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Mjmar

macrumors 65816
Original poster
May 20, 2008
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For iPad in iOS 11 is there a process to add an app that is not in the dock on top of the currently opened app? I know that I can turn on the setting to “show recents” in the dock but that seems like too many steps.
 
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I found the easiest way is to tap and hold one app icon until it „floats“ (but not wiggle), then open the other app and drop the first app either on the left or right site.
 
For iPad in iOS 11 is there a process to add an app that is not in the dock on top of the currently opened app? I know that I can turn on the setting to “show recents” in the dock but that seems like too many steps.

Don't worry, it's not you, it's Apple. It's far from intuitive and effortless. Even for seasoned users.
 
I can’t for the life of me figure this out. When I tap and hold any app from the home screen it just lets me move the icon - I should be offered the multi-task mode if I understand correctly?

Edit - finally got it. There are two ways, one, start to drag an app from the home screen, then with your second hand invoke the multi-task screen, and drag the app to the position you want. Or, drag the first app you’d like to use over the icon of the second app until the icon flashes, then position the first app where you want it.
 
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I don’t see why doing this logically seems to be so difficult. First we had the ever changing list of apps for two years, and now this, which seems like a step backwards. On my Mac I keep my dock as minimal as possible. I’d like to do the same for my iPad, but this new system makes that substantially harder. I don’t see why they couldn’t have had say launchpad on the dock, if you’re in an app, it opens up with all your apps available as an overlay, whichever you select is now multitasked with the first app. Boom. Literally never use the feature on the Mac, think it’s kind of dumb. But it would have been sooooo much better than this implementation.
 
I don’t see why doing this logically seems to be so difficult. First we had the ever changing list of apps for two years, and now this, which seems like a step backwards. On my Mac I keep my dock as minimal as possible. I’d like to do the same for my iPad, but this new system makes that substantially harder. I don’t see why they couldn’t have had say launchpad on the dock, if you’re in an app, it opens up with all your apps available as an overlay, whichever you select is now multitasked with the first app. Boom. Literally never use the feature on the Mac, think it’s kind of dumb. But it would have been sooooo much better than this implementation.

Maybe it’s because that is how Samsung does it and they’re trying not to copy?
 
I simply place a folder called "Apps" on one end of my dock and keep the other essentials there. Makes everything accessible.

Using apps in folder to start multitasking has been problematic for me. When attempting to activate slide over or split view the app disappears from the folder and is placed on the second page of my home screen. There is a blank space in the folder where the app was. Dragging the app back to the folder on the dock does not work. You must first remove the folder from the dock.

The only work around I have found is to drag the app from the folder down to the dock and then back up to activate split view.

This was on Public Beta 1, maybe it has been improved in the latest Dev Beta 3?
 
Using apps in folder to start multitasking has been problematic for me. When attempting to activate slide over or split view the app disappears from the folder and is placed on the second page of my home screen. There is a blank space in the folder where the app was. Dragging the app back to the folder on the dock does not work. You must first remove the folder from the dock.

The only work around I have found is to drag the app from the folder down to the dock and then back up to activate split view.

This was on Public Beta 1, maybe it has been improved in the latest Dev Beta 3?

Yes, this seems to be resolved in the latest beta for me. I only started doing this last night because of the issues you were having.
 
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Just think of the home screen as your new multitask app picker - it's the place where all your apps are, after all. Couldn't be simpler (..!?)

On a desktop, how would you open a second app if it wasn't in your dock?
 
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Just think of the home screen as your new multitask app picker - it's the place where all your apps are, after all. Couldn't be simpler (..!?)

On a desktop, how would you open a second app if it wasn't in your dock?

You press the apps button in you dock or keyboard, or start button if your on windows.
 
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I think that part of the problem is that iOS still fundamentally treats every app as primary and active, and so defaults to full screen. On a desktop most apps start windowed which makes layering apps much more natural. Maybe apps should have this option in iOS somehow. I'd be perfectly happy if my messaging apps, for example, always started as floating.
 
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Just think of the home screen as your new multitask app picker - it's the place where all your apps are, after all. Couldn't be simpler (..!?)

On a desktop, how would you open a second app if it wasn't in your dock?

Spotlight. And if I could use aliases to create the all apps folder on my dock ( a la a stack on the MacOS dock), that would work as a LaunchPad-style app launcher. Unfortunately putting all my apps into a folder on the dock literally moves them into one folder in the dock. Now the most intuitive way of doing things.
 
Thought about this some more and I’m growing more convinced that what needs to happen is to offer a way to resize all windows dynamically. Floating windows are an improvement, but it still makes things needlessly complex. IOS is supposed to be easy, and they are making multi-tasking hard.

One option I’ve been playing with that would seem to work well is if they re-purposed the 4-finger pinch. Currently that brings you to the home screen, but the UI is already in place to make this double as a re-size action. 4-finger pinch any app to re-size and re-position the app. With the app re-sized, pick the app you want to multi-task with, and 4-finger pinch to re-size and re-position that app. Pinch further to close all the way to go to the home screen.

Try it!
 
Not really, you can't press the home button and start multitasking with another app on your home screen.
From the Home Screen
Want to use an app that's not in your Dock? Here's how to go about it.

  1. Press the Home Button to return to your Home Screen.
  2. Tap and drag on an app on your Home Screen to invoke Multitasking mode.
  3. While dragging the app, use a second finger to tap the other app you want to use. (If the other app is on another Home screen, you can swipe and then tap while dragging on the first app.)
 
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I think the “elegant solution” to this issue is to add a spotlight button to the dock or Control Center.

Allow us to invoke spotlight without having to backup to the home screen, and then you could multitask Spotlight/Siri suggested apps as you would an app from the dock.

On a smaller note, I’d also like to see some indication that lets you know wether an app supports multitasking. It’s one of those things you’ll learn through trial and error, but it’d still be nice to have it.
 
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I think the “elegant solution” to this issue is to add a spotlight button to the dock or Control Center.

Allow us to invoke spotlight without having to backup to the home screen, and then you could multitask Spotlight/Siri suggested apps as you would an app from the dock.

On a smaller note, I’d also like to see some indication that lets you know wether an app supports multitasking. It’s one of those things you’ll learn through trial and error, but it’d still be nice to have it.

All they have to do is make it so after you swipe up to see your running apps, dock, and control center, you swipe to the right and see all your multitasking compatible apps there.
 
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From the Home Screen
Want to use an app that's not in your Dock? Here's how to go about it.

  1. Press the Home Button to return to your Home Screen.
  2. Tap and drag on an app on your Home Screen to invoke Multitasking mode.
  3. While dragging the app, use a second finger to tap the other app you want to use. (If the other app is on another Home screen, you can swipe and then tap while dragging on the first app.)

Perfect directions. Thanks!
 
1) Swipe down, swipe right
2) If connected to a keyboard CMD + Space

The way it works with the keyboard cmd+space is exactly where I got the idea since that is how it works. The problem is that the dimming and blurring obscures the app beneath.

Swipe down, swipe right to access the spotlight widget doesn’t work well at all. It’s too many motions for something you’d want to be as quick as possible. Plus this “widget” version of spotlight isn’t as functional. It doesn’t automatically bring up the keyboard, which just adds another motion and it doesn’t let you drag apps around the way normal spotlight does.
 
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