Can You Use Google Home To Open Apps In A Ipad Mini

The iPad Pro and 2020 iPad Air offer many helpful features, but they differ from Apple's iPad, iPad mini, and older versions of the iPad Air in one key way: no home button. Apple jettisoned the button on its Pro and Air tablets to make room for a larger screen. So how do you unlock the device, get around the screen, view open apps, and talk to Siri?

Just like on the iPhone X and higher, you perform all these actions and more by swiping, tapping, and showing your face in the right places. Let's check out the different gestures and other ways to navigate an iPad Pro.

Wake Up Your iPad

You usually wake up your iPad by pressing the home button. However, when using a device without a home button, just tap anywhere on the screen (or press the power button) to coax it out of sleep mode.

Unlock Your iPad

You can unlock your iPad Pro by using Face ID just like your phone (the 2020 iPad Air still relies on Touch ID). Glance at the screen to unlock it, then swipe up on the screen. Just don't block the TrueDepth camera with your hand if you're holding the device in landscape mode. If you do, your iPad will tell you that the camera is covered.

If you're using your iPad Pro in public while wearing a mask, the screen will tell you to swipe up for Face ID or enter your passcode. To stay safe with your mask still on, make sure you choose the latter and then tap out your passcode.

Return Home and View Dock

To exit your current app and return to the home screen, swipe up from the bottom of the screen. That takes you back to the last home screen you accessed. Swipe once more and you're taken back to your main home screen.

The dock automatically appears when you're at the home screen and disappears when you open an app. However, you can still access the dock while using an app by swiping up from the bottom of the screen. Don't swipe too far up or you'll close your current app; just enough until you see the dock. Tap anywhere on the screen or swipe down on the dock to make it vanish.

Navigate Open Apps

If your iPad has a home button, you can double-press it to show all the apps that are currently open. Without a home button, you have to swipe up from the bottom of the screen and hold your finger for a split second until the App Switcher appears.

From there, swipe to the right to see your previous apps. You can also reverse direction by swiping to the left. When you spot the app you want, tap to open it. With iOS 12 or higher, swiping up and across to view your open apps works on all devices.

You can also return to a previous app without having to view all the thumbnails or even exit your current app. All you have to do is swipe your finger to the right at the bottom of the screen until you see the previous app appear. Keep swiping this way to see each app you have previously used, or swipe to the left to cycle back to more recently used apps. Release your finger when you see the app you want to use.

Close Apps

There's a long-standing belief that force-closing all your open apps frees up memory and boosts performance, but this is more myth than magic. While your device is smart enough to put unused apps to sleep, force-closing an app is a good tactic if an app is freezing or crashing. You can close any open apps by swiping up from the bottom to display the App Switcher, then just swipe the offending app away.

Activate Siri

You would normally call Siri by holding down the home button. However, if you don't have a physical button, you instead hold down the power button. You can also get Siri's attention by saying "Hey Siri" if you've set up that option.

Use Apple Pay

Without a home button, you can activate Apple Pay by double-tapping the power button. Perform this action when prompted and the Apple Pay screen will appear, allowing you to make purchases online or in-store from your device.

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Take a Screenshot

Other devices will require you to press the power button and home button at the same time to take a screenshot. With no home button on the iPad Pro or iPad Air, the maneuver is a bit trickier. Press the power button and the volume up button at the same time. You may need to fiddle with the positioning of your iPad to achieve this move with one hand, whether you're in portrait or landscape mode.

With the upgrade to iPadOS, the home screen is split between apps and widgets. If you have yet to update your iPad, you must continue swiping to the right until the widgets appear.

If you want to see your device's notifications, swipe down from the top center or left of the screen. This action works the same with or without a home button.

Run a Search

Swipe down from just below the top of the screen to open a search bar to find content across your iPad. Type the name of the item you seek in the Search field. Here, you can also view and open apps suggested by Siri.

Launch Control Center

You can open Control Center, whether or not your iPad has a home button. Just swipe down from the right corner of the screen to view all the familiar controls.

Power Off Your iPad

To shut off your iPad, hold down on the power and volume up or volume down button until you see the Power Off screen. Slide the on-screen power button to the right to shut off the device.

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