iPad

From the latest news to the most comprehensive tutorials, learn how to get the most out of your iPad with our step-by-step guides and expert tips.

Try out iPad’s hidden floating keyboard in Swift Playgrounds

Developer Steve Troughton-Smith recently discovered a one-handed floating iPad keyboard in a beta of iOS 10.3. While it's unclear whether or not Apple will debut this handy unpublished keyboard officially when the software update releases for public consumption, Troughton-Smith has kindly provided a way for iPad owners to try it out early using Apple's free Swift Playgrounds app, here's how.

This tweak hides the background of the predictive keyboard

If you ever use the predictive keyboard to type faster responses to people from your device, then you’re likely familiar with those ugly separator lines in between the suggested words and the unappealing difference in background color that the buttons have when compared with the rest of the keyboard.

A new free jailbreak tweak called KB - NoPredictiveBackground by pxcex removes the background color and lines from the predictive keyboard buttons, leaving you with much cleaner-looking buttons.

Gboard gains voice typing, Google Doodles, new languages & iOS 10 emoji in latest update

Gboard, Google's iPhone keyboard that comes with Google Search, glide typing, GIFs, emojis and other advanced features built in, received a notable refresh on App Store. Bumped to version 1.3, Gboard includes support for fifteen new languages and brings a useful dictation feature that Google is calling Voice Typing. Additionally, you can now see a day’s Google Doodle right from the keyboard and enjoy Apple's latest iOS 10 emoji.

iOS 10.3 has hidden support for one-handed floating iPad keyboard

Another hidden keyboard has been uncovered in iOS, according to developer Steve Troughton-Smith who last night tweeted about his discovery of a one-handed floating iPad keyboard in iOS 10.3 beta code.

While not exposed to users just yet, Steve was able to activate this new keyboard by hacking Apple's iOS Simulator app that developers use to test work-in-progress code on their Mac.

EmojiSuggest brings iOS 10-like emoji suggestions to the predictive keyboard

One of the cool new features of iOS 10 is the ability to input Emojis through the predictive row at the top of the keyboard that tries to guess what you're trying to say before you say it.

When you express certain words, iOS 10 will recommend Emojis to communicate the word instead, and a new free jailbreak tweak called EmojiSuggest brings this functionality to jailbroken iOS 9 devices as well.

With the Touch Bar, Apple gives us a glimpse into a future keyboardless MacBook

Apple have a proven track record of ardently pursuing their vision, no matter the cost. The latest MacBook Pro serves as another reminder that the company is wholly unimpressionable by outside opinions, keeping up the dream of more simplistic products with every iteration, all the while taking away your beloved USB ports or SD card slots.

The ends might be justifiable, but the means can regardless lead to frustration with the most patient customers and complete alienation of the more short-fused ones. This cycle repeats every other year, when Apple decides to roll out hardware that is often just a little ahead of the curve.

Much has been made of the MacBook Pro’s latest changing of guard in the USB department. For now, the story goes, Apple has simply done their homework and found USB-C to be the technology fit for the immediate future. But the days of all ports are numbered if rumours are to be believed, as Apple generally contends that less is more and wireless the ultimate endgame. It does not take a giant leap to draw that conclusion and granted its validity, focus on the port situation has drowned out another discussion we clearly need to have at this point: Apple plans to get rid of the physical keyboard, and with the launch of Touch Bar on MacBook Pro the process is well under way.

10+ new features in iOS 10.2 beta 1

Apple yesterday issued beta 1 of the forthcoming iOS 10.2 software update for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. For starters, iOS 10.2 beta 1 includes three new wallpapers, provides a bunch of new emoji as part of the Unicode 9.0 standard and gives Camera the optional ability to remember filter, Live Photo and mode settings.

Star ratings are back in the Music app and Videos has its own widget. Oh, and you can now annoy friends with a brand new animation in Messages.

Without further ado, here's our video hands-on with iOS 10.2 beta 1 accompanied by a detailed description of all the new features and enhancements.

Google’s iOS keyboard gains 3D Touch trackpad, new themes, iOS 10 emojis & more

Google's Gboard keyboard for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch was bumped to version 1.2 on the App Store this morning, gaining a few new features such as more than a dozen new themes, support for trackpad-like functionality on 3D Touch devices akin to the stock QuickType keyboard, the ability to search and share your contacts without leaving the conversation and support for the new iOS 10 emojis.

Google’s iOS keyboard gains dark theme, GIF suggestions & expanded language support

Following its debut on the App Store nearly three months ago, Google's gesture-driven predictive keyboard for the iPhone and iPad—called Gboard—today received its first feature-focused update. Gboard 1.1 for iOS, a free download, includes a darker keyboard theme, smart GIF suggestions and increased global availability with language support for English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese (Brazil and Portugal) and Spanish (Spain).