Two things on the screen at once
Put a recipe beside a shopping list, drag the line between them, and get back to one thing when you have had enough of two.
A tablet screen is big enough to hold two things at once, and that is the single feature that makes it worth having beside a phone.
A recipe on the left and the shopping list on the right. A letter from the city on one side and your reply on the other. Once you have done it twice it stops feeling clever and starts feeling ordinary.
Key points
- Put two apps side by side by holding an icon and choosing Split View
- Drag the line in the middle to give the side you are reading more room
- End the split knowing that nothing has been closed or lost
- Turn the whole thing off if it keeps arriving uninvited
What to remember
- Closing one side of a split never closes the app. It carries on existing exactly where it was.
- A split is a way of looking at two apps. Ending it never closes, merges or deletes anything.
- On an iPad this lives under Home Screen and Multitasking; on Android tablets it is usually under Advanced features or Labs. The switch does the same thing.
Try this
On your own tablet, open the web, then hold a finger on Notes and choose the split. Put a website on one side and a list on the other. Then close the list side again, to prove to yourself that nothing goes missing.
Practice: Two things on the screen at once. Your first lesson is free, with no account or card; the rest are part of a Lantern plan. Interactive lessons require JavaScript.