Apple has steadily improved iOS, now iPadOS, in significant ways for the iPad over the past few releases. One could argue as to whether X feature should have been released before Y. But I feel the larger problem is that far too many apps still haven’t bothered to implement far too many of the features that are key to making the iPad a great device for work and play.
Features like:
Drag and drop
Why is it still not possible to drag a PDF or ZIP from Slack into Messages, or Files, or Airmail? Or to drag a photo into Slack? Why can’t we drag a product from Amazon’s app into Messages to share a link, or into a notes app for research?
Document Providers
Odd name, essential feature. If you open the Files app and edit the sidebar, you should see at least a few app sources that can be enabled like Dropbox, Documents, Creative Cloud, etc.
These are document providers, and they are supposed to be available as sources when we want to upload anything to an app; we shouldn’t be stuck only with Photos.
Picture in Picture
The iPad can play video in a floating box that can be moved to any corner of the screen. It can be resized or hidden by swiping it off screen. Try it with Apple’s TV app or Vimeo by tapping the icon of a box with an arrow pointing out of it. I’d say the largest offender here is probably YouTube, but there are plenty more.
Honorable mention: Split View and Slide Over
I feel these two features have seen pretty strong adoption. I still run into occasional surprises, though, the most recent being Amazon. Also, Tumblr. WTH Tumblr. Oh, and Settings.
A related issue here is that many apps which do support these features still don’t behave well in Slide Over. A common problem is that, when the iPad is connected to a keyboard, an app in Slide Over will not move its bottom text box or toolbar to appear above the keyboard suggestion bar, effectively blocking interaction.
I wager I missed other essential—what do you think? Let me know on Mastodon, Tumblr, or Twitter.
