When iOS 11 was announced, we suggested it would make iPad awesome all over again. But the truth is it’s a slice of awesome whatever iOS device you’re rocking.
On iPad, iOS 11 is Apple’s attempt to marry desktop power with iOS elegance – hence the Files app, drag and drop, and souped-up multitasking. But iPhone owners aren’t left in the lurch, because they get plenty of goodies, too.
So delve into our tips, and learn how to make your iPhone and iPad do more.
1) USE DRAG AND DROP
You can also add to a selection: for example, in Photos, drag a picture and then tap some more; or on the Home screen, tap-hold an app to make the icons jiggle, drag one, and tap some others. That last one’s good for hurling old 32-bit apps into a folder of the doomed.
2) CUSTOMISE CONTROL CENTRE
There’s a modicum of customisation on offer, in Settings. Go to Control Centre > Customise Controls. Love stopwatches but inexplicably hate timers? Good news: you can add the former and feverishly delete the latter – before quietly seeking help.
3) SAVE SPACE
Here, you can automatically offload unused apps, but retain their data upon reinstall – great for temporarily getting rid of games you’re not playing yet might (but let’s face it, probably won’t) finish in the future.
Alternatively, scroll down to offload apps on a one-off basis. More selective pruning’s available by tapping Messages (nuke huge attachments), Photos (review videos and fire up iCloud options), and Music (delete albums or entire artists).
4) BE SAFE WHILE DRIVING
Fortunately, you can manually toggle this feature in the Do Not Disturb section of Settings (along with setting up auto-replies), and it can be added to Control Centre as a quick-access button.
5) TAME SIRI
In Settings, go to General > Accessibility > Siri, and you can turn on Type to Siri – although be aware this disables speech input. As a halfway house, you can edit your input by tapping on your original query.
6) INVERT COLOURS
But go to Settings > General > Accessibility > Display Accommodations > Invert Colours, and you’ll find the new Smart Invert. This reverses your display’s colours, apart from images and media – a proper night mode, essentially – rather than the classic version, which turns your device into something seemingly coloured in by a crazy person.
7) DOCK IT
You can then drag an app out of the Dock to perform a quick task inside a tiny window – or drag that window’s tab upwards to launch Split View. Window pairings can subsequently be accessed in the app switcher, invoked by double-clicking the Home button.
8) FILE DOCUMENTS
On iPad, Files is especially great: its two-pane view makes it a cinch to quickly browse and manage files on your device – and also elsewhere. Yep – in an atypical Apple move, you can add other ‘locations’ to the Files sidebar, including Dropbox and FTP client Transmit.
9) PIN NOTES
The Notes app also has another trick up its sleeve: tables. This is not Excel, but is enough for laying out the odd bit of data in columns and rows, or adding a load of rectangles to notes because you like them. You weirdo.
10) SCAN PAPERS
As long as there’s enough contrast between your paper and what it’s sitting on, Notes will snap and crop it automatically. You can keep shooting until you run out of documents and/or people beg you to stop. At that point, tap your scanned document to fiddle with its crop, filter, and rotation. Tap Save to embed the result in your note.
11) TYPE FASTER
On iPhone, you get something rather different: the means to squish the keyboard left or right – useful for anyone not blessed with banana thumbs for one-handed typing. To get this working, you’ll in Settings need to go to General > Keyboard and ensure at least two keyboards are active (your chosen language and Emoji are the two defaults). Tap-hold the emoji key and press the buttons to adjust the keyboard.
12) FIND AUTO-BRIGHTNESS
But wait! A switch still exists. In Settings, go to General > Accessibility > Display Accommodations > Cellar > Locked Filing Cabinet > Disused Bathroom > Beware of the Leopard > Auto-Brightness. (We may have made some of that path up. But then we’re also baffled why Apple’s made this one so difficult.)
13) REDUCE MOTION
As we reported years ago, iOS’s whizzy stuff is great for some folks, but makes others sick – and we’re hearing people never before affected by motion sickness are now succumbing. If that’s you, turn on Reduce Motion in the Accessibility section of Settings – although be mindful it doesn’t still all animations. App Store and Photos in particular remain brain-punchingly wooze-inducing.
14) EDIT LIVE PHOTOS
Select your Live Photo in Photos and tap Edit. Drag the timeline left or right edges to trim the video component, then tap a spot within the timeline and Make Key Photo to change the still. When in the standard view, drag the Live Photo upwards and you can select a new effect: Loop, Bounce, or (a faked) Long Exposure.
15) ANNOTATE GRABS
Tap the thumbnail when it lurks at the corner of the screen, and then crop your screen grab, draw on it, and add text – or sign it, if you’ve somehow found a way to make money from autographing your online detritus.
16) RECORD YOUR SCREEN
You’ll get a countdown, and the status bar will go red. When you’re done, tap the bar, press Stop, and fish the video out of Photos. It can be edited, trimmed and shared in the usual manner. Fame awaits. Possibly.