Cool iPad interactions from iOS 12

[4004786]

I’m really digging iOS 12. It’s particularly great for iPads, I think.

Two things that iOS 12 changed or added that I’m a big fan of relate to using the four-finger swipe gesture to switch apps. If you’re on the rightmost app and try to swipe left, it no longer does the “rubberband” effect. That effect always felt like a punishment to me, because it was too long, too exaggerated, and you couldn’t interact with your device while it was happening.

Now, the app just moves with your fingers and quickly moves back into place when there’s nothing to the right. It’s a huge improvement, in my opinion.

Another thing is how quickly you can swipe between apps. You can just keep swiping and it’ll let you zip through as many apps as you want. I’m pretty sure on iOS < 11, it would immediately try to load the app, and freeze your ability to swipe again.

What are your favorite changes in iOS 12 for iPad?

 

[muzzy996]

Haven’t done the beta but I’m looking forward to iOS 12 release just to get a few more features.

I’m a gesture fan when it comes to mobile devices, to the point that it’s the #1 reason that I continue to use a rooted Android device as my phone. I wish Apple and Google would bake gesture customization into their operating systems so that users could customize their own gestures to their heart’s content. Imagine having dozens of different gestures based upon where you initiate a swipe and its direction or the number of fingers used and having each gesture take you straight to a particular application, shortcut or trigger a script.

As for app switching, that does sound like an improvement though I would have loved to have the 4-finger left/right gesture invoke the app carousel that Command-Tab on a keyboard does and just be able to stop my gesture movement anywhere on the carousel instead. I don’t need animated full screen application switching, i want to know what app I’m picking and to be able to do it quickly without worrying about what order the apps were launched in or having a boundary on one side.

 

[kristalsoldier]

When does iOS 12 release?

 

[MacManiac76]

When does iOS 12 release?

September 17

 

[jun180]

Best one is long pressing the spacebar and moving the mouse cursor, just like a 3d touch enabled iphone

 

[akash.nu]

Best one is long pressing the spacebar and moving the mouse cursor, just like a 3d touch enabled iphone

This feature was already there. You just needed two fingers to tap an hold on the keyboard.

 

[The Game 161]

Looking forward to trying it on all my devices.

 

[jun180]

This feature was already there. You just needed two fingers to tap an hold on the keyboard.

Didn't know that! But you don't need two fingers now, just a single long tap which is how it should be

 

[Susie4170]

Has anyone figured out a way to remove the new sidebar in the News app when viewing in landscape mode?

 

[apolloa]

So far iOS 12 on my 9.7” iPad Pro is like having a new iPad! Massive performance difference.

 

[Naramis]

Anyone else having trouble differentiating between bringin up the dock and swiping back to the home screen?

 

[largefarrva]

One thing I DON’T like is on my keyboard, the bottom left-most key became the key for the emoji keyboard instead of the number keyboard. So I had to delete my emoji keyboard. Kept on bringing up emojis.

 

[MacManiac76]

Anyone else having trouble differentiating between bringin up the dock and swiping back to the home screen?

Nope. Barely slide your finger up to bring up the Dock. Swipe up past beyond halfway of the screen and it will take you to the home screen.

 

[danmart]

As for app switching, that does sound like an improvement though I would have loved to have the 4-finger left/right gesture invoke the app carousel that Command-Tab on a keyboard does and just be able to stop my gesture movement anywhere on the carousel instead.

The new iPad gestures are strongly reminiscent of the X gestures. Just swipe up and to the side (kind of like a 7 the other way round) and the iPad will show all you open apps. Just pick the one you want.

Or a small ‘7’ or reversed ‘7’ at the bottom of the screen will allow you to move between individual apps. I’ve turned off the old, multi-finger commands as there are new alternatives for all the old actions and it becomes more consistent with the iPhone.

 

[muzzy996]

The new iPad gestures are strongly reminiscent of the X gestures. Just swipe up and to the side (kind of like a 7 the other way round) and the iPad will show all you open apps. Just pick the one you want.

Or a small ‘7’ or reversed ‘7’ at the bottom of the screen will allow you to move between individual apps. I’ve turned off the old, multi-finger commands as there are new alternatives for all the old actions and it becomes more consistent with the iPhone.

Oh no, I have no problem understanding or using the gestures I’m just noting that there can be functional improvements to how they work on the iPad - the 4 finger left/right specifically. As it stands I’ll only use the 4 finger swipe gesture to switch between the latest two active applications since I know they’re near each other in the carousel but beyond that, the task switcher (invoked from bottom up or 4 finger pinch) is more convenient.

 

[muzzy996]

While we’re on the subject of gestures - I like that control center has its own gesture now but does anyone else think its weird to move control center to upper right corner down-swipe and yet it still takes two actions to get to widget screen?

I’d love to be able to down-swipe the upper left corner to get to widgets so I can see the battery level of my Apple Pencil quickly rather than having to bring the notification shade down first. Seems like a rather easy thing to have implemented this time around.

 

[danmart]

For clarity, these are the new gestures I’m talking about:

I’m not sure I’ve seen them documented in detail anywhere, I just kind of stumbled upon them.

 

[gnomeisland]

While we’re on the subject of gestures - I like that control center has its own gesture now but does anyone else think its weird to move control center to upper right corner down-swipe and yet it still takes two actions to get to widget screen?

I’d love to be able to down-swipe the upper left corner to get to widgets so I can see the battery level of my Apple Pencil quickly rather than having to bring the notification shade down first. Seems like a rather easy thing to have implemented this time around.

That's a brilliant idea.

 

[muzzy996]

For clarity, these are the new gestures I’m talking about:

I’m not sure I’ve seen them documented in detail anywhere, I just kind of stumbled upon them.

Nice video, thanks for the share!

It's nice that Apple's diving deeper into gesture use with each iteration of iOS. Hopefully the trend continues.
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That's a brilliant idea.

One day I should make a video on the custom gestures I've set up on my Android phone using GMD Gesture Control. If only mobile operating systems gave that much granular control over creating your own custom gestures it'd be amazing.

 

[muzzy996]

By the way, I believe it existed in 11 as well but I’m using it more now - the subtle difference between 4-finger pinch to go home vs go to the background task tray is nice.

 

[jonnyb098]

That's a brilliant idea.

Agreed, having control center separate now is very nice but there’s loads of wasted space, why not put all those widgets on the left?

Going even further I wish Apple would just have a toggle to let us make our home screen the widget screen. That’s it. Just a toggle. There’s so much you can do it’s buried with all these swipes . What’s the point of a widget when it takes as long to get to the widget than just opening the damn app???

 

[Woodstockie]

Has anyone figured out a way to remove the new sidebar in the News app when viewing in landscape mode?

That is my biggest beef with the news app also. I already wrote feedback to Apple to either hide it or give an option just like in portrait mode.

 

[muzzy996]

Agreed, having control center separate now is very nice but there’s loads of wasted space, why not put all those widgets on the left?

Going even further I wish Apple would just have a toggle to let us make our home screen the widget screen. That’s it. Just a toggle. There’s so much you can do it’s buried with all these swipes . What’s the point of a widget when it takes as long to get to the widget than just opening the damn app???

Totally hear ya . . Yet another reason my daily driver smartphone is an Android one and not an iPhone. There's beauty in simplicity so I get why Apple has some minimalist approaches to UI design but quick access to stuff has its value too.