Become an
iPad pro!
Master multitasking and make more of your apps with these top tips and guides!
Issue 43
HOW TO
Learn to program on your iPad!
Snap & store vital documents
Welcome
to iPad User Magazine, helping you to do more with your iPad
T
he release of iOS 11 late last year brought some fantastic productivity options to the iPad to help you work between apps better. This had always been the biggest weakness of iOS compared to a Windows PC or Mac, since a lot of work tends to require flicking between different windows – browsers, office apps, email and so on – but now you could have multiple apps open together, and even just drag information between them. These new features are easy to get started with, but as with anything in iOS, there’s hidden depth and tricks to using them better. In this issue, we dive right into it, showing you how to use the new app switcher smarter, how to master multiple apps on-screen at once, and even how to power up drag and drop with the excellent Yoink app, which makes it more flexible. Soon, you’ll be flicking through powerful apps on your tablet at super-speed. My other favourite tutorial this issue is getting started with Apple’s genuinely brilliant Swift Playgrounds app, which can teach absolutely anyone how to write code. This time next year, we’ll all be app millionaires!
MATT BOLTON Editor
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Contents 4
Control Centre in iOS 11 Save tons of time by putting your favourite features at your fingertips
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Use Slide Over & Split View Multitask with up to three app panes open on your iPad at any one time
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Hear who is calling you Let Siri announce FaceTime callers
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Code with Swift Playgrounds Learn to code by playing games!
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Use iOS Notes to scan documents Scan documents using your iPad and store them in the Notes app
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Master iOS 11’s App Store Discover how to move around and use the App Store to best advantage
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Do more with Live Photos Turn Live Photos into GIFs and videos you can control and easily share
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Make drag and drop work better Use Yoink as a temporary ‘parking space’ for files and other items in iOS 11
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Never miss an eBay auction Ensure that you’re alerted as soon as your dream items are listed
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Apple Gear We review the latest accessories
iOS Control Centre in iOS 11
Control Centre in iOS 11
Save tons of time by putting your favourite features at your fingertips it will take 10 minutes you will learn How to close apps and use and customise Control Centre You’ll need An iPhone or iPad with iOS 11
The more your iPhone or iPad can do, the more time it can take to find the things you want to do. We’ve all spent ages scrolling to find the right app, opening it and looking for the feature we want. Wouldn’t it be great to have your most-used features right at your fingertips? That’s what Control Centre does. Control Centre has two jobs. The first is to show you what apps you’re running or ran recently, enabling you to quickly find the app you want and switch to it with a tap – or kill it by swiping it up and off the screen, if it’s not responding. And the second job is to provide instant access to common features such as Airplane Mode, Alarm Clock, Rotation Lock and so on. Many of the features have long-press extra options, so you can adjust the brightness of the Torch or turn on Personal Hotspot on an iPhone or cellular iPad. It’s not just a shortcut to system features though, as handy as that is. It also enables
you to control your music or your smart home technology, scribble a quick Note or mirror your screen to an Apple TV. And you can reorganise it and customise it to make it work the way you want it to. Control Centre works identically on everything, but there are different ways to bring it up. On any iOS device apart from the iPhone X, you just need to swipe up from the bottom edge of the screen. On the iPhone X, you must swipe down from the top right corner. There’s an extra option on iPads, where you can double-press the Home button to make it appear. It’s a similar story with closing Control Centre: on most iOS devices you can swipe down from the top of the screen or press the Home button, but on the iPhone X you need to tap the screen or swipe up from the bottom of the screen. If you have an iPad and an iPhone X these differences will slowly drive you insane. Carrie Marshall
explained… Control Centre’s layout 1
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Open and recent apps
Control Centre widgets
Tap on an app to switch to it; swipe it up and offscreen to shut it down if you no longer need it.
Widgets control things such as your music or the screen brightness. You can’t customise this bit.
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Control Centre buttons
Dock
This offers superfast access to your common tasks and settings. You can add additional controls here.
On iPad, Control Centre brings up the Dock for easy app launching. iPhones don’t include this.
Control Centre in iOS 11 iOS
How to Use and customise Control Centre
1Switch apps
2 Brighten up
3See the light
4Check connections
5 Control your home
6Control your music
7Mirror your mobile
8Customise controls
9Remove icons
Bring up Control Centre and you’ll see thumbnails of your current and recent apps. Tap on an app to switch to it, or swipe it up to close it. You only really need to close an app if it’s acting weird.
Force touch on the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth widget enables you to see what Wi-Fi you’re connected to and who can Airdrop you. On iPhones and cellular iPads, the Personal Hotspot option appears here too.
Another self-explanatory one: this enables you to mirror to available AirPlay devices. If you have a fourthgen Apple TV you can also use the Apple Remote Control Centre widget to control it.
If you press and hold the brightness slider, you can adjust the screen brightness by sliding your finger up or down. You’ll also see options for Night Shift and True Tone (if your display supports it).
We like this one. Holding the Home icon lets you see your available smart home accessories, so for example here we can turn on any of our other smart lights without having to go into an app.
You can re-order and change the available widgets and icons by going into Settings > Control Centre. Included controls are at the top and available ones at the bottom. Drag the handles to re-order.
Press and hold the flashlight/torch icon and you can now choose between three different levels of brightness. That’s handy if the default is too bright, such as when you’re lighting up shiny objects.
This one’s pretty self-explanatory, but check out that icon in the top right. That enables you to control where your music is being played, so for example you can specify AirPlay devices here.
Apple enables you to remove some controls, so for example here we’re getting rid of the Torch control because we don’t use our iPad for peering into dark things. Just tap the minus sign and then Remove.
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iOS Use Slide Over & Split View
Use Slide Over & Split View
Multitask with up to three app panes open on your iPad at any one time Split View and Slide Over have been around for a while — since iOS 9 in 2015, with compatible apps — but they are now more useful than ever, thanks to the introduction of drag and drop and some new tweaks in iOS 11. As before, Split View displays two apps side-by-side, while Slide Over opens the second app in a floating window over the first. Now, though, you can have the smaller window to the left if you want — previously it could sit only to the right. It is also possible to add apps to Split View and Slide
it will take 5 minutes you will learn How to use the latest features of Slide Over and Split View in iOS 11 to use several apps at one time You’ll need iPad with iOS 11
Over simply by dragging their icons, whether from a Home screen, out of the Dock, or even from a Spotlight Search. Finally, you can use Split View and Slide Over at the same time. On older iPads, this causes the apps in Split View to be dimmed, but on the latest iPads, all three panes are active. The key skill is holding your finger on an app icon just until the icon grows in size — that’s your cue to start dragging it. On a Home screen, if the icons start jiggling so you can delete apps, you’ve held down too long! Norman Bean
Quick Look Multitasking with apps 1
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Switch modes
Close a pane
Swap out apps
Add a third app
In Split View, the app with a smaller pane has an Edit handle at the top. Drag this up or down to swap from Split View to Slide Over or vice versa.
To close an app pane and exit Split View, hold the handle on the divider between panes and drag it left or right all the way to the edge of the screen.
Swipe up from the foot of the screen to call up the Dock, and drag an icon into one of the panes to replace the app currently open in that pane.
Already have a Split View with two apps on screen? You can add a third as a Slide Over pane: Drag an app icon onto the divider between the two panes.
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Use Slide Over & Split View iOS
CONTINUED… Make more of apps
1Open a second app
2Use Slide Over
3Use Split View
4From Home screen
5Hide Slide Over
6Close the app
7Swap positions
8Drag and drop
9Drag multiple files
Apple expects you to use these multitasking features most often with one app already open. Swipe up from the foot of the screen to view the Dock, hold a finger briefly on an icon, then drag it up and out of the Dock.
You can also open two apps from any Home screen. Hold the icon of one app and start to drag it. Keeping hold of this, tap a second app’s icon to open it. You can now open the first app in either Slide Over or Split View.
To swap the left-hand and right-hand apps in Split View, drag the Edit handle of the right-hand pane down to turn it into a Slide Over window. Then flick left at the top of it, moving it left. Finally, drag the Edit handle up.
For Slide Over view, drag the icon anywhere you like and let go. The second app opens in a floating window at the right of the screen. To move this to the left, flick left on its Edit handle (the horizontal bar near the top).
To hide the floating Slide Over pane, flick on its Edit handle toward the nearest side of the screen (the right by default, unless you moved it as in step 2). To view it again, swipe inward from the same edge of the screen.
Split View makes it simpler than ever to drag and drop content between apps. Select the block of text you want, for example, then hold on it, and drag it to the second app’s pane. The plus sign verifies it will copy across.
For Split View, drag the icon to the left or right edge of the screen. Let go in the black area that appears. By default the second app fills a quarter of the screen. To resize it, drag the vertical divider between the two apps.
This won’t close the app, though — you need to switch to Split View to do that. Swipe a Slide Over window’s Edit handle up or down to switch to Split View, then drag the divider all the way to the screen edge to close the app.
You can drag and drop multiple items, not just a block of text. Viewing something like your photo library, say, tap and hold, then start to drag an item — but now tap other items with another finger and you can move all the items.
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iOS Hear who is calling you
Hear who is calling you Let Siri announce who’s calling over FaceTime on your iPad it will take 5 minutes you will learn How to have Siri announce caller names, depending on your situation You’ll need iPhone, plus (optionally) Hiya or another caller ID lookup/blocking app
Siri interrupts the ringtone for a moment to tell you the caller’s name
Siri does much more than simply answer your queries and tell you jokes. It can also be used to announce who is trying to contact you, interrupting an incoming FaceTime call’s ringtone for a moment to tell you the caller’s name. You can assign different ringtones to your contacts instead, but that requires more effort on your part to ensure each person’s ringtone is set to something that identifies them uniquely, or at least their connection to you. As well as being useful if you have vision problems, having Siri announce a caller’s identity is useful on iPhone, where it can mean you don’t have to fish around in a pocket or bag to check your phone’s display — and it works if you’re using headphones too, which is welcome if you’re on the go. But it’s great on iPad for similar reasons, allowing you to decide whether to rush to answer or give it a miss. David Crookes
explained… Get Siri to tell you who’s calling 1
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Announce calls Unless Never is selected, Siri will announce caller names, or say ‘Unknown Caller’ if it’s not one of your contacts.
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Always announce Tap this and, as long as your phone is not muted, Siri will say who is calling. The sound can come from your iPhone’s speaker, so think about your privacy.
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Headphone/car 1 2 3 4
Select this to have Siri announce callers through your headphones, or your car’s hands-free system (useful if using this option on iPhone).
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Headphone only Don’t have Bluetooth in your car, or prefer not to have callers’ names announced to people around? Have Siri announce calls privately just to your earpiece.
Hear who is calling you iOS
How to Set up call announcements Block unwanted interruptions
1Dig into Settings
2Find the correct option
3Make your choice
4Use in a car
If you want Siri to announce who is calling you whenever someone calls you on FaceTime, then go to the top level of the Settings app. In the fifth group of features down, which begins Accounts & Passwords, tap FaceTime.
There are four possible behaviours. You can get your iPad to always announce whenever an incoming call is received. With Always selected, caller announcements can play through your iPad’s built-in speaker.
The option you want on the item settings page is at the bottom, under the Calls heading: Announce Calls, which has Never next to it by default. Tap that option to see the other available choices.
To prevent Siri announcing unwanted repeat callers, tap ‘i’ next to their numbers in the FaceTime app Recents tab, then ‘Block this Caller.’ On iPhone, make use of bit.ly/ hiyaapp to send pests direct to voicemail.
Select ‘Headphones & Car’ and Siri can announce callers through your car’s Bluetooth audio system. You can’t have announcements for the car only and not your headphones. This is so that it works with hands-free headsets.
AirPods assistance
5Use with headphones
The car option also announces calls through your headphones. If you want Siri to announce calls only when you’re using headphones, not when your car’s hands-free system is connected, pick Headphones Only.
6Accepting a call
Now when your iPad rings, provided it is not muted, Siri will speak to tell you who is calling, so you won’t have to pick up (or even glance at) your device to find out. Either accept or decline – it’s up to you, of course!
You can set AirPods to become the active mic when you insert one into an ear. In Settings > Bluetooth, tap the ‘i’ next to your AirPods and ensure Automatic Ear Detection is enabled. Also choose whether both pods or a specific one will function as a microphone.
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APPLE apps Learn coding with Swift Playgrounds
Code with Swift Playgrounds Learn to code by playing games? Where do we sign up? Swift Playgrounds may be one of the most important apps Apple has ever made. Designed for coding newbies and distributed free to anybody who wants it – including educators – it’s one of the most fun ways to learn the basics of coding. Once you know the basics, you can take that knowledge to any language, not just Swift. The app exports to Xcode but its lessons are universal. Swift Playgrounds works by solving puzzles: here’s your character, Byte, and here’s what you need him to do. The app then takes you very carefully (but not too slowly) through the code you need to perform the action. So for example you’d use moveForward() to make Byte take a step forward and collectGem() to pick up a gem. So far so good. The app offers QuickType suggestions for effortless input, enables you to run your code and see if it works, and it also makes it easy to see where any mistakes have
it will take 20 minutes you will learn How fun, friendly and fantastic Swift Playgrounds is You’ll need An iPad with iOS 11
explained… Swift Playgrounds’ playground 1
Lesson contents Tap on the bulleted list icon to see this. Lessons you’ve already completed appear with green ticks. 3
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Current lesson The lesson you’re currently learning is indicated with a line and red text to make it stand out better. 4
Main window
Byte
This is where you’ll learn what to do and what code you need to use in order to make things happen.
Byte is the character used to introduce you to coding. Your code makes him perform actions in here.
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occurred and how to fix them. In no time at all you’ll be crafting complex strings of actions not just for Byte, but for augmented reality entertainment and even real-life drones, if you have them. The app works with Parrot drones, Lego Mindstorms EV3, Sphero robots and many, many more connected devices. It’s learning by accident! Swift Playgrounds feels a bit like iBooks, or Books as it’s now known: each lesson is downloadable in what looks like the App Store or iTunes store and then stored in your library. But you can also add subscriptions from third parties. They aren’t financial subscriptions but channels, so for example you might subscribe to a Lego channel in order to control Mindstorms toys. Swift Playgrounds is great fun for beginners and older souls alike: it feels like a game, not a grind, and it’s deceptively powerful. It makes coding feel like the most fun thing in the world. Carrie Marshall
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Learn coding with Swift Playgrounds APPLE apps
How to Play in Swift Playgrounds
1Welcome aboard
2Start playing
3Run the code
4Get more advanced
5Get more education
6Get more games
7Roll your own
8Share your stuff
9Get connected
Download Swift Playgrounds from the App Store and then use it to download Learn To Code 1. It works just like iTunes or Books. Launch the lesson and it’ll provide a gentle welcome to the key ideas.
Things get interesting fast: one moment you’re typing your first movement command, the next you’ve got Byte moving all over the place toggling switches. We think Apple has pitched this just right.
This Rock, Paper, Scissors game is simpler than Byte’s adventures and again pitched for beginners. It’s designed to get you digging into the customisation options in order to make the game your own.
We’ve come a long way from LISP and turtles, or even BigTrak: Swift Playgrounds enables you to control an in-game character called Byte. Here we’ve been asked to give Byte move and collect commands.
Tapping the icon in the very top left hand corner takes you back to your library, which is going to look just as sparse as ours does here. To access another lesson, tap on the New Playground link.
If you tap on the triple-dot icon you’ll see some cool features below the help options. Swift is designed for sharing: you can grab an image, record a movie or even broadcast live to adoring crowds.
When you run the code Byte will do as he’s told, and if you’ve got it right you’ll be congratulated with an explanation of what you’ve achieved. If not, you’ll be guided gently to the correct solution.
The available lessons cover a really good range from simple Rock, Paper, Scissors (shown here) for beginners to mazes and even using augmented reality to place cartoon characters in real-life rooms.
When you’re selecting lessons, tapping Add Subscription enables you to connect Swift Playgrounds to third party devices such as Lego, drones and a whole bunch of bots. The possibilities are endless.
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APPLE apps Scan documents in Notes
Use iOS Notes to scan documents
Scan documents using your iPad and store them in the Notes app it will take 10 minutes you will learn How to scan documents into the iPhone Notes app You’ll need iOS 11
The camera on your iPhone is so good, it can be used as a scanner to capture documents, receipts and other paperbased items so you don’t lose them, they won’t fade, and they’re easier to find and organise (when you need to claim expenses or file your tax return, for example). There are dozens of excellent scanner apps in the Store, but do you need one?
Apple has upgraded the Notes app in iOS 11 and it now includes a great scanning feature. This enables you to scan all your paperwork, neatly crop to the edges, and store the images in notes on your phone. With iCloud syncing, you can then access the scans on your Mac and other devices if you need to. Here’s a quick introduction to how it works… Roland Waddilove
Quick Look The scanning screen 1
Flash options Tap here to set the camera flash to on, off, or automatic mode. Usually automatic is best, but it depends on the ambient lighting and the document.
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Colour options Choose between photo mode, colour scan, greyscale, and black-and-white. Selecting the last of these options will really pump up the contrast.
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Auto shutter The app can automatically take the photo when it detects the document in the picture. Tap here and turn this off if you’d prefer to use the Scan button (the big round one) at the bottom.
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Save the scan(s) Multiple documents can be scanned in one go — just keep putting them in front of the camera. Tap the Save button to save all scans to the note when you’re done.
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