Chapter 1: How Do Get Started with My iPad?

We live in a world where "design" is shorthand for "the more bells and whistles the better." That's why, when you take a look at most tablet devices, they're positively bristling with buttons, ports, switches, keys, and other operable knickknacks. Ah, but now take a look at your iPad, which, by contrast, has just a few physical buttons (especially the iPad Pro). That minimalist design is a sight for sore eyes in today's world, but it leads to a question: If the iPad has just a few operable buttons, how are you supposed to operate the darn thing? It's a great question, and this chapter provides the answer by giving you a big-picture tour of your iPad. You learn what those buttons are there for, and you learn perhaps the most important iPad skill: how to use the remarkable touchscreen.

Using the Top Button

Using the Home Button

Setting the Volume

Working with the Touchscreen

Editing with Your iPad

Configuring iPad from the Control Center

Using the Top Button

Your iPad doesn't have many buttons, but it does have a few, and arguably the most important of these is the Top button (also called the Sleep/Wake button). As I point out in Figure 1.1, the Top button resides on the top right edge of your tablet, assuming you're holding the tablet in the so- called portrait orientation demonstrated in Figure 1.1.

1.1 On all recent iPads, you can find the Top button on the right side of the top edge.

The Top button has three main functions: sleeping and waking the iPad, powering the tablet on and off, and authorizing purchases made with the device. The next three sections provide the details.

Sleeping and waking the iPad

You put your iPad into sleep mode (sometimes called standby mode) by pressing the Top button. Sleep mode turns off the screen (which conserves battery power and prevents accidental screen taps), but some background activities still occur (such as receiving messages and playing music). Press the Top button once again to wake up your iPad and see the Lock screen. You now have two ways to proceed:

• Slide a finger up from the bottom of the screen.
• Press the Home button (if your iPad has one).

This either unlocks the tablet right away or prompts you to enter your passcode, if you use one (if you don't, you should; see Chapter 11).

Turning the iPad off and back on again

You won't turn off your iPad often, but here are a couple of scenarios where shutting down your tablet can be useful:

• If your iPad's battery level is critically low and you can't charge it, turning off your iPad is a good idea because then the device consumes no power. You can then turn the iPad back on whenever you need to use it.
• If a glitch has caused your iPad to freeze or behave erratically, turning the device off and then back on can often solve the problem (I talk more about this in Chapter 11).

To turn off your iPad, use one of the following techniques, depending on your iPad model:

• Your iPad has Face ID. Press and hold the Top button and one of the Volume buttons for a couple of seconds.
• Your iPad has a Home button. Press and hold the Top button for a couple of seconds.

The Slide to Power Off slider appears on the screen, as shown in Figure 1.2. (Note that you can tap Cancel if you change your mind and decide to leave your iPad on, or just do nothing and iPadOS will cancel the screen for you automatically after about 30 seconds). To shut down the iPad, use a finger to drag Slide to Power Off all the way to the right.

iPadOS is the software that controls just about everything that happens behind the scenes of your iPad. The "OS" part stands for operating system, so in that sense iPadOS performs essentially the same functions as Windows does on a PC and macOS does on a Macintosh computer.

1.2 Use the Slide to Power Off screen to shut down your iPad.

To turn your iPad back on, press and hold the Top button until the Apple logo appears on the screen.

Making a purchase

If your iPad supports Face ID (see Chapter 11 to learn more), you can also use the Top button to authorize purchases on the device:

• Using Apple Pay in a store. Double-press the Top button to use your default Apple Pay credit card. To learn how to set up Apple Pay, see Chapter 3.
• Confirming an app or in-app purchase. When you see the Double Click to Pay message on your iPad (see Figure 1.3), double-press the Top button to approve the purchase.

1.3 Double-press the Top button to authorize an app or in-app purchase.

Using the Home Button

If you have an iPad that comes with a Home button - that is, the circular button on the face of the tablet at the bottom - then you'll use that button a lot because the Home button has quite a few functions. Here are the main ones:

• When the iPad is in sleep mode, pressing the Home button wakes the device and displays the lock screen.
• When the iPad is running, pressing the Home button returns the device to the Home screen.
• Pressing and holding the Home button invokes Siri, which enables you to control many iPad features using voice commands. (If Siri is turned off, pressing and holding the Home button opens a window that asks if you want to turn on Siri.)
• Double-pressing the Home button displays the multitasking screen, which enables you to quickly switch between your running apps.

If your tablet is in sleep mode, press the Home button to display the Lock screen. (This screen appears for up to about six seconds; if you don't do anything, the tablet drops back into sleep mode.)

Setting the Volume

The buttons that enable you to control the volume are located on the right edge of the iPad when you hold the tablet in portrait orientation; see Figure 1.1. There are two volume buttons:

• Volume Up. This is the button situated closer to the top edge of the iPad. Pressing this button increases the volume.
• Volume Down. This is the button situated just below Volume Up. Pressing this button decreases the volume.

When you press a volume button, iPadOS displays a horizontal volume meter that shows you the current volume level.

Working with the Touchscreen

If you've only ever controlled devices by using a keyboard and mouse, you're in for a treat when you start using the iPad's touchscreen. The "touch" part of the name means that you do everything on the iPad - zooming in and out, scrolling through screens and lists, dragging items here and there, and even typing messages - by using a finger (or, in some cases, two or more fingers) to perform particular movements, known as gestures, directly on the screen.

There's a learning curve, but it's not a steep one, and it won't be long before you're wishing that every digital device came with a touchscreen.

The touchscreen is a marvel, but if you intend to do serious work on your iPad, then you might consider augmenting your tablet with some extra technology that can make your life easier. If you write a lot, then easily the most important accessory you can invest in is an external keyboard (such as Apple's Magic Keyboard or Smart Keyboard). For drawing or writing notes, consider a digital pen (such as the Apple Pencil).

Understanding touchscreen gestures

Learning to use the iPad's touchscreen means learning how to use gestures to make the iPad do your bidding. You might think there must be dozens of gestures to master, but happily there are a mere half dozen:

• Tap. Use a finger (it doesn't matter which one; even a thumb will work) to lightly and quickly press and release a specific part of the iPad screen. Tapping initiates just about any action on the iPad. For example, you tap to launch an app, select a check box, turn a switch on or off, enter text using the on-screen keyboard, run a command button, and much more.
• Long press. Place a finger on a screen object (such as a Home screen icon) for a few seconds. In most cases, long pressing an object displays a list of commands that you can perform with the object.
• Double-tap. Use a finger to tap a specific part of the screen twice, one right after the other. Most of the time, double-tapping something zooms in on it, and a second double-tap zooms back out.
• Swipe. Place a finger on the screen and then move it along the screen (which, depending on what you're doing, could be up, down, left, right, or diagonally). You use this gesture - which is also called a flick - to scroll through screens or lists, drag objects to different parts of the screen, and much more.
• Spread. Place two fingers on the screen relatively close together and then move them apart. You use this gesture to zoom...