Page 31 - iPhone Life Magazine - Spring 2020

A pple has been pushing the iPad Pro as a ment but makes major gains in productivity since you no lon-
laptop replacement for the last few years,
ger have to keep swiping back and forth to check the weather
forecast or see what is on your agenda for the day.
yet its interface hasn’t allowed the levels of
productivity afforded by traditional desktop
operating systems like macOS and Windows.
So when Apple announced its bold intent
to fork the iOS platform by creating a separate version for
the iPad, most enthusiasts, including myself, applauded the
strategy. The iPad has been held back by its iPhone progenitor
since the tablet’s inception. While certain extensions to the
iOS user interface have taken advantage of the iPad’s larger
screen real estate since the beginning, major annoyances like
mobile versions of websites delivering page formatting intend-
ed for the iPhone has been a constant source of irritation.
The initial release of iPadOS is essentially iOS 13, plus a set
of exclusive iPad extensions. However, by separating out
iPadOS, Apple has placed its tablet’s future software
development on a direction toward functional parity with tradi-
tional desktop operating systems, while maintaining the high
degree of privacy and security unmatched on those legacy
platforms. Let’s take a look at the most impressive features
iPadOS has to offer.

More Room for Apps

The fi rst striking difference you’ll notice between an iPad
fi gure 2
running iOS as opposed to the new iPadOS is the smaller
Home screen app icons. The resized app icons don’t make
selecting them any more diffi cult than their iPhone equiva- Multitask with Multiple Versions of
lents. In fact, the change recognizes that the iPad is not just a
larger-screen iPhone anymore. the Same App

Another iPadOS-only addition is the improved Slide Over
feature. While not quite the equivalent of multi-window desk-
tops, Slide Over does allow for two apps to run either side by
side or one on top of the other. This is especially useful when
surfi ng the web in Safari while writing notes in the upgraded
collaborative Notes app. While Slide Over existed in earlier
iOS releases, iPadOS has elevated it to full multi-tasking
capability by allowing additional instances of a single app to
run (fi gure 2). For example, you can copy fi les between two
instances or “windows” of the Files app by dragging the fi le
from one app instance to the other. You can do the same thing
with any app that is Slide Over-aware (of which many modern
productivity apps that have been kept up to date already are).
To use Slide Over, launch any app as usual. Next, swipe up
from the bottom of the screen to reveal the Home screen
dock. Finally, drag the app icon of whatever app you want to
overlay on top of the current full screen app you’re running.
fi gure 1
When you release the dragged icon, it will open that app in a
right margin-aligned window overlay on top of the full screen
Use the Today View Widget app. In order for this to work, the apps in question must be

Slide Over compatible. If you prefer having the overlay along
Another feature that demonstrates this new direction is the the left margin, simply swipe it to the left and the overlay
Today View, which you can now either slide over from the left will slide to that side of the screen. When you return home
side of the screen or pin to the Home screen in the Home or swipe into another app, you can recall the overlay at any
Screen & Dock settings. Rather than taking you to a separate time by swiping on the right side of the screen. Once you
screen, the iPad’s Today View now compresses the space get the hang of the new gestures, it becomes second nature
between the Home screen app icons to show both the Today and greatly improves context switching speed. While most
View and app icons together (fi gure 1). It’s a minor improve- productivity apps support Slide Over, the feature doesn’t work

iPhone Life Spring 2020 29