Tips and Tricks for iPad

You can set custom wallpaper for your iPad, on both the lock screen, and the home screen. Here’s how.

Enter “Settings” -> “Brightness & Wallpaper.”

On the right side of the screen, tap “wallpaper,” then select “Camera Roll,” then select the image you want to use as your wallpaper. The image will display full screen.

At the top of the display, you’ll see four buttons, “Cancel,” “Set Lock Screen,” “Set Home Screen,” and “Set Both.”

Click “Cancel” if you’d like to go back to the camera roll to select another image, otherwise, select “Set Lock Screen” to use the image as a lock screen wallpaper, “Set Home Screen” will set the image as the wallpaper for the Home Screen, and “Set Both” will use the image as the wallpaper for both your lock screen and home screen.

The iPad doesn’t shut down an app when you exit it. The app stays running in the background. This doesn’t usually cause any problems, but sometimes it’s a good idea to free up memory that might be used by the background apps.

Double click the Home Button. You’ll see a display of icons along the bottom of your iPad’s screen, with a gray linen background. These are the currently running apps.

Hold your finger on one of these icons until the icons start to wiggle. Only the icons in the gray bar should be wiggling. You will see a red “X” in the upper left-hand corner of the icons. Tapping the “X” will cause that app to close. You can do this for as many or as few of the currently running apps as you’d like. Just make sure to not close any apps you’re currently using.

In the unlikely event that your iPad freezes up, a quick restart will most likely set everything right again. Here’s how.

Hold down the Sleep/Wake button that is found in the upper-right hand corner of your iPad. While Holding down that button, also hold down the home button found on the front of your iPad just below the screen.

Hold down both buttons until the iPad powers off, and you see a silver Apple appear on the screen. Let go of both buttons, and your iPad will start up again.

As you know, the iPad will automatically adjust its screen orientation from portrait to landscape, and back again, according to how you hold it. There may be situations where you don’t want your iPad to do this. Here’s how to lock the orientation of the iPad’s screen.

Double-click the home button of the iPad. An app bar will appear, showing all the currently running apps on your device.

Swipe your finger along the bar from left to right. This will expose some controls you may not have seen before. The button on the far left, that looks like a circular arrow is the one we want. Tap that button once. A lock will appear, showing that the screen is now locked into its current orientation.

Tap the arrow again to unlock the screen orientation.

In the upper right-hand corner of the iPad screen you’ll see a battery icon. By default, the icon will only display a pictorial representation of the charge your iPad’s battery contains. Some people like to see a numerical representation of how much power is left. Here’s how.

Just go to “Settings” -> “General” -> “Usage,” and you can toggle the percentage on or off here.

Wouldn’t it be great to be able to take a quick screenshot of what is on your iPad’s screen right now? Here’s how.

Just press the Home Button and the Sleep/Wake button at the same time. You’ll see the screen flash, and you’ll hear a click like a camera shutter, telling you that a shot of the display has been captured.

All of your screenshots taken in this manner will be automatically saved to your Camera Roll in the Photos app. From there, you can use them as wallpaper, or send them to others via email or the Message app.

If you’re like me, looking for the period on the virtual keyboard is a bit of a pain. But did you know there’s a quick and easy way to insert a period and a space so you can begin a new sentence?

When you reach the end of a sentence you’re typing, simply double-tap the space bar. The period and space will be inserted, and you’re ready for the new sentence.