iOS 11[1] is a big step forward for the iPhone[2], but many of its biggest new features are reserved for the iPad[3]. In our review[4] of the iPad Pro 10.5-inch[5], we mentioned that it’s an excellent tablet that was being held back a little bit by iOS 10[6]. Apple[7] had already announced iOS 11 when the iPad Pro 10.5-inch was unveiled, and now the OS is available as a free update. We used it on our iPad Pro 10.5-inch to see if iOS 11 is indeed the major leap forward that Apple promised.
The first and most important change in iOS 11 is the dock. You can now add up to 13 apps to the dock in iOS 11 (15 on the 12.9-inch iPad), with three more Siri-suggested apps appearing on the right. This makes iOS 11’s dock much like that on the Mac[8]. On the Mac we use the dock to pin our favourite apps and to launch them quickly and now on iOS 11 on our iPad, we were able to do the same thing just as well, now that it’s no longer restricted to just six apps.
iOS 11 Brings Improved Dock and Multitasking to iPad: How to Get Started[9]
There are also some nice keyboard shortcuts to help you access the dock even when you are using another app. Pressing CMD + option + D will show or hide the dock even if you are using other apps and it works with any Bluetooth keyboard and Apple’s Smart Keyboard. This was particularly useful for multitasking, as we’d often fire up the dock and then...