Getting Started Tips

Site: Calhoun ISD Moodle
Course: iPad Support Group
Book: Getting Started Tips
Printed by: Guest user
Date: Friday, March 29, 2024, 1:46 AM

1. Powering On & Off

Typically you keep your iPad in "standby" mode.  Touching the power button will turn it on and off.  There are some times that you want to "hard" shut down the device, such as:

  • conserving your battery life
  • as a general reset if the apps are behaving oddly (and haven't in the past)
  • quitting apps (if there are LOTS of them open)

If you hold the power button down, you will get a screen with a red bar telling you to "Slide to Power off."  Slide the bar to shut it down.

To turn it back on, hold down the power button until the Apple logo appears on the screen.

2. Running Apps

To use an app, simply touch it on the screen (again, DON'T hold down on it).  The iPad essentially "becomes" that app while it is open.

To leave an app when you are finished, touch the Home button to return to the app screens.

3. Moving Between Screens

To move between screens on the iPad, simply swipe your finger across the screen. 

You can identify how many screens you have with apps by looking at the number of "dots" at the bottom of any screen.  The filled in "dot" shows which screen you are on.

If you are looking at your iPad "out of the box," the apps that come on it (tied to the device operating system) appear on the first screen, and any of your additional downloads appear begining on the second screen.  (My understanding is that you can have a maximum of 11 screens...and over 1400 apps.)

4. "Home" Screen

The first of the app screens is called the "Home" screen.  No matter which screen you are on, if you touch the Home button you will be moved back to the Home (first) screen of apps.  For this reason, most people place their most used apps on that screen.

5. Search Screen

There is an additional screen to the left of the Home screen - the Search screen.  To get to the search screen, you can either:

  • touch the Home button when on the Home screen OR
  • continue swiping past the Home screen

         

You can find and access (open) anything straight from the Search screen.  So, if you are a person that doesn't want to know where your apps are on the device - that is fine!  Just go to the search screen and begin typing a part of the app name.

6. Screenshots

If you ever see something on your iPad that you want to snag in a picture, you can always take a screenshot of it.  (This would be a good thing to do if you are having an issue with something on it, and are not sure how to explain what you are seeing.  It can help the person that is helping you bunches!)

To take a screenshot, touch both the Home button and Power button at the same time.  (DON'T HOLD THEM DOWN!  You will accidentally shut the device down if you do that.) The screen will flash white briefly while it is "taking a picture" of it.  The picture can be found by either going to your Camera and touching the camera roll in the lower left corner, or going to Photos. 

An example - I had a website not loading.  I took a screenshot (minus the red text I added for this demo...):

I can access the picture in the Camera App, lower left corner OR the Photo App:

         

7. Shutting Apps Down

Even when you leave an app (by hitting the Home button), it is still running.  Periodically you should shut apps down - this will help preserve your battery life and keep your iPad running smoothly.  You can mass shut down apps by powering down the iPad.  However, many times that isn't practical.  The other method for shutting down apps:

  1. Double-touch the Home button, a new bar will appear at the bottom of your screen showing all the apps that are running. (Another method for getting this bar - take four fingers and push up the screen with all four of them touching.)
  2. Touch and hold on any of the apps until they are in "shaky" mode - all the app icons are shaking and a red circle with minus sign appears on the upper left corner.
  3. Touch the minus sign on the apps you want to quit.

PLEASE NOTE:  This DOES NOT delete the app; it simply quits the app from running in the background.