10 Navigation Tips for iPad You Need to Know

Few days back I saw eight year old kid using an iPad. Though his main concern was to zoom in and zoom out the car racing game that he was busy playing I just wondered as how it was becoming so easy for a kid to navigate the iPad with his little fingers. Touch and Swipe is what the new technology speaks of.

iPad has its own language of gestures, swipes and button presses and to learn it better here are the 10 navigation tips that will make it more easier and useful when handling your iPad.

Like a magician it is all the tricks to be played by your fingers. Not only two but four or five fingers can work as a multitasking tool for iPads.

Before performing these tips it is better to enable the Multi Tasking Gesture option. For this Open the Settings App tap the General category, and enable the Multitasking Gestures option. (Refer the Screen Shot Below)

Tip Number One

Four-Finger Swipe Left or Right

With this tip you can Switch Apps in seconds of time. You can switch between recently opened and used apps with a quick motion of your hands. Just place four fingers anywhere on your screen and swipe to the left or right. Your current app will appear to slide to the left or right, and another recently used app will appear. Perform this trick several times in a row to quickly move between apps.

This is very useful if you’re regularly switching between a few apps, as it allows you to skip the app switcher screen.

Tip Number Two

Five-Finger Pinch

With this tip you can land back to your Home Screen. If you wish to quickly leave an app and go back to your home screen from anywhere in iOS, place five fingers on your iPad’s screen and pinch them together. This is essentially the same thing as pressing your iPad’s Home button, but this quick method can be faster than reaching for a button.

Tip Number Three

Double-Tap Home

This tip works well as an App Switcher. Pressing the Home button twice will also open the app switcher.

The app switcher shows thumbnails of your recently used apps. Swipe to the left or right to scroll between the apps you’ve recently used and tap one to switch to it. If you want to remove an app from this list, you can touch its preview image and swipe it upwards, moving it off the screen.

Tip Number Four

Four-Finger Swipe Up

This tip is similar to the tip number three as mentioned above. This also works to open the App Switcher. Place four fingers on your screen and swipe upwards. You can also reverse this tip. Place four fingers on your screen and swipe downwards to leave the app switcher. This will make the app in the center of the app switcher active.

Tip Number Five

Long-Press Home

Now this is interesting tip. Long-press your Home button from anywhere and the Siri screen will appear, allowing you to perform voice searches and ask questions. Siri will instantly start listening to you and answer your queries.

Tip Number Six

Swipe Down on Home Screen

This tip helps you open the Spot light. From your home screen, place your finger in the middle of the grid of icons and swipe down to open the Spotlight search feature. You must do this action somewhere in the grid of icons otherwise some other feature might open up.

With Spotlight you can quickly search many different things on your device. Like by just typing one or two letters of an app you wish to open will appear more quickly rather than searching for its icon. Spotlight also helps in searching  your email, without opening your email app. You can also search Google and Wikipedia from here and works for web search also.

Tip Number Seven

Swipe Down From Top

With this tip you can have easy access to the Notification Center. Just Swipe down from the top of any screen be it the home screen or in an app and you’ll find the Notification Center in front of you. This screen displays push notifications that have appeared on your device, as well as other relevant information such as the current weather and events from your calendar. To dismiss the Notification center just swipe upwards from the bottom of the screen or press the Home button.

Tip Number Eight

Swipe Up From Bottom

With this tip you can move to Control Center. Swipe up from the bottom anywhere on your iPad and you will land in the Control Center. Here you can have easy access to commonly used settings and options. With the Control Center  you can control your music playback volume and brightness with the sliders, you can toggle for options like Mute, and shortcuts to the Timer and Camera apps. If you wish to come out of the Control Center just tap anywhere outside the control center and  slide back downward.

Tip Number Nine

Swipe Left From Middle

This tip will wonder you as you can interact with a second app without leaving the current app that you are using.  With this slide over feature you can quickly check your text messages, respond to emails, or create a note. All you have to do is just swipe to the left from the middle, right edge of the screen to see your previously used app.

To switch the side app that you’re using, swipe down from the top, right side of the screen. You’ll see a list of your apps. Tap one to use it. When you’re done, slide from left to right on the app to return to the previous app.

Tip Number Ten

Press Home Button while watching Video or TV

This tip is useful and lets you respond to an email while watching a TV Show or a Video. Known as Picture in Picture this tip works well while you are watching a movie. Simply press the home button and your video screen will scale down to a corner of your display. Then you can open a second app and the video will continue to play. To move the video, drag it to another corner. To return the video to full screen, tap the video, then tap the full-screen icon.

Any other tips you would like to share!