iPad User Guide
- Welcome
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- iPad models compatible with iPadOS 27
- iPad mini (6th generation)
- iPad mini (A17 Pro)
- iPad (9th generation)
- iPad (10th generation)
- iPad (A16)
- iPad Air (4th generation)
- iPad Air (5th generation)
- iPad Air 11-inch (M2)
- iPad Air 13-inch (M2)
- iPad Air 11-inch (M3)
- iPad Air 13-inch (M3)
- iPad Air 11-inch (M4)
- iPad Air 13-inch (M4)
- iPad Pro 11-inch (2nd generation)
- iPad Pro 11-inch (3rd generation)
- iPad Pro 11-inch (4th generation)
- iPad Pro 11-inch (M4)
- iPad Pro 11-inch (M5)
- iPad Pro 12.9-inch (4th generation)
- iPad Pro 12.9-inch (5th generation)
- iPad Pro 12.9-inch (6th generation)
- iPad Pro 13-inch (M4)
- iPad Pro 13-inch (M5)
- Setup basics
- Make your iPad your own
- Streamline your workflow on iPad
- Do more with Apple Pencil
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- What’s new in iPadOS 27
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- Turn on and set up iPad
- Wake, unlock, and lock
- Connect to the internet
- Manage Wi-Fi settings
- Set up cellular service
- View or change cellular data settings
- Set up mail, contacts, and calendar accounts
- Change the name of your iPad
- Change the date and time
- Change the language and region
- Change the default apps
- Change your default search engine on iPad
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- Find settings
- Learn the meaning of the status icons
- Get information about your iPad
- Adjust the volume and silence
- Turn the iPad flashlight on or off
- Drag and drop
- Rotate your iPad screen
- Access features from the Lock Screen
- Perform quick actions
- Search with Spotlight
- View and respond to notifications
- Change notification settings
- Manage storage on iPad
- Travel with iPad
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- Get started with Calendar
- Create and edit events in Calendar
- Send invitations
- Reply to invitations
- Change how you view events
- Search for events
- Change Calendar settings
- Schedule or display events in a different time zone
- Keep track of events
- Use multiple calendars
- Use reminders in Calendar
- Use the Holidays calendar
- Share iCloud calendars
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- Get started with FaceTime
- Create a FaceTime link
- Take a Live Photo
- Use FaceTime audio call tools
- Use Live Captions and Live Translation
- Use other apps during a call
- Make a Group FaceTime call
- Use SharePlay to watch, listen, and play together
- Share your screen in a FaceTime call
- Request or give remote control in a FaceTime call
- Collaborate on a document in a FaceTime call
- Use video conferencing features
- Hand off a FaceTime call to another Apple device
- Change the FaceTime video settings
- Change the FaceTime audio settings
- Change your appearance
- Leave a call or switch to Messages
- Screen and filter calls
- Block a FaceTime call and report it as spam
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- Get started with the Apple Games app
- Set up your Game Center profile
- Find and download games
- Subscribe to Apple Arcade
- Connect with friends in the Apple Games app
- Play with friends in the Apple Games app
- Manage your game library
- Connect a game controller
- Change game-related settings
- Report a problem with a game
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- Get started with Home
- Intro to Home
- Set up accessories
- Control accessories
- Use Grid Forecast to plan your energy usage
- View electricity usage and rates
- Adaptive Temperature and Clean Energy Guidance
- Set up HomePod
- Control your home remotely
- Create and use scenes
- Use automations
- Set up security cameras
- Use Face Recognition
- Configure a router
- Invite others to control accessories
- Add more homes
- Use Apple Intelligence with Home cameras and notifications
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- Get started with Mail
- Check your email
- Use categories
- Automatically clean up iCloud Mail
- Set email notifications
- Search for email
- Organize your email in mailboxes
- Use iCloud Mail rules to automatically apply actions to emails
- Change Mail settings
- Delete and recover emails
- Add a Mail widget to your Home Screen
- Print emails
- Use keyboard shortcuts
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- Get started with Music
- Get music
- Customize Music
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- Play music
- Use the music player controls
- Play lossless audio
- Play Spatial Audio
- Listen to radio
- Play music together using SharePlay
- Play music together in the car
- Queue up your music
- Transition songs
- Shuffle or repeat songs
- Sing along with Apple Music
- Show song credits and lyrics
- Tell Apple Music what you enjoy
- Adjust the sound quality
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- Get started with News
- Get News notifications and newsletters
- Use News widgets
- See news stories chosen just for you
- Read and share stories
- Read local news
- Follow your favorite teams with My Sports
- Listen to Apple News Today on iPad
- Search for channels, topics, stories, or recipes
- Save stories
- Clear your reading history
- Customize the tab bar
- Subscribe to individual news channels
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- Get started with Notes
- Create and format notes
- Use Quick Notes
- Add drawings and handwriting
- Enter formulas and equations
- Add photos, video, and more
- Record and transcribe audio
- Scan text and documents
- Work with PDFs
- Add links
- Search notes
- Organize in folders
- Organize with tags
- Use Smart Folders
- Share and collaborate
- Export or print notes
- Lock notes
- Delete and recover notes
- Add or remove accounts
- Change the Notes view
- Change Notes settings
- Use keyboard shortcuts
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- Use passwords on iPad
- Find your password for a website or app
- Change the password for a website or app
- Remove a password
- Recover a deleted password
- Create a password for a website or app
- Show passwords in large text
- Use passkeys to sign in to websites and apps
- Sign in with Apple
- Share passwords
- Automatically fill in strong passwords
- See websites excluded from AutoFill
- Change weak or compromised passwords
- View your passwords and related information
- View password history
- Find your Wi-Fi password
- Share passwords securely with AirDrop
- Make your passwords available on all your devices
- Automatically fill in verification codes
- Sign in with fewer CAPTCHA challenges
- Use two-factor authentication
- Use security keys
- See your Mac FileVault recovery key
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- Make a call
- Record and transcribe a call
- Change your Phone settings
- View and delete the call history
- Answer or decline incoming calls
- While on a call
- See translations during phone calls
- Have a conference or three-way call
- Set up Voicemail
- Check voicemail
- Change voicemail greeting and settings
- Select ringtones
- Make calls using Wi-Fi
- Set up call forwarding
- Set up call waiting
- Screen and block calls
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- Browse your photo library
- Browse your photo collections
- View photos and videos
- View reference images
- See photo and video information
- Sort and filter the photo library
- Get started with Photos
- Apply star ratings
- Back up and sync your photos and videos with iCloud
- Delete or hide photos and videos
- Add keywords
- Search for photos and videos
- Get wallpaper suggestions
- Clean up, extend, and reframe photos
- Make stickers from your photos
- Save a video frame as a photo
- Duplicate and copy photos and videos
- Hide people, memories, or holidays
- Merge duplicate photos
- Import and export photos and videos
- Print photos
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- Get started with Podcasts
- Find podcasts
- Play podcasts on iPad
- View podcast transcripts
- Follow your favorite podcasts
- Rate or review podcasts
- Use the Podcasts widget
- Select your favorite Podcasts categories and channels
- Organize your podcast library
- Download, save, remove, and share podcasts
- Subscribe to podcasts
- Connect app subscriptions to Podcasts on iPad
- Change download settings
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- Get started with Reminders
- Create reminders
- Make a grocery list
- Add details
- Complete items
- Delete and recover reminders
- Edit and organize a list
- Search your lists
- Organize multiple lists
- Tag items
- Use Smart Lists
- Share and collaborate
- Print a list
- Work with templates
- Add or remove accounts
- Change Reminders settings
- Use keyboard shortcuts
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- Get started with Safari
- Browse the web
- Search for websites
- Customize your Safari settings
- Change the layout
- Create multiple Safari profiles
- Listen to a webpage
- Mute audio in tabs
- Bookmark a website
- Open as Web App
- Bookmark a website as a favorite
- Save pages to a Reading List
- Find links shared with you
- Download a PDF
- Annotate and save a webpage as a PDF
- Fill in forms
- Get extensions
- Clear your cache and cookies
- Enable cookies
- Shortcuts
- Tips
- TV
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- Power adapter and charge cable
- Use headphone audio-level features
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- Apple Pencil compatibility
- Pair and charge Apple Pencil (1st generation)
- Pair and charge Apple Pencil (2nd generation)
- Pair and charge Apple Pencil (USB-C)
- Pair and charge Apple Pencil Pro
- Enter text with Scribble
- Draw with Apple Pencil
- Take and mark up a screenshot with Apple Pencil
- Quickly write notes
- HomePod and other wireless speakers
- External storage devices
- Connect Bluetooth accessories
- Play audio from your iPad on a Bluetooth accessory from your iPad
- Apple Watch with Fitness+
- Printers
- Polishing cloth
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- Intro to Continuity
- Use AirDrop to send items to nearby devices
- Hand off tasks between devices
- Copy and paste between devices
- Stream video or mirror the screen of your iPad
- Allow phone calls and text messages on your iPad
- Share your internet connection with Personal Hotspot
- Use your iPad as a webcam for Apple TV 4K
- Insert sketches, photos, and scans on Mac
- Use your iPad as a second display
- Use one keyboard and mouse to control Mac and iPad
- Connect iPad and your computer with a cable
- Transfer files between devices
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- Get started with accessibility features
- Use accessibility features during setup
- Change Siri accessibility settings
- Quickly turn accessibility features on or off
- Share your Accessibility settings with another device
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- Overview of accessibility features for vision
- Read or listen to text in apps with Accessibility Reader
- Zoom in
- View a larger version of text you’re reading or typing
- Change display colors
- Make text easier to read
- Make onscreen elements easier to see
- Customize onscreen motion
- Use iPad more comfortably while riding in a vehicle
- Customize per-app visual settings
- Hear what’s on the screen or typed
- Hear audio descriptions
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- Turn on and practice VoiceOver
- Change your VoiceOver settings
- Use VoiceOver gestures
- Operate iPad when VoiceOver is on
- Control VoiceOver using the rotor
- Use the onscreen keyboard
- Write with your finger
- Keep the screen off
- Use VoiceOver with an external keyboard
- Use a braille display
- Type braille on the screen
- Use Braille Access with a braille display
- Customize gestures and keyboard shortcuts
- Use VoiceOver with a pointer device
- Hear what’s on your screen and around you
- Use VoiceOver in apps
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- Overview of accessibility features for mobility
- Use AssistiveTouch
- Use an adjustable onscreen trackpad on iPad
- Control iPad with the movement of your eyes
- Control iPad with the movement of your head
- Adjust how iPad responds to your touch
- Auto-answer calls
- Change Face ID and attention settings
- Use Voice Control
- Adjust the top or Home button
- Use Apple TV 4K Remote buttons
- Adjust pointer settings
- Adjust keyboard settings
- Control iPad with an external keyboard
- Adjust AirPods settings
- Adjust double tap and squeeze settings for Apple Pencil
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- Overview of accessibility features for hearing
- Use hearing devices
- Use Live Listen
- Use sound recognition
- Get notified when your name is called
- Set up and use RTT
- Flash the indicator light or screen for notifications
- Adjust audio settings
- Play background sounds
- Display subtitles and captions
- Show transcriptions for Intercom messages
- Get live captions of spoken audio
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- Control what you share
- Turn on Lock Screen features
- Block contacts
- Keep your Apple Account secure
- Create and manage Hide My Email addresses
- Protect your web browsing with iCloud Private Relay
- Use a private network address
- Use Advanced Data Protection
- Use Lockdown Mode
- Install Background Security Improvements
- Receive warnings about sensitive content
- Use Contact Key Verification
- Use Impersonation Risk Detection
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- Important safety information
- Important handling information
- Find more resources for software and service
- FCC compliance statement
- ISED Canada compliance statement
- Apple and the environment
- Class 1 Laser information
- Disposal and recycling information
- Unauthorized modification of iPadOS
- ENERGY STAR compliance statement
- Copyright and trademarks
Add images, scans, links, and other files to a Freeform board on iPad
You can add any photo or video to a Freeform board, generate an image, or take a new photo with your iPad camera. You can also add different types of files to your board by scanning, linking, or inserting them.
Available with subscription: Some features require a subscription to Apple Creator Studio. To learn more, see the Apple Creator Studio webpage and the Apple Support article About Apple Creator Studio. | |||||||||||
Add a photo, video, sticker, link, or other file
Go to the Freeform app
on your iPad.
Open a board, or tap
to start a new one.
Do one of the following:
Tap
, tap an option, then tap
when you’re finished.
Copy the item to your Clipboard, tap an empty space, then, when a menu appears, tap Paste.
To add premium images from the Content Hub to your board, tap
in the toolbar, tap an object category at the top of the dialog, then tap a premium image to add it to the board. Anyone can use premium Content Hub images, but you need to subscribe to Apple Creator Studio to remove their watermarks.
Important: Premium images from Content Hub are subject to usage restrictions. See the Apple Creator Studio Terms and Conditions.
Double-tap any media item—photo, video, or other file—to preview it.
Note: You can insert files saved on your iPad or in iCloud Drive. For most file types, Freeform makes a copy of the inserted file. When you add a link to a collaborative Keynote presentation, Numbers spreadsheet, or Pages document, participants in your Freeform board can tap the card to move to the shared file in iCloud. (If you want others to be able to collaborate on the file, you must save it in iCloud.)
Create original images with Image Playground
You can combine text descriptions, photos of people from your photo library, and more to create one-of-a-kind illustrations using Apple Intelligence.
Note: Apple Intelligence on iPadOS 27 or later is available on an Apple Intelligence-enabled iPad mini (A17 Pro) and iPad models with M1 or later. Apple Intelligence is not available in all languages or regions. Usage limits may apply.*
Go to the Freeform app
on your iPad.
Open a board, or tap
to start a new one.
Do one of the following:
Create a new image: Tap
in the toolbar, tap Image Playground, then follow instructions to create an image.
Replace an existing image with an image created in Image Playground: Select an image, then tap
. Tap Replace, tap Image Playground, then follow instructions to create an image.
Use elements from your board: Select up to six images, drawings, text boxes, sticky notes, or shapes that you want to use, tap
in the formatting tools, tap Add to Playground, then follow the onscreen instructions to create an image.
Tap
or Insert to add the image to your board.
Generate new images with Apple Creator Studio
If you subscribe to Apple Creator Studio, you can use advanced tools to create and edit high-quality images or to transform existing ones with generative models.
Note: This feature is not available in all countries and regions. To learn more, see the Apple Support article About Apple Creator Studio.
Go to the Freeform app
on your iPad.
Open a board, or tap
to start a new one.
Tap
in the toolbar.
Note: If this is your first time using Image Generation in Freeform, follow the onscreen instructions to share your age range with the app. Image Generation is not available for all ages, so a parent or guardian must enable this feature for children and teens in their family group. See Set up Family Sharing.
Tap Generate Image, then follow the onscreen instructions.
If you’re asked to send an image, select Allow Once or Always Allow. To reset this option, tap
, tap Intelligence Features, then tap Reset Permissions.
Tap Insert to add the image to your board.
Important: Image Generation is subject to usage limitations. To check your usage status, tap , tap Intelligence Features, then tap Show Usage Status.
Scan and add a document
You can scan a paper document and add it to your board as a PDF without leaving Freeform.
Go to the Freeform app
on your iPad.
Open a board, or tap
to start a new one.
Tap
, then tap Scan Documents.
Position the iPad camera so the document appears on the screen.
iPad automatically captures the page. To capture the scan manually, tap Auto (the label changes to Manual), tap
or press a volume button, drag the corners to select the area you want in the scanned document, then tap Keep.
Scan additional pages, then tap
when you’re done.
A card with an image of the first page of your scan appears on your board.
Tip: To save your scan to iCloud Drive or on your iPad, select the card, tap , tap
, then tap Save to Files.
Format a photo or video
Go to the Freeform app
on your iPad.
Open a board with a photo or video in it.
Tap a photo or video to open its formatting tools, then do any of the following:
Crop or mask the photo: Tap
.
Remove the photo’s background: Tap
, then tap Remove Background. If the background of the photo can’t be made transparent, Remove Background isn’t available.
Tip: You can also paste an image without a background. See Lift a subject from the photo background.
Add a shadow, round the corners, add a description, and more: Tap
, then choose an option.
Replace the photo or video: Select the photo or video, tap
or
, tap Replace, then select a replacement.
Preview the photo or video: Tap
, or double-tap the photo or video.
To preview a movie in full screen, double-tap it.
Auto Crop a photo
If you subscribe to Apple Creator Studio, you can use Auto Crop to intelligently generate suggestions that improve image composition.
Go to the Freeform app
on your iPad.
Open a board with an image, double-tap the image to view the mask controls, then tap Auto Crop to preview cropping suggestions.
Tap a suggestion to update your image, then tap Done.
Increase resolution with Super Resolution
If you subscribe to Apple Creator Studio, you can use Super Resolution to increase the resolution of photos, making them clearer.
Go to the Freeform app
on your iPad.
Open a board with an image, tap the image, then tap
.
Tap Super Resolution.
Put an image inside a shape
You can use a shape as a mask or frame for an image. For example, you can put your photo inside a circle.
Go to the Freeform app
on your iPad.
Open a board, or tap
to start a new one.
Add a photo or other image to the board.
Tap
, then choose a shape.
Position the shape over the image, then select both it and the image.
Tap
in the formatting tools, then tap Mask with Shape.
Or drag an image onto a shape to use it as a frame.
To remove it from the shape, select the masked image, tap , then tap Reset Mask.
Tip: To add a photo, video, file, or link to a Freeform board from supported apps (such as Notes, Photos, Safari, and more), select it and tap in the other app, tap the Freeform app icon, then tap New Board or the name of an existing board. (If you want others to be able to add items to your board, you must save it in iCloud.)