Category: Features

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iPadOS 16 Beta Watch: More space, if your eyes can take it

Did you know that you can change the screen resolution on your iPad? Well, you can if you’ve got a M1 (or M whatever, presumably) iPad, and iPadOS 16. You find the setting under Settings > Display & Brightness.

MacBook users will recognize this feature. Modern MacBooks, and iMacs too, come with a standard resolution. It’s the ideal one, in Apple’s opinion, with readable text and that nice retina sharpness. However, you can change the scaling, which is basically changing the resolution that macOS will render things in. This means that text will get smaller, but you’ll get more screen real-estate, at the cost of some sharpness of things. For some, that’s a worthy trade. Since Apple screens are as good as they are, you often find that you’re not really loosing any of that sharpness. For iPads, where you have two choices only, it really isn’t such a big deal, as long as your eye-sight is good enough.

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iPadOS 16 Beta Watch: A global keyboard shortcut to close windows

Here’s a nice surprise in the third developer beta of iPadOS 16: There’s a global keyboard shortcut to close windows. This made less sense before, whereas apps could have multiple instances (or windows, if you will) open, but they had no real relation to anything apart from that they existed, and could be jumped between. Now, with Stage Manager, it makes more sense, whereas multiple windows exist beside, over, and under each other.

Mac users will recognize the keyboard shortcut: cmd+w. Some apps already have support for this, with its own behavior, which will take precedence, or at least that’s how I understand it after having read discussions about this new feature. If there’s nothing assigned to cmd+w in the app, it’ll revert to default, which is to close the current window. A nice addition, if you ask me.

iPadOS 16 Beta Watch: Reminders’ badges finally makes sense

Apple released the third developer beta of iPadOS 16, which could be what the upcoming public beta will be based on. While there are fixes all-around, one thing really stood out to me, and that’s a new setting for the Reminders app. You might remember that I’m enjoying the new Today view in Reminders, but also that the way badges are being used, for due and overdue tasks, are less-intuitive than they should be.

Well, I’m pleased to report that this a thing of the past, as of the third iPadOS 16 beta.

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iPadOS 16 Beta Watch: The new Today view in Reminders

New iPadOS versions usually mean that the default apps get some (sometimes much-needed) TLC. That’s the case with iPadOS 16 too, although most of the coverage has been related to Mail, which, in all fairness, is getting the most updates.

The additions to Reminders is more subtle, but much appreciated. I’m actually using Reminders for my task management, thanks to its wonderful integration with both Siri, and other apps, like Readdle’s Calendars, for example. There are plenty of trade-offs, and Reminders isn’t without its quirks, as I’ve talked about several times before, but here we are.

I’m pleased to say that Reminders are getting a little nicer in iPadOS 16.

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iPadOS 16 Beta Watch: Send Later in Mail

Mail is the default app in iPadOS 16 that’s got the most updates, and arguably also the app that’s in most dire need. I’m reluctant to talk about the snooze feature just yet. In fact, I debated whether I’d write a post about Send Later at all because I don’t think that the Mail app is particularly stable, especially not in Stage Manager. There’s something wonky going on, and since communication is important to so many things I’m doing, I’ve put in limited use.

That said, I’ve used the Send Later feature a couple of times now, and I must say, it’s worked without a hitch.

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iPadOS 16 Beta Watch: Stage Manager is growing on me

I wrote a full newsletter on Stage Manager, the new multitasking environment in iPadOS (and the upcoming macOS Ventura). You basically get windowing support, although your windows aren’t fully resizable, you’re still stuck with a couple of pre-determined sizes. Personally, I have yet to fully commit to this, the verdict’s still out, but I must say, the Stage Manager feature is growing on me.

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Focus Mode, but for your kids

Have you got kids? Do they sometimes borrow your iPad (or iPhone, for that matter) to play games, or watch something on YouTube Kids? And, while they do, are you secretly afraid they’ll accidentally text your boss, call your ex, or tweet something inappropriate about Elon Musk?

Focus Mode to the rescue!

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