10 Essential iPad Features You Need To Start Using

The iPad is a lot more than just a big iPhone. Features like split view and split keyboards help transform it into a productivity workhorse.The ipad is a lot more than just a big iPhone. Features like split view and split keyboards help transform it into a productivity workhorse.

- Leif Johnson

The iPad isn’t really the laptop replacement Apple wants us to think it is, but anyone who outright dismisses it as the productivity device shouldn’t be taken too seriously, either. The iPad can feel magical when you have the knowledge of the right tricks at hand. Once you’ve mastered them, works sometimes feel fun. It may not be a MacBook, but you’d be wrong to dismiss it as giant iPhone.

Here’s a little introduction to the wizardry Apple conceals beneath the familiar facade of iOS. Some tips basically amount to refreshers of the tutorials, but other bits may make you whisper, “Wow.”(I’m speaking from my own experience.)

Once you’ve got these tools at your disposal, you’ll understand why Apple has such a ridiculous lead in the tablet market.

1. USE SPLIT VIEW FOR BETTER MULTITASKING

Split View multitasking is one of the iPad’sbiggest advantages over the iPhone.Whenever you want to see two apps side-by-side—such as a Safari webpage alongside a Pages doc—open one app the normal way, and then drag up the second app's icon from the dock all the way to the left or right edge of the display. (And yep, the app needs to already be in the dock for this to work.) If all goes well, the screen will split into two halves with an adjustable divider down the middle.

If you just want to use the second app for a quick reference, you can make it a thin window that floats“above” the primary app. Just follow the steps above, but don't drag the second app all the way to the edge. Instead, drop it somewhere around the middle. When you want to get rid of it, swipe the thin white bar at the top of the app to the left or right to make it disappear.

2. TURN THE iPAD KEYBOARD INTO A TRACKPAD