If you use a Windows or Mac computer, you can buy software in a store, over the Internet, or through the mail. No matter how you get a program, you can install it on your computer. The iPad is different. You can't buy iPad software from anywhere other than Apple's App Store.
The reason for this is security. When you install programs from any source, there's always the chance of malicious software (aka malware) sneaking on to your computer and infecting it. By distributing iPad software (more commonly known as applications or just apps), Apple can inspect all apps to make sure they don't do anything sneaky like capture your password and send it to some hacker in another part of the world.
In this chapter you'll learn how to install (and uninstall) apps on your iPad.
Before you can install apps on the iPad, you need to visit the App Store and find an app that you want. You can visit the App Store directly through your iPad or you can use iTunes on your computer.
The advantage of accessing the App Store on your iPad is that after you download an app, you can start using it right away. The drawback is that your iPad needs an Internet connection to access the App Store.
The advantage of using iTunes on your computer to access the App Store is that you can download apps much faster than you can on the iPad. The drawback is that after you download an app into iTunes, you'll need to transfer that app to your iPad before you can start using it.
To find an app for your iPad, follow these steps:
From the Home screen, tap App Store. The App Store screen appears.
Tap the Featured icon at the bottom of the screen. The Featured list of iPad apps appears at the bottom of the screen, as shown in Figure 11-1.
Swipe your finger left or right at the bottom of the screen to view a different group of apps.
Tap the New, What's Hot, or Release Date tab at the top of the screen. The New tab lists the latest apps, the What's Hot tab lists the most popular of the new apps, and the Release Date tab lists apps chronologically by the dates they were first made available.
Tap the Genius icon at the bottom of the screen. (The first time you do this, you'll need to turn this Genius feature on.) A list of apps, similar to what you've already downloaded, appears on the screen, as shown in Figure 11-2.
Tap the Top Charts icon. A list of the most popular commercial and free apps appears, as shown in Figure 11-3.
Tap the Categories icon. A list of different app categories appears.
Tap the Updates icon at the bottom of the screen. If you have any apps that need updating, you'll see a list of them here.
Tap the Featured icon at the bottom of the screen and then tap the Search field in the upper-right corner of the screen. The virtual keyboard appears at the bottom of the screen.
Type a word or phrase that describes the type of app you want to find, such as horoscope or medical, and then tap the Search key on the virtual keyboard. A list of apps that matches your criteria appears. You can restrict your search results to look only for Free apps, find the newest apps, search by category, and so on, as shown in Figure 11-4.
There are so many choices that just browsing through the App Store can feel like getting lost in a shopping mall. But once you find an app that you want, you can install it by following these steps:
Browse through the App Store until you find an app that you want.
Tap the Price button that appears to the right of the app name, as shown in Figure 11-5. Common prices are FREE or $4.99.
To read reviews (and check out screenshots) for an app before installing or buying it, tap its icon in the store. A description page for the app appears, as shown in Figure 11-6.
Figure 11-6. Scroll down to read reviews for an app, and swipe to the left to see additional screenshots.
Note
If you tap the BUY APP button, you'll install the app and the cost of the app will be charged to your iTunes account, so make sure you really want to pay for an app before installing it.
Tap BUY APP or INSTALL APP. An iTunes Password dialog appears, asking you to type in your password.
Type your password and tap OK. The app icon appears on the Home screen with the message “Loading.” When the app's name appears, you can tap its icon to run that app.
You can also download apps through iTunes on your computer and then transfer those apps to your iPad. To search and download apps through iTunes, follow these steps:
Run iTunes on your computer.
Click iTunes Store in the left pane of the iTunes window. The iTunes Store screen appears.
Click App Store at the top of the screen. The App Store screen appears.
Click the iPad tab at the top of the screen. The App Store displays only those apps designed to work on the iPad.
Find an app you want and click its INSTALL APP or BUY APP button. A dialog appears, asking for your iTunes account password.
Type your iTunes account password and click Get. Your chosen app downloads to your computer. The next time you connect your iPad to your computer, you'll be able to transfer the app to your iPad.
Software developers frequently update their apps, so to check if any of your apps need updating, peek at the Updates icon that appears in the App Store screen on your iPad. To use the Updates icon, follow these steps:
From the Home screen, tap App Store. The App Store screen appears.
Tap the Updates icon at the bottom of the screen. The Updates screen appears, listing any applications that you need to update. At this point, you can choose which updates you wish to install.
If you've installed any apps on your iPad, you can always delete those icons and uninstall those apps. (You cannot uninstall any apps that came pre-installed on the iPad, such as Notes, Maps, or the Calendar.) You can delete apps from your iPad or using iTunes on your computer.
The simplest way to delete an app is directly from your iPad. To delete an icon and uninstall the app that the icon represents, follow these steps:
From the Home screen, tap and hold your finger on the app icon that you want to delete. Your apps will start wriggling. An X in a circle appears in the upper-left corner of your chosen icon. (If an X in a circle does not appear, that means you cannot delete that icon and uninstall that app.)
Note
Press the Home button if you suddenly decide you don't want to delete the icon after all. The X in the circle disappears from your chosen icon.
Tap the X in the circle. A Delete dialog appears, as shown in Figure 11-7.
Tap Delete. Your chosen icon disappears from the Home screen.
Press the Home button to stop your apps from wriggling.
To delete an app by using iTunes on your computer, you need to connect your iPad to your computer and then follow these steps:
Run iTunes on your computer.
Click the name of your iPad under the Devices category in the left pane of the Tunes window.
Click the Apps tab. The screen displays your Home screen panes with all your currently installed apps.
Move the mouse pointer over an app icon that you want to delete. An X in a circle appears in the app icon's upper-left corner.
Click this close button (the X in the circle). Your chosen app icon disappears.
Note
If you select the checkboxes of apps displayed in the Apps tab of the iTunes window, you can re-install any downloaded apps back on to your iPad.
If you have an iPhone and have already bought iPhone apps, you can install them on your iPad too. Although you can run iPhone apps on the iPad, most iPhone apps won't use up the full screen of the iPad, as shown in Figure 11-8.
However, you can expand an iPhone app so it fills up the entire iPad screen. Just tap the 2x button in the bottom-right corner of the iPad screen to blow up an iPhone app. To shrink an expanded iPhone app screen back to its normal size, tap the 1x button in the bottom-right corner of the screen.
Every day, new apps pour into the App Store, so to avoid cluttering up your iPad, resist the temptation to keep downloading the latest free and commercial apps. Since you can easily delete and re-install apps, you could always pick those apps you need right now, such as a bunch of children's apps so your kids can play them on your iPad during a trip, and then delete those apps after you get back home and can retrieve your iPad from your kids again.
By deleting apps you don't need and selectively installing and removing apps you may not need temporarily, you can keep your iPad lean and uncluttered so you can actually get your work done and have fun at the same time. As an alternative to deleting apps, consider combining multiple apps into a folder as explained in Chapter 7.
To turn your iPad into a productivity tool, download and install the iWork office suite for the iPad, which will allow you to transfer files between iWork on your iPad and iWork on your Mac.