Abstract
- Activate Extra House mode below Show Settings for extra display actual property & usability.
- Swap to Stage Supervisor in Multitasking settings for window management & a number of monitor setup.
- Add widgets to homescreen as a substitute of app icons for at-a-glance data & improved performance.
When you hand around in Reddit tech boards for any size of time, you will inevitably see quite a lot of repeat posts. Within the Apple Watch subreddit, for instance, newcomers are repeatedly asking if a selected dimension is just too huge, or the right way to cease watchOS from switching to the Smart Stack view. A few of this may be blamed on folks not looking by means of previous threads — different issues will be blamed on the character of the product itself.
Within the iPad subreddit, many individuals prefer to announce that they’ve purchased their first iPad by asking for ideas. Whereas they is likely to be overly excited, bragging even, I’ve some sympathy for them — iPadOS is not probably the most intuitive software program when you’re coming from a Mac or Home windows PC, and even an iPhone.
These are among the issues I alter each time I am establishing a recent iPad. Needless to say the software program is about to alter radically — within the fall, iPadOS 26 is poised to make it extra Mac-like. No less than a few of these tweaks ought to stay related, fortunately.
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1
Activating Extra House mode
Why is not this on by default?
When you want proof that Apple wasn’t actually involved about iPads serving as laptop computer replacements till just lately, look no additional than the Extra House possibility, situated below Settings -> Show & Brightness -> Show Zoom. The truth is, when you’ve already arrange your new iPad, go forward and check out it sight unseen — you will be shocked by the distinction.
For these of you who haven’t got an iPad useful, Extra House shrinks the dimensions of fonts and numerous interface parts to suit extra content material onscreen. It may possibly make an enormous distinction to usability. Throughout the workday, the choice lets me run three iPhone-sized apps on my iPad Professional — and that is on an 11-inch display. If I needed to make my iPad my main writing system, I merely could not do it with out Extra House creating sufficient room to run two decently-sized browser home windows.
There’s a tradeoff, after all. In case your imaginative and prescient is not one of the best, Extra House can doubtlessly make issues tougher to learn — however you possibly can at all times alter textual content dimension independently to compensate.

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2
Switching to Stage Supervisor
No exterior show vital
iPadOS 26 will introduce a brand new multitasking system that would make Stage Supervisor irrelevant for many individuals, however in iPadOS 18, the function is crucial if you need your iPad to behave extra like a “actual” pc. It allows extra management over positioning and resizing home windows than the split-screen system, and when you’ve acquired an iPad with an M-series processor, it helps you to push some home windows to an exterior monitor whereas maintaining others in your iPad display. Voilà, a real multi-monitor workspace.
One other profit is Dock entry. When you dimension all of your home windows in a approach that leaves room on the backside of the show, you possibly can hold the Dock completely onscreen, similar to macOS. That makes it far simpler to open or change apps, notably for the reason that Dock contains an App Library icon. As soon as you’ve got cleared sufficient room, do a really quick swipe up from the underside of your display to make the Dock seem.
To get all the things going, head to Settings -> Multitasking & Gestures and choose Stage Supervisor. You may toggle the Dock on or off as nicely, however I nearly assure you will wish to go away it on.

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Stopping an terrible waste of area
On an iPad, there’s actually little level in filling your homescreen with app icons, in contrast to an iPhone. The Dock makes launching your most necessary apps a snap, and if that is not adequate, the mix of Highlight search and a keyboard makes it straightforward to seek out apps by title.
As a substitute, one of the best use of the homescreen is filling it with widgets for at-a-glance data. On my iPad Professional’s homescreen, I’ve widgets for my calendar, a seven-day climate forecast, and the battery standing of linked gadgets. That is simply scratching the floor — you may, as an example, add a Recordsdata widget making it easier to open current paperwork, or a Reminders checklist displaying upcoming duties. Many third-party apps have their very own widgets, such because the information tickers supplied by Reuters and the Washington Submit.
You may add widgets to your individual homescreen by tapping and holding on an empty area. When icons begin to jiggle, faucet Edit within the upper-left nook, then Add Widget. Keep in mind that some apps have a number of widgets you possibly can swipe by means of, usually in several sizes — one outsized Calendar widget, as an example, will present you most or your entire upcoming occasions for the subsequent a number of days.

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4
Disabling or limiting Auto-Lock
Be conscious of your safety scenario, although
By default, iPads are set to auto-lock after a couple of minutes. When you’ve acquired a passcode (and/or Face ID or Contact ID) enabled, this will typically be a helpful anti-theft measure, making it more durable for thieves to entry your information in the event that they ambush you. With or with out safety, the function can save energy when you’re susceptible to wandering away whereas a tool continues to be working.
Auto-lock just isn’t solely pointless in quite a lot of circumstances, nonetheless, however one other hindrance to utilizing an iPad like a pc. After I’m not touring, my iPad Professional often serves as a secondary show, letting me hold tabs on music, chats, widgets, and good house controls with out losing area on my laptop computer. Auto-lock would make this impractical, forcing me to faucet or swipe on my iPad each couple of minutes, or at the least stare at its Face ID digital camera. Think about in case your Mac locked in the midst of studying a information article or analysis paper — you would not put up with that for lengthy both.
Go to Settings -> Show & Brightness -> Auto-Lock. If you need some type of failsafe, you possibly can select a delay as much as quarter-hour, however I might strongly recommend selecting By no means. Hitting the Sleep/Wake button in your iPad is not troublesome to recollect, and lots of folio circumstances (just like the Magic Keyboard) will lock your iPad for you once you shut them. There’s simply no cause to have Auto-Lock caught at two to 5 minutes until you are the type who likes to learn in your iPad in subways or public parks.

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