5 Powerful iPad Features You Don’t Know About 💪

The iPad is an insanely powerful tool.

A ton of its features are talked about all the time — we all know about Slide Over, Stage Manager, and the App Library.

However, there are a few features you don’t hear about. And a few well-known features with little-known capabilities.

Photo by FlyD on Unsplash

Here are 5 of them:

Globe Key 🌎

The globe key is a powerful shortcut barely anyone knows about.

If you have a keyboard, I’m about to show you something magical.

Look at the key in the very bottom left corner. It looks like a globe (hence the name).

Hold it and be amazed. Alternatively, press Globe + M.

Here are just some of the Globe Key shortcuts:

• Globe + H: Go to Home Screen
• Globe + A: Show/Hide Dock
• Globe + Q: Open a Quick Note
• Globe + C: Show/Hide Control Center
• Globe + N: Show/Hide Notification Center
• Globe + ⬆️: Show App Switcher
• Globe + ⬅️ or Globe + ➡️: Switch Between Apps
• Globe + ⬇️: Show Apps Preview

Command Key 👑

If you thought the globe key was cool, the command key is even better.

Go to your Home Screen and hold the Command Key. You should see a basic menu.

That’s nothing though.

Go to any app (could be Safari, Todoist, Notion, or even ChatGPT).

Now hold the command key. Start playing epic music.

Holding the command key in an app shows you every command key shortcut in that app. And some apps like Safari have a ton of these.

Knowing about the command key will save you a couple of seconds per day. But hey, seconds add up.

Guided Access 🔐

The #1 hack for productivity is simple: unrelenting focus.

productivity = work completed / time spent

To maximize productivity, you have to increase work completed or decrease time spent. Guided Access will easily multiply the work you get done.

I found out about Guided Access as a way to make sure my parents don’t snoop through my phone. If they asked me to see some photos, I enabled Guided Access so they wouldn’t go through anything else.

One day, a light bulb clicked 💡

I use Guided Access to keep my parents locked into one app. But what if I use it to lock myself into an app?

That would be the ultimate productivity hack. I would be forcing myself to finish my work before I do anything else.

So that’s exactly what I did. Here’s how you can do the same:

1. Triple-click the top button on your iPad
2. A menu should open. Select Guided Access.
3. Another menu will open up. Look through the options (bottom left corner) and enable the ones you want.
4. When you’re ready, tap start. Enter in a password.
5. And boom 💥, you’re good to go.

The only way you can escape your work sesh is by triple-clicking the top button and entering your password. Personally, that’s enough resistance to stop me from instinctively checking my email or going to random websites.

Automations 🤖

Everyone knows about the Shortcuts app.

But do you know about Automations? Note: these are different from normal Shortcuts

Automations make things automatically happen given certain triggers.

In other words: if [trigger], do [action]

There are a ton of triggers. Here are a few examples to get your brain flowing:

1. At 8:00 AM on weekdays
2. When my alarm is stopped
3. When I arrive at the gym
4. 15 minutes before I leave for work
5. When I get an email from a boss
6. When I get a message from Mom
7. When my iPad connects to AirPods
8. When I open the weather app
9. When battery level rises above 80%

The possibilities are endless. Go crazy.

Focus Modes 🧘

Finally, we got my favorite iPadOS feature: Focus Modes.

You’ve probably heard of them before. If you haven’t, they’re basically custom Do Not Disturb Modes.

What you might not know is the endless customization options you have.

Here’s everything you can customize:

1. Allowed people (aka the people whose notifications pop up)
2. Allowed apps (aka the apps whose notifications pop up)
3. Lock Screens
4. Home Screens
5. Triggers (time, location, app open, and AI-powered smart activation)
6. Focus filters (filters within specific apps, ex: filtering viewable Calendars)

Don’t think of Focus modes as focus modes. Think of them as ways to set your iPad to different tasks.

At the click of a button, I can get ready to study. Here’s how:

1. I set my Home Screen to only show educational apps (GoodNotes, Concepts, Feyn, and Notion)
2. I block notifications from everyone except dad, mom, and my girlfriend
3. I block all apps except messages

If I wanted, I wouldn’t even have to click a button to enable this Focus Mode. I could trigger it to enable whenever I open an app like Concepts or GoodNotes.

Final Thoughts 🧠

Thanks for reading!

Adi

PS—Check This Out If You Think Your iPad Isn’t Insanely Cool ⬇️

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