Inside iOS 11: Run four iPad apps on screen at once with Apple's newly expanded multitaski...

Posted:
in iPad edited September 2017
Multitasking capabilities on the iPad have gone up to 11 (or, to be more exact, four) in iOS 11, giving users the power to run more apps onscreen at once than ever before.




Editor's note: this article was first run in June during the iOS 11 beta process. It has been updated to reflect the official release of the operating system.

The newly expanded dock in iOS 11 allows users to drag and drop apps onto the screen. Dragging an app to the edge of the display, while another app is already open, snaps it into split view, allowing two apps affixed onscreen at once.

Anyone who has used split view in iOS 10 will be instantly familiar with this. But in iOS 11, users can now add a third app to the screen in slide over mode.



To take advantage of this, place an app in slide over mode before you put two apps in split view. Open a single app, then drag a second one from the dock, but don't drag it all the way to the edge of the screen. Simply drop the app over the existing app to view it in slide over mode.

Once an app is in slide over, you can swipe it toward the right to get rid of it, and then pull from the right side of the screen to peek at it -- again, this works just like it did in iOS 10. But in iOS 11, the app stored in slide over can now be viewed even while working in split view.




You can even add a fourth app to the mix in video form thanks to picture-in-picture mode, also a carry-over from iOS 10 made more powerful in iOS 11.

With picture-in-picture, split view, and slide over invoked all at once, users can now display four tasks on screen at the same time on an iPad.

Making iOS even more powerful, the new app switching screen with Control Center -- which can be accessed by double pressing the home button, or sliding four fingers up on the screen -- remembers apps that are paired in split view. This is dubbed "App Spaces."




For professional users, the combination of all of these features makes the iPad Pro much more powerful and capable. Users an easily switch between split views of Safari and Slack; Calendar and Mail; and Twitter and Notes; all while the Music app is easily available in slide over and live TV from Spectrum cable streams in the corner via picture in picture.

In AppleInsider's testing both in the beta and with the full release of iOS 11, using four apps at once on a 12.9-inch iPad Pro was fluid, and all four tasks could be interacted with while displayed on screen. An older 9.7-inch iPad Air 2 was also capable of four tasks at once, but with a small caveat: When slide over is invoked, it is the only app on the screen that can be interacted with, leaving the "background" tasks grayed out. It's unclear whether this is a limitation of the iPad Air 2 processor, or its smaller screen size.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 22
    cutykamucutykamu Posts: 230member
    Wonder if using four apps at once will work on new iPad as well which was launched 2-3 months ago. 

    I believe it should work. 
    jahblade
  • Reply 2 of 22
    nhughesnhughes Posts: 770editor
    cutykamu said:
    Wonder if using four apps at once will work on new iPad as well which was launched 2-3 months ago. 

    I believe it should work. 
    I don't have one to test, but I have to assume it works, since (as noted in the article) I could run four apps at once on an iPad Air 2, which runs an A8X CPU, vs. the more powerful A9 on the 2017 iPad. Both tablets have 2GB of RAM as well, so that shouldn't be a limiting factor.
    wlym
  • Reply 3 of 22
    jahbladejahblade Posts: 160member
    nhughes said:
    cutykamu said:
    Wonder if using four apps at once will work on new iPad as well which was launched 2-3 months ago. 

    I believe it should work. 
    I don't have one to test, but I have to assume it works, since (as noted in the article) I could run four apps at once on an iPad Air 2, which runs an A8X CPU, vs. the more powerful A9 on the 2017 iPad. Both tablets have 2GB of RAM as well, so that shouldn't be a limiting factor.
    Thanks for the info. I have the 1st gen Ipad Pro.
  • Reply 4 of 22
    larryalarrya Posts: 608member
    Am I the only one who is the least bit bothered by having to remember different launch procedures depending on whether you're adding your second or third application?
    williamlondondysamoria
  • Reply 5 of 22
    rogifan_newrogifan_new Posts: 4,297member
    So an app in slide over can be viewed but not used, correct? 
  • Reply 6 of 22
    doozydozendoozydozen Posts: 539member
    Damn. That's insane  :o
    dysamoria
  • Reply 7 of 22
    So an app in slide over can be viewed but not used, correct? 
    Why would you think that?
  • Reply 8 of 22
    In testing on my iPad Air 2, when a 3rd App is brought in over top of top of 2 split view apps, the 3rd app is modal. Does not appear to the case on the iPad Pro(s). I bet that software differentiation is hardware-specific. Or, its just beta 1.
    edited June 2017
  • Reply 9 of 22
    Nameo_Nameo_ Posts: 34member
    So an app in slide over can be viewed but not used, correct? 
    "In AppleInsider's testing in the first beta of iOS 11, using four apps at once on a 12.9-inch iPad Pro was fluid, and all four tasks could be interacted with while displayed on screen. An older 9.7-inch iPad Air 2 was also capable of four tasks at once, but with a small caveat: When slide over is invoked, it is the only app on the screen that can be interacted with, leaving the "background" tasks grayed out." 

    Depends on which iPad you're using.
    dysamoria
  • Reply 10 of 22
    london11london11 Posts: 62member
    How do you get rid of the “recently opened apps” in the dock at the right side?
  • Reply 11 of 22
    robin huberrobin huber Posts: 4,031member
    The only app on my pad that works in split screen is Calendar with Safari. Are their other pairings of common apps I haven't discovered?
  • Reply 12 of 22
    Looks like a mess. A cluttered mess. You know, the thing that iOS was designed to avoid so that computing would be more simplified and less complicated on iPads and iPhones.
    exceptionhandler2old4fun
  • Reply 13 of 22
    Looks really elegant to me.
  • Reply 14 of 22
    paxmanpaxman Posts: 4,729member
    dysamoria said:
    Looks like a mess. A cluttered mess. You know, the thing that iOS was designed to avoid so that computing would be more simplified and less complicated on iPads and iPhones.
    It would make sense to have a toggle switch in the settings to turn multitasking on or off. For a lot of iPad users (not Pro users I guess), multitasking will unnecessarily complicate things. Personally I love it and would love to see a mouse peripheral option. As soon as a mouse was activated you should be able to click to tap with the added functionality of right-clicking. There may be technical reasons why this is not possible but it would make doing a lot of work on the iPad more efficient. 
    dysamoria
  • Reply 15 of 22
    Ironically, with all the multitasking enhancements for the iPad in iOS 11, I’m realizing more and more that the iPad is far from the real PC replacement, although it’s a pleasure to have one to consume contents. It could replace the PC for some, but for the vast majority, it’d be a long way to go.
  • Reply 16 of 22
    tyler82tyler82 Posts: 1,112member
    This implementation is a mess and needs refinement. Not a fan of the new control center\ multitasking layout on iPad. 
    edited September 2017 dysamoria
  • Reply 17 of 22
    Nameo_ said:
    Ironically, with all the multitasking enhancements for the iPad in iOS 11, I’m realizing more and more that the iPad is far from the real PC replacement, although it’s a pleasure to have one to consume contents. It could replace the PC for some, but for the vast majority, it’d be a long way to go.
    Who is this "vast majority". This is the kind of declaration that's next to meaningless. It can be argued that a huge number have already abandoned the PCs for other platforms like the smart phones and tablets, and they're perfectly productive with it.

    With time, your "vast majority" will indeed be the tiny minority. It may even have already happened.
    dysamoria
  • Reply 18 of 22
    paxman said:
    dysamoria said:
    Looks like a mess. A cluttered mess. You know, the thing that iOS was designed to avoid so that computing would be more simplified and less complicated on iPads and iPhones.
    It would make sense to have a toggle switch in the settings to turn multitasking on or off. For a lot of iPad users (not Pro users I guess), multitasking will unnecessarily complicate things. Personally I love it and would love to see a mouse peripheral option. As soon as a mouse was activated you should be able to click to tap with the added functionality of right-clicking. There may be technical reasons why this is not possible but it would make doing a lot of work on the iPad more efficient. 
    Fully agree with toggling this complexity on and off (defaulting to off). The problem that introduces is more complexity itself. Apple would, on average, test one mode far more than the other. Just like all the bugs creeping into the system, clearly the people in charge of determining bug fix priority aren't using their iOS devices the way I use mine. We are both given the same features, and I'm doing nothing wrong by using the features they present. The only possible explanation for the same pile of bugs being introduced in iOS 7 and perpetuated through iOS 11 (the only explanation that is charitable to Apple) is that Apple are simply not using those features. This situation has been getting progressively worse each release.

    Adding a different mode of multitasking means Apple would neglect one mode or the other and one group of people choosing to use what they're offered will be screwed with bugs and neglect.
  • Reply 19 of 22

    Nameo_ said:
    Ironically, with all the multitasking enhancements for the iPad in iOS 11, I’m realizing more and more that the iPad is far from the real PC replacement, although it’s a pleasure to have one to consume contents. It could replace the PC for some, but for the vast majority, it’d be a long way to go.
    You are mistaking yourself as the model of all people who need computing devices. People who are highly technical and desiring complexity are the minority, not the majority.
  • Reply 20 of 22
    paxman said:
    dysamoria said:
    Looks like a mess. A cluttered mess. You know, the thing that iOS was designed to avoid so that computing would be more simplified and less complicated on iPads and iPhones.
    It would make sense to have a toggle switch in the settings to turn multitasking on or off. For a lot of iPad users (not Pro users I guess), multitasking will unnecessarily complicate things. Personally I love it and would love to see a mouse peripheral option. As soon as a mouse was activated you should be able to click to tap with the added functionality of right-clicking. There may be technical reasons why this is not possible but it would make doing a lot of work on the iPad more efficient. 
    The thing about multitasking is it is there, but you don't have to use it. When you first turn on the iPad multitasking is available, but if you never use slide-over or split-view or even swipe up from the bottom, then it is just a single app iPad exactly like the original iPad. The difference being, IF you want to use the multitasking features, you can!
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