All the little things that contribute to iPadOS productivity

According to rumors, a new iPad Pro is around the corner, which means that Apple is about to make another big pitch for the iPad as a productivity and content creation device.

But while we found in our iPadOS reviews that Apple has done a wonderful job with the major changes to the operating system aimed at making it work-friendly, there are still a bunch of small annoyances or ‘no, you can’ do not “limitations that sabotage Apple’s intentions.

For this reason, it makes sense to anticipate the upcoming marketing with some key caveats, especially since Apple is unlikely to announce a major iPadOS software update along with new hardware in March. Significant new changes to the operating system are unlikely to be discussed before the company’s developer conference in June, and the updates are unlikely to reach the public until September or October.

Most of these are minor issues, but it picks up. iPads are not a true replacement for everyone before most of these issues are addressed.

Webcams and multitasking

It won’t take you long to notice this one in the current computer usage cases: the camera on the front of the iPad turns off when you swipe away from whatever app it uses, zoom included. Reviewers have raised it again and again when reviewing recent iPads – including us. But 12 iPadOS updates later, it’s still a problem.

Granted, some applications will show your camera view in a small window-in-picture window above other apps if you switch from space. But you don’t always want to see it – screen real estate is a serious premium on iPads – and not every app does.

Where third-party apps do not support the image-in-picture view, Apple needs to find a way to encourage them to do so. But even better: allows users to set settings on the background video per app.

Many people nowadays spend a lot of time on video calls for obvious reasons. It would be great if Apple’s flagship, mainstream, dedicated computer product did really well.

Audio Source Management

Clearly, the iPad supports background sound. Apps like Apple Music or Spotify can play in the background, as can some (but not all) video apps. The problem is that it’s too easy for the current active app to mute the one in the background, because two audio sources usually cannot play at the same time.

For example, if you watch a Twitch stream in the background, but a video that automatically appears with audio on a webpage stops, your Twitch stream will stop. You need to stop the video on the internet and then go back to the Twitch app to restart it. And sometimes websites or apps take over your audio, even if it does not seem to make any sound at the moment.

At a minimum, the iPad should not stop the first audio source when this happens, or at least start playing in the background again as soon as the new audio source starts. But the ideal situation would be a panel to manage multiple audio resources simultaneously per app, including its levels.

External monitors

When Apple first announced that the iPad Pro would be able to work with external monitors via USB-C as part of an overall pitch of the Pro as a heavy productivity and content creation device, many users expected something different than what they got.

Yes, you can connect your iPad Pro to an external USB-C monitor. But usually it’s just to reflect the screen of the iPad. It does not give you more space for applications, and it does not even accept the aspect ratio of the screen to which you are sending the image.

There are a very small number of iPad apps, like iMovie, that allow you to use the external monitor a little differently. But the vast majority do not, which makes the support of external monitors in fact useless on Apple’s tablet.

The limitations of the USB-C port

The switch to Lightning’s USB-C in recent iPads is welcome, even if it means some people have to buy new cables. The ecosystem of USB-C accessories – such as external storage devices, monitors, music production instruments, etc. – is quite robust compared to what we get on Lightning.

So we are not beating USB-C here. We beat how many USB-C ports there are. The iPad Pro only has one, and it too often does not play with external USB-C hubs that you would normally use with a Mac. Users complain about constant disconnections and inconsistent behavior. Some hubs just do not work at all.

If Apple can’t rely on other companies like CalDigit to do it well, and if it really needs to insist on not adding another port, it should release its own USB-C dock that will surely work iPad.

It certainly did not help that Apple removed the headphone jack of recent iPads. Some of the advertising around the iPad Pro is aimed at music production, but good luck with producing music if you can’t connect both an instrument and a headphone at the same time.

You need a dongle that is expensive and effortless, and many do not work well.

Pro app support

A computer is obviously just as good as the applications it can use. And while the iPad has many excellent applications for content consumption, productivity, and creativity, users of apps that are popular in certain professional contexts are faced with a huge gap between iPadOS and MacOS or Windows.

And it’s not just from third parties. Apple’s own Final Cut, Logic and Xcode are not available on the iPad. There are also not a lot of good options from other companies. Yes, Adobe has been working on fairly robust versions of both Photoshop and Illustrator for the iPad, but we have yet to hear a word about Premiere.

And numerous widely used pro programs from other companies are also unavailable. There is no Maya, no blender, no unit, no Visual Studio. There is an AutoCAD app, but it is minimally functional compared to the desktop version.

If Apple continues to call the iPad a device for professional content creators, it should convince these third parties to release more functional iPad apps. And at least as importantly, it has to customize its own software for the device.

How likely are we to see these changes?

For years, Apple has moved further away from the idea of ​​more ports, large feature sets, and so on – especially on mobile devices like the iPad. In the past, therefore, we would not have expected most of these things to happen.

However, the world of Apple devices looks strikingly different following reliable reports that new MacBook Pro laptops will include SD cards or HDMI ports later this year. It looks like Apple is changing course to better customers in court and certain professional users. Well, at least for the Mac.

The company has has also moved aggressively on the iPad front in other ways, at least in terms of software – just maybe not as fast as everyone wants. It seems plausible to us that multitasking issues (such as those with webcams and audio sources) could be fixed in the future. And at this point, never say no to iPad versions of Logic or Final Cut.

However, we are not thinking of the idea of ​​a multiport iPad Pro, and there is just as much Apple can do to attract third parties to make more robust apps for the platform.

Apple is expected to announce a new iPad Pro before the end of March, so we’ll have a tip on what’s going to happen soon.

List by Samuel Axon