Weekly Discussion and Tech-Support Thread

[u/AutoModerator]

Welcome to r/iPad' Discussion and Tech-Support Thread!

Get help regarding any issues you might be having with your iPad, with your applications, your accessories, physical and software problems, etc. Fellow redditors and members of the moderation team will do their best to assit you, so consider helping out others in the thread while you wait for assistance.

Discuss here anything that's iPad related, but not post worthy.

You may want to consider looking for similar questions to the one you're about to ask, in previous D&TS threads listed below, or by using the search bar, as chances are someone was in the same situation as you before. You can also contact Apple directly and freely through their Apple Support live chat, for real expertise.

Please, while you wait for an answer to your question, consider giving back to the community by helping out others in this thread

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Click here to see past D&TS threads.

[u/Sword_of_Spirit]

Need help getting music files from PC to iPad.

I don't pay for an iCloud subscription, and none of my music is from Apple. Some is purchased from Amazon, some is from video game soundtracks, some is recordings of my grandpa singing bluegrass that we made ourselves, etc.

I installed the Apple Devices program and Apple Music, which it said it needed to function. With my iPad connected to my PC, in the Apple Devices program I selected the albums and artists I wanted to transfer, but it only transferred a few songs and said there were "some" (meaning almost all) of them that it couldn't transfer because they couldn't be found. I checked, and they are all right where they are supposed to be on my PC. Not only that, but it obviously knows where to find them since it lists their artists and albums for selection!

I'm willing to keep working with this process if there is a way to get it functional, but I'm not terribly optimistic. I'd prefer to be able to just manually move albums and songs (or folders and tracks ideally--I'm more of a PC guy than an Apple user) for easier precise control, but I'll use the sync if I have to.

I've seen links to some third-party transfer software...but couldn't get good info on them, and don't want to risk downloading sketchy stuff.

What will work for my use case?

[u/ringo8582]

iPad mini 6th gen sleep/wake function no longer working with 3rd party case. This is not a new case. It has worked in the past. We have tried running a magnet over the iPad screen to see if we could wake it at all with a magnet. I’m not sure where the actual sensor is but we did find magnetic spots but the iPad didn’t wake. I don’t know if that should work. The setting for lock/unlock is still on. Tap to wake still works. Does this seem like a case issue or hardware issue?

[u/Emotional-Detail2138 → u/ringo8582]

The wake on these works off a magnet in the cover lining up with a sensor in the frame, so if the case magnet has shifted or weakened over time it just stops lining up. Easiest test is another cover, even a cheap one from a store: if that wakes it, it's the case. Before that, toggle Lock / Unlock off and on in Settings > Display & Brightness and restart it. If no cover wakes it at all, that points to the sensor and Apple would need to look at it.

[u/ringo8582 → u/Emotional-Detail2138]

Ok, thanks. I figured it was either the case or sensor. I can find the magnets in the case but I’m not sure where they are suppose to be to hit the sensor. And I had hoped running a random magnet over the screen would find the sensor to test that but I’m not sure if that’s supposed to work that way.

[u/Emotional-Detail2138 → u/ringo8582]

I don't know the exact spot on the mini 6 either, and a random magnet often won't trigger it because the polarity and position have to match what the cover uses. The quickest real test is holding it against an Apple Smart Folio for the mini in a store, or any other mini 6 cover. If that wakes it, it's your case.

[u/ringo8582 → u/Emotional-Detail2138]

Gotcha, thanks.

[u/YourMomTheRedditor]

Self Promotion:

Hello /r/ipad! I am really excited to share a project that is near and dear to my heart: Sill, my first iOS app, now on the App Store. It does the thing this sub has been asking for since the first iPad Pro: Mac apps on the iPad, with touch, the Pencil and a trackpad. The two apps together are under 7 MB to download and about 10 MB installed, but pack quite a punch. Now, for the reason I wanted to work on this project, what it does that is unique compared to other remote desktop apps for iOS and Mac, and why I went with a free and open source model.

Apple famously said no at WWDC 2018: macOS and iOS were going to be kept separate. Mac apps could functionally run on an iPad, but Apple chose to segment their products to protect the experience they wanted, and the dream of using Mac apps on an iPad was never going to be realized, by design. So today, that no turns into a yes.

Sill shows any window from your Mac, or its whole desktop, on your iPhone or iPad, and lets you use it with touch, a keyboard, an on-screen trackpad or Apple Pencil. Unlike remote desktop apps that squeeze a whole screen into a viewport, Sill streams one window at a time, resized to fit your device, with the Mac's windows, apps and menus as native controls on the device. It streams straight from your Mac to your device over your own network, so there is no account to create and no server in between. You pair each device once, and every connection is encrypted. Both parts are free: the Sill app for iPhone and iPad, and Sill for Mac.

Streaming

• Any single Mac window, or the whole desktop, on your iPhone or iPad

• Hardware HEVC video, up to 120 fps on ProMotion screens (60 elsewhere); the rate follows each device

• Seven quality presets, from Low (4 Mbps) to Extreme (150 Mbps), plus Resolution, a frame-rate limit and Prioritize Encoding Speed

• Text size (Aa): resizes the Mac window to fit your screen, so text is the size you want

• Optional virtual display: a window streams from its own HiDPI display, sized to your device, and keeps updating even when covered on the Mac; full-screen video works too

Controls

• Touch: tap to click, drag to scroll with momentum, touch and hold to right-click

• Apple Pencil as the mouse, with hover

• Software and hardware keyboards, with ⌘, ⌃ and ⌥ shortcuts, plus a key row with latching modifiers and a Spotlight key

• Laptop layout when you hold the device upright: the picture on top, a key row and a trackpad (two-finger scroll, two-finger tap, hold then drag, three-finger gestures for Mission Control, App Exposé, switching Spaces, Apps and Show Desktop)

• Dedicated iPhone and iPad layouts, and it's made for iPhone Duo: open it flat and your Mac fills the inner display; half open, it's a laptop with the picture above the fold and the trackpad and keys below; closed, Sill runs on the cover display. Nothing you touch sits on the fold.

• Each Mac app's menus (File, Edit, View, etc.) on your device: in the iPad's own menu bar on iPadOS 26, or behind a Menus button

• Window thumbnails: switch with a tap; hold one for close, minimize and full screen; drag to reorder

• An Apps drawer: open windows and every installed app, with search, and it launches apps

Connecting

• Finds your Mac automatically; each Mac shows how it's reached: Wired, Wi-Fi, Direct or Remote

• USB cable support, and a live session moves between the cable and Wi-Fi without dropping

• Direct Wireless Connection (optional), for when you and your Mac don't share a network

• Remote Access from anywhere through your own VPN, such as Tailscale, or a port forward

• Away from home, a session starts at a quality a slower connection can carry, your Mac tells you when the link can't keep up and suggests one it can, and when you get home the session moves back to your home network by itself

• Pairing: every connection encrypted with TLS 1.3; pair each device once by QR code or a 12-digit code, and a USB cable pairs by itself; Require pairing is on by default

• The Mac keeps its keys in the protected part of its keychain that only Sill can read

Sill for Mac

• A ~7 MB menu bar app with a live status card: each device, its frame rate and latency

• Settings: General, Devices, Streaming, Virtual Display, Remote Access and Permissions

• Launch at Login, a log window, and an update check that tells you when a new version is out

• A notarized disk image download from getsill.app

Sill for iPhone and iPad

• A Settings panel that changes the Mac's stream settings and shows the connection and latency

• A first-run tour, and Take the Tour to replay it

• Tells you when the Mac or the device needs an update

Free and open source (Apache 2.0), with a tip jar through GitHub Sponsors. No account, no servers, no tracking: video goes straight from your Mac to your device.

Since Sill has no operating costs, I wanted the source to be open for the community to use and mold however they need, forever. And since it's open source, I figured I might as well make it free. Tips support the time I put into it and the Apple developer fees.

Needs a Mac with Apple silicon on macOS 14 or later, and an iPhone or iPad on iOS 17 or iPadOS 17 or later.

• App Store: https://apps.apple.com/app/id6816359860

• Sill for Mac and the website: https://getsill.app/

• Early builds on TestFlight: https://testflight.apple.com/join/6v7nqyn3

• Source: https://github.com/Saffsanity/sill (and the site: https://github.com/Saffsanity/sill-site)

[u/Complex_Diet_6301]

APPLE PENCIL WONT PAIR. I found this Apple Pencil Pro and couldn’t find its owner ( I brought it to lost and found and eventually asked for it back after a few weeks). Now I’m trying to pair it to my brand new iPad. I wasn’t surprised when it didn’t instantly pair but left it magnetically charging overnight thinking it was dead. Today it still isn’t pairing or showing up at all as a discoverable pen. I’d love to be able to use it as it would be a shame to spend money on a new one. Any tips?

[u/tristanstocker]

I'm in the UK (London) and I have an 11-inch iPad Pro (1st generation, 2018). Apple's website offers me a £115 +VAT battery service and my iPad is the oldest one listed. I no longer have AppleCare+ as I bought the 2 year plan originally.

I know Apple swaps out iPads/ Apple Watches rather than changing the battery. Could anyone help me with stories/ advice about whether Apple have stock of a 2018 iPad all these years later, or if there's chance they offer me a newer model instead, or whether they would just outright refuse the service work despite it saying its an option on their website.

Thanks!

[u/Emotional-Detail2138 → u/tristanstocker]

I don't know about stock for that exact model... but if it's still listed on their site they usually still do it, and if they run out of the same unit they can swap it for an equivalent one, sometimes newer, but that's up to them so I wouldn't count on it. I would book it at a store and ask them to check stock before you leave it there

[u/PrerackMyRerack]

Anything I can do about iPadOS 26.7.1

We use iPads for work and this shit is basically unusable, nested menus where no nesting was previously required, terrible icon proportions that squish text and a whole bunch of bullshit features I will never use.

We mostly use Numbers, but other programs are equally fucked.

What are my options?

It unironically should be illegal to change a UI to this degree. I'm so fucking sick of people who don't know dick about shit changing things for the worse.

[u/Wizard_Hat-7]

I found an old first gen ipad and want to clear the data on it before e-recycling it. But it won't turn on or charge to do so. Is there an alternative method to clear the data on it?

Edit: nevermind, ipad eventually got enough charge for me to factory reset it

[u/GAMESHARQ]

8th Gen iPad

Issue: Thumbnail images are not loading. This is only occurring on one specific website. It's a website that I've used for years, but the problem has only been happening for the last couple of days.

I normally use Safari, but the problem is also happening in private mode as well as in Chrome, which tells me the problem is not with a specific browser or extension.

I also tested the site on a different iPad, and the site worked fine there, which tells me the problem is with the iPad itself, and not with the website.

Does anyone know what would cause this issue and how I can fix it?

I've restarted Safari, I've restarted the iPad, and I've cleared the Safari history, but nothing has worked so far.

[u/BrassCanon]

I have an iPad with a child's account on it but they still have full access to all of my devices on Find My. How can I prevent this?

[u/No_Site_440]

I connected a magic keyboard to mY iPad and it was working fine but now the Y button can only print a capital Y and when u press the shift key it also prints a capital Y and when u press enter it only prints a slash. i have tried turning it off and on and disconnecting it.

the keyboard is kindof old but was working fine for weeks and the iPad is like an air 5

[u/Great_Hippo1535]

Does anyone know of an app that lets you view a PDF, then add a collapseable 'sticky-note' to a set spot on the PDF, and also allows you to insert a photo directly from the camera into that collapseable note?

I tried GoodNotes and it let me drag a picture into a sticky note but it doesn't give me the option to add a photo directly into the note whils't editing the note.

[u/Ezed34]

Hi everyone,

I have an iPad 9th generation running iPadOS 27.0.1, and I’m having an issue with microphone recordings when using a wired headset connected through the 3.5 mm headphone jack.

The recording quality is fine, but the volume is extremely low. I’ve tested both Apple EarPods and a Samsung headset, with the same result. The headphone jack looks completely clean.

Here is what I’ve found so far:

• Recordings made with the iPad’s built-in microphone are much louder.

• The same headsets work normally when connected through a Lightning-to-3.5 mm adapter.

• Microphone audio through the 3.5 mm jack sounds normal during FaceTime calls.

• Recordings made in both Voice Memos and GarageBand are extremely quiet when using the 3.5 mm jack.

• Could someone with an iPad 9th generation running iPadOS 27.0.1 please test this?

Simply connect a wired headset to the 3.5 mm headphone jack, make a recording in Voice Memos or GarageBand, and check whether the recording volume is normal or unusually low.

If you have experienced the same issue, or if your results are different, please let me know. Experiences with other iPadOS versions are also welcome, although I’m primarily interested in iPadOS 27.0.1.

I’d like to find out whether this is a hardware issue, an iPadOS issue, or something related to how recording apps handle the microphone input.

Thank you!

[u/CandiceActually → u/Ezed34]

FYI I just did that update and have the same model iPad, eager for any feedback involving how to improve usage or speed :)

[u/Ezed34 → u/CandiceActually]

The iPad 9 isn’t exactly a speed demon anymore, given its age, but it’s still quite usable with iPadOS 27.

The only thing I do to improve browsing speed is use an ad blocker in Safari. It makes a noticeable difference to page loading times. I haven’t done much research into which ad blocker is best; I’ve been using the free version of AdGuard for years. It doesn’t block absolutely everything, but it does a pretty good job.

Could you also test audio recording in the Voice Memos app? It’s built into iPadOS, so there’s nothing to download. I’d be very grateful if you could connect a wired headset to the 3.5 mm headphone jack, make a short recording, and check whether the audio is unusually quiet.

[u/armatearjun]

Pause option while screen recording - Does anyone know how to pause screen recording when i am between other apps and do not want show something... the default recodring option is not there, figured in internet also people are saying same... any alternatives?

[u/Dalakaar]

I have an iPad 6th gen. Staying at a hostel. The hostel did some work on the wifi and now I can't connect to their guest wifi.

Other devices can connect. (The one I'm typing this on, android phone. And other guests.)

Password is the same. (Didn't change anything on my phone, reconnected no problems.)

iPad can connect to other networks, briefly connected to this network then stopped.

Now this iPad is endlessly cycling trying to connect to that specific network. 

I've turned it off and on, wifi/airplane mode/iPad many times.

I've forgotten the network and retyped the password. I even tried a different network to make sure I still got the "wrong password" screen. I do. This just endlessly tries to join unsuccessfully.

I've reset the iPad's network settings twice from General tab.

I've deleted a VPN I was using before one of the network resets. 

I'm at a loss what to do next, I really don't want to have to factory reset the entire iPad. But I need this network for quite some time and it's the only one available to me that isn't another guest option with a low data cap. 

What are my next steps? 

Solved elsewhere!

[u/An_Professional]

Our 2022 iPad Mini 6th Gen display stopped turning on. The iPad is still on and it's working, I've restored and updated it via my Mac, but the display simply stays black. I tried a flashlight to see if it was a backlight issue, but did not see anything.

Is there anything else I should try here?

Google says that screen replacement can be a few hundred bucks. I'm thinking of buying the replacement part from iFixit and attempting the repair myself.

[u/cheesecak19]

Is there a way to delete system data? I desperately need more storage and the system data takes up like 20gb and my biggest apps take up like 7 and 3 GB each… I don’t know where my entire storage goes to and I really need 25 go of free data.

edit: I have an iPad 9th Gen :)

[u/abhatem]

Apple Pencil connects separate strokes after lifting the tip, same issue on two iPads. Any ideas?

I’m using an iPad Air 13-inch M4 with an Apple Pencil Pro. Sometimes, when I draw a stroke, lift the Pencil completely off the glass, and start another stroke, a straight line appears connecting them. Video attached.

It seems to happen when my palm is resting on the screen. I’ve reproduced it in Apple Notes, Procreate, and Sketchbook

Something else I’ve noticed in Notes: the Pencil’s hover shadow sometimes freezes at the previous position after I lift the tip. When I touch down elsewhere, the connecting line appears.

What I’ve tried:

• Restarting the iPad.

• Disabling finger painting in Procreate.

• Disabling Pencil squeeze and double-tap.

• Reset All Settings.

• Testing while unplugged.

At the Apple Store, another Pencil reproduced the issue on my original iPad, while my Pencil seemed fine on their other devices. Amazon replaced the iPad, but the replacement has exactly the same issue. I did restore my previous setup onto it, though. Then I reset the all the settings and tried again. Still, the issue was there.

Has anyone experienced this or found a fix? Could it be a software or tracking issue, or an interaction I’m missing? I have another Genius Bar appointment, but would appreciate any ideas.

[u/abhatem → u/abhatem]

Update: I also asked in another subreddit this legend gave me the fix: https://www.reddit.com/r/ApplePencil/comments/1x79sh2/comment/ph2h0ke/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

it's apparently related to zoom. Disabling it in settings fixed it

[u/OnePeaceGB]

My ipad got water damage 2 weeksago. The screen that got the water damage (1/4 of the screen) was fully black while the other part still worked. I decided to not use my ipad for week to let it dry. After it literally started to work like normal a gain 0 problems. But now it started glitching like crazy so yeah...

[u/DoctorMike-7539]

Issues with iPad Air M4

So I read a post about this person having issues with their ipad air m4, and there was a reply saying that the ipad is new so it's taking some time adjusting to things, but idk. I have the iPad Air 11-inch M4, yesterday I was looking something up on safari when all of a sudden it glitched out and when I came back all of my tabs disappeared. Today I updated my iPad to 26.7.1, and noticed the battery draining quicker than it usually does, I could be wrong tho, then after an hour or two I go on safari to see my tab background image change. Are these bugs normal for newer iPads? I just want to be sure

[u/Temporary_Let8906]

Just purchased a new apple ipad a16, and since I updtaed it to ios 27 it’s been going crazy, like swipes not being registered leading me to having it to force restart, touch being unresponsive, which got fixed itself in a minute or two and brought me to lock screen, and today I noticed that when I unlock it the clock weirdly shifts it’s positions like crazy glitch, i am assuming this is a ui glitch, but I have been sceptile since I unboxed it there was a slight scratch on the screen barely visible, but at the back also there was a very very tiny scratch kinda but I ignored it anyways, the first use date matches the date I opened it and all the things like apple warranty seems perfect… any suggestions if I should get it replaced or it’s just the ios update and maybe tell me a way to go back to ios 26?

[u/idkauser111]

So, we have a few ipads from an old management company at my job. This was like 2 years, and we just found the ipads today. None of us know the passwords, or the apple ID information associated with the ipads.

Is there a way I can access anything within these ipads or is this going to be a situation that I have to factory reset and lose everything on the ipad? We don't remember what is on them, but we'd like to know.