Will my iPad get multitasking in iOS 9 Everything you need to know about iOS 9 on the iPad
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Will my iPad get iOS 9
Most of Apple's iPads will be compatible with iOS 9, but not all of them will get some of the powerful new features that are coming. But first, let's take a look at which iPads will get iOS 9 before we start investigating which features they'll get.
iOS 9 compatible iPads:
iPad Air 2iPad Air
iPad 4th generationiPad 3rd generationiPad 2
iPad miniiPad mini 2iPad mini 3
So essentially that's every iPad so far, aside from the original iPad.
Will my iPad get multitasking
As mentioned, there's a bit of a catch. While all of those iPads are getting iOS 9, some of the best features require more power than the older models can offer.
We are really excited about the Slide Over, Split View and Picture in Picture features coming to the iPad with iOS 9. Not only do they hint at the possibility of an iPad Pro, they also mean that productivity is about to get much easier on Apple's tablet.
Slide Over lets you open another app without leaving the app you're currently in. It'll mean that you can quickly send a tweet, respond to a text message or jot something down in the Slide Over window, and then slide it away again to go back to what you were doing.
To use Slide Over, you can swipe from right to left on the righthand side of your iPad to see another app. It'll take up about a third of the screen. If you want to change the app that appears in Slide Over, you can do so by swiping down from the top of the screen.
Split View is an iPad Air 2 exclusive feature that is a more powerful version of Slide Over, and is the fully-fledged split-screen multitasking we've been waiting for. It lets you run two apps side by side, with both of those apps available to interact with at the same time. That means you could be researching on the web using the Safari app and jotting down notes about the subject in the Pages app, for example.
Other examples given by Apple include working on a sketch with the reference photo beside it, writing a paper while copying citations from a book in iBooks, or looking at the Maps app while planning a holiday using TripAdvisor.
You can access the Split View feature by first swiping from the right of the screen to bring up Slide Over, and then dragging the divider between the two apps to the centre of the screen.
The third and final multitasking feature coming to the iPad with iOS 9 is called Picture in Picture, which lets you watch a video or use FaceTime while using another app. By pressing the Home button, the video or FaceTime screen will scale down and sit at the bottom corner of your display while you work on something else like an email reply. You can move the floating video screen around or move it slightly offscreen if you only want to listen to the audio.
Here's a breakdown of which iPads will be able to run which feature:
Slide OveriPad Air 2iPad Air
iPad mini 2iPad mini 3
Picture in Picture
iPad Air 2iPad Air
iPad mini 2iPad mini 3
Split View
iPad Air 2 only
Will my iPad get QuickType
Another one of the new feartures coming to the iPad with iOS 9 that we are really excited about is QuickType. You'll now see functions such as copy and paste, add attachment and format text on the keyboard itself, along the top in a new Shortcut Bar.
The Shortcut Bar will have different tools depending on the app you're using, and can be utilised by third-party apps.
Additionally, the new keyboard lets you use your touchscreen as a trackpad. You just need to place two fingers on the screen to activate it and they'll act as a cursor for quickly and easily selecting chunks of text, for example.
If you'd like to try out the new features of iOS 9 on your iPad now, you might be interested to hear that there is an iOS 9 public beta program available, which offers early access to the software for testing. You can find out about the iOS 9 beta and whether it's a good idea to install it here. You can also read our iOS 9 upgrade guide here.
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