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iPad iPadOS; why the missing features?

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Xanix

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 10, 2011
94
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Hello to all. i never had an iPad; whell, until the release of the mini.

I bought and still have the mini 2 and 3 both with LTE, to have the GPS functionality without a SIM card. Some time ago I add the mini 5, also with LTE, to the family.
On my point of view; 25 cm is the perfect size, for the best portability and usability on a tablet. So; as understandable, I don't have the slightest interest, on Air(s) or Pro(s).

Well, I'm rambling... the reason of my post is about iPadOS.

Why no "app drawer" functionality, as on the iOS?
The no more "the need" of pages and pages, of apps. This new addition is useful on the iPhone. It would also be very useful on the iPad.

Also; why no "widgets" functionality, placed where we want, as on iOS?
Widgets are limited to the home screen. This is also limiting the usability and functionality of the iPad; both for work and leisure moments.

Is there any work around to this on iPadOS?


Kind regards to all,
Me
 
I really do hope they input App Drawers for the iPad. The widgets-anywhere would be a game-changer as well because of the pen functionality.
 
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On the widgets side I also dislike how Apple's native widgets take priority over 3rd party ones. I want to have battery icons as a widget on my home screen but I don't want it to be prioritized at the top of my column of widgets. It's going to take time for this stuff to develop I guess . . been using widgets on my Android phone ever since I can remember . . meh . . whatever . . I'm just thankful Apple finally saw value in widgets after several years.
 
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muzzy996 said:
On the widgets side I also dislike how Apple's native widgets take priority over 3rd party ones. I want to have battery icons as a widget on my home screen but I don't want it to be prioritized at the top of my column of widgets. It's going to take time for this stuff to develop I guess . . been using widgets on my Android phone ever since I can remember . . meh . . whatever . . I'm just thankful Apple finally saw value in widgets after several years.
Click to expand...
They don’t take priority. It’s just becuase the other apps haven’t updated to the new style widgets. Old style widgets stay at the bottom of the stack, but it has nothing to do with first or third party
 
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cupcakes2000 said:
They don’t take priority. It’s just becuase the other apps haven’t updated to the new style widgets. Old style widgets stay at the bottom of the stack, but it has nothing to do with first or third party
Click to expand...

Glad to hear. Given that devs had little time to submit official updates prior to release I'm sure things will improve soon then.
 
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Probably cause if you change from from portrait to landscape, your homescreen would shift weirdly with the widgets.

Not that they can't do it, they just need to find a way, whether its switching to a square grid or something else.
 
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I found IpadOS14 extremely underwhelming. Like you mentioned, no app drawer or widgets (or freely placeable widgets) was a shock to me as I had no idea they were being excluded. Scribble is a novelty and I can easily take it or leave it. Nothing done to enhance keyboard or mouse functionality. Nothing done to improve multitasking. The Pencil still can’t bring up the slide over apps, or the app tray.
 
wolfboy said:
Probably cause if you change from from portrait to landscape, your homescreen would shift weirdly with the widgets.

Not that they can't do it, they just need to find a way, whether its switching to a square grid or something else.
Click to expand...

This might really have a lot to do with it. Those of us who have "Plus" iPhones have lost the ability to make our home screens go landscape. It seems that they haven't figured out a way to have a home screen with widgets shift between portrait and landscape, which is a very necessary feature for iPads.
 
joeblow7777 said:
This might really have a lot to do with it. Those of us who have "Plus" iPhones have lost the ability to make our home screens go landscape. It seems that they haven't figured out a way to have a home screen with widgets shift between portrait and landscape, which is a very necessary feature for iPads.
Click to expand...
My 8 plus still changes my Home Screen to landscape. The first few betas didn’t let it, but then started again. I really hate the fact it goes to landscape and messes with the order of everything.
 
Xanix said:
Hello to all. i never had an iPad; whell, until the release of the mini.

I bought and still have the mini 2 and 3 both with LTE, to have the GPS functionality without a SIM card. Some time ago I add the mini 5, also with LTE, to the family.
On my point of view; 25 cm is the perfect size, for the best portability and usability on a tablet. So; as understandable, I don't have the slightest interest, on Air(s) or Pro(s).

Well, I'm rambling... the reason of my post is about iPadOS.

Why no "app drawer" functionality, as on the iOS?
The no more "the need" of pages and pages, of apps. This new addition is useful on the iPhone. It would also be very useful on the iPad.

Also; why no "widgets" functionality, placed where we want, as on iOS?
Widgets are limited to the home screen. This is also limiting the usability and functionality of the iPad; both for work and leisure moments.

Is there any work around to this on iPadOS?


Kind regards to all,
Me
Click to expand...
Yeah I was pretty disappointed when I didn’t see App Library on iPad OS 14, as well as not being able to put widgets the way we want which I love on iOS 14. Hopefully we will get all this on iPad OS, my assumption is that Apple are working on far mor elaborate versions of these features for iPad OS, just an assumption though.
 
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While I understand the issues caused by orientation changing, that doesn’t explain why the widget column is only available on one screen, isn't persistent in portrait, or why we can’t have different widgets on each screen.
 
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cupcakes2000 said:
My 8 plus still changes my Home Screen to landscape. The first few betas didn’t let it, but then started again. I really hate the fact it goes to landscape and messes with the order of everything.
Click to expand...
I had a plus phone and was annoyed by the lack of landscape support on Apple’s main apps like Music and Podcasts. So in the end I just ended up using landscape in the same way I do on my current XR.
 
wolfboy said:
Probably cause if you change from from portrait to landscape, your homescreen would shift weirdly with the widgets.

Not that they can't do it, they just need to find a way, whether its switching to a square grid or something else.
Click to expand...
I'd wondered about that the other day. But the old 2016 iPad I have next to me (running iPadOS14) uses a 6x5 icon grid whether in portrait or landscape, so it can't be as simple as that - unless they've not figured out how to rescale the widgets when changing orientation.
 
Missing iPad Features:
- Calculator
- Emoji Search
- Health App
- Weather
- Translate App
- Low Power Mode
- Widget placement
- App Library

Every upgrade seems to add to the list so at this point you have to wonder, did they split iPadOS in order to grow the iPad or was it to make it easier to leave iPads behind.
 
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KittyKatta said:
Missing iPad Features:
- Calculator
- Emoji Search
- Health App
- Weather
- Translate App
- Low Power Mode
- Widget placement
- App Library

Every upgrade seems to add to the list so at this point you have to wonder, did they split iPadOS in order to grow the iPad or was it to make it easier to leave iPads behind.
Click to expand...

Great list! I remember being really confused why I couldn't find lower power mode.
 
KittyKatta said:
Missing iPad Features:
- Calculator
- Emoji Search
- Health App
- Weather
- Translate App
- Low Power Mode
- Widget placement
- App Library

Every upgrade seems to add to the list so at this point you have to wonder, did they split iPadOS in order to grow the iPad or was it to make it easier to leave iPads behind.
Click to expand...

I think they separated them so people would look at it as distinct OS differences, as opposed to why is one OS different on two devices. But this goes both ways, my iPhone XR is missing system-wide landscape support despite there being no technical reason for it and it took this long for iPhones, even the largest ones, to get PIP which was already on the iPad.

I think the Translate app is only on the iPhone because its main purpose is to assist in conversations with other people when the chances of your using an iPad are pretty minimal.
 
App Library isn’t an issue for me, as I’d organised my Apps in Folders already, but I’d really appreciate more Apps to be updated to IOS14, so that I can set their order in the Today View.

I do like the way you can customise & stack supported Apps though, saving space in Today View.

57BF1C41-8F0D-41A7-89AC-D01EB9D82C84.pngD5C5D559-4246-4DB5-8BA1-ABAF20141133.png6FE4E565-3387-4D98-98D5-2AA2780584A2.png
 
darngooddesign said:
I think they separated them so people would look at it as distinct OS differences, as opposed to why is one OS different on two devices. But this goes both ways, my iPhone XR is missing system-wide landscape support despite there being no technical reason for it and it took this long for iPhones, even the largest ones, to get PIP which was already on the iPad.

I think the Translate app is only on the iPhone because its main purpose is to assist in conversations with other people when the chances of your using an iPad are pretty minimal.
Click to expand...

It's this kind of bollocks that I dislike with Apple. They should not be the ones who decide whether I am going to use the apps or not. Since there is no technical reason preventing you from using them, if they are not going to do an iPad version then just let me run the phone version as a floating window type app for example.
 
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