + button to add a new tab, you see a page of icons representing the web pages you visit most often. Tap Add to Favorites to add the web page you're viewing to this most-favored-nation-status grouping. Find on Page: Type a word you want to find. Matching words are highlighted; use the up and down arrows that appear to cycle through each mention. Tap Done when you're finished. Add to Home Screen: This is sometimes referred to a clipping a web page. Print: Print to an AirPrint printer. You can choose the number of copies you want. Tap Print to complete the job. Markup: Convert the web page to a PDF you can then draw on! Use the brush palette that appears at the bottom of the screen to choose a color, a type of pen, and other markup controls. Tap Done to either save or delete the PDF. Want to learn more? Try these ten tips, hints, and shortcuts to get more out of your iPad.

Article / Updated 07-02-2020

There are so many great things about iPads, and some of them are easy to overlook or forget. Here’s a list of ten of the most favorite hints, tips, and shortcuts to make the most of all your iPad’s features. Use the iPad’s do not disturb for others You probably think of the do not disturb (DND) feature as a way of keeping your iPad from bugging you while you are sleeping, in a meeting, or just don't want to be bothered. But DND can also help you be considerate to your family, roommates, or fellow office workers. If you're going to leave your iPad behind when you go somewhere, activate do not disturb to keep your notifications from bothering everyone else! You can activate DND by swiping down from the upper-right corner of the screen to open Control Center and then tapping the quarter moon icon. Create a website home screen shortcut on your iPad You can add any web page as an icon to your Home screen, and then open the icon with a tap, like any app icon. In Safari, pull up the page you want to save to your Home screen, then tap the Share icon on the right side of the screen next to the address bar. Scroll down if necessary to the add to home screen icon, which is a + inside a square. You'll see a preview of the icon. Tap Add to complete the process. Your Home screen appears, sporting your new shortcut. Tap it any time to open that web page. Edit your iPad’s today view We love today view in iPadOS. It's the slide-over view where you can get quick access to recently used apps, see headlines from the News app, see reminders, check out your AirPod battery levels, and more. From the main Home screen, swipe your finger from the left to the right to open today view. Scroll to the bottom of today view, and then tap the Edit button to display a list of all today view widgets you're using and not using. First, get rid of the widgets you don't use. They don't need to be in your way. Next, add any widgets you think you might like — just don't forget to go back and remove them later if you find you don't want them. Customize your iPad’s dock with your most used apps The dock is one of the most used elements of iPadOS. It comes with five apps by default, but you can also add up to 13 apps to the dock. To add an app to the dock, tap and hold down on the icon on your Home screen, and then drag the icon to the dock. It's that easy! Don't be shy — add your most commonly used apps to the dock for quick access to them from anywhere. Type on a floating keyboard Have you ever wanted the virtual keyboard in iPadOS to be smaller? You can do that, and it's easy. In any app that uses the virtual keyboard, just pinch the keyboard using two fingers (or a finger and a thumb), and it will shrink to less than half its normal size. The keyboard will also be set to float, so you can move it anywhere on the screen. To move your floating keyboard, tap and drag the gray bar at the bottom of the keyboard. To expand the keyboard back to its full size and re-dock it to the bottom of your screen, either unpinch it or drag it to the bottom of your screen. It will automatically expand to its normal dimensions and position. Look up words on your iPad To look up a word, tap and hold down on the word to select it. Your word will be highlighted with handles on either end that allow you to adjust the selected word. Tap and drag either handle to reposition it. Above your selection will be a contextual menu that lets you copy, look up, or share the selection. Tap Look Up to bring up the definition of the word, as well as relevant searches, Siri suggested websites, and more. After you get used to this feature, you'll miss it any time you're reading legacy media, such as printed books, newspapers, or magazines Find almost anything on your iPad using Spotlight Spotlight is another feature that can easily be overlooked. If you need to find something on your iPad or do a quick web search without opening Safari first, swipe down from the middle of your Home screen to open Spotlight. Type your search term, and you'll get relevant results from your iPad, apps on your iPad, and Siri suggestions for websites. Tap and hold down on your iPad’s Home screen icons You can tap and hold down on any Home screen icon for quick access to actions specific to that app. Some apps will have more — or fewer — actions available. For instance, tapping and holding down on the News app icon will give you quick access to some of the news sites you follow. Tapping and holding down on the Maps app gives you quick access to marking your location, sharing your location, and searching nearby. Apple's Measure app, on the other hand, has no special actions available, but every app will give you the option to Edit Home Screen or Delete App. Lock your iPad’s screen rotation You can unlock and lock your iPad's screen rotation when needed. This feature is handy. For instance, when lying down and reading, you can lock your screen if you don't want your iPad rotating the screen every time you move. When you are doing many other activities, you might want to be free to rotate the screen at any time. To lock or unlock your screen rotation, swipe down from the upper-right corner and tap the screen rotation lock icon. Use your iPad’s volume button as a camera shutter When taking photographs with your iPad, you can use either the volume up or volume down button as a camera shutter button. Many times, you just can't reach the on-screen shutter button, and this handy trick is really helpful.

Article / Updated 07-02-2020

Recently, Apply introduced a very helpful app to help users manage the time spent on their iPads. This app is called Screen Time. Screen Time consists of two sets of tools. One shows you how much time you're spending on your iPad, and the other allows you to set restrictions on how much time you, your children, your employees, or your students spend on their iPad. Screen Time: See a report of your daily average use of your iPad for the current week. Tap See All Activity to get a more detailed report, including how much time you’ve spent in individual apps. You can also see the average number of times you've picked up your iPad, as well as the average number of notifications you received. All of these tools are designed to help you take control of your own screen time, or the screen time of your children, employees, or students. Restrictions: Screen Time allows you to set restrictions on how and when your iPad is used: Downtime: Set limits on when your iPad can be used. You can block your iPad from use at different times and days of the week — or every day of the week. App Limits: Choose apps you want to limit on your iPad. You can limit individual apps, a category of apps, or all apps. When you've selected the apps you want to limit, tap Next to set the number of minutes or hours (or both) that those apps can be used during a given day. Always Allow: Choose apps that can always be accessed on your iPad, regardless of other restrictions you've set. Content & Privacy Restrictions: Dive deep into a number of settings designed to protect your privacy or the privacy of your children, employees, or students. A vast number of settings are here, and it will benefit you to explore them fully. You can also set a passcode for accessing Screen Time. If you're setting a passcode for your children, employees, or students, it should be different than the passcode that unlocks your iPad to prevent them from undoing the restrictions you so carefully set. Further down in the Screen Time settings is Share Across Devices. Toggle the switch green if you want to copy your Screen Time settings across every device signed into your iCloud account. Choose the Family option if you want to set up Screen Time only for iCloud accounts set up for Family Sharing. If you want to turn off Screen Time, tap Settings→Screen Time→Turn Off Screen Time at the bottom of the Screen Time settings. Want to learn more neat things you can do with your iPad? Try these ten iPad hints, tips, and shortcuts.