Questions about new iPad multitasking features for anyone running iOS 11

[pruppert]

This image from the keynote shows an app (Files) that was dragged from the dock to an already open app. The Files app appears to be a hovering overlaid window, and other sections of the keynote showed that this top-most window can be moved to either the right or the left side. This reminds me of how both the current Picture in Picture feature that you can move around the screen on iPad and the current slide over feature on iPad. I am wondering how far these similaries go and where they end.

1. Can the top-most hovering window be drug off screen temporarily with only a sliver of the top-most window showing so that more of bottom-most window can be seen? Can the top-most window then be dragged back into view?
2. How persistent is the top-most window? Can you interact (e.g., type text) with the bottom-most window without the top-most window disappearing or being converted to split screen? What happens to the top-most window when you hit the home button? Does is close along with the bottom-most window, or does it remain open and then hover over the home screen?
3. There are some iPad apps that do not run in split view (e.g., Canto is one that I am familiar with). I assume this is because the developers did not include the proper size classing code. Such apps do not allow other apps to run in split screen. Will such an app allow a user to have a hovering top-most window and allow interacting with both apps? Essentially what I am asking, is this new hovering window the same as a slide over window that also allows interacting with the bottom-most window while the hovering window is still in view (unlike current slide over that greys out bottom most windows and interaction with bottom-most causes current slide over to disappear)?

 

[devinthomas]

1. No.
2. You can interact with either app and they both stay the way they appear in the screenshot. If you launch a keyboard only the active area is affected by the height change. If you press home it closes everything and goes home when floating. If you dock two apps side by side old school style they close & stay together like a Space in macOS.
3. Yes. Facebook doesn't support split view but I can hover messenger over the sidebar and scroll my feed.

 

[pruppert]

1. No.
2. You can interact with either app and they both stay the way they appear in the screenshot. If you launch a keyboard only the active area is affected by the height change. If you press home it closes everything and goes home when floating. If you dock two apps side by side old school style they close & stay together like a Space in macOS.
3. Yes. Facebook doesn't support split view but I can hover messenger over the sidebar and scroll my feed.

Thanks!

 

[soundslikeaudio]

One note: I cannot find a way to multitask an app that is NOT in the dock. Definite regression from the previous, also confusing way of handling this.

 

[MichaelDT]

One note: I cannot find a way to multitask an app that is NOT in the dock. Definite regression from the previous, also confusing way of handling this.

Open the app you want to multitask with from the home screen, then open the second app, the first app will now be on the right of your dock after the divider indicating recent apps, drag it onto the screen to multitask.

 

[LCPepper]

I know this isn’t a question you had, but it’s also a little addition. The forward navigation swipe gestures now work again in Safari, most likely because the multitasking gesture is now changed.
[doublepost=1496736323][/doublepost]

This image from the keynote shows an app (Files) that was dragged from the dock to an already open app. The Files app appears to be a hovering overlaid window, and other sections of the keynote showed that this top-most window can be moved to either the right or the left side. This reminds me of how both the current Picture in Picture feature that you can move around the screen on iPad and the current slide over feature on iPad. I am wondering how far these similaries go and where they end.

View attachment 702466

1. Can the top-most hovering window be drug off screen temporarily with only a sliver of the top-most window showing so that more of bottom-most window can be seen? Can the top-most window then be dragged back into view?
2. How persistent is the top-most window? Can you interact (e.g., type text) with the bottom-most window without the top-most window disappearing or being converted to split screen? What happens to the top-most window when you hit the home button? Does is close along with the bottom-most window, or does it remain open and then hover over the home screen?
3. There are some iPad apps that do not run in split view (e.g., Canto is one that I am familiar with). I assume this is because the developers did not include the proper size classing code. Such apps do not allow other apps to run in split screen. Will such an app allow a user to have a hovering top-most window and allow interacting with both apps? Essentially what I am asking, is this new hovering window the same as a slide over window that also allows interacting with the bottom-most window while the hovering window is still in view (unlike current slide over that greys out bottom most windows and interaction with bottom-most causes current slide over to disappear)?

1. No.
2. You can interact with either app and they both stay the way they appear in the screenshot. If you launch a keyboard only the active area is affected by the height change. If you press home it closes everything and goes home when floating. If you dock two apps side by side old school style they close & stay together like a Space in macOS.
3. Yes. Facebook doesn't support split view but I can hover messenger over the sidebar and scroll my feed.

Sorry for double post, but I have been playing around and can confirm you can throw the floating window off to the side. Seems to only work on the right hand side though.

Grab it by the bar at the top and swipe it off and then just swipe it back like the gesture used to be for the multitasking menu in iOS 10

 

[pruppert]

I know this isn’t a question you had, but it’s also a little addition. The forward navigation swipe gestures now work again in Safari, most likely because the multitasking gesture is now changed.
[doublepost=1496736323][/doublepost]




Sorry for double post, but I have been playing around and can confirm you can throw the floating window off to the side. Seems to only work on the right hand side though.

Grab it by the bar at the top and swipe it off and then just swipe it back like the gesture used to be for the multitasking menu in iOS 10

Nice. Thanks!

 

[soundslikeaudio]

Open the app you want to multitask with from the home screen, then open the second app, the first app will now be on the right of your dock after the divider indicating recent apps, drag it onto the screen to multitask.

That part I had figured out, but I was hoping there was a simpler, more intuitive way of doing this. Not that the ever shuffling list of apps that we’ve had since iOS 9 was perfect, but it required less planning when you wanted to multitask I guess is the way i’d Put it. I wish you could go into the application switcher and drag two apps on top of each and have them open in split view.

 

[Cinder6]

That part I had figured out, but I was hoping there was a simpler, more intuitive way of doing this. Not that the ever shuffling list of apps that we’ve had since iOS 9 was perfect, but it required less planning when you wanted to multitask I guess is the way i’d Put it. I wish you could go into the application switcher and drag two apps on top of each and have them open in split view.

You can invoke an app in multitasking via Spotlight search. The UI is buggy, but it works.

One feature I want is the ability to multi-touch “smash” two apps together in the app switcher view.

 

[Feenician]

That part I had figured out, but I was hoping there was a simpler, more intuitive way of doing this. Not that the ever shuffling list of apps that we’ve had since iOS 9 was perfect, but it required less planning when you wanted to multitask I guess is the way i’d Put it. I wish you could go into the application switcher and drag two apps on top of each and have them open in split view.

Agree with this. I've already found myself having to kill and re-open an app that is not on the dock so I can make it appear on the predictive/recent right edge of the dock to be eligible to be dragged in for multitasking. Painful for me and will simply not fly for many. I kinda hope I'm missing something but if I am I am missing it very badly.

 

[iphnhelp]

I find myself wanting to adjust the height of the pop over app window by the bar on the top... I wonder/ hope they make them adjustable, at least to iPhone height. This is still taking some getting used to but overall these are game changers for iPad.

 

[pruppert]

I have a few more questions about how multitasking behaves.

1. Say you are viewing app A in full screen, and app B and app C are side by side on a separate space that is not currently active. Then you drag app B from the dock to create a split view with currently viewed app A. Does app B get removed from the split view with app C or does app B now exist on both split views?
2. Say you are viewing app A and app B side by side in a split view. You then tap app C icon in the dock. Does app C open in full screen, or does it take the place of the active app in the split view?
3. Do slide over windows persist in a space? If I close a space that has a slide over app with the home button and then reopen the space, is the slide over window still there?

 

[Feenician]

Say you are viewing app A in full screen, and app B and app C are side by side on a separate space that is not currently active. Then you drag app B from the dock to create a split view with currently viewed app A. Does app B get removed from the split view with app C or does app B now exist on both split views?

It gets removed. An app can only exist in one space.

Say you are viewing app A and app B side by side in a split view. You then tap app C icon in the dock. Does app C open in full screen, or does it take the place of the active app in the split view?

Full screen. It's not like the iOS 10 way where the secondary/right hand app gets replaced. In split view there are no second-fiddle apps - they are equal now.

Do slide over windows persist in a space? If I close a space that has a slide over app with the home button and then reopen the space, is the slide over window still there?

Nope. If you close a space by going home and come back the slideover app does not persist. A bit weird that one imo.

 

[epca12]

I like the fact that it is basically split view now, iPads seem powerful enough to the point where slide over didn't make sense.

 

[bmac89]

I like the new multitasker/control centre, hovering dock and drag & drop but this seems unintuitive. Sometimes you will be swiping up to activate slide over / split view and sometimes you will be swiping from right to re-initiate slide over.

It would make much more sense to me to keep the swipe from the right gesture always on to activate either the app picker (modified home screen and search function) like the concept below or the previous slide over app used.

The only addition I would add is that when the app picker is activated it also brings up the full length dock.

Also swiping up would still activate the hovering dock and drag and drop could still be used in the same way as implemented in iOS 11.

No doubt I will get use to it but I think this implementation for split view will have many less tech savvy users confused or swiping from right by habit because it feels intuitive (and because sometimes it works, I.e. if slide over was previously used in that space).

 

[Feenician]

I like the new multitasker/control centre, hovering dock and drag & drop but this seems unintuitive. Sometimes you will be swiping up to activate slide over / split view and sometimes you will be swiping from right to re-initiate slide over.

It would make much more sense to me to keep the swipe from the right gesture always on to activate either the app picker (modified home screen and search function) like the concept below or the previous slide over app used.

The only addition I would add is that when the app picker is activated it also brings up the full length dock.

Also swiping up would still activate the hovering dock and drag and drop could still be used in the same way as implemented in iOS 11.

No doubt I will get use to it but I think this implementation for split view will have many less tech savvy users confused or swiping from right by habit because it feels intuitive (and because sometimes it works, I.e. if slide over was previously used in that space).

This stuff is absolutely going to go over some people’s heads. The nice thing about it though is it pretty much stays out of the way if you don’t want/need it or just can’t get on with it.

 

[bmac89]

Split view and behaviour of folders on the dock?

When you are in an app and activate the dock by swiping up so you can initiate split view, what happens when you press on a folder? Does the folder hover above the app and allow drag and drop for split view or does it kick you out of the app and display the folder on the home screen?

 

[Feenician]

Split view and behaviour of folders on the dock?

When you are in an app and activate the dock by swiping up so you can initiate split view, what happens when you press on a folder? Does the folder hover above the app and allow drag and drop for split view or does it kick you out of the app and display the folder on the home screen?

It dims the app for visibility and displays the folder over it.

 

[pruppert]

Another question:

Can someone post a screenshot of split view with a slide over app window on a 10.5 iPad Pro? I'm curious how much of the left/right side split view app gets covered up by the slide over app.

Thanks.

 

[ianrip]

Another question:

Can someone post a screenshot of split view with a slide over app window on a 10.5 iPad Pro? I'm curious how much of the left/right side split view app gets covered up by the slide over app.

Thanks.

its 9.7 pro only
i think too much is going on in the 2nd shot

 

[Feenician]

Another question:

Can someone post a screenshot of split view with a slide over app window on a 10.5 iPad Pro? I'm curious how much of the left/right side split view app gets covered up by the slide over app.

Thanks.

This is a 9.7" with split view and slide over. You'll have to wait on someone with a 10.5.




Edit. Just for fun I did it in portrait too. Portrait does split in 60/40 or so. Slideover is actually wider than the smaller side!

 

[pruppert]

This is a 9.7" with split view and slide over. You'll have to wait on someone with a 10.5.

View attachment 704553


Edit. Just for fun I did it in portrait too. Portrait does split in 60/40 or so. Slideover is actually wider than the smaller side!

View attachment 704559

View attachment 704560

Thanks. Would be great to see on a 10.5. And if anyone is possible, a 12.9 would be nice to see as well in case anyone wants to compare sizes before purchase.

 

[cmaier]

That part I had figured out, but I was hoping there was a simpler, more intuitive way of doing this. Not that the ever shuffling list of apps that we’ve had since iOS 9 was perfect, but it required less planning when you wanted to multitask I guess is the way i’d Put it. I wish you could go into the application switcher and drag two apps on top of each and have them open in split view.

Wish there was an apps list item on the dock. Or a Mac-like sock stack. You can put folders in the dock but you can't nest them. And if you put them in the dock they are no longer in the springboard.

 

[bmac89]

Wish there was an apps list item on the dock. Or a Mac-like sock stack. You can put folders in the dock but you can't nest them. And if you put them in the dock they are no longer in the springboard.

This has been my thoughts exactly! Hopefully this will be considered in the future, but I won't get my hopes up.
Maybe even a launchpad icon on the dock.

 

[chfilm]

Yea it's very confusing that the Icons that are in the dock no longer appear on the home screen. Especially folders. Please feedback this to apple!