The short answer is yes. Apple has long argued that you can use the iPad for productivity but hasn’t backed that claim up with the necessary features in iOS. That is until now with the new iPad-centric capabilities of iOS 11. These changes mske an iPad running iOS 11 more like a Mac, and that’s a good thing for those who want to do be more productive with their iPad.

Dock and Multitasking
Just like before, the new iOS 11 Dock is easy to find at the bottom of the Home screen. But more Mac-like than before—the left side shows apps or folders you’ve placed there by dragging them on (no need to touch and hold until icons shake anymore!) while the right side helps you get around more quickly by displaying recently used apps and any Handoff apps from your other Apple devices.

Most importantly, you can now view the Dock within any app, Just like the Mac. You no longer need to return to the Home screen as in previous iOS versions. Just swipe up slightly from the bottom of the screen in any app, and the Dock appears so you can switch apps with a single tap right away.

Or—this is great!—drag the app up from the Dock to where you want to go Dock to go–in Slide Over or Split View. Now you can easily work back and forth between two apps at once on the same screen.

The dock also holds more apps as favorites! Unlike the Mac, when you place an app in the Dock, it does remove it from the grid of other apps. On the Mac, you may recall, any app in the Dock is still found in the Applications folder, or wherever it is placed. So if you have an app in the Dock on your iPad, don’t look for it anywhere else.

Control Center and App Switcher
Switching apps with the Dock like you do on the Mac is easy, just swipe up to show the Dock and select the app you want to switch to. But when you invoke the App Switcher by swiping up to see the Dock and then continuing to swipe up (or by double-pressing the Home button or swiping up with four fingers), it now shows large thumbnails of the four most recent apps (or Slide Over or Split View screens) on the left, and the new Control Center to the right. Tap any app to switch to it. Swipe to the left to view more apps that are open. Tap on any Control Center button to toggle it. On most buttons, you can long press to view more options.

Don’t like all the buttons on your Control Center? You can now customize the buttons that appear in Control Center—visit Settings > Control Center > Customize to make it look the way you want.

Drag and Drop
With iOS 11, Apple finally brought drag and drop to the iPad! Touch and move text, graphics, or files between apps—you can even pick up an item with a finger and use your other hand to reveal the Dock and switch to your destination app before dropping the data.

Use this maneuver in situations where you would previously have used copy and paste or the awkward Share sheet—or just given up! Practice a few times to accustom yourself to the two-handed process. Once you get used to it, you’ll wonder how you did without it.

Files
Just like the Mac, the iPad now provides a single place to browse and open all your files, and you can open a file with a single tap. All this happens in the new Files app, which replaces the iCloud Drive app. The new Files app includes a broader view of your files, providing access not just to iCloud Drive, but also to files on your device and in other cloud sharing services like Dropbox and Google Drive. (To add a sharing service whose app you’ve installed, tap Edit in the left-hand Browse panel).

Keyboard Flick
This is one of my favorite features. On iPads other than the 12.9-inch iPad Pro, iOS 11 simplifies typing on the virtual keyboard. You can now type numbers and many punctuation characters by swiping down on the appropriate key, rather than switching keyboards. Swipe down to see the key turn gray and show only the desired number or character, and then lift your finger.

Apple Pencil
In iOS 11, the iPad Pro’s Apple Pencil becomes even more useful. Want to start a note? Just tap the Lock screen and start writing. Want to search your handwritten notes? Pull down on the Notes list to type your query, and Notes will find handwritten terms… as long as your handwriting is legible.

A new scanning feature in Notes makes it easy to bring a paper document into the iPad, where you can sign it with the Apple Pencil and send it on its way. We also like the new Instant Markup feature that lets you write on a PDF or screenshot easily—tap the Pencil icon at the upper right of the screen to start writing and to access the controls for color and tip below.

With iOS 11, Apple has finally acknowledged that the iPad is not just an iPhone with a larger screen, they acknowledged the iPad needs its own features to be a productivity machine. With a little practice, you can be using an iPad, particularly an iPad Pro, for all sorts of serious tasks like email, word processing, Web research, and more. I know I am.

Not buying a new iPhone this year? You can still enjoy a number of the “New and Improved” features Apple’s iOS 11 includes. There are quite a few new features and improvements in iOS 11, let’s take a lok at a few of these.

Getting Started
You’ll notice a few things right off after you install iOS 11. Dock icons no longer have names, and many Apple apps now have the bold text design Apple brought to the Music and News apps in iOS 10.

Although the new Automatic Setup feature won’t help you today, when you next get a new iOS device, it can transfer many settings from an older iOS 11 device automatically. Similarly, the new Share Your Wi-Fi feature lets you send your Wi-Fi network’s password to another iOS 11 device that tries to connect.

Need to recover precious space? Don’t want to buy a new iPhone with more storage? Choose Settings > General > iPhone/iPad Storage and you can offload unused apps (while keeping their settings and data), delete old Messages conversations automatically, and see how much space each app consumes. Deleting music from the Music sub-screen (tap Edit) will help too.

Special Screens
Apple redesigned the Control Center, which most people still get to by swiping up from the bottom of the screen (iPad users keep swiping up after the Dock appears, and iPhone X users will have to swipe down from the right-hand top of the screen). It’s back to a single page of icons, and you can access additional options by pressing and holding on any set of controls. Even better, you can add (and remove) controls in Settings > Control Center > Customize Controls.

In the car? The Lock screen is all you’ll see by default now, thanks to the Do Not Disturb While Driving feature. This new feature blocks notifications and prevents you from using your iPhone while at the wheel. Your iPhone will also auto-replying to people who text you. Calls still come through to your car’s Bluetooth system, and texts from people designated as favorites can break through the texting cone of silence. Are you a passenger? You can disable Do Not Disturb While Driving easily from a notification on the Lock screen.

Smaller Changes and App Updates
Here are a few smaller changes that you’ll appreciate include:

Siri sounds more natural, can do translations, and uses on-device learning to understand you better and provide more useful results.

On an iPhone, press the Sleep/Wake button five times quickly and swipe the Emergency SOS button, a new Emergency SOS feature will call 911 and notify your emergency contacts of your location. Tap Settings > Emergency SOS to set this up.

The password auto-fill feature now suggests stored login information for many apps right from the QuickType bar above the keyboard—manage this in Settings > Accounts & Passwords > App & Website Passwords.

Many of iOS 11’s built-in apps receive significant changes as well:

Camera: New file formats will make your videos and photos take up less space. There are a few new filters, and Camera can finally scan QR codes, which simplify loading Web sites, getting contact info, and connecting to Wi-Fi networks.

Photos: You can now apply looping, bouncing, and long exposure effects to a video in a Live Photo. Photos can at long last play animated GIFs and has a new Animated smart album to hold them.

Files: This is a major new app that replaces the iCloud Drive app. Look in Files for access not just to iCloud Drive, but also to files on your device and in other cloud sharing services like Dropbox and Google Drive. Think of it as the Finder from your Mac for your iPhone and iPad.

Messages: A new app drawer at the bottom of the screen tries to entice you to use iMessage apps. Most are just stickers, but some are useful and Apple provides a new Apple Pay app here (coming our with a later update to iOS 11) that lets you make person-to-person payments.

Maps: Apple has added indoor maps of some airports and malls to Maps. Maps also now provides lane guidance on more complicated roads.

Notes: The new Instant Notes feature make starting a note as simple as tapping the Lock screen of an iPad Pro with an Apple Pencil, or the optional Notes button in Control Center. A note can now look like lined paper or graph paper (tap the Share button, then tap Lines & Grids). You can also now scan a document. The idea is that you then sign it with the Apple Pencil and send it on its way. Notes can also now find text in Apple Pencil handwriting.

Take some time to explore—we’re liking these new features and we think you will too!

If you’ve been using an iPhone or iPad for more than a few years, it’s possible that some of your apps won’t even launch in iOS 11. Here’s what’s going to happen, and what you can do about it.

Apple used 32-bit processors through the iPhone 5, fourth-generation iPad, original iPad mini, and fifth-generation iPod touch. In 2013, Apple began putting 64-bit chips in all new iOS devices. Apple encouraged developers to make their apps run in 64-bit mode for the new iOS devices, but kept iOS 7 compatible with older 32-bit apps. Then in 2015, Apple required apps to run in 64-bit mode to receive App Store approval. If you open a 32-bit app and you are running iOS 10, your iPhone or iPad warns you that the app might slow down your device and later said that 32-bit apps would need to be updated.

So that’s the history. Now what? First off, don’t worry about what 32-bit and 64-bit mean — all you need to know is that 32-bit apps are old and won’t run in iOS 11, and that 64-bit apps will continue to work as they always have.

How do you know which of your apps are 32-bit? For apps that you use regularly, you’ve probably seen one of those warnings. But what about other apps that you open only occasionally — how can you figure out which of those will not work in iOS 11?

In iOS 10.3, Apple added a feature to call out these 32-bit apps. All you need to do is open the Settings app. Now go to > General > About > Applications to see a list of 32-bit apps that don’t have direct updates available (if Applications isn’t tappable, either you still need to upgrade your device to iOS 10.3 or your device doesn’t contain any 32-bit apps). Tap an app in the list to load it in the App Store, where you may be able to find more info or a support link for the developer. Unfortunately, many old apps aren’t in the App Store anymore.

Now that you know which of your apps won’t survive the transition to iOS 11, what should you do? You have a few options:

• Delete the app. If you haven’t used an app in years, or don’t remember what it does, there’s no reason to keep it around. To get delete it, go back to your Home screen, press and hold on any app icon until all the icons start to wiggle, now tap the X badge on the app icon you want to delete. When you are finished deleting your apps, press the Home button to stop the wiggling.
• Look for an update that’s a new app. Because Apple doesn’t let developers charge for updates, many developers have been forced to make their updates into new apps so they can afford future development. To see if this has happened, search in the App Store for the app and see if a new version appears. Or look for information on the company’s Web site.
• You can look for an alternative app. Few iOS apps are truly unique, so you may be able to find an alternative app that does basically the same thing as the oder app.
• Don’t upgrade to iOS 11. Or, at least, don’t upgrade right away. In general, you should stay up to date with new versions of iOS to ensure that you’re protected from security vulnerabilities that Apple has discovered and patched. But there’s no harm in delaying an upgrade for a little while as you wait for an app to be updated or look for an alternative. You may want to contact the developer of the app to see if an update is being developed. They may be able to recommend a replacement app as well.
• You can also stick with an older device. If you have an extra iOS device that can’t run iOS 11 anyway, keep the app on that device. This approach may not work for an app you need on your primary iPhone, for instance, but it would for an old game that you could play on an elderly iPad 2.

Take a few minutes now so you won’t be surprised if one or more of your favorite apps can’t make the transition to iOS 11 when it ships in a few months!

Using Messages on the Mac or on the iPad or iPhone is simple. To start a new conversation, you enter someone’s phone number or email address, and start chatting. You can also talk or chat with several people at once. These are called group conversations. All you need to do is type a couple of phone numbers or email addresses when you begin.

What you may not realize is that if everyone in your group is using an Apple device, extra features become available when you click or tap the Details button in the upper-right corner of Messages. How do you know if everyone is on an Apple Device? If the message bubbles are in blue, they are using an Apple device and iMessage. If the message bubble is green, someone in your group is not on an Apple device and these extra features will not be available.

When the message bubbles are blue, meaning everyone is on an Apple Device, you have thes following extra features:

• 

  You can give the conversation a name instead of the truncated names of the people in the conversation. On the Mac, type in the Name field at the top; on the iPad or iPhone, tap in Enter a Group Name and then type the name you want. I have a group called ‘Movie Buddies’ for a group of people who like to go to the movies with my wife and I.

• At any time, you can add more people to the conversation; click Add Member (Mac) or tap Add Contact (iOS) and type the desired phone number or email address.
• You can also remove people from the conversation. On the Mac, click the person’s name and press Delete; in iOS, swipe left on a name and tap Delete. You’ll want to be careful when you remove people. There is no opportunity to confirm the deletion, so you’d have to add any mistakenly deleted people back manually. (In iOS, Messages doesn’t always let you remove people.)
• You can even “delete” yourself by clicking or tapping Leave This Conversation at the bottom of the Details screen. If you’ve left a group, you can’t get back in without someone else adding you.
• Maybe you don’t want to leave the group, but the conversation is being too chatty while you need to get work done. You can also mute notifications from the conversation, to mute the conversation enable the Do Not Disturb option; disable it when you’re ready to be alerted to new messages again.
• Everyone in the conversation can send or share their location from an iPhone or iPad. Sending a location is like posting a message saying “I’m at the library now” along with a map to where you are. Sharing your location allows the others to see where you are at all times, for one hour, until the end of the day, or indefinitely. Of course, if you opt to share indefinitely, you can revoke that sharing later.
• When anyone in the conversation is sharing their location, a map appears at the top, showing the locations of those who have shared. This is fabulous for keeping track of relatives during family reunions where different groups head out on separate outings.
• Finally, the bottom of the Details screen displays all the pictures that people have shared within the conversation. You can copy, save, open, and delete them. It’s all easy; on the Mac, select photos and Control/right-click to see a contextual menu that includes an Add to Photos Library command or press the Space bar to invoke Quick Look for a bigger view and a Share option. In teh iPhone or iPad, touch and hold on a photo to see additional options—tap Save to copy the image to the Photos app.

Again, if you include even one green-bubble friend who doesn’t have an iPhone with an iMessage account set up, these features disappear. It’s just another way Apple encourages your friends and relatives to use iPhones.