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iPad Tips

12 Best tips to improve iPad Air battery life in 2025

by Kevin Hollington

Keep your iPad Air running longer on a single charge with these battery-saving tips.

Apple’s iPad Air lineup is known for its battery life. They tend to offer excellent battery life, with all models promising 10 hours of usage as per Apple. However, there are a lot of terms and conditions attached here, and if you are looking to extend the battery life of your iPad Air, follow this guide.

As a user, you can tweak some of the settings in iPadOS to get maximum juice out of your iPad Air battery. In this post, we will talk about the best battery saving tips and tricks to extend the endurance time of your iPad Air.

The battery saving tips explained in this article apply to the following iPad Air Models:

  • Fifth Generation: 10.9-inch iPad Air released in 2022.
  • Fourth Generation: 10.9-inch iPad Air released in 2020.
  • Third Generation: 10.5-inch iPad Air released in 2019.
  • Second Generation: 9.7-inch iPad Air 2 released in 2014.

Improve iPad Air Battery Life With These Tips and Tricks

1. Reduce screen brightness

It may seem convenient to have your brightness on max, especially when you’re outside, but this can cause your iPad Air battery to drain faster. Turning the brightness down on your iPad Air can certainly help when it comes to extending the battery life.

To adjust screen brightness on your iPad, swipe up to open the Control Center and use the slider on the right to lower your screen brightness. You can also go to Settings > Display & Brightness to adjust the brightness. Also on this settings page is a toggle switch for Auto-Brightness. Unless you are frequently using your iPad Air at the beach or in other brightly lit environments, turn on Auto-Brightness, which adjusts the screen level based on ambient light.

2. Turn off Wi-Fi and Bluetooth when not in use

It might seem like a no-brainer to keep your Wi-Fi or data activated at all hours so that you can keep connected day and night. But this can significantly drain your iPad Air battery, as you constantly get notifications, background updates, and more when you don’t necessarily need them.

A Wi-Fi connection consumes less energy than a cellular connection, so use it when you can. But Wi-Fi consumes power, even if you are not using it to connect to a network, so you should consider turning it off when you are not online. During your sleeping hours is a great time to switch off your Wi-Fi.

Similarly, while using your iPad Air, you might have connected your headphones, keyboard or speakers to it using Bluetooth. Most users forget to turn off the option after completing the work. Unnecessarily keeping your Bluetooth on can impact the battery life on the iPad Air. Consider switching it off when you aren’t using it to conserve battery.

Both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi can be also toggled on and off by swiping up from the bottom edge of your iPad Air’s screen for the Control Center.

3. Turn off AirDrop

AirDrop is a feature that lets you shuttle files among your iOS devices or between your iPhone or iPad Air and your Mac. It’s super simple to use but, like fellow wireless technologies Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, it can also drain your battery even when you aren’t transferring files. Unless you are using AirDrop to transfer files regularly, why not keep it turned off until you need to use it? To do so, swipe up for the Control Center, tap AirDrop and then tap Receiving Off.

4. Turn off Handoff

I don’t need to answer phone calls on my iPad Air and I rarely use it to finish an email or text I started on my iPhone or Mac (or vice versa). Because I use my iPad Air for different things than my iPhone or Mac, I don’t need Handoff to share activities between these very different devices. If this also describes you, then you can save a bit of battery life by disabling Handoff, another wireless technology that is using battery resources in the background to search for compatible devices even when you aren’t actively using it. To disable Handoff, go to Settings > General > Handoff and toggle off the feature.

5. Don’t push, fetch less

If your iPad Air isn’t your primary device for checking email, you don’t need to have new messages constantly pushed to the device or have it frequently fetch new messages. Check your mail settings to make sure push is turned off and fetch set to Manually, or, if you must, Hourly. You can adjust Push and Fetch settings by following this path: Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Fetch New Data.

You can select to have data fetched for your iCloud account and any email accounts you set up with the Mail app. Choose Fetch or Manual for these accounts, and then select the frequency with which you’d like to fetch data.

6. Reduce Background App Activity

Next on our list is limiting background app activities on your iPad Air. Background apps essentially function even when you’re not directly using them. Examples include VPN, Maps, health, and calendar apps. These apps monitor or control certain aspects of your phone without you intervening, which, while convenient, causes your iPad Air battery to drain faster.

What’s more, you probably don’t need a good number of these apps to be working in the background. So, how can you reduce background app activity?

Head to Settings > General > Background App Refresh and you can turn Background App Refresh off entirely or select which apps you’d like to refresh in the background.

7. Keep an eye on location services

Many people claim you should force-quit out of apps, say, each night before bed. I’m lucky if I get all the dishes cleaned up before hitting the sack, so I certainly don’t have the time or the energy to be closing iPad Air apps on a regular basis. Plus, it has not been definitively proven to me that apps running in the background drain battery life to any great extent. I will, however, force-close Google Maps or any other GPS app, since these do seem to drain the iPad Air’s battery.

There are a huge number of apps that can track your location. While you may think these apps solely track your location when you’re directly using them, this isn’t always the case. This constant location monitoring requires energy and can take a toll on your iPad Air battery life.

To keep tabs on which of your apps are using location services. Go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services to adjust which apps are requesting your location.

To kill four wireless birds — cellular, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS — with one stone, simply turn on Airplane Mode from the top option listed in Settings or from the Control Center.

8. No more notifications

When you install a new app on your iPad Air, the chances are that its notification settings will be automatically activated. But you don’t necessarily need to receive notifications from every app you have, and doing so can have a detrimental effect on the length of your iPad Air battery life. Notifications also wake up an idle iPad Air and turn on the display, which consumes battery power. So, you can deactivate notifications for certain apps to help mitigate battery loss. Go to Settings > Notifications and choose which apps can push notifications your way.

9. See which apps are battery hogs

On the iPad Air, the Battery page in settings is useful because it shows you which apps have used the most battery resources in the last 24 hours and the last seven days. If your iPad Air is running through battery life at a disturbingly fast pace, check here to see which apps are the cause and then quit using those apps until you can charge your iPad Air.

10. Quick trigger for Auto-Lock

Why let an idle iPad Air run down your battery? With Auto-Lock, your iPad Air will shut down after it has been inactive for a period of time. You can set it as short as 2 minutes. To set a time period for Auto-Lock, head to Settings > Display & Brightness > Auto-Lock.

11. Climate control

Excess heat can affect battery life. Apple recommends keeping your iPad Air between 32 and 95 degrees Fahrenheit, and points to the range of 62 to 72 degrees as the comfort zone. This means keep your iPad Air in the shade at the beach, out of locked cars in the summer, and off of heaters in the winter.

Also, if you have a case that envelopes your iPad Air and can cause it to heat up when it’s charging, remove your iPad Air from the case before charging it.

12. Update Your iPad Air to the Latest Software

Apple occasionally releases iPadOS updates to keep the iPad smooth and glitch-free. Alongside, Apple also adds some battery-related features to increase the life span of the iPad Air battery. With that in mind, it’s always advisable to keep your iPadOS up to date. Go to Settings > General > Software Update to check if an update is available for your iPad Air.

Say Goodbye to a Flat iPad Air Battery With These Power-Saving Tips

It’s always a pain to have your iPad Air die unexpectedly, but with the above-mentioned tips and tricks, you will see an improvement in iPad Air battery life.

If you’re watching full HD movies with the brightness turned all the way up, or you’re performing power intensive tasks like gaming, your iPad Air is still going to die on you in a few hours. But in general use, the above tips should help you get more juice out of your iPad Air.

See also:

Tag: iPad Tips
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6 Charging Tips to Maintain Your iPad Battery Health

by Dave Johnson

Maintain your iPads battery health with these charging tips.

When you buy a new iPad, you most certainly get the advertised battery life. However, as time passes, your iPad’s battery health will slowly but surely deteriorate.

Battery degradation is natural to lithium-ion batteries used in iPads, smartphones, and most gadgets. Hence, there’s no way to keep your iPad’s battery 100% healthy.

However, you can maintain your iPad’s battery health by adopting optimal charging habits. In this article, we’ll discuss the best charging tips you should embrace to maintain your iPad’s battery health.

1. Don’t Fully Charge or Drain Your iPad’s Battery

As we’ve pointed out above, iPads use lithium-ion batteries, which usually reduce capacity as you continue charging and discharging your device. With each complete charge cycle, the maximum charging capacity of the battery slightly reduces.

Lithium-ion batteries take a big hit if you fully charge them as it makes them susceptible to overheating, which in turn reduces their lifespan. This is why you may have noticed that your iPad’s battery charges faster from 0 to 80%, then enters the slow charging phase from 80% to 100%.

Conversely, fully discharging lithium-ion batteries is just as bad, and hence, Battery University recommends that you keep your charge between 30% and 80% for maximum battery life.

2. Use Apple’s Official Charger

This might seem like a no-brainer, but it’s always worth mentioning. When you buy a new iPad, Apple always includes a power adapter and a USB-C charging cable. Using an official power adapter and charging cable is always recommended because they are optimized to ensure your battery’s long-term health.

And it’s not just about maintaining iPad battery health. An official iPad charger is also safer to use. However, it’s worth mentioning that there are some excellent third-party iPad chargers that you can use.

Just avoid cheap third-party iPad chargers from no-name brands, as they can be bad for long-term battery health and might be a safety risk, too. If you’re going to buy a charger, we recommend getting one made by Apple. If not, then get one from reputable accessory makers like Anker, Satechi, or Belkin.

Apple even sells select accessories from third-party companies on its website, so you can use that as a benchmark on which third-party chargers are the best.

3. Enable Optimized Battery Charging

Optimized Battery Charging is a feature available on your iPad that learns your daily charging routine and optimizes charging to help extend battery life. The feature is meant to reduce your battery’s wear and tear.

It does so by delaying charging your battery past 80% if it predicts that you will have your iPad plugged in for a long time. At the same time, the feature also ensures that you’ll have your battery charged by the time you unplug the charger.

You can enable Optimized Battery Charging in iPadOS from Settings. open the Settings app and select Battery > Battery Health > Optimized Battery Charging. Toggle on the feature.

As alluded to before, keeping your battery level between 30% and 80% is the best way to maintain iPad battery health. But, Optimized Battery Charging doesn’t stop your battery from charging past 80%. It only delays it, and keeping tabs on your battery levels.

4. Don’t Leave Your iPad Plugged In Overnight

Having your iPad plugged in overnight is common. Most of us are guilty of this, but iPads are not meant to be plugged in overnight. As noted before, charging your battery to 100% may cause overheating, negatively impacting your iPad’s battery life in the long run. You should, therefore, avoid having your iPad plugged in overnight.

5. Half-Charge Your iPad for Long-Term Storage

If, for some reason, you want to put away your iPad for some time, you need to control the environmental temperature and the battery percentage. These two will affect battery life while your iPad is in storage.

Apple recommends charging your iPad’s battery to about 50% if you need to store it long-term to maintain battery health.

The 50% recommended level is because if you fully charge your battery and store it for an extended period, it may lose some capacity, affecting the battery life. And if you leave it fully discharged for an extended time, Apple says, “the battery could fall into a deep discharge state, which renders it incapable of holding a charge.”

Excess heat can affect battery health. Apple recommends keeping your iPad between 32 and 95 degrees Fahrenheit, and points to the range of 62 to 72 degrees as the comfort zone. This means keep your iPad in the shade at the beach, out of locked cars in the summer, and off of heaters in the winter. Additionally, you should recharged your iPad to 50 percent every six months (in case you’re storing your device for more than six months). You should also shut down your iPad if you want to keep it for an extended period without use.

6. Charge Your iPad at Moderate Ambient Temperatures

Heat is the biggest enemy of all kinds of batteries. According to Battery University, extreme care has to be taken when charging lithium-ion batteries because of the delicate nature of the process.

Furthermore, Apple says charging your device in high ambient temperatures can damage battery capacity. According to the company, the sweet spot lies between 50 to 95 degrees F.

Also, if you have a case that envelopes your iPad and can cause it to heat up when it’s charging, remove your iPad from the case before charging it.

Use These Charging Tips to Maintain Your iPad’s Battery Health

While batteries can’t last forever, you can at least take good care of them to avoid replacement sooner than required. Besides, replacing a iPad’s battery is costly; it will set you back by at least $99 for regular iPad models and about $199 for iPad Pro models, according to Apple. But by following the tips highlighted, you can make your iPad’s battery last longer.

Tag: iPad Tips
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12 Must Know iPad Air Tips and Tricks of 2024

by Moses Johnson

If you just got yourself a new iPad Air, there’s a lot to sink your teeth into. From arranging your homescreen widgets to taming notifications, there are plenty of cool iPad Air tips and tricks to familiarize yourself with. The real question, however, is where should you begin? Thankfully, we’ve assembled 12 best tips and tricks for iPad Air owners that will prove handy advice for anyone trying one of Apple’s tablets for the first time—and maybe even teach experienced users may a gem they weren’t aware of.

Apple tablets offers a pretty good experience right out of the box, but here are twelve iPad Air tips and tricks you can try on your shiny new device and get the most out of it.

1. Arrange your home screen widgets

Once you navigate to your iPads home screen, you’ll notice the widget layout. By default, your iPad will include the clock, notes, calendar, weather and news. You can edit this layout to best fit your needs. Even if you’re happy with the default apps in place, long-press the app to see extra customization options, or hold and drag to rearrange the widgets.

If you want to edit the widgets, swipe right on the screen and tap Edit. From here you can remove or add widgets, giving you quicker access to the e-book you’re reading or your favorite games or streaming service.

2. Check out Apple’s free trials

If your iPad is new, you’ll be thrilled to know that Apple includes a free trial for Apple TV Plus and Apple Arcade. So, in addition to downloading your favorite TV streaming apps, games and linking accounts, you can try something new.

Apple Arcade is Apple’s $5-a-month mobile gaming service. It includes hundreds of games you can play offline and more are added every week. With a new iOS device, you can try out Apple Arcade with a three-month free trial, as well as a one-month free trial for new subscribers. Apple TV Plus is Apple’s subscription video service that includes original TV shows and movies like Ted Lasso, Schmigadoon and The Morning Show.

3. Join the dark side

Dark mode is a hidden iPad Air trick that’s often forgotten, so be sure to set it up.

  1. Go toSettings.
  2. Tap Display & Brightness
  3. Choose Dark.

You can also set custom schedules (like your screen dimming at sunset), and use True Tone, the feature that automatically adjusts your screen’s brightness based on current ambient lighting.

4. Split screen

Split screen is a cool iPad Air trick that can come in handy during those times when you want to keep a reference image nearby when you are working on a drawing in the Procreate digital illustration app. But you can use split screen with just about any combination of apps. A common use might be opening your calendar app while writing out a to-do list in the reminders app. To start a split view, follow the steps below:

  1. Open an app.
  2. Tap the small horizontal trio of dots at the top of your screen and choose the layout you want.

5. Scribble for Apple Pencil

If you use an Apple Pencil with your iPad Air, the Scribble feature, introduced in iOS 14, lets you do more without having to put your pencil down. The feature converts your handwriting, letting you write in text fields that you’d previously type in. This iPad Air trick allows you to quickly jot down notes or put a personalized touch on things. For example, if you’re sketching in Procreate and need a reference image, you can open Google, jot what you’re searching for (just as you’d type it) and get the result — all without putting down your Apple Pencil.

6. Save time with Touch ID

If your iPad Air offers a fingerprint sensor, it’s possible to enable Touch ID during your initial device setup. It’s not a requirement, but it can make signing in, as well as confirming purchases and downloads a bit quicker. If you want Touch ID on your iPad Air, follow the steps below:

  1. Open the Settings app.
  2. Select Touch ID & Passcode. The device passcode is one of the first things you’re prompted to set up after turning on your iPad, but you can change or turn off the passcode here as well.
  3. To set up Touch ID, tap Add a Fingerprint and follow the prompts. Afterward, you can customize what your Touch ID can be used for, like unlocking your device and password autofill.

7. Use Sign in with Apple

Sign in with Apple is an iPad Air trick to be aware of and use, rather than a setting to adjust on your device. The tool is another layer of defense for your security, like adjusting your device’s privacy settings or using privacy tools like a virtual private network or DuckDuckGo.

When you create a new account for an app or website, you can choose Sign in with Apple instead of signing in with Facebook, Google or email. The tool creates a random email address that can only be used for one specific app. The app or website will use the generated email, but Apple will forward any correspondence to your real email, protecting your identity. You can reply to whichever emails you like without exposing your personal email address.

There’s also the Hide My Email option. Apple creates a random email address for you to use when signing up for any service — you’ll recognize it by the unique alphanumeric string followed by @privaterelay.appleid.com.

8. Speech to text

If your ideas are flowing faster than you can use this iPad Air trick. The dictation feature on iPad Air works across email, text messages and notes. For example, you can open the Notes app and tap the microphone icon on the keyboard. Apple will ask if you want to enable dictation; tap yes. Now when you tap the microphone when it’s available on the keyboard, you can use speech to text. If you use speech to text in third-party apps, you may have to grant additional permissions.

To turn off speech to text, follow the steps below:

  1. Open the Settings app on your iPad.
  2. Tap Keyboards.
  3. Scroll down and toggle off Enable Dictation.

9. Learn more about your photos

The iPad photos app has a handy tool that works a bit like Google Lens.

  1. Open up the photos app.
  2. Select an image and tap the little “i” in the upper-right corner.

A panel will open and you can see details like camera spec information, as well as when the photo was taken. You can also add a caption and the location of the image.

You can also learn more about what’s in your photo. Tap the Look Up option in the info panel and your iPad will offer information from Siri, the web and maps (if applicable).

10. Minimize distractions

Your iPad Air should be at your service, not the other way around. To avoid being destructed often, customize your notifications by using this iPad Air trick. Follow the steps below:

  1. Go to Settings.
  2. Tap Notifications.

Return things back to the essentials. Use the most discreet alerts wherever possible, and it’s good to avoid sounds except for apps you genuinely need to respond to immediately. Think of your iPad like your MacBook—you’re going to want to keep working or playing as long as possible without getting interrupted.

11. Protect your privacy

The iPad is without a doubt an excellent device if you want to safeguard your data, habits, and personal details.

  1. Go to Settings.
  2. Select Privacy & Security.

Here you can fine-tune your setup.

The list of privacy settings here isn’t organized by app (a list of which would be overwhelming), but by what the apps are requesting access to. Select Camera, for example, and you’ll see a list of all the apps currently accessing it and you can tap the green toggle to deny this access from now on.

Pay particular attention to the Tracking entry near the top. This is for apps that have asked to track your activity across other apps and websites. We routinely deny this request (and recommend having the global toggle for “Allow Apps to Request to Track” turned off) but this menu makes it easy to withdraw permission retroactively.

12. Level up your keyboard

In landscape orientation especially, the iPad’s keyboard takes up a lot of screen space. Thankfully, you can use an iPad Air trick to shrink it down to a more manageable size.

  1. Pinch inwards with two fingers (the same gesture you’d use to zoom out of an image). The smaller floating keyboard can sit anywhere on the screen, just use the bar at the bottom to move it around.
  2. If you want to go back to the full-size keyboard, do a “pinch out” gesture using two fingers.

A third option is the split keyboard, although bear in mind that not all iPad Air models support this feature. To turn this on, go to Keyboard Settings (either via Settings > General > Keyboard or by tapping and holding the emoji key) and toggle Split Keyboard to On.

Finally and perhaps most useful of all, your iPad’s onscreen keyboard can also serve as a trackpad. Tap and hold the keyboard with two fingers and the keys will all gray out. and a cursor will appear in the text Then move your fingers to control the cursor and find the text you want to edit. Hold still for about a second and the cursor will change shape to indicate that you’re now in text selection mode.

It’s just like having a trackpad.
Foundry

Tag: iPad Tips
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13 best iPad Pro Tips and Tricks You Should Know in 2025

by Dave Johnson

Did you buy a new iPad Pro over the holidays or get one as a gift from a friend? Well, congratulations, and we hope you like it and are excited to try out all the fun new features. If you’re new to the world of iPadOS, then you may find all the new settings and features a bit overwhelming. Apple does a pretty good job of walking you through all the basic steps during the setup, so we doubt you’ll have any issues setting things up and getting to the homescreen. But once you’re done with the setup, there are several iPad Pro tips, tricks and hacks that can help you make the most out of your device. That’s exactly what we’re going to help you with. So, grab your tablet, sit back, and check out the best tips and tricks for iPad Pro!

1. Use a Mouse and Keyboard With Your iPad Pro

If you want to turn your ‌iPad Pro into a replacement for a Mac when you’re working at a desk, you can do so with a mouse and a keyboard.

As with a Mac, you can connect any Bluetooth mouse, keyboard, or trackpad to your ‌iPad Pro‌ to use those inputs as an alternative to the touch screen. It’s really as simple as opening up Bluetooth and initiating the pairing process.

With Universal Control, a feature that Apple introduced in iPadOS 15.4 and macOS Monterey 12.3, you can use a single mouse or trackpad across all of your iPad Pros and Macs, making it even simpler to control your ‌iPad Pro‌ if you’re using it alongside a Mac.

2. Use App Library to Keep Your Home Screen Clean

Have an ‌a Home Screen that’s cluttered up with all manner of apps? Well, this iPad Pro trick can get rid of that problem. The App Library offers you instant access to a well-organized list of all the apps on your ‌iPad Pro‌.

To access it, just swipe all the way over to the end of your ‌Home Screen‌ pages. App Library will automatically organize your apps into various categories such as Games, Entertainment, Health & Fitness, Social, and more.
You can scroll through the categories and tap into each one to see all the apps listed there, or you can simply use the search feature.

Tip: You can delete your ‌Home Screen‌ pages in bulk or rearrange them by long pressing on an empty area of the ‌Home Screen‌ and then tapping on the row of dots at the bottom of the display. You can drag ‌Home Screen‌ pages to rearrange, or tap on the checkmark and then the “-“ to delete them.

3. Drag and Drop Text Between Apps

If you want to move text from one app to another on the ‌iPad Pro‌, such as pasting some text from Safari into Notes, you can easily do so with a drag-and-drop gesture.

  1. Select the text that you want to move from one app to another by long pressing. Drag the two little bars to get exactly the text you want.
  2. On the highlighted text, press and hold to pull it up from the page.
  3. Keep your finger on the text while you use another finger or your other hand to open up the app you want to move the text to.
  4. When the text is situated in the app where you want it to go, lift your finger and it will be pasted over.

Tip: This drag-and-drop text gesture is easiest to use in multitasking mode, where you have two app windows open side by side.

4. Use an Apple Pencil

Without a doubt, an Apple Pencil is one of the best tool that you can get to use with an ‌iPad Pro‌. If you didn’t purchase an ‌Apple Pencil‌ alongside the iPad Pro‌, consider doing so.

An ‌Apple Pencil‌ lets you sketch and draw within drawing apps, note-taking apps, and more, but you can also use it for navigation‌ and you can write in any text field on the ‌iPad Pro‌, with the ‌iPad Pro‌ translating it into typed text.
In the built-in Notes app, for example, you can open it up and just start writing with the Pencil. The same goes for Safari searches, Calendar events, Messages, and so much more.

The ‌Apple Pencil‌ comes in two different versions, so the model you need will depend on which iPad Pro you have. To see your ‌iPad Pro‌ model, launch the Settings app, tap on “General” and then tap on “About.” Your model is listed under “Model name.”

‌Apple Pencil‌ 1 Devices

  • 12.9-inch ‌iPad Pro‌ (1st and 2nd Gen)
  • 10.5-inch ‌iPad Pro‌
  • 9.7-inch ‌iPad Pro‌

‌Apple Pencil‌ 2 Devices

  • 12.9-inch ‌iPad Pro‌ (3rd Gen and Newer)
  • 11-inch ‌iPad Pro‌ (All models)

5. Take Advantage of Widgets

Many of Apple’s apps and third-party apps come with widgets, which you can place on your ‌Home Screen‌ or view in the Today Center to get information at a glance. Adding a widgets on the homescreen is a cool iPad Pro trick you shouldn’t fail to try.

Follow the steps below to add a widget to your ‌Home Screen‌:

  1. Long press on an empty space on the ‌Home Screen‌ until the app icons start wiggling.
  2. Tap on the “ ” button located at the upper left hand corner of the screen.
  3. Scroll through the widget suggestions, or simply search for a specific widget.
  4. Tap on the widget you want, and then swipe through the the different options. For many widgets, you can choose a size, and for others, you can customize the function.
  5. After customizing your widget the way you want, tap “Add Widget.”
  6. It will be placed on the ‌Home Screen‌, and from here you can drag it into the position that you desire.
  7. Hit “Done” when you’re through.

Tip: On the ‌iPad Pro‌, you have access to XL widgets, a larger-sized widget that’s not available on the iPhone. You can also add widgets to the Today View by going to your first ‌Home Screen‌ page and then swiping again from left or right to open the Today View interface.

Add a widget by long pressing on the display and then tapping the “ ” button as outlined above. You can drag and drop widgets to rearrange them, or pull one out from Today View to your ‌Home Screen‌.

6. Use Quick Notes

This ‌iPad Pro‌ trick lets you jot down notes without having to open up the Notes app. Quick Notes can be used with or without an ‌Apple Pencil‌, and you can access the interface at any time with a simple gesture.

  1. In any app, or on the ‌Home Screen‌, swipe up diagonally from the right hand corner of the screen.
  2. You can perform the diagonal swipe in either portrait or landscape mode – it works the same.
  3. Type down your notes or write using an ‌Apple Pencil‌.
  4. Swipe to collapse the Quick Note to the side if you want to hide it temporarily and bring it back to look something up.
  5. Hit “Done” when you’re finished.

Tip: You can also access Quick Notes from the Control Center by tapping on the Notes icon, or by using the Globe key Q keyboard shortcut. If you have an ‌Apple Pencil‌, you can also tap it on the ‌iPad Pro‌’s locked screen to bring up a note.

7. Use Your iPad Pro as a Second Screen

If you own a Mac and it’s not too old, you can use your ‌iPad Pro‌ as a second screen with Apple’s Sidecar feature. A cool iPad Pro trick, isn’t it?

To use Sidecar, you just need to access the display section of the Control Center on your Mac and beaming your screen to your ‌iPad Pro.

Sidecar‌ requires a Mac compatible with macOS Catalina or later, and it works with the following MacBooks:

  • MacBook Pro launched in 2016 or later
  • MacBook launched in 2016 or later
  • ‌iMac‌ (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2015)
  • ‌iMac‌ Pro
  • Mac mini launched in 2018 or later
  • Mac Pro launched in 2019

8. Enhance Safari With Extensions

Safari on the ‌iPad Pro‌ works with all of the same extensions that you might get on your Mac, so you can download extensions for turning all webpages to dark mode, using password managers, avoiding AMP pages, and more.

To get Safari Extensions, simply open the Settings app, go to Safari, select Extensions, and then tap on More Extensions to get to the Extensions section in the App Store.

9. Multitask with Stage Manager

iPadOS 16 brought a multitasking interface which Apple called Stage Manager, which is meant to be more like Mac multitasking. Some people like ‌Stage Manager‌, while others hate it, but you should definitely try it out to see how it works for you.

Here’s how to turn ‌Stage Manager‌ on and off on iPad Pro‌:

  1. Swipe down from the right corner of the screen to bring up the Control Center.
  2. Tap on the ‌Stage Manager‌ button that resembles a rectangle with three squares on the left of it. You can tap it to toggle ‌Stage Manager‌ on or off.
  3. Alternatively, launch the Settings app, select ‌Home Screen‌ and Multitasking, and then Choose ‌Stage Manager‌ to turn it on or off.

10. Find Anything With Spotlight

If you don’t already use Spotlight on your ‌tablet‌, it’s actually the best iPad Pro trick to find just about anything. To open it, just navigate to the ‌Home Screen‌ and swipe down.

In addition to Siri Suggestions, which offers up apps you might want to access based on your usage history, Apple provides a search bar. If you tap into it, you can search for anything you want. Here are just a few things you can use Spotlight for:

  • Finding and opening apps you have installed on your iPad
  • Finding new apps in the ‌App Store‌
  • Rearranging apps (search for an app and then drag it out of Spotlight to the ‌Home Screen‌)
  • Installing apps on your iPad (after a search, tap on “Get”)
  • Deleting apps on your iPad (long press and choose delete)
  • Looking for photos (search by date, person, or object in the photo)
  • Facts about actors, actresses, and other well-known people
  • Information on contacts
  • Web images (search for [subject] images)
  • Converting measurements right from your iPad
  • Converting currency
  • Performing simple calculations
  • Finding content in Notes, Messages, and other apps

Tip: If you swipe down from the Lock Screen on your ‌iPad Pro‌, you can get to a Spotlight Search interface without having to unlock your device.

11. Use the Freeform App

After upgrading to the latest iPadOS 16.2 update, you can access Freeform, a blank canvas whiteboard style app where you can create anything. Freeform is installed automatically with iPadOS 16.2, and there’s nothing else that you need to do besides open it up and experiment.

The app has various drawing tools that are similar to those available in the photo editing interface, along with options to add hundreds of shapes, stickies, photos, scans, documents, and more. You can have multiple boards and even collaborate on projects with other people, and all edits and changes are shown in real time.

12. Try Some Karaoke With Apple Music Sing

This iPad Pro trick turns your ‌tablet into a little karaoke machine if you’re an ‌Apple Music‌ subscriber. Using the built-in lyrics feature, the ‌Apple Music‌ Sing option lets you sing along with a song, with your voice replacing the song’s vocals.

Vocal volume can be adjusted, and there are settings for duets, plus a ton of playlist options highlighting the best ‌Apple Music‌ Sing songs in the ‌Apple Music‌ app.
‌Apple Music‌ Sing is available on these iPad Pros:

  • ‌iPad Pro 12.9-inch (Fifth-generation and newer)
  • ‌iPad Pro 11-inch (Third-generation and newer)

Follow the steps below to use ‌Apple Music‌ Sing on iPad Pro:

  • Launch the Music app on your ‌iPad Pro‌ and start playing a track.
  • With the fullscreen playback controls open, tap the Lyrics button (the quotation mark speech bubble) in the bottom left corner (if it’s available for the song).
  • Tap the Sing button (the mic and stars) on the right, just above the track progress bar. If you don’t see it, the Sing feature isn’t available for this song.
  • With the track playing, press and hold the Sing button, then drag the slider up or down to adjust the volume of the vocals.

13. Check the Weather

There’s a dedicated Weather app on the ‌iPad Pro‌ as of ‌iPadOS 16‌, so you can get all the weather info you’re used to seeing on your ‌iPhone‌ on your ‌iPad Pro‌.

Just launch the Weather app to see the weather in your location or a location of your choice, with 10-day forecasts, precipitation charts, and other modules that show you in-depth information on metrics like humidity, air quality, wind speed, sunset/sunrise times, pressure, visibility, and more.

Tag: iPad Tips
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10 Reasons iPads Are Better Than Other Tablets

by Dave Johnson

Here are all the reasons we think an Apple iPad is better than a Samsung, Lenovo, Amazon, Microsoft, or any other tablet.

iPads have been around for a while now, and in that time they’ve cemented themselves as some of the most popular tablets on the market. They’re well-designed, easy to use, and come with some great features. But why are they so popular? And more importantly, why are they better than Android-based tablets?

In this article, we’ll explore ten reasons why we think Apple tablets are better than the competition, touching on everything from durability to ease of purchase, and more.

Top 10 Reasons Why iPads are Better than other tablets

1. The Immersive Experience

The first reason why iPads are better than the competition is their high-quality audio, video, and typing experiences, which makes them more immersive devices as a whole. Here’s what we mean:

  • The Retina Display has a higher pixel density than most Android tablet screen, which makes everything appear sharper. Only very high-end Android tablets come with the comparable display quality.
  • The Magic keyboard for iPad uses scissor-switch keys, so the key travel and spacing make it very comfortable to type on, not finicky like most Android keyboards.
  • iPad speakers are way ahead of the competition and sound far better than almost every non-Apple tablet.

The iPad offers various forms of input; touch, pencil, and mouse. As a result, you can use an iPad as a tablet, laptop, and notepad—all at the same time. You can use it just like a regular tablet, then use the Apple Pencil to write anything you wish. Foe example, you can use your iPad to take note during a meeting which is actually better for remembering them compared to typing them out.

But when you have to type up a long document, you can connect a physical keyboard to the iPad to make writing process more seamless. iPads have become versatile products, rather than just tablets. The iPad can adapt to your needs or any situation and be the device you need to get most of your work done.

2. Design and portability

Let’s face it: iPads are cool. They have a sleek design that other tablet brands try (and fail) to copy and Apple has spent years building its brand’s social status as premium and creative.

People see you with an iPad and are likely to think you’re creative, stylish, and probably successful. Of course, you can be all of those things with any type of tablet. But there’s no denying that iPads offer a certain social cachet that other tablets just don’t have.

One big advantages of iPads over other tablets is that iPads are incredibly thin and light. The refreshed design with minimal bezels makes them even more portable, allowing you to easily take one out during outdoor activities or put it in a backpack. Since iPads are very light, they won’t add much weight to your bag, which is excellent since you could be carrying other staff at the same time.

3. iPads works beautifully with Apple Pencil

The Apple Pencil is one of the best accessories of the iPad. The Apple Pencil provides a smooth, responsive writing experience that is unlike any other tablet on the market.

If you purchase an iPad Air, iPad Pro, or iPad Mini, you will have the option to buy the second-generation Apple Pencil. The second-generation Apple Pencil is arguably one of the best digital writing experiences on a tablet. If you you ever need to create graphics, the iPad and Apple Pencil will surely make your work easier. In addition to that, you can find several apps that are great for the Apple Pencil. Most tablets from other brands today don’t create Digital pencil, as their focus is on other utilities.

4. iPads support Cellular Connection

Another huge advantage of an iPad over other tablets is that you can use an iPad over cellular data. This lets you perform tasks that requires internet connection even when you don’t have wi-fi access. Apple laptops don’t have built-in cellular, and using a phone hotspot can be tedious and drain your phone’s battery quickly. However, you can buy the iPad Air, iPad Pro, and iPad mini with 5G cellular capabilities. Unlike other tablets, you don’t have to carry another device to connect an iPad to the internet if Wi-Fi is unavailable.

The major carriers in the US also offer plans for iPads. You can also purchase an iPad on an installment plan through carriers such as AT&T and Verizon if you prefer to pay for the device monthly.

5. iPadOS and Apps

Another big selling point for iPads is the operating system. Apple tablets come with iPadOS, Apple’s operating system, which is a highly stable and user-friendly platform, built especially for Apple’s tablets. Many people find it easier to use iPadOS compared to Android.

Moreover, it comes with a variety of built-in iPad applications that are designed to work well with, again, all your other Apple products. The App Store is also filled with more high-quality apps that are perfect for productivity, creativity, and entertainment.

6. iPads have High-Quality Cameras

Another advantage of iPads is that they feature exceptional cameras for all the things you may need them for. Your video calls will look crispy clear, unlike mediocre android tablet webcams, and you’ll be able to show people what you can see with the forward-facing camera. In addition, you can use the high-quality primary cameras on the iPad to scan documents onto your device effortlessly. This feature can be beneficial to your daily tasks.

7. Ease of Purchase

There are two reasons why iPads are easier to purchase.

Firstly, they only come in three kinds—iPad Air, iPad mini, and iPad Pro—each with different target markets. This shortened list of options makes choosing the best tablet for you easier. Compare this to other brands, like Samsung, who have tons of varieties of the same tablets, with undecipherable names.

Secondly, Apple’s online store is well-organized and easy to navigate, and the company’s retail locations are dotted all across the globe, packed with knowledgeable staff to help you make your purchase. In contrast, many other tablet manufacturers’ websites can be difficult to navigate, and their retail locations can be cluttered and overwhelming.

8. The Apple Ecosystem

The Apple ecosystem comprises of all the hardware and software that Apple designs and puts out. Almost all Apple devices, apps, and operating systems are a part of the ecosystem: iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Apple Watch, Mac, iCloud, Apple Music, and so on.

So, when people talk about the Apple ecosystem, they’re actually referring to how well all these products work together. It’s the ecosystem that makes it possible for you to start a task (like creating a note on your iPad and then pick up right where you left off on your iPhone or Mac.

The ability to seamlessly move between Apple devices is one of the reasons why iPads are better than other tablets. Other tablet manufacturers have tried to create their own ecosystems, but none of them have been as successful as Apple. As a result, iPads tend to offer a more integrated and seamless experience than other tablets.

9. Quality and Durability

Not only are Apple tablets packed with industry-leading hardware, but they’re also high-quality and durable. With regular, moderate care, an iPad can easily last you five years or more. All you need to do is learn how to take care of your iPad properly.

Though many tablets compete strongly in this area, iPads take the lead. They have a strong aluminum and steel frame around their body, which makes them sturdy and significantly more resistant to wear and tear (unless you drop and dent them, of course). And even if anything does go wrong, Apple covers every product with a one-year warranty and it’s easy to book a repair at your nearest Apple Store.

10. Longevity and Resale Value

One of the greatest advantages of iPads over other tablets is their longevity and value-retention. While many tablets can last you several years (or more), iPads are the only tablet that will still look stylish after all that time and still fetch a good price on the second-hand market.

As time goes on, apps grow bigger and all tablets start slowing down. But Apple is one of the best companies around for continually supporting old devices with new software updates. Not only does this keep you secure against the latest online threats, but it means you can also keep getting new features on your iPad as it ages.

Perhaps this longevity is the reason why iPads retain their value so well. You can usually sell a three-year-old iPad for around 50% of its original price. But a three-year-old Android tablet? You’ll be lucky to get 25% of its original value.

Is It All Rainbows and Butterflies?

From their longevity and resale value to their design and portability, there are plenty of reasons to choose an iPad over another type of tablet, like Android devices. When you factor in ease of purchase and the a huge library of apps, it’s clear why iPads are industry-leading products.

But, iPad still have some drawbacks. Depending on what you want to use your tablet for, the iPad may just not suit you.

Tag: iPad Tips
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10 Best iPadOS 16 Tips and Tricks to Try First!

by Moses Johnson

iPadOS 16 brings with it a whole host of new features. In this article, i’ve explained the best iPadOS 16 tips and tricks you should try first.
iPadOS 16 brings a number of new features and changes to the iPad experience, including Stage Manager, new Messages tweaks and much more, but with so many changes on offer, where do you start?

We’re here to make the adjustment far easier with the best iPadOS 16 tips and tricks.

Best iPadOS 16 tips and tricks

Without further ado, here is a list of the Best iPadOS 16 Tips and Tricks in 2022:

1. iPadOS 16 Tips and Tricks: Edit or unsend iMessages

Apple has really ramped up Messages this year, adding in some features users of apps like WhatsApp will be familiar with. Accidentally texted something inappropriate to your boss? With the new Messages app in iPadOS 16, you can quickly recall that message before it does any damage.

  1. Open the Messages app on your iPad.
  2. Type your message as you normally do.
  3. Once you’ve sent it – long press that message. You’ll see both ’Edit’ and ’Undo send’ as options in the drop-down menu. Choose whichever you want to use at the time.

Please note, if the person you’re sending it to doesn’t have iOS 16 or iPadOS 16, it won’t appear as unsent for them, they’ll still see the message.

2. iPadOS 16 Tips and Tricks: Recover recently deleted messages

In iPadOS 16, you can recover recently deleted messages for up to 30 days after deleting them.

  1. Open the Messages app on your iPad.
  2. Go to the Recently Deleted section.
  3. Tap Recover All to restore all deleted messages.
  4. If you only wish to get back one or a few chats, tap inside their tiny round box to select them. After that, tap Recover.

3. iPadOS 16 Tips and Tricks: Scheduled send emails

In iPadOS 16, you can schedule an email in your iPhone’s Mail app so it gets sent at any time of your choice.

  1. Open the Mail app on your iPad.
  2. Draft your email the way you normally would, complete with the recipient, subject, and message.
  3. When you are done with the email and ready to send it, tap and hold the Send icon (the big blue arrow). You’ll see a pop-up menu.
  4. Choose when you want to send the message.

Apple gives you a few quick-pick choices, including Send 9:00 PM Tonight and Send 8:00 AM Tomorrow. If you want to choose a custom time, tap Send Later… and you can choose the date and time from a calendar view, then tap Done.

4. iPadOS 16 Tips and Tricks: Delete Duplicate Photos

Apple’s latest Photos app lets you quickly and easily delete duplicate photos to help you save iPad and iCloud storage.

  1. Open the Photos app on your iPad.
  2. Tap on ’Albums’.
  3. Scroll all the way down until you see ’Duplicates’ in the list near the bottom of the page. Now you can either hit ‘merge’ near each match, or hit ’select’ at the top and then manually choose each image you want to delete and hit the delete trash can icon at the bottom.

5. iPadOS 16 Tips and Tricks: new Weather app

In iPadOS 16, Apple introduced a brand new Weather app to the iPad. The new app takes full advantage of the large display and includes animated backgrounds reflecting current weather conditions. Each module in the weather app can be tapped to provide additional data.

6. iPadOS 16 Tips and Tricks: Collaborate on projects

One of the big new features of iPadOS 16 is working with others. Collaboration is the real-time sharing of an original document, so everyone can work on it simultaneously. It’s rather like Google Docs, but what’s neat is that you can initiate a collaboration through Messages or FaceTime directly from the share sheet. Just select Collaborate and select the conversation where you want to share it.

You can also share tab groups from Safari with the group. When you do, you’ll see icons of who is looking at what tab in real-time.

7. iPadOS 16 Tips and Tricks: Metal 3 and other gaming enhancements

For the first time, iPadOS 16 is bringing Metal 3 APIs to the iPad. Apple is looking for iPads to be gaming machines with Metal 3-enabled, hardware-accelerated 3D graphics. Additionally, Apple has a new API that allows larger asset packs to download in the background while you play the game.

With your Game Center account, you can find friends, track progress in various games, and view leaderboards for various games. Gaming on iOS has largely been the domain of phones. However, Apple is pushing to get more gamers onto the iPad. It has designed these moves to do just that.

8. iPadOS 16 Tips and Tricks: Turn Reference Mode on or off

Reference Mode is a display mode for professional content creation workflows, like color grading, editing, and content review, where accurate colors and consistent image quality are critical. To use Reference Mode, you need
12.9-inch iPad Pro (5th generation or later)

Reference Mode enables your iPad Pro to match the color requirements of your workflow. It targets a D65 white point and disables all dynamic display adjustments for ambient surround, like True Tone, Auto-Brightness, and Night Shift. You can also adjust the white point and luminance manually.

Reference Mode might affect battery life. Here’s how to turn the feature on or off.

  1. Open the Settings app,.
  2. Tap Display & Brightness.
  3. Turn Reference Mode on or off.

9. iPadOS 16 Tips and Tricks: Turn Stage Manager on and off

Stage Manager is Apple’s multitasking feature available with iPadOS 16.1 which enables you to organize apps and windows in a single view. Stage Manager requires an iPad powered by an M1 chipset, so it won’t be much use if you haven’t upgraded your iPad in a few years.

Stage Manager is an optional feature. You can use it as little or as often as you’d like, with a quick tap of a button toggling it on or off. That button is located in the iPad’s Control Center. To access it follow the steps below:

  1. Swipe down from the top right corner of your iPad’s screen to bring up control center.
  2. There you’ll see a new icon that has three dots on the left side, with a rectangle to the left of the dots. Tap on the icon to turn on Stage Manager.
  3. If you want to revert back to the more traditional iPad layout, open Control Center again and tap the Stage Manager button to turn it off.

10. iPadOS 16 Tips and Tricks: See the password for the Wi-Fi network you’re on

One feature that arguably should have existed for a long time is the ability to see the password for the network you’re connected to. In iPadOS 16 you can.

  1. Open the Settings app on your iPad.
  2. Tap ’Wi-Fi’.
  3. Tap the info icon next to the network you’re connected to.
  4. Here, you’ll see ’Password’. Tap it, and it’ll use FaceID to check it’s you, and reveal the passkey.

Your favorite iPadOS 16 tips and tricks

So these were some of the best iPadOS 16 tips and tricks you should try on your iPad first. My favorite iPadOS 16 tips and tricks include ability to edit/unsend messages, ability to collaborate with others on a project, and ability to schedule emails in Mail. There’s surely plenty more hidden iPadOS 16 tips and tricks to discover, so I’ll keep tapping, swiping and noting anything I find. Did we miss out on something important that needs to be added to the list? Which are your favorite iPadOS 16 tips and tricks? Drop a comment and let us know.

Tag: iPad Tips
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Useful Tips and Tricks to Create Accessible Content for Everyone

by GeeksModo Staff

Whether you are starting a new website or social media platform, accessible content will always be vital for success. The accessibility options make the content suitable for people with impairment, which is a huge chunk of the audience. And by not implementing the accessibility feature, you’ll be missing out on a lot of traffic on your website or page.

Consider this, in 2020 around 15 percent of the world’s population had some form of disability, which is one billion people! Furthermore, in 2021, around 75 percent of Americans with disabilities revealed that they use the internet daily. Do you see now how much traffic and audience you might end up losing if you don’t make the website accessible?

In a WebAIM study in 2021, it was revealed that on the home pages of the top 1,000,000 websites, there were over 51 million accessibility errors. These errors vary from low contrast text to missing alt text for the images on the website. It’s expected that websites with full Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) Level 2 compliance will outperform their competitors by 50 percent in 2023.

To be successful in the years to come by, businesses must create accessible content as much as they can. Here are some useful tips and tricks to make better accessible content in 2022.

Use Relevant Link Texts

Always bear in mind that some percent of your audience relies on assistive devices like screen readers. This assistive software often jumps between links by generating a list of links on the page. Therefore generic hyperlink text like click here or also ready is pretty useless when it comes to accessibility. Ensure that the hyperlinks on your page clearly state what they are linked to and what they do.

Further, try to integrate link text into the content naturally and use meaningful keywords. Also, make sure that the link text reads well independently of the text on the page. Moreover, try to hyperlink links to meaningful words instead of inserting the entire raw link in the text, because screen readers will then read out the entire link to the user. This is inconvenient in case the links are too long.

Transcripts or Captions for Audio and Video content

There’s a huge section of the audience that either can’t hear well or speak another language. It’s important to include transcripts and captions for the audio and video content on your website or social media platforms.

There are several services free or paid, which let users convert speech to text using speech recognition technology. There are powerful apps that let creators insert closed captions to any video with just one click. With such technology available in 2022, it’s important to include them in all content you post on your website or page.

Always Add Alt Text for Images

If you are wondering what an Alt text is, it’s an alternate text added to the image attribute to describe what the image is about. This should be very crisp, clear, and helpful with the flow of text on-page.

In addition to making images accessible, the Alt text also makes them SEO optimized. Describe the image perfectly in the Alt text and if there’s some text on the image, write the same text in the Alt text. Lastly, if the image leads to a link, the URL must be added to the Alt text.

Clear and Structured Content

The main purpose of creating accessible content is to help assistive devices used by people. Therefore, it would be best to use content that has clear and simple sentences. If there are multiple acronyms in your content, try expanding them to make it easier for screen readers to pick up.

Additionally, to keep the content simple yet meaningful, use shorter paragraphs, use clear headings, and structure important points in bullets. This way, assistive devices will be able to read the content easily and move from section to section in a natural flow.

Lastly, ensure that your page titles are unique and concise while providing the most relevant information about the page. The page title can be accessed within the HTML structure of the webpage.

If you are a social media page, there are different accessibility options provided by major social media platforms. Twitter allows alternate description, Instagram allows alternate description as well as unlimited captions, Facebook and YouTube offers automatic close caption, and so on.

The accessible content will not only make your website or page easily accessible but also improve the search ranking. The best way to optimize your content for accessibility is to imagine how different audiences will perceive your content and figure out a solution.

Tag: iPad Tips
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