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Tek Doctor

Top Tips and Tricks that every iPad User should know.



Tablets such as iPads are in common use these days. Whether you're a beginner or have been using your iPad for a while, its always handy to know you're using the iPad to it's full capabilities.

There are many different Tips and Tricks to using your iPad, the list is endless. So we have shortlisted 10 which we hope will be of use to all levels of user.

Most of these are applicable to iPhones as well.

1. Access Camera when iPad is locked


Home Button

You don't actually need to unlock your iPad, find and select the Camera App on the iPad to take Photos or Videos.

Simply Pressing the Home button once and swiping the screen left will take you directly to the Camera App.

Don't worry about security too. Whilst this shortcut allows you to access the Camera, it doesn't allow access to the Photos or Videos you have already taken.

2. Closing Apps

Pressing the Home button doesn't actually close the App. All this does is essentially minimise it. As such the App will run in the background, potentially using up your Battery Life and Data Usage.

To close Apps fully, pressing the Home button twice will bring up all Apps that are currently open. From there swiping the screen up will fully close the App.

3. Battery Percentage

By default, the Battery Life indicator displays colours similar to traffic lights when low. Whilst good in itself, it's very useful to have the exact percentage showing, so you know exactly how much battery life you have remaining.


Battery Percentage

To enable the percentage, go to:

Settings > Battery > Swipe Battery Percentage to on (Green)


Battery Percentage On

This section is also particularly useful to show the Battery Usage of your Apps over the Last 24 Hours or Last 7 Days, sorted by the biggest users.

Also select the Clock symbol to show exact times either on screen or running in the background.

4. Managing your storage

You may be getting alerts about running out of space or just curious as to which Apps are using the most space.

To see how space is being used, how much is available and which Apps are taking up the most space, go to:

Settings > General > Storage & iCloud Usage


Storage & iCloud Usage

Then select Manage Storage


Manage Storage

Here you will see the Apps sorted by Storage Use and you're able to decide if any changes are needed to free up space.

5. Invert Colours

For people inflicted with light sensitivity or colour blindness, the iPad comes with a setting to invert the colours or adjust the display to help those who need it.

To change these settings go to:

Settings > General > Accessibility > Display Accommodations


Display Accommodations

Swipe Invert Colours to reverse the colours

Select Colour Filters to adjust the Colours to suits your eyesight

Swipe Reduce White Point to reduce the intensity of bright colours

NB. Some Apps such as games may not function as well in Inverted Colours, particularly those that are reliant on different colours.

6. Jump to the top in Safari

On many occasions you might be scrolling down a page or article on the Safari Web Browser, only to want to get back to the top of page without having to keep using your finger to scroll up. Well, now you can.

Simply tapping the very top of status bar where the current time is displayed, will accomplish just that.

NB. This also works in the Mail App, Notes, Settings and many 3rd Party Apps

7. Add an Attachment to an Email

Adding an attachment to an email through the Mail App is not as intuitive as it should be. Unlike PCs and Laptops, iOS doesn't allow you to browse through your iPad files.

An attachment must be either a photo or video in your Camera Roll, or can be any file saved in a 3rd Party App such as iCloud, Google Drive or Dropbox for example.

To add any of these attachments, Open the Mail App, Compose a new email and Tap an empty space in the body of email to bring up a menu of options:


Add Attachment

Select Insert Photo or Video to attach something from your Camera Roll

or

Select Add Attachment and select a file from your 3rd Party App. Note you may have to select Locations in the Top Left Hand Corner and Sign in to your account before choosing the file you want to attach.

8. Keep your information private from Advertisers

Your iPad holds information about you such as Gender, Date of Birth and Location. By Default, this information is accessible by the Apps you install, as such, they can exploit this information to target Advertisements at you.

If you're concerned about your privacy (As you should be in this day and age). There is one setting you must switch on: Limit Ad Tracking

To enable this, go to:

Settings > Privacy > Advertising > Swipe Limit Ad Tracking


Limit Ad Tracking

It is also recommended to tap Reset Advertising Identifier to remove any old information about you from Apps already installed.

9. Split View Webpage

Did you ever want to read 2 web pages side-by-side? Well now you can!

Rotate your iPad to landscape mode, then Touch and Hold a link to bring up a menu of options.


Menu Options

Select Open in Split View to bring up the side-by-side pages


Open in Split View

10. Stop asking to join Wi-Fi networks

If you're annoyed by constantly being asked to join a network when out of range of your Wi-Fi, you can now stop the alerts.

To enable this, go to:

Settings > Wi-Fi > Swipe Ask to Join Networks to Off


Ask to Join Networks

Your iPad will still connect to known networks.


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