Apple's iPad to get bigger dock, Files app, drag-and-drop & easier multitasking in iOS 11 ...

AppleInsiderAppleInsider
Posted:
in iPad edited October 2019
In announcing iOS 11 on Monday, Apple revealed a host of new iPad-oriented changes, including a special dock, a new Files app, drag-and-drop support and more. [Updated to mention Files on iPhone]




The new dock is more Mac-like, displaying many more icons than the six allowed in iOS 10 -- a section on the right is even reserved for apps predicted by Siri. There's also a new app switcher, and it should be possible to drag an icon up to quickly open a second window.




Drag-and-drop support lets users select and move multiple items at a time, such as links and images. This becomes particularly important with the new Files app, which offers a Finder-style interface with hierarchies, tags, and both local and cloud files, including not just iCloud Drive but third-party services like Box and Dropbox.




Tapping and holding on Files in the dock will bring up access to recent files. Content in the app, notably, is synced across devices.

Elsewhere, taking a screenshot of a PDF will launch a markup mode for Mail and Notes, and inline drawing has been enabled for Apple Pencil users. Handwritten text is now searchable by way of Spotlight and handwriting recognition, and Notes can serve as a document scanner, with perspective handling similar to Evernote's Scannable. Another Apple Pencil feature is Instant Notes, which will launch Notes from the lockscreen by tapping a Pencil on it.







The iOS 11 developer beta should be available today. A public beta should arrive at the end of the month, ahead of a free fall upgrade for all compatible devices. iPad users will need to have at least an Air, Pro, Mini 2, or fifth-generation iPad.

Update: Files is also available for the iPhone.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 38
    slprescottslprescott Posts: 765member
    I found this a dramatic closing of the gap between iOS and macOS... at least in terms of the UI.  This will increase people's willingness to view iPad Pro as a laptop alternative for a wide variety of tasks.
    ronnroundaboutnowalbegarcSpamSandwichmkrewsonwatto_cobramacky the mackyradarthekat
  • Reply 2 of 38
    clegercleger Posts: 17member
    And yet.. still no Multi-User. Like do they even listen to what the customer wants???  I have never been so unimpressed with an Apple keynote as I am right now. Literally NOTHING impressive has come for iOS today. We've got a whole year to wait to hope for more. 

    I hate the apple music redesign last year and was praying it would get a MUCH NEEDED refresh, but instead they brought it to the App Store. 

    Smh!
    brucemc
  • Reply 3 of 38
    StrangeDaysStrangeDays Posts: 13,103member
    cleger said:
    And yet.. still no Multi-User. Like do they even listen to what the customer wants???  I have never been so unimpressed with an Apple keynote as I am right now. Literally NOTHING impressive has come for iOS today. We've got a whole year to wait to hope for more. 

    I hate the apple music redesign last year and was praying it would get a MUCH NEEDED refresh, but instead they brought it to the App Store. 

    Smh!
    Speak for yourself, dude -- the keynote was awesome. iOS 11 cant come soon enough, so many cool additions. I dont care about multi-users. Might be cool but not a huge deal either way.
    ronnmike1mwhitemkrewsonbb-15watto_cobraemoellernightwatchbrucemcBlunt
  • Reply 4 of 38
    rogifan_newrogifan_new Posts: 4,297member
    Love the improvements to iPad Pro. Still shocked that the 12.9" isn't more popular. I could never go back to a smaller screen after that.
    albegarcnightwatchavon b7
  • Reply 5 of 38
    dick applebaumdick applebaum Posts: 12,527member

    cleger said:
    And yet.. still no Multi-User. Like do they even listen to what the customer wants???  I have never been so unimpressed with an Apple keynote as I am right now. Literally NOTHING impressive has come for iOS today. We've got a whole year to wait to hope for more. 

    I hate the apple music redesign last year and was praying it would get a MUCH NEEDED refresh, but instead they brought it to the App Store. 

    Smh!
     Like the iPhone, the iPad is meant to be a personal device.

    The iOS 11 enhancements, especially for the iPad, are game changers.

    ronnmike1roundaboutnowStrangeDaysmwhitecanukstormbb-15watto_cobramacky the mackybrucemc
  • Reply 6 of 38
    fastasleepfastasleep Posts: 6,453member
    cleger said:
    I have never been so unimpressed with an Apple keynote as I am right now. Literally NOTHING impressive has come for iOS today. We've got a whole year to wait to hope for more. 
    LOL. As Goldmember would say, 


    ronn
  • Reply 7 of 38
    ronnronn Posts: 687member
    cleger said:
    And yet.. still no Multi-User. Like do they even listen to what the customer wants???  I have never been so unimpressed with an Apple keynote as I am right now. Literally NOTHING impressive has come for iOS today. We've got a whole year to wait to hope for more. 
    I had the quite the opposite reaction. I jealously guard my devices and don't want anyone else touching, let alone using my iOS devices. So I don't care about mulit-user. The features to come are, IMMHO, nice touches and a game changer for me. I don't like the 12.9 iPad Pro. Just too big for my uses. The 10.5 iPad Pro appears to be just right. I can easily see it replacing my MBA without a hitch.
    fastasleepmkrewsonwatto_cobraradarthekat
  • Reply 8 of 38
    peterhartpeterhart Posts: 163member
    slprescott said:
    I found this a dramatic closing of the gap between iOS and macOS... at least in terms of the UI.  This will increase people's willingness to view iPad Pro as a laptop alternative for a wide variety of tasks.
    I also think this is amazing...for me, anyway, who has been teetering on the thought of buying my first MBP. However, with iOS 11's new iPad updates, I am so impressed that I have put iPad Pro ahead of the full MacBook experience. I found today very innovative in this respect.
    edited June 2017 ronnwatto_cobramacky the macky
  • Reply 9 of 38
    yellowjacketsyellowjackets Posts: 15member
    slprescott said:
    I found this a dramatic closing of the gap between iOS and macOS... at least in terms of the UI.  This will increase people's willingness to view iPad Pro as a laptop alternative for a wide variety of tasks.
    Honestly, no it won't. Unless you are talking about MacBook Air owners switching to iPads maybe. But no Windows user is going to make an iPad their primary professional/educational computing device. Especially since an iPad Pro costs as much as a Windows laptop anyway, and doesn't even offer a physical keyboard or ports for external monitors and added storage.
  • Reply 10 of 38
    peterhartpeterhart Posts: 163member
    yellowjackets said:
    slprescott said:
    I found this a dramatic closing of the gap between iOS and macOS... at least in terms of the UI.  This will increase people's willingness to view iPad Pro as a laptop alternative for a wide variety of tasks.
    Honestly, no it won't. Unless you are talking about MacBook Air owners switching to iPads maybe. But no Windows user is going to make an iPad their primary professional/educational computing device. Especially since an iPad Pro costs as much as a Windows laptop anyway, and doesn't even offer a physical keyboard or ports for external monitors and added storage.
    Well I disagree. I barely use my HP laptop anymore and I have been wanting to get a MacBook Pro. After seeing the updates and the appearance of making iPad Pro look more MacBook Pro like, I'm sold.  Everything that I currently do on my Windows laptop I can do on an iPad Pro, especially with Pages and Numbers. You should know this is going to vary per user...
    bb-15watto_cobraradarthekat
  • Reply 11 of 38
    larryjwlarryjw Posts: 1,036member
    I was hoping markup would come to Kindle and iBooks. I'm suppose there is still hope given there is still time until the Fall release. 

    My guess is Apple is designing the API as they incorporate markup into Mail and Notes. Markup and note taking are key elements missing from making the reading apps as functional as reading a physical book. 
  • Reply 12 of 38
    sirlance99sirlance99 Posts: 1,301member
    It's telling that Apple is adding desktop-like file management and manipulation features to mobile. Rather than insisting people adapt to being productive with mobile limitations, it's finally recognizing that desktop software is actually pretty great for getting stuff done? Like it was originally designed for?
  • Reply 13 of 38
    NY1822NY1822 Posts: 621member
    new: screen recording on IOS11
    https://www.google.com/amp/www.cultofmac.com/485088/ios-11-features-apple-didnt-mention/amp/
    SpamSandwichnightwatch
  • Reply 14 of 38
    Rayz2016Rayz2016 Posts: 6,957member
    sirlance99 said:
    It's telling that Apple is adding desktop-like file management and manipulation features to mobile. Rather than insisting people adapt to being productive with mobile limitations, it's finally recognizing that desktop software is actually pretty great for getting stuff done? Like it was originally designed for?
    Probably more to do with having tablet hardware that is more powerful than the majority of desktops sold in recent years. 
    bb-15watto_cobraradarthekatvukasikaStrangeDays
  • Reply 15 of 38
    chickchick Posts: 35member
    I liked this keynote a lot. My wife is ordering the 10.5" iPad Pro with 256 GB of memory. She finds my 12.9" iPad Pro too heavy for her lap but the 10.5" at the same weight as her Air 2 sounds real good to her. Now if they will just update the Mac mini with a version with a quad core i7 that supports all the latest features. As it stands this family will be getting two new iPads. For me it will be the 12.9" with 512 GB of memory. Both will be wifi only. I have paid extra for the cellular and only used it once on a trip years ago (on an iPad 2, so never used on an iPad 4, iPad Air 2 or the 12.9" iPad Pro. That's a lot of wasted capability and cash. HomePod sounds interesting too. Looking forward to the new OS updates - especially the new iPad capabilities.
  • Reply 16 of 38
    rich gregoryrich gregory Posts: 121member
    Anyone know if the document scanner in the Notes App can do OCR? Looks like Notes can read your handwriting but no mention of OCR so I'm guessing it's not built in. I'm interested in an OCR app that does fractions for doing recipes via copy & paste using the recipe app I already have.

    Chick- There's a nice feature in the new iOS that off-loads apps that haven't been used in a while, but preserving their data in case you re-install. There's also some other stuff in there to free up space on your device, so maybe you won't need all that storage on your new devices. Also, I don't suppose buying a LTE enabled iPad pass off when you go to sell it? 

    I wonder what it means for the two smaller models that nothing was mentioned about them? 
  • Reply 17 of 38
    canukstormcanukstorm Posts: 2,741member
    slprescott said:
    I found this a dramatic closing of the gap between iOS and macOS... at least in terms of the UI.  This will increase people's willingness to view iPad Pro as a laptop alternative for a wide variety of tasks.
    Agreed. For those who have been asking for an "ARM-based Mac", the iPad Pro is it.
    watto_cobraradarthekatroundaboutnowSpamSandwich
  • Reply 18 of 38
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,851member
    cleger said:
    And yet.. still no Multi-User. Like do they even listen to what the customer wants???  I have never been so unimpressed with an Apple keynote as I am right now. Literally NOTHING impressive has come for iOS today. We've got a whole year to wait to hope for more. 

    I hate the apple music redesign last year and was praying it would get a MUCH NEEDED refresh, but instead they brought it to the App Store. 

    Smh!
    Was that written on a Surface or an Android padlet ?  lol
    watto_cobramacky the mackyroundaboutnowmacplusplusJinTechSpamSandwichbrucemc
  • Reply 19 of 38
    Rayz2016Rayz2016 Posts: 6,957member
    cleger said:
    And yet.. still no Multi-User. Like do they even listen to what the customer wants???  I have never been so unimpressed with an Apple keynote as I am right now. Literally NOTHING impressive has come for iOS today. We've got a whole year to wait to hope for more. 

    I hate the apple music redesign last year and was praying it would get a MUCH NEEDED refresh, but instead they brought it to the App Store. 

    Smh!
    Actually the iPad has supported multiple users for a while now, but only in education where it makes a lot of sense. 

    I guess the problem is the storage space and security. 
    edited June 2017
  • Reply 20 of 38
    bestkeptsecretbestkeptsecret Posts: 4,286member

    cleger said:
    And yet.. still no Multi-User. Like do they even listen to what the customer wants???  I have never been so unimpressed with an Apple keynote as I am right now. Literally NOTHING impressive has come for iOS today. We've got a whole year to wait to hope for more. 

    I hate the apple music redesign last year and was praying it would get a MUCH NEEDED refresh, but instead they brought it to the App Store. 

    Smh!
     Like the iPhone, the iPad is meant to be a personal device.

    The iOS 11 enhancements, especially for the iPad, are game changers.


    I was sure you'd be gleefully rubbing your hands when they announced Files for iOS 11 Dick! It's slowly, but surely, moving towards app development on the iPad!
    edited June 2017 SpamSandwich
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