Can man live by iPad alone?

Could you really ditch your Mac in favour of Apple’s tablet?

Written by David Crookes

When I purchased my most recent iPad Air, I always envisioned that it would be used in various ways. It’s why I also bought a Smart Keyboard Folio – a device that has since been replaced by the superior Magic Keyboard Folio with its extra line of function keys and a trackpad – along with an Apple Pencil. This was going to be an iPad used for work, creativity and entertainment.

Yet I admit that I haven’t really got stuck into the work side of things using an iPad. I tend to use a MacBook on my travels and a Mac mini in the office so ditching both for a full week did fill me with some trepidation. Would it slow me down? Would I become frustrated if key features that power me through the week are missing? But then I remembered Apple’s tagline for iPadOS 26 – ‘Work. Flows.’

Monday

The idea here was that I wouldn’t touch my Mac for a week, so I needed to ensure I had my important files to hand. This was as simple as firing up the Mac and going to Apple menu > System Settings > [username] > iCloud > See All, at which point I could use the toggles to sync apps such as Pages and Numbers. I also clicked iCloud Drive and made sure that ‘Sync this Mac’ and ‘Desktop & Documents Folders’ were active. Next, on the iPad, I opened Settings, selected my [username] > iCloud > iCloud Drive and ensured everything I needed was synced there too.

With the Mac powered down, I decided to write this article using

HOW TO… Multitask on iPad

1 Enable multitasking

Choose how you want apps to appear on your iPad by going to Settings > Multitasking & Gestures. If you select Full Screen Apps, you’re effectively saying ‘no’ to multitasking. We suggest opting for Windowed Apps.

2 Use the grab handle

Drag any corner or the curved handle in the bottom-right corner of the window to resize it. Reduce its size sufficiently and you’ll be able to see the Dock. You can drag the Dock to the top of the window if preferred.

3 Open an app

Let’s open Safari too. As before, you will see a handle that you can drag for resizing purposes. Now maybe open another app, like Notes. You can now browse the web and easily copy and paste elements into a note.

4 Reduce the clutter

We now have three windows open, but we don’t need the Settings one anymore. We’re going to tap the red button (top left) to close it; the green button maximises the window size, while the yellow button minimises it.

5 Check the menu bar

If you do tap the green button to go full screen, but then find that you need those controls back, swipe down from the centre-edge of the screen and they’ll appear to the left of the menu bar.

6 Access more apps

You can open more apps to suit your workflow, either from the Dock or by swiping up from the bottom edge of the device to see the Home Screen. This temporarily sends open windows to the edges of the screen.