Your iPad can be in one of three states: on, off, or sleep. In addition, you can put your iPad in airplane mode to avoid connecting to a Wi-Fi network or a 4G cellular phone network. By learning the advantages of each state, you'll know when and why to use them.
When your iPad is on, you can use it. When your iPad is in sleep mode, you'll conserve its battery power while keeping it ready to start up right away. Sleep mode is best when you are not using your iPad but plan to return to it soon.
Airplane mode turns off your iPad's ability to access email or surf the Web through a Wi-Fi or 4G cellular phone network. This essentially cuts off your iPad from the rest of the world while letting you do most other tasks, such as play music, read books, check your calendar, or browse your list of contacts. As its name suggests, airplane mode is perfect for when you're in an airplane and can't risk having your iPad interfere with the airplane's navigation systems.
If you know you won't need to use your iPad for a lengthy period of time, you might as well turn it off to keep it from running down its battery.
In this chapter you'll learn how to turn on your iPad, put it to sleep, put it in airplane mode, and shut it off completely.
To turn an iPad on and off, you need to use the following:
When your iPad is off, you can turn it on by following these steps:
Hold down the Sleep/Wake button at the top of your iPad, as shown in Figure 1-1, until the Apple logo appears on the screen.
Note
If you see a blank screen after pressing the Sleep/Wake button, your iPad may not have enough power to start.
Wait a few seconds until the Home screen appears. This tells you that your iPad is now on.
The main difference between turning your iPad off and putting it to sleep is that turning the iPad off conserves more battery power. The drawback is that if you turn the iPad off, it takes a few seconds longer to start up again when you need it.
When your iPad is on, you can turn it off by following these steps:
Hold down the Sleep/Wake button until a red “slide to power off” arrow button appears at the top of the screen.
Slide the red arrow button to the right (or tap Cancel if you don't want to turn off your iPad after all).
After you've turned on your iPad, you can change it from on to sleep mode to conserve battery power while still being able to access your iPad the moment you need to use it again (rather than waiting for it to boot up).
At a glance, you cannot tell whether an iPad is turned off or in sleep mode. If you press the Home button and your iPad turns on, then you'll know it was asleep. If you press the Home button and nothing happens, then you'll know that it's turned off. You'll have to hold down the Sleep/Wake button to start it.
To put an iPad to sleep that is already turned on, press the Sleep/Wake button. The screen darkens.
Note
If you have a Smart Cover, just use it to cover your iPad's screen to put the iPad to sleep.
Since sleep mode is critical in conserving your iPad's battery, you may be happy to know that if you leave an iPad on, it will put itself into sleep mode after a fixed period of time. To change this fixed period of time, follow these steps:
From the Home screen, tap Settings. The Settings screen appears.
Tap General. The General settings screen appears, as shown in Figure 1-2.
Tap Auto-Lock. The Auto-Lock settings screen appears, as shown in Figure 1-3.
Tap one of the available options: 2 Minutes, 5 Minutes, 10 Minutes, 15 Minutes, or Never.
Press the Home button to return to the Home screen.
When you put an iPad to sleep, you must wake it up to change its state from sleep mode to on. To wake up an iPad in sleep mode, do this:
Press the Sleep/Wake button on top of the iPad, press the Home button, or, if you have a Smart Cover, lift an edge away from the screen. A slider appears on the screen.
Drag the slider to the right. The Home screen appears.
The slider forces you to slide your finger to unlock your iPad. That way, your iPad won't accidentally turn on if you press its Sleep/Wake button in your briefcase or purse.
Note
If you fail to use the slider to unlock your iPad after a few seconds, your iPad will automatically return to sleep mode.
On many airlines, you are not allowed to access a cellular phone network to avoid possible interference with the plane's navigational systems. To comply with this rule but still use your iPad for other tasks, such as jotting down notes or watching videos, you can put your iPad in airplane mode by following these steps:
Make sure your iPad is turned on.
From the Home screen, tap Settings. The Settings screen appears.
Slide the Airplane Mode on/off switch to ON, and an airplane icon will appear in the upper-left corner of the screen, as shown in Figure 1-4.
To turn off airplane mode, just go to the Settings screen again and slide the Airplane Mode on/off switch a second time. It should now read OFF.
As a general rule, turn off your iPad whenever you know you won't be using it for a while. If you plan on using your iPad soon, then put it in sleep mode.
Airplane mode is most useful when you're stuck on an airplane and don't feel like interacting with any of your fellow passengers, preferring to let your iPad amuse you instead. It's also a good way to save your battery life.
Now that you understand the basics of turning your iPad on and off (and everything in between), the rest of this book will teach you how to use all the other features of your iPad so you can do something useful with it.