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The Complete Guide to Every iOS 27 Feature

How to access features from the iPad Lock Screen

by Stacey Butler

The Lock Screen, which shows the current time and date and your most recent notifications, appears when you first turn on or wake iPad. From it, you can see notifications, open Camera and Control Center, get information from your favorite apps at a glance, and control media playback.

You can personalize your Lock Screen with a wallpaper, a favorite photo, a different font for the time, and widgets. See Create a custom iPad Lock Screen. And you can choose whether notification previews show while iPad is locked.

The iPad Lock Screen showing the time and date.

Access features and information from the Lock Screen

Even while iPad is locked, you can get to the features and information you need most right from the Lock Screen.

  • Open Camera: Swipe left. See Take photos with your iPad camera.
  • Open Control Center: Swipe down from the top-right corner. See Use and customize Control Center.
  • See earlier notifications: Swipe up from the center. See View and respond to notifications.
  • View more widgets: Swipe right. See Add, edit, and remove widgets. You can interact with widgets on the Lock Screen and the Home Screen to perform tasks—for example, tap an item in the Reminders widget to check it off, or tap the Play button in the Podcasts widget to play an episode.
  • Start drawing and taking notes: On supported models, tap Apple Pencil on the Lock Screen. Whatever you create is saved in Notes.
  • Control media playback: Use the playback controls (Now Playing) on the Lock Screen to play, pause, rewind, or fast-forward media playing on your iPad. See View and control Live Activities on the Lock Screen.

To choose what you can get to from the Lock Screen, check out our guide, Turn on Lock Screen features.

Show notification previews on the Lock Screen

  1. Start the Settings app on your iPad.
  2. Tap Notifications, tap Show Previews, and tap Always.

Notification previews show text from Messages, lines from Mail messages, and Calendar invitation details. To learn more, see our article, View and respond to notifications.

View and control Live Activities on the Lock Screen

An app’s Live Activities can show up on your Lock Screen, which makes it easy to follow their progress. Think order updates from food delivery apps, directions from Maps, live sports updates from the Apple TV app, and more.

Playing music, a movie, or other media on iPad? The playback controls on your Lock Screen let you play, pause, rewind, and fast-forward these Live Activities. From the iPad Lock Screen, you can even control media playback on a remote device, like your Apple TV 4K or HomePod.

To change your Live Activity settings, go to the Settings app, tap Apps, tap the app with the settings you want to change, then tap Live Activities.

Note: Not all apps have a Live Activities setting.

Monitor background tasks

On iPad, you can start an extended background task, like downloading a file from Safari, and move on to another task while it finishes. Background tasks keep running until they’re completed while you’re doing something else.

Ongoing background tasks show up as Live Activities on your Home Screen and Lock Screen, letting you know they’re running so you can monitor their progress.

See also

Tag: Lock Screen
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iPhone SE (2nd generation) hardware: buttons, cameras, and ports

by Dave Johnson

Learn the location of the cameras, buttons, and other essential hardware features on iPhone SE (2nd generation).

On the front and sides, you’ll find the front camera, side button, SIM tray, the Home button/Touch ID, Lightning connector, volume buttons, and Ring/Silent switch. Around back are the rear camera and flash.

The front view of iPhone SE (2nd generation). The front camera is at the top, to the left of the speaker. On the right side, from top to bottom, are the side button and the SIM tray. The Home button is at the bottom center. The Lightning connector is on the bottom edge. On the left side, from bottom to top, are the volume buttons and the Ring/Silent switch.

  • 1 Front camera
  • 2 Side button
  • 3 SIM tray
  • 4 Home button/Touch ID
  • 5 Lightning connector
  • 6 Volume buttons
  • 7 Ring/Silent switch

The back view of iPhone SE (2nd generation). The rear camera and flash are at the top left.

  • 8 Rear camera
  • 9 Flash

Get started with iPhone SE

Tag: iPhone
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How to select your favorite Podcasts categories and channels on iPad

by Abigail Shilets

You can select your favorite categories and channels in the Podcasts app to get better show recommendations and access shows from your subscriptions. Favorite categories rank higher in search results, and favorite channels are easier to find in your library. You can remove them if you change your mind, too.

Select your favorite categories

Adding categories to your favorites gets you better show recommendations and easy access to category pages. Favorite categories also rank higher in search results, and they appear with a Favorite icon at the top of the Manage Categories screen.

  1. Start the Podcasts app on your iPad.
  2. In the sidebar, tap Categories.
  3. Do any of the following:
    • Add a category to your favorites: Tap a category, then tap the Favorite button. To add a new category as a favorite, tap Manage. Then select one or more categories.
    • Remove a category from your favorites: Tap a category, then tap the Remove Favorite button. You can also tap Manage. Then tap the Remove Favorite button next to a category.

Select your favorite channels

Favorite channels are easier to find in your library, though you can remove them from your favorites if you change your mind. In the Library, a Favorite icon marks them at the top of the Channels section.

Note: If you haven’t subscribed to any channels yet, followed any shows that a channel offers, or added a channel as a favorite, Channels won’t appear in the sidebar.

  1. Start the Podcasts app on your iPad.
  2. In the sidebar, tap Channels.

    You can also search or browse for a channel.

  3. Do any of the following:

    • Add a channel to your favorites: Tap the channel and tap the Favorite button.
    • Remove a channel from your favorites: Tap the channel, then tap the Remove Favorite button.

See also

Tag: Podcasts
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Dictation commands for punctuation, formatting, and emoji on iPad

by Kevin Hollington

When you dictate text on iPad, you can use commands for punctuation, formatting, capitalization, and more. In some languages, you can insert emoji using your voice while dictating.

The commands listed below are always available while you’re dictating text. To insert an emoji, you can say something like “heart emoji” or “car emoji,” and in some languages, Dictation automatically adds certain punctuation as you go.

Here are the commands for dictating text on iPad.

Note: Dictation may not be available in all languages or in all countries or regions, and features may vary.

When using Dictation, cellular data charges may apply. See View or change cellular data settings.

Punctuation

Command Result
Period .
Comma ,
Exclamation point !
Question mark ?
Dollar sign \$
Open parenthesis (
Close parenthesis )
Quote “
End quote “
Colon :
Semicolon ;
Hashtag #

For some languages, Dictation automatically adds certain punctuation as you dictate text.

Format text

Command Result
Cap Capitalize the next word
Caps on … caps off Capitalize the first character of each enclosed word
All caps Make the next word all uppercase
All caps on … all caps off Make the enclosed words all uppercase
No caps on … no caps off Make the enclosed words all lowercase
No space Eliminate the space between two words (not available for all languages)
No space on … no space off Run a series of words together (not available for all languages)
New paragraph Start a new paragraph
New line Start a new line

Change, insert, and delete text

Dictation commands to edit text are available in U.S. English on supported iPad models.

Command Result
Change … to … Replace existing text with new text
Insert … before … Insert new text before existing text
Insert … after … Insert new text after existing text
Select … Select text
Delete … Delete text
Delete all Delete all text
Undo Undo the action
Redo Redo the action

Insert emoji

You can insert emoji while dictating in certain languages. For example, say “heart emoji” for the heart emoji or “car emoji” for the car emoji. See below for more examples of emoji commands and the corresponding result.

Command Result
Smiley emoji The smiley emoji.
Halo emoji The halo emoji.
Laugh out loud emoji The laugh out loud emoji.
Heart eyes emoji The heart eyes emoji.
Amazing emoji The amazing emoji.
Yum emoji The yum emoji.
Congrats emoji The congrats emoji.
Goofy emoji The goofy emoji.
Sick emoji The sick emoji.
Scream emoji The scream emoji.
Hug emoji The hug emoji.
Fingers crossed emoji The fingers crossed emoji.
Purple heart emoji The purple heart emoji.
Cheers emoji The cheers emoji.
Celebrate emoji The celebrate emoji.
Speech balloon emoji The speech balloon emoji.
Puppy emoji The puppy emoji.
Music emoji The music emoji.
Rainbow emoji The rainbow emoji.
Present emoji The present emoji.

See also

Tag: Keyboard
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How to dictate text while using an Apple external keyboard with iPad

by Tyler Stephen

You can dictate text instead of typing it on an Apple external keyboard. As you speak, iPad automatically inserts punctuation for you, and you can insert emoji by saying their names, like “mind blown emoji” or “happy emoji.” You can also switch between keyboards with iPad.

Note: Dictation may not be available in all languages or in all countries or regions, and features may vary. Cellular data charges may apply (Wi-Fi + Cellular models).

  1. Open Settings, tap General and tap Keyboard. Then turn on Enable Dictation.
  2. Tap the Dictation button in the Shortcuts bar (at the bottom of the screen) and then speak.

    As you speak to insert text, iPad automatically inserts punctuation for you. You can insert emoji by saying their names (for example, “mind blown emoji” or “happy emoji”).

  3. When you finish, tap the Keyboard button at the bottom of the screen.

Quick tip: On the Magic Keyboard for iPad or Smart Keyboard, press the Switch Keyboard key-D to quickly switch to dictation.

See also

Tag: Keyboard
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How to switch between keyboards with iPad

by Kevin Hollington

With an Apple external keyboard, you can switch between the language keyboard for your region, an emoji keyboard, other language keyboards you add, and the onscreen keyboard. A keyboard shortcut cycles through them. The emoji keyboard even lets you search for an emoji with a common word, like “heart.”

Switch between language keyboards and the onscreen emoji keyboard

  1. On the external keyboard, press and hold the Control key.
  2. Press the Space bar to cycle between the language keyboard for your region, the emoji keyboard, and other language keyboards that you add.

    When you select the emoji keyboard, you can do the following:

    • Search for an emoji: Enter a commonly used word or phrase—such as “heart” or “smiley face”—in the search field above the emoji keyboard.
    • Enter an emoji: Tap it; or use the arrow keys on the external keyboard to select it. Then press Return.

Quick tip: To jump to the emoji keyboard quickly, press the Switch Keyboard key-E on Smart Keyboard or the Magic Keyboard for iPad.

With Magic Keyboard for iPad and Smart Keyboard, you can also press the Switch Keyboard key to choose between keyboards. If you want to use the Switch Keyboard key to show only the emoji keyboard instead of switching languages, go to Settings > General > Keyboard > Hardware Keyboard, then turn on Press the Switch Keyboard key for Emoji.

Quick tip: With a Chinese, Korean, Japanese, or Hebrew keyboard added, you can press the Caps Lock key to switch between Latin script and the other keyboard you’re using. If you’d rather the Caps Lock key not switch languages, go to Settings > General > Keyboard > Hardware Keyboard and turn off Switch Languages using Caps Lock.

Switch to the onscreen keyboard

  1. Do one of the following:
    • Tap the Keyboard Shortcut button in the Shortcuts bar (at the bottom of the screen).
    • If you installed additional language keyboards, tap the language button next to the predictive text suggestions (opposite of the Dictation button in the Shortcuts bar).
  2. Tap Show Keyboard.

To hide the onscreen keyboard, tap the Hide Keyboard button.

Note: On Magic Keyboard for iPad and Smart Keyboard, the Switch Keyboard key can show only the emoji keyboard rather than switching languages. To set that up, go to Settings > General > Keyboard > Hardware Keyboard and turn on Press the Switch Keyboard key for Emoji. Then, to switch between other language keyboards, you press and hold the Control key and press the Space bar.

See also

Tag: Keyboard
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How to buy books and audiobooks on iPad

by Abigail Shilets

In the Books app, you can find today’s bestsellers, view top charts, explore series, and browse lists curated by Apple Books editors. After you select a book or audiobook, you can read or listen to it right in the app.

You can browse the Book Store or Audiobook Store, or search for a specific title, author, series, or genre. You can also read a sample or listen to a preview before you buy, and all purchases use the payment method associated with your Apple Account.

Note: Apple Books isn’t available in all countries or regions.

  1. Start the Books app on your iPad.
  2. Tap Book Store or Audiobook Store to browse titles, or tap Search to look for a specific title, author, series, or genre.

    Tip: Tap Sections at the top of the screen to view titles in categories like Top Charts and Book Clubs, or genres like Biographies & Memoirs and Young Adults.

  3. Tap a book cover to see more details, read a sample, listen to a preview, or mark as Want to Read.
  4. Tap Buy to purchase a title, or tap Get to download a free title.

    All purchases are made with the payment method associated with your Apple Account.

On iPad models with Wi-Fi + Cellular, you can allow books and audiobooks to download automatically over your cellular network when you aren’t connected to Wi-Fi. Go to Settings > Apps > Books, then turn on Automatic Downloads. Tap Downloads, then choose Always Allow, Ask If Over 200 MB, or Always Ask.

When you purchase access to movies, TV shows, music, music videos, ebooks, audiobooks, or ringtones from Apple, you also have the option to permanently download these items to a compatible iPhone, iPad, Mac, or PC. Apple cannot revoke your downloaded content, and you can always access your downloaded content without an internet connection.

See also

Tag: Apple Books
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How to edit an image in Preview on iPad

by Abigail Shilets

You can crop, rotate, or flip an image in Preview on your iPad. You can also remove the background or adjust the image size.

You can choose Rotate Left or Rotate Right, or Flip Horizontally or Flip Vertically, and there’s a way to undo a change, too. You can also export or compress PDFs and images in Preview, and add, delete, rotate, move, or crop PDF pages in Preview on iPad.

  1. Start the Preview app on your iPad.
  2. Open an image.
  3. Do any of the following:
    • Crop the image: Tap the Crop button. Drag the blue handles to select an area, tap within the selected area, and then tap Crop.
    • Rotate the image: Tap the Rotate Left button. You can also tap the More button and choose Rotate Left or Rotate Right.
    • Flip the image: Tap the More button and then choose Flip Horizontally or Flip Vertically.
    • Remove the background: Tap the More button, then tap Remove Background.
    • Adjust the image size: Tap the More button, then tap Adjust Size. Choose options, then tap Done.

To undo a change, tap the More button, then choose Undo.

See also

Tag: Preview
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How to remove the background from an image in Preview on iPad

by Kevin Hollington

You can remove the background from an image in the Preview app on your iPad. You just open an image, and Remove Background is one of the options. You can also open and view PDFs and images, edit an image, or annotate a PDF or image in Preview.

Preview app window showing a photo with a hand holding grapes in the foreground. The background of the photo shows the sky and the ocean.

  1. Open the Preview app on your iPad.
  2. Open an image.
  3. Tap the More button, then choose Remove Background.

See also

Tag: Preview
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How to reply to an email with a PDF attachment in Preview on iPad

by Moses Johnson

You can reply to an email with a PDF attachment in Preview on iPad. You just fill out or annotate the PDF attachment in the Preview app and attach the updated PDF to your reply in the Mail app. You can optionally add text to the reply, too.

  1. Go to the Mail app on your iPad.
  2. Open an email with a PDF attached and then tap the attachment to open it in the Preview app.
  3. Fill out or annotate the PDF.
  4. Go back to the Mail app and open the original email.
  5. Tap the Reply button, tap the Attachment button, and tap Attach File.
  6. Locate the updated PDF, then tap to select it.
  7. Optionally, add text to the reply.
  8. Tap the Send button.

See also

Tags: Mail, Preview
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