TIPS & ESSENTIAL ADVICE!
BEST FREE apps
for iPad The must-have apps for work, rest and play
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HOW TO
Power up Stay secure Safari with with password new tools autofill tips 28/02/2020 09:47
iPadOS Password AutoFill
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Password field
Use Strong Password button
Your iPad or iPhone will automatically enter its suggested Strong Password when it recognises one of these.
If you’re happy with the suggested password, simply tap on this to save it for all your devices.
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Confirmation field Many sites ask you to re-enter your password for confirmation. Safari will do that for you.
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DIY You don’t have to go with Safari’s password if you don’t want to. Tap this button to enter your own.
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Save time and stay secure with password autofill
Create strong passwords without having to write them down anywhere IT WILL TAKE 10 minutes YOU WILL LEARN How to create and retrieve AutoFill passwords YOU’LL NEED Sites asking for passwords
If someone can guess your account password, they can do serious damage to your finances
Passwords are a pain, we know. The hassle of inventing them and the difficulty of remembering them explains why the most commonly used passwords are “12345678” and “password” every single year. But strong passwords are essential to protect all the things you have online: if someone or somebody’s software can guess, say,
Your iPad doesn’t just remember website passwords – these are for the control panels of the routers we’ve used.
your Amazon password, they can do serious damage to your finances. The good news is that Safari’s AutoFill can create, securely store and recall very complex passwords so you get the benefit of strong passwords without having to come up with or remember them. In addition to using strong passwords, you should never re-use passwords. That’s because websites can and do suffer from data breaches and people’s usernames and passwords get leaked – and re-use gives the bad guys the key to every site you’ve used that password on. That’s why your iPad never comes up with the same password twice, and why it’ll warn you if you use any duplicates. There’s no point in having good passwords if you don’t also have good hardware security, so make sure you protect your device with Touch ID or Face ID (depending on your device) and always protect your Apple ID with twofactor authentication so that even if someone does get your password, they can’t just access your Apple account. Carrie Marshall
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28/02/2020 09:33
iPadOS Use a mouse with your iPad
Use a mouse with your iPad Discover how to control your iPad using any Bluetooth mouse IT WILL TAKE 10 minutes YOU WILL LEARN Pair and use a Bluetooth mouse YOU’LL NEED iPadOS 13, a Bluetooth mouse
Not everyone is always enamoured with a touch-screen interface, and thanks to iPadOS, if you prefer point and click to touch and drag, your prayers have been answered: albeit with some provisos. Setup is relatively simple – if you know where to look (see below). Mouse support is intended as an accessibility option for those with motor issues, which means it’s not like adding a true cursor – it just emulates you using your finger, so you need to treat it that
way. However, this also means there are several customisation options; take the time to go through the AssistiveTouch menu settings for options such as the Tracking Speed slider to fine-tune the responsiveness. To change the default behaviour of your mouse buttons, tap Devices under ‘Pointer Devices’ followed by your mouse. You can shrink the pointer slightly via ‘Pointer Style’. It may not be ‘true’ mouse support, but for some people it’s a big step forward in terms of both accessibility and productivity. Nick Peers
HOW TO Set up your mouse with your iPad
1 Pair mouse with iPad
Navigate to Settings > Accessibility > Switch Control > Switches. Tap ‘Bluetooth Devices…’ then switch on your mouse and put it into pairing mode. When it appears in the list, tap it and wait for ‘Connected’ to appear.
2 Turn on Assisted Touch 3 Final tweaks To use your mouse, tap back to the main Accessibility screen, then tap Touch followed by AssistiveTouch. Flick the AssistiveTouch switch on, and you’ll see the cursor appear – wiggle the mouse and it should move.
The circular AssistiveTouch menu (shown above) stays on-screen by default, so hide it from view by scrolling down the settings and flicking ‘Always Show Menu’ to off. You can bring it back by right-clicking on the mouse.
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28/02/2020 09:39
APPLE APPS File and folder management
File and folder management made easy Discover how to make use of all the brilliant new features in Files IT WILL TAKE 15 minutes YOU WILL LEARN How to use the new Files app YOU’LL NEED iPadOS 13, the Files app
It’s been a slightly bumpy ride, but the Files app finally comes of age in iPadOS 13. Now it gives you access to virtually all your files and folders – whether in the cloud, on your iPad or even stored on a USB stick, SD card or network drive – from your iPad. The newest iteration adds plenty of new features – all practical and welcome. In addition to those covered in the annotation below and step-by-step guide on the next page, you’ll find you can now download files to your iPad using Safari, plus share entire
folders as well as individual files to your iCloud Drive (although you’ll need to wait for iPadOS 13.2 for this feature). One final new feature has major practical benefits for shunting files between your storage locations – with one instance of Files open, swipe up from the bottom to bring the dock into view, then drag the Files app icon on to the screen to create a second instance. Use one as a source and the other as a destination to quickly copy files between folders and drives using simple drag and drop. Nick Peers
EXPLAINED… Four great new features 1
Scan directly to Files This is the same scanning tool found in Notes, but scans are saved direct to Files
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Faster navigation
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Files brings the Mac’s Column view to the iPad – a speedy way to move things between folders or to preview
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New connections You can now access files stored on USB drives, SD cards (with an adapter) as well as network drives
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You can now compress or decompress files from the Quick Actions menu (or More menu if you select multiple items)
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28/02/2020 11:14
APPLE APPS Add Safari extensions
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Shortcuts
Favourites
These enable you to quickly send the page to commonly used contacts including via Messages
These are the extensions that you and your iPad like best. You can customise what options appear
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App shortcuts
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Use these to share the current page to a particular app such as Mail or social media
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Other extensions Scroll down here to see the other extensions that Apple and your installed apps have made available.
Add Safari extensions
The easy way to share content from Safari with other people and apps IT WILL TAKE 5 minutes YOU WILL LEARN How to customise extensions in Safari YOU’LL NEED Your iPad, some extensions
If you write Shortcuts in Apple’s Shortcuts app you can include them in Safari’s Actions menu
Back in the early days of the internet, web browsers did one thing and one thing only: they showed you web pages. But we wanted more. We wanted to be able to share links with a click, to block irritating adverts, to create PDFs and to do all kinds of things – and to make that happen, developers started writing extensions. Extensions are little helper programs that add features to an app, so for example on your Mac you can install Safari extensions
You can adjust more than Safari’s actions: in Settings > Safari you can change search engines, disable Safari suggestions and change how Safari works.
that check your grammar in online forms, that store your passwords, that check online shops for extra discount codes and all sorts of other useful things.
On Safari You can get extensions in Safari on iPad too, although they work slightly differently: apps that download from the App Store can install what Apple calls Actions, made available in Safari. Those Actions appear in the share sheet when you tap on Safari’s share icon, and they enable you to do things that Safari doesn’t do by default – so for example, you can save pages to the Reeder news reading app or copy content over to the Ulysses writing app. If you write your own Shortcuts using the Shortcuts app, you can add these as Actions along with the ones from App Store apps – when you see ‘Send this to Carrie’ in our screenshots, that’s a Shortcut we’ve that sends the current page’s address to a particular email address. In this tutorial we’ll discover what Actions are on your iPad, how you can customise them and how you can put the Actions you use most at the top of the list. Carrie Marshall
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28/02/2020 11:38
APPLE APPS Master your reading goals
Master your reading goals Books can help you make time to catch up on your reading (and listening) IT WILL TAKE 5 minutes YOU WILL LEARN How to set daily and annual reading goals YOU’LL NEED Some books or audiobooks
We all know that reading is good for us, but sometimes we’re not brilliant at making the time to do it. Apple’s Books app can help with that: it enables you to set a daily and annual reading goal for books and audiobooks that gently encourages you to read or listen in much the same way that Activity encourages you to complete your step count each day. Books, however, is more like a librarian than a fitness coach: it won’t nag you into
finishing that novel and when it congratulates you it does so with just a quiet notification. The first time you use the Reading Goals feature, you’ll only see your progress towards today’s goal – but as you read each day, you’ll see little Activity-style rings appear underneath today’s goal so that you can see what you’ve done each day this week. It’s a good motivator to make sure you make time for reading, and it’s great that it includes the kind of books you listen to as well as the books you read. Carrie Marshall
HOW TO Adjust your reading goals in Books
1 See today’s progress
If you look under the Reading Now heading on the Books home screen, you’ll see a little link – Today’s Reading. Tap on it and you’ll be taken further down the page to see an arc showing your progress towards today’s goal.
2 Adjust your goal
Tap on the displayed time to adjust your daily reading goal. The default is five minutes per day but, if you’re really keen, you can go up to 1,440 minutes. You can also share your goal with others via Messages, Mail or apps.
3 Aim higher
The default annual goal is three books or audiobooks a year. You can change that: in the Books Read This Year bit of your reading goal, tap and hold a book or placeholder. You can choose a target of up to 365 books a year.
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27/02/2020 19:00
BEST FREE APPS FOR iPAD Not sure which app is right for you? We’ve found everything you need, and they’re all free!
hances are, like us, you’re always on the lookout for a new app to squeeze a bit more out of your Apple kit. The right app can help you get the most out of a relaxing hobby or transform how you go about tackling a task. So we’ve scoured the App Store for
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the best apps for iPadOS and iOS that could be the perfect solution for your needs! We’ve picked out the greats, from productivity to entertainment, to travel and lifestyle. All of the apps are free, although some offer additional premium features via an in-app
purchase (IAP) or affordable subscription. We’ve stated clearly where these costs apply, so that you’re in the know. From the freebies to the purchases, each of these apps will help make your iPad or iPhone more useful and fun!
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28/02/2020 09:58
GEAR The latest accessories
APPLE GEAR The hottest products for your iPad
iRig Mic Cast 2 ★★★★★ £52 ikmultimedia.com his neat little mic is aimed at anyone who needs a travel-friendly microphone for occasional use with an iPad, iPhone, or even a Mac. It sits on the edge of your tablet and has a magnetic back so that it attaches securely. It connects using a 3.5mm jack, so you’ll need an adapter for the latest iPad Pros. It has two mic capsules inside, one facing each way; a switch enables you to select one or the other, or both. We tested it with an iPad Pro and a USB-C to 3.5mm jack adapter and there was a big improvement in audio quality over the iPad’s own microphone.
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EZVIZ C6CN Cam ★★★★★ £59 ezvizlife.com his camera has an impressive feature list for the price: motion tracking, 360° field of view, night vision, plus two-way audio. The C6CN lets you quickly view motion-triggered events or a live view, and makes it simple to change settings on the fly. The app has a few nice touches, too, including Face ID security. The camera is rather trigger-happy, though. Point it at the TV and you’ll get saved recordings every time a new character appears on-screen. Cars driving past a window or even sudden changes in the light outside will also set off the motion sensor; if you’re using a microSD card (up to 128GB), it may fill up sooner than expected.
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Image credits (left to right, top to bottom): ikmultimedia, Ezvizlife
28/02/2020 11:15