Table of contents for Issue 66 in iPad User Magazine

Welcome

Welcome to another issue of iPad User magazine. We’re still recovering from the latest Apple September event. Tim Cook unveiled not one but two brand new iPads. There’s a brand new iPad Air with a new design and A14 Bionic chip and an upgraded 8th generation iPad model, just in time for Christmas. We’ve managed to get our hands on the 8th-gen iPad this issue, and look forward to reviewing the gorgeous new iPad Air next issue. At the September event Tim Cook also announced that iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 were going to be released before this year’s iPhone upgrade goes on sale. This is an unusual step for Apple, and another example of how 2020 has been anything but a standard year. You should have access to iPadOS…

1 min

iPad User Magazine|Issue 66

Open your iPad using your voice

IT WILL TAKE 5 minutes YOU WILL LEARN How to open your iPad with your voice YOU’LL NEED An iPad running iPadOS 13 or later Face ID has removed the frustration of having to enter a passcode or use your fingerprint to unlock your iPhone or iPad. Sadly, the need to wear a face mask to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 has made the process more cumbersome since Face ID doesn’t recognise you when you are wearing a mask. Rather than pull the mask below your chin – a major no no because it’s a sure-fire way to potentially spread the virus onto your hands – you can use the power of your voice instead. By turning to the Accessibility features, you can create a workaround command that automatically…

2 min

iPad User Magazine|Issue 66

Manage your screen time

IT WILL TAKE 10-15 minutes YOU WILL LEARN How to understand and curb excessive iPhone usage YOU’LL NEED iOS 11 or later, OffScreen Screen Time is designed to show you how you use your iPad and help cut down your usage. It is not perfect, though. Sure, you can limit how much time you spend on your device, but you only get a couple of choices over how to do that. Your usage data is more or less restricted to the number of pickups and notifications you had. It is fine, but not outstanding. OffScreen offers features that Screen Time lacks, from multiple focus modes to detailed stats on how you use your device. It also incorporates tools that Apple has scattered about iOS (like bedtime reminders) in one place,…

3 min

iPad User Magazine|Issue 66

Accessories

SteelSeries Nimbus+ £59.99/$79.99 steelseries.com Built for mobile gaming, the Nimbus+ features a plug-in clamp to house your iPhone and has a great feel about it, even if it is a little weighty with your iOS device holstered onboard. The thumbsticks, face buttons and, especially, the soft triggers are a pleasure to touch and are well-suited to the cream of Apple Arcade, particularly high-octane racing games such as Asphalt 9 Legends. It is also compatible with most Mac games. Urbanears Rålis £169.99/$199.99 urbanears.com This cube-shaped, Haute Red, portable speaker comes at an eye-watering price, but for that you get a great sound coupled with an exquisite design. Inside the box are two 5W tweeters (one forward facing, one rear) and a 15W woofer, and the rear panel sports a bass port…

2 min

iPad User Magazine|Issue 66

iPadOS 14 Let’s recap what you’ve now got

How to get it: Installation is easy - simply open up Settings and go to General then Software Update. If your iPad works with iPadOS 14 you’ll see the option to get it here. iPadOS 14 works with: iPad Pro 12.9–inch (4th generation), iPad Pro 11–inch (2nd generation), iPad Pro 12.9–inch (3rd generation), iPad Pro 11–inch (1st generation), iPad Pro 12.9–inch (2nd generation), iPad Pro 12.9–inch (1st generation), iPad Pro 10.5–inch, iPad Pro 9.7–inch, iPad (8th generation), iPad (7th generation), iPad (6th generation), iPad (5th generation), iPad mini (5th generation), iPad mini 4, iPad Air (4th generation), iPad Air (3rd generation), iPad Air 2 iOS 14 works with: iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, iPhone 11 Pro Max, iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone XR, iPhone X, iPhone 8, iPhone 8…

10 min

iPad User Magazine|Issue 66

Manage your messages

IT WILL TAKE 5 minutes YOU WILL LEARN How to use the new featurs in Messages found in iPadOS 14 YOU’LL NEED An iPad running iPadOS 14 Even though there are popular alternatives such as WhatsApp, most of us continue to make extensive use of Messages. With iPadOS 14 (and iOS 14), Apple has made some very useful improvements which better enable you to keep up with conversations and determine which chats you want to see. Here we’ll cover the main additions, explaining how to pin conversations, better manage group chats and work with the filters. There are also some new wider-use features that work well in Messages, however, including being able to search for emoji and choose from more variants of Memoji for that greater personal touch. That said,…

2 min

iPad User Magazine|Issue 66

6 apps to get stuff done

Lots of us are trying to use our time to complete big projects, whether personal or professional. It might be something new for your job, or a home improvement idea, or that novel you just never got around to starting. Whatever your goal, there are great tools for iPhone and iPad that can help develop your ideas, and work through the tasks that will lead to success. These apps are just as suited to creative tasks as they are to professional ones, helping you turn nebulous ideas into concrete steps. Often, the biggest challenge for climbing that new-project mountain is finding the first hand-hold, but try one of these and you’ll soon be striding ahead. Evernote Free (IAPs) NEEDS iOS 11 or later When starting a project you need an…

3 min

iPad User Magazine|Issue 66

iPadOS 14

A mini Mac? > We’re kidding – Apple’s platforms each have their own distinctive personality – but the proliferation of features like multi-paned apps and menus undeniably lends iPadOS some of the feel of a desktop operating system. In iPadOS 14, sidebars become a major element of apps like Photos, Files, Notes, Calendar and even Apple Music, using the screen space lacking on iPhones to provide permanently visible navigation. It’s a departure from the tendency of iOS to hide functions behind gestures. But there are still almost no UI cues for iPadOS’ split-screen multitasking options, which remain powerful but invisible until you know the trick.…

1 min

iPad User Magazine|Issue 66

Learn Photoshop Camera

IT WILL TAKE 15 minutes YOU WILL LEARN How to replace a dull sky, enhance a portrait and fix colour and tone YOU’LL NEED The Photoshop Camera app The Photoshop Camera app (or PsC) is designed to create eye-catching images for social media platforms such as Twitter and Instagram. PsC uses artificial intelligence to analyse an image and then replace certain areas with graphics. For example, the Blue Skies lens (or filter) can identify and replace an overcast sky with a range of summery blue skies, complete with fluffy clouds. This type of job would be a challenge to perform on the desktop version of Photoshop, but the PsC app performs an effective sky replacement automatically (as we’ll demonstrate)! We’ll also show you how to quickly turn a portrait into…

3 min

iPad User Magazine|Issue 66

iPad (10.2-inch, 8th generation)

From £329 FROM Apple, apple.com/uk FEATURES 10.2-inch Retina display, A12 Bionic chip, 32GB or 128GB of storage, Wi-Fi only or Wi-Fi + mobile connectivity While it’s not been given the radical overhaul enjoyed by its iPad Air sibling, there’s still enough special sauce in this entry-level iPad to make it worth the upgrade. Chief among these is the six-core A12 Bionic chip from the iPhone 11, which also includes a second-gen Neural Engine for improved machine learning, photo and video editing and Augmented Reality (AR). Apple says the A12 Bionic boosts iPad performance by 40% over the previous generation, with 2x graphics performance – more on this later. As before, the eighth-gen iPad is available in Wi-Fi only or Wi-Fi + mobile connectivity options. Plus you can choose between either…

4 min