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iPad as a laptop replacement
- Thread starter Omar Comin' Yo
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Agree with all of those! I have a few more things, mostly mild annoyances. Not expecting any of these any time soon!
Smart album support in photos.
Connect Apple keyboard/mouse via lightning cable to add it as a bluetooth device. Right now you can only connect via Bluetooth, so if the keyboard is paired with a Mac you need to disconnect it from the Mac and then it will advertise itself via BT.
Ability to import songs into iTunes Match from the iPad.
Ability to force apps on external monitor into full screen, without borders or at most with L and R borders if they don’t support widescreen display. Mostly for gaming.
Yeah, I think those make sense. By “or at most with L and R borders if they don’t support widescreen display”, do you mean like this but expanded to where the App Dock is hidden and there’s just some unused space to the sides? Because that is already doable. 👍🏻
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I'm curious... could you connect the cable to the Mac and don't use bluetooth for it, reserving bluetooth connection only for the iPad? And whenever you need to use the Mac... connect the cable.
This fault is on the devs... similar to how some devs opted not to support SlideOver and SplitView (Youtube Music come to mind). I suggest getting in contact with the devs who has not supported full screen on their app and see if they can fix the issue.
As a matter fact, we both need to contact Affinity on this issue... PhotoShop app has full screen support.
For me, some of the main things I would like to see in iPadOS 19 would be either iPhone Mirroring or AirPlay Receiver that allows me to mirror my iPhone’s display on my iPad. I’d also like to see window tiling options in Stage Manager, and a systemwide option for pinning files, folders, notes, playlists, etc. to the Home Screen. Pinning those things to the Home Screen is already possible with Siri Shortcuts, but it would be nice to see an easier implementation, like an option to “Add To Home Screen” in the Share Sheet like we have for web pages in Safari. I have created a set of folder and file icons for now though to match the look of the ones in the Files app, and the Siri Shortcut option currently works okay for me for pinning folders for quick access. 👍🏻
Yeah, definitely agree that this is on developers. And I don’t think it should even be that hard to implement if developers were following Apple’s standards. Developers have had 2-3 years now to support this, by now they really should be supporting it. It’s just some developers are very slow to adopt changes. And I don’t think there’s any good way for Apple to “force” app windows” to go full-screen, because you’d just be stretching the app window and having weird stretches UI elements. Content in the app’s UI has to be able to dynamically scale, and Apple can’t do that, app developers must either use Apple’s software like SwiftUI which support this dynamic scaling, or implement software to get the windows to dynamically scale. Short of forcing all developers to update to support these standards to stay in the App Store (which would be quite draconian), I don’t believe there’s anything Apple can do to make developers do this if they don’t want to…
Also agree on Affinity. 👍🏻. I prefer the iPad versions of the Affinity apps for several reasons over the desktop versions, and so I’m fine with using them even with some wasted space on my desktop monitor, but I really wish they would properly support more windowing options. They’ve never properly supported Apple’s multitasking systems for some reason. They never got support for SplitView or Slideover (Slideover is kind of understandable because how tiny it would be, but Split View?), and I actually had to submit feedback for a few updates after Stage Manager was introduced for them to add a strip at the top of the UI for the Multitasking Button to use instead of blocking toolbar buttons. That was kind of frustrating for a while, but they did fix it, so maybe they will also address this as well. I know it’s something I’ve seen requested multiple times in their forums. 👍🏻. But I do appreciate the effort they put in overall on Affinity. Sure, some things are slower for them to implement, but it’s a single-purchase model, and works perfectly for my freelance graphic design needs, and my digital art. 👍🏻. One thing that I do appreciate with Affinity, even though there are some things they’ve been slow to improve on, they were one of the first apps to treat the iPad like a desktop-class platform, before other apps began to follow suite. They serve as a good example by not knee-caping the iPad versions of their software, and delivering full or near full feature parity. 👍🏻
I can understand not supporting SplitView or SlideOver... that doesn't make much sense for a photo/designing app because as a user you want to utilize the entire screen. But they should at least support full screen on an external monitor... that's low hanging fruit (imo).
Here is the link... just in case you want to add anything to it.
No support for external monitor on iPad Pro 2022
iPad Pro M2, 2022 model with iPad OS 16.1 release version I can use every single non-Affinity app I own and use on my iPad Pro on an/any external monitor connected via the Apple USB-C adapter. But Affinity displays some kind of static preview on the external screen - no support for external monit...
forum.affinity.serif.com
That’s true, though now with Stage Manager I can create a “Split View” with either an Affinity app and another app like Photos or Files, or a Split View with two Affinity apps, and sometimes I do. It can be useful for comparing things for reference, and such, but it isn’t something I normally use, and I don’t think it really adds much utility. But it is nice to have the option occasionally. 👍🏻I can understand not supporting SplitView or SlideOver... that doesn't make much sense for a photo/designing app because as a user you want to utilize the entire screen. But they should at least support full screen on an external monitor... that's low hanging fruit (imo).
Here is the link... just in case you want to add anything to it.
No support for external monitor on iPad Pro 2022
iPad Pro M2, 2022 model with iPad OS 16.1 release version I can use every single non-Affinity app I own and use on my iPad Pro on an/any external monitor connected via the Apple USB-C adapter. But Affinity displays some kind of static preview on the external screen - no support for external monit...
Thanks, I added a request in there, so hopefully they consider adding it soon. That was also the main thing I requested in their recent survey. 👍🏻.
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Full screen without showing Stage Manager. So, rather than having a little bit of "desktop" above and below and to the sides of the almost-but-not-quite-full-screen window, being able to force an app on the external monitor into something looking like the current mirrored display mode, while letting me use the iPad screen normally.
Hey I'm mostly dreaming here.
Nope, if you connect an Apple keyboard/mouse/trackpad to a Mac using a cable it automatically pairs it via Bluetooth. The only way to unpair the keyboard so it can be connected to an iPad after this is to tell the Mac to forget the device, which puts it back into a mode where it will advertise itself as available via BT when powered on.
I should say, "the only way I've found" because it's my experience that finding a new solution to a problem can often be achieved by being vocally wrong in a public forum and being corrected by someone smarter or with more information. Hoping this is one of those times!
This MAY only apply to Lightning devices. I have seen a video where someone with a USB-C trackpad had luck getting it to swap devices when used cabled.
It's only something I notice when I'm using the iPad in a desktop configuration and go looking for a full sized keyboard as opposed to to the Magic keyboard, usually because I want a numpad for something I'm doing. Then I have to play the game of "which device was this keyboard last used with?"
If you hadn't mentioned this, I would have assumed that mirroring the iPhone screen to an iPad (Like you already can mirror it to a Mac) was already a thing. It seems like an obvious feature!
Yeah, and they’re so close too! In FaceTime, I can mirror and control someone else’s iPhone on my iPad as of iPadOS 18. But I can’t even AirPlay mirror my own iPhone, let alone control it on the iPad. I’m really hoping they correct this in iPadOS 19, like you said, it seems like such an obvious feature. 👍🏻
Could you describe to me a scenario where it would be useful? And most cases iPhone apps can be used on the iPad, not sure why this is a feature request.
I really hope to be wrong, but I don’t see any major changes to iPadOS 19… nothing that would revamp the iPad experience.
I think we get a new paint coat… everything will have this translucent type design inspired by VisionOS. Only noteworthy feature I see coming to iPad… maybe some Mac-to-iPad type catalyst feature. That would assist in running Mac apps on an iPad.
Most definitely! Wouldn’t be a WWDC without Apple mentioning new emojis… lol
There are a few things that would be useful for. One would be for playing YouTube videos when the iPad isn’t connected to WiFi using the iPhone’s cellular data. An iPad with a cellular plan could do this directly, but for some like me who don’t have a cellular iPad, that would be nice. It also could be nice for some gaming. Some games require an internet connection, and the iPhone is always connected (at least mostly), while sometimes the iPad isn’t connected to WiFi. Those are a couple of ways where AirPlay Receiver on the iPad would be useful.
As to iPhone Mirroring, I think that too could be useful for a few things, but probably a little less useful than AirPlay Receiver. Maybe iPhone Mirroring could allow someone to even control a game that’s running on the iPhone with the iPad. I’m sure there could be a couple of things like this that could benefit from iPhone Mirroring on the iPad. Besides, for those who use the iPad in place of a laptop, it would provide the same utility as it does on the Mac. Instead of having to pull out your phone if you have an app installed on it that you don’t on the iPad, or you want to do something in particular like access a specific file you saved on the iPhone’s native storage, you could use iPhone Mirroring. While the iPad can run nearly all iPhone apps, I think it could still be useful for some things. And since the iPhone has a cellular connection, that would be another advantage, for apps that require internet to update or run, you could use iPhone Mirroring to access them on an iPad without a cellular plan while on the road, rather than having to have both devices out. I will admit, of the two, I think AirPlay Receiver is probably the more practical and beneficial one. But I think both would have uses, especially for those who don’t have a cellular plan for the iPad, they could basically benefit from some cellular connectivity on the iPad without needing to pay extra premiums (my carrier charges crazy prices for iPad data only cell plans and tethering).
That’s mostly the reasons I think these would be helpful. 👍🏻
isn’t one of the “advantages” of tethering that to the outside it’s your phone connecting to wherever? Who will know that the iPad is actually displaying e.g. the youtube movie you mentioned as example?
there are plans where you pay extra for tethering? and that telco is still in business? 🥹
Yeah, my carrier uses AT&T towers, and charges similarly to them for things. Personally, I think cellular carriers shouldn’t charge extra for hotspot data, especially when you’re literally using a corded connection between devices, because you’re basically just using the same data you’re already paying for, just on another device. But oh well, it is what it is, and I don’t want to nearly double my cellular bill every month at the moment. I guess the cell companies have figured out ways to tell if you’re using the data on the phone or another device, and if they catch you doing it without paying extra for their “mobile hotspot data” plans, they’ll terminate your service. As I said, I think hopefully competition will force cell carriers to change practices when it comes to this. AirPlay Receiver and iPhone Mirroring would be a nice workaround for this, because it’s merely streaming the screen of the iPhone to the iPad, so cellular companies couldn’t try to control it and lock it away under contracts and fees. 🙂👍🏻
Fun fact, I believe it was Apple that was first to introduce data tethering, and when Apple released it, it was a free service, but then cell companies jumped on it and started making it an extra charge to use. That’s at least what I’ve read.
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Yeah, I think a Mac-to-iPad catalyst type feature would be very useful for some who currently can’t switch to the iPad full time due to some missing apps. 👍🏻. And it would help to further unify the systems. I think that is likely coming at some point, I don’t know when, it definitely could be this year, but the signs definitely seem to be there, at least in my opinion. 👍🏻
I’m sure we’ll probably see some other features, they could be more minor compared to some of the things people are mentioning here, but usually Apple likes to fill their bento graphics. 🙂👍🏻
But I actually think that Mac-to-iPad feature would be huge though, it would make it much easier for some to use the iPad. I’m fortunate that most of the apps I use already have good iPad versions, but some aren’t so fortunate. Have a Mac-to-iPad porting tool could be huge in helping with that. 👍🏻
You make some good points. But the feature would seem redundant IMO.
I use AT&T as well... there's not an extra charge for hotspot data, it's included with the service.
But we are data capped... can't go over 50GBs, for the Unlimited Elite Plan. Then there's the Unlimited Starter Plan.... the cap is set to 5GBs. And oddly, the tablet unlimited plans are set to 15GBs.
Yeah.. I probably could get by with using iPad-only apps. I use Photoshop & Affinity apps (Designer & Photo, both v2)... pivoting away from LumaFusion to DaVinci Resolve. Along with Office365 suite as well as Textastic & Working Copy (to modify some code).
Ultimately, I like the desktop experience I get from the Mac... being able to use multiple screens, better support for external displays. I enjoy using my iPad more than the MBP, but when I'm at the desk... that's where the Mac shines.
Pretty sure Android had it before Apple. Even if not natively, there were apps on Android that allowed you to tether before Apple added official support for it.
Iirc, native tethering on iPhone has always required carrier support. If your plan didn’t support hotspot, you’ll just get a message to contact your carrier to enable it. That’s how AT&T got me to switch from my grandfathered 700 minutes + unlimited $30 data plan to their newer Mobile Share plan (circa iPhone 4 or 5).
That’s awesome, I don’t use AT&T directly, I use Cricket, which is another carrier that uses their towers. They have better cell pricing for me, but last I checked, they charged a decent amount extra for hotspot. Eventually I wouldn’t mind looking into either a data-only plan for the iPad, or adding hotspot data though if I can find a cheap enough price. 👍🏻
Nice, another Affinity user! I really like the Affinity apps, I actually prefer using the iPad versions because I often have multiple duplicates of a project with different iterations on the design, so with the iPad versions I can see projects more readily when switching between them than with the tabbed system on the desktop version. Technically you can use App Expose on macOS, but it’s nice having something built into the app, I wish Affinity would at least add a hover preview for tabs, like what most browsers do. Also it’s much easier to duplicate projects on the iPad version, I can just swipe on the preview of the project and select the duplicate option. In the desktop version, I have to do a multi-step process of creating a snapshot of the project, and then creating a new project from the snapshot. That’s at least what I had to do last time I used the desktop versions, but admittedly, I haven’t used the desktop versions of Affinity in a while, so maybe they’ve improved that in an update. But I started out with the Affinity V1 apps, and the V2 apps are a really nice improvement for both platforms! 👍🏻
I’ve not used the iPad version of Photoshop, I’ve heard it’s good, and I’ve seen it in videos, but since I already use Affinity for my design work, I haven’t paid for an Adobe subscription for it. 👍🏻
Davinci Resolve is pretty good. I do find some aspects of it hard to figure out, I’ve had to watch several tutorials to figure out some of it, but it has quite a few advanced features that make it a very nice option.
Yeah, the Mac desktop experience is pretty nice. I really like having the Mac Mini setup the way it is now, even though it isn’t essential to my workflow, it’s still nice to be able to tinker with macOS, and it’s now working great as a remote storage system with the new drive and TeamViewer. Now I can enjoy the Mac desktop experience for some things when I don’t have my iPad with me at my desk, and then when I want to work at the big screen for some of my other stuff like 3D modeling with the iPad, I can now easily switch over to using the monitor for my iPad and I can create a big Nomad Sculpt window where I can see more of my project and some reference images even! I’m really excited about the desktop version of Nomad Sculpt. I’m hoping it will use the same UI, because the UI is so much better IMO than many of the desktop 3D modeling and sculpting softwares I’ve tried. 👍🏻.
Yeah, you’re probably right, it was a while ago when I was reading about it, so maybe I misremembered something, or maybe the source I was reading was wrong. 👍🏻
I didn't buy the universal suite package... never used Mac version of Affinity apps, only iPad.
I use the iPad version for the generative AI functionality.
I highly recommend giving it a try, initially... I was reluctant because I thought the learning curve would be steep. But it took me a couple of hours to figure out the basics. It's more fully featured than the competition... I gave Final Cut Pro for the iPad a go when it first released.
But it was too buggy! And the DaVinci Resolve is a really smooth experience... haven't paid for the In-App Purchase, I do plan to. But what you get out the box... is good enough.
Oh, that makes sense. Yeah, I don’t think it’s necessarily worth going out of your way to buy the Mac versions, because the iPad versions are either at or near feature parity (all of the tools that I use on a regular basis are available on both), and I overall think the iPad versions have so many UI advantages like I pointed out earlier that just makes it much more efficient for me. 👍🏻. I happened to get the Universal Suite package because I already had the V1 versions, so they gave me a really good deal for the Universal License on launch day for the V2 apps. I basically got support for all of the platforms for about the same as I would have paid to buy just the iPad versions. But for those who have an iPad, I would definitely recommend the iPad versions of Affinity, they’re so much more efficient, at least for my workflow. 👍🏻
The generative AI stuff in Adobe apps look awesome. I am considering possibly springing for an Adobe subscription at some point to try out Photoshop and Lightroom on the iPad. I think you can get a good deal on both bundled for the iPad, but could be mistaken. I’ll have to look into it. 👍🏻
Oh, for sure, definitely. I think Davinci Resolve has a lot of functionality, so I’m totally willing to continue tinkering with it and learn the ins and outs. It’s the main video editor app I’m using for more complicated video edits. I didn’t mean to come across as if I didn’t think it was good. I don’t do any professional video editing, so for me it’s more of a hobby thing, and I occasionally create some personal videos for stuff. I do want to learn though, and I wouldn’t mind eventually trying some more professional video editing. I’ve actually currently been practicing a lot with audio editing in Garage Band, I’m planning on hopefully producing a podcast soon to accompany my SubStack. Maybe eventually I’ll produce videos for the podcast as well. And I totally agree, for a free app, Davinci Resolve is a great value with what it includes for free! 👍🏻