IPad Gestures to Master
If you have an iPad with iOS 11, you’re probably getting used to the new navigation gestures. From an always-on docking station to new multitasking features, you’ll need to figure out how to move your fingers across the screen if you ever want to ditch your laptop for good and go for just a tablet.
Your dock is everywhere
The dock will accompany you wherever you go, in any iPad app. Just swipe up about an inch from the bottom of the screen to open the dock and its list of apps, as well as the three most recently used apps. You can add up to 13 apps to your dock to keep your most important at your fingertips, apps that you can drag and drop to use for multitasking.
Fast app switching
Want to go back to the app you just used? Just swipe left or right with four fingers to switch between apps. If you’re connected to a keyboard, you can also use Cmd-Tab to switch between recently opened apps.
Your recent apps and control center
You no longer need to double-click the Home button to see the latest apps in iOS 11. Your recent apps are now grouped together with the Control Center , and both are available when you swipe up from the bottom of the screen. To get rid of these recent apps, swipe them up and away. If you’ve grouped two apps together, swiping the grouped app will close both apps and return them to their natural full-screen state.
Swipe multitasking allows you to work with two applications at the same time
The iPad supports multitasking and allows you to use two apps side by side in different ways. You will need to open the app before you can move them around, and not every app supports all forms of multitasking. You can drag and drop photos from your Google Drive and drop them into your email or picture editing app, share links from Safari to Messages, and email messages from Gmail to your calendar app.
Swipe : In the Dock, hold down an app and drag it to the side of the screen where you want it to appear. You will see a small black bar at the top of the Slide Over app. Drag it down to turn this Slide Over into a Split View, or swipe down to get rid of it. Even if you have two Split View apps open, you can open another Slide Over app by selecting it in the Dock and dragging it onto the black bar separating the two Split View apps.
Split view : In the Dock, select and hold an app, and then drag it to the left or right edge of the display. This includes Split View, which allows you to resize two windows on the same screen and drag and drop content between applications. Move the black bar to resize or close apps by swiping them off the screen.
Picture-in-picture : Stream Netflix while sending emails to your relatives? If you are watching a video or chatting with someone on FaceTime, you can shrink the video and still do some work using the Picture-in-Picture icon.
Organizing apps and folders
You can organize and delete apps on iPad just like on iPhone . Hold your finger on the app until it wiggles and displays an X. The last three apps to the right of the Dock are your most recently used apps, and can be removed from the Dock without deleting them (you’ll see a minus sign instead of an X in the icon).
Take advantage of folders by placing them in the dock. You can group your apps this way and always have access to the app bundles instead of cluttering your dock with them.
Search on iPad (and the web)
Swiping in from the middle of the iPad screen will bring up a search function, allowing you to browse your contacts, music, apps, and the web to find what you’re looking for. You can edit which apps you include in your search by going to Settings> Siri & Search and turning apps on and off.