The iPad has always been a fantastic content creation device. Mostly thanks to developers love for the App Store. When Apple released iOS 11 it finally became an efficient platform. Lots of additions come together to make iPad a much more pleasant platform to work on. Drag and Drop The most significant improvement is probably drag and drop. You can literally drag and drop text, photos, urls, files, etc.. to any app that supports it. Developers have jumped on this ability so most quality apps already do. With this change I have been turned onto a new category of app called a “shelf” app. Shelf apps like Gladys allow you to drop content to be held until later to drag them into a new app. Watch the video below to see how this works to drop pictures onto Gladys and then drag them back out and into Pages. Floating Dock A feature you probably noticed in the previous video is the floating dock. The dock can now be brought up with a small flick from the bottom of the screen. You may also notice that it can hold over twice as many apps, including the three most recently opened on the far right. The video below shows dragging a link, pulling up the dock and dropping that link through and into the notes app. Screenshot Markup An improvement that I didn’t realize was needed was the workflow to markup and send screenshots. In iOS 11 when a screenshot is taken it will float to the bottom left of your screen. A swipe left will dismiss it, while a tap on it will open the markup screen. From here, mark up your photo and hit the “sharrow,” a name I heard for the share sheet that I can’t get out of my head, and send it to whichever app you need to. Tapping on done gives the option to either delete the screenshot after having sent it, or save it to your photos. The video below shows this workflow. Built-in QR Reader This next one is big time for teachers. Raise your hand if you have become so frustrated with QR code readers and their confusing user interfaces that you’ve given up on your students using them. (Raises hand) Good news! There is now a QR reader built into the camera app. Simply open the camera, point it at a QR code, and a notification pops down. Tap the notification to open whatever content is contained in the QR code. Watch below for the magic. Screen Recording Finally, the feature I have been waiting for the longest. In my job, I NEED the ability to make tutorial videos quickly and easily. That has always been cumbersome on iOS. I have used workarounds like Air Server in the past but those videos saved to the computer rather than the iPad or iPhone. FINALLY, screen recording is built into iOS. This option must be enabled from your control center customization settings in the settings app, but once it is all it takes is a long swipe up to see the control center, and a tap on the record button. Watch below! Those are just a few of the features that have turned iOS into a powerhouse productivity machine. It takes some getting used to to master the new gestures, but once you have them down your iPad will feel like a whole new device.
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AuthorKyle McClure is an Integration Specialist in Buhler, KS. He specializes in iPads and GSuite for education. Archives
November 2018
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