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How to use the Dock on your iPad

Access your favorite apps and quickly switch between them with the Dock on your iPad.
Manage the Dock on iPad

An iPad’s Dock is where you park all your favorite apps in one place. It comes in handy when you are ready to go through multiple tasks on your iPad by giving you quick access to various apps. Here’s everything you need to know about the Dock, including how to use it effectively on an iPad.

Manage the Dock on iPad

What is the iPad Dock?

The Dock on your iPad simplifies multitasking by allowing you to quickly open and switch between apps—kind of how you do it on a Mac. It appears as a tiny horizontal bar at the bottom of the screen and is accessible on every Home Screen in landscape and portrait orientations.

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By default, the iPad’s Dock is split into two sections. On the left side, you see all the permanent apps. These are typically your most-used apps or the ones you added manually. Meanwhile, the right side holds dynamically populated apps, such as your recently used apps; you can even see your App Library here. You can control what appears on this side of the Dock from the Settings app.

How to access the Dock on an iPad

The Dock is always present at the bottom of your iPad Home Screen. It automatically hides when you open any app. To bring it up, partially swipe up from the bottom of the screen. Don’t swipe up fully, or you might close the app and end up on the Home Screen instead.

Swipe up from bottom of screen to access iPad Dock
Swipe up from bottom of screen to access iPad Dock

      How to customize the iPad Dock

      Apple lets you customize the iPad Dock. This includes choosing what kinds of apps appear in your Dock and toggling App Library. Here’s how to go about it.

      Remove suggested and recent apps from the Dock

      As already mentioned, the right side of the iPad Dock is reserved for recently used apps, which iPadOS keeps populating with apps you open on your iPad so you can quickly switch between them. However, if you are not fond of this feature, you can also easily turn it off. Here’s how:

      1. Head to Settings > Home Screen & App Library.
      2. In the Dock section, toggle off Show Suggested and Recent Apps in Dock.

        Toggling off the Show Suggested and Recent Apps in Dock option in iPadOS Settings

      Hide App Library in Dock

      Follow these steps to hide App Library from your iPad Dock:

      1. Go to Settings > Home Screen & App Library.
      2. Under the Dock section, toggle off the Show App Library in Dock option.

        Toggling off the Show App Library in Dock and Show Suggested and Recent Apps in Dock options in iPadOS Settings.

      Add your favorite apps and rearrange apps on the Dock

      Once you remove the App Library and the suggested and recently used apps from the Dock, you can put your favorite apps on it. Go to the Home Screen and remove the apps you don’t need from the Dock. Then, proceed to add your favorite ones. Here’s how to do it.

      Add apps to the iPad Dock:

      1. Press and hold on any empty space on the iPad Home Screen until all the app icons start to jiggle. Alternatively, long press on an app icon and tap Edit Home Screen.
      2. Now, drag and drop the app icon into the Dock to add it.

        Dragging an app to the iPad Dock.

      Remove apps from the iPad Dock:

      1. Follow the same first step as shown above until you see the jiggling apps and tap the (minus button) in the top-left corner of the app icon in the Dock.

        Removing an app from the iPad's Dock.
      2. Then, tap Remove from Home Screen to remove the app from the Dock.

        Prompt asking to confirm removing an app from the iPad Dock
      3. Alternatively, you can drag the app from the Dock and drop it on the Home Screen to remove it from there.

      To reorganize the apps in your Dock, simply long-press on an app’s icon until the icons start jiggling, then drag the icons to rearrange them in your preferred fashion.

      Reorganize the apps in your Dock

      Multitasking on an iPad with the Dock

      The power of M-series chips and the robustness of the latest iPadOS make multitasking a breeze on the latest iPads. The Dock adds to the multitasking power by making it super convenient to switch between apps and change apps in Split View and Slide Over. Here’s how.

      Slide Over

      When you use Slide Over to multitask on your iPad, you can simply drag an app from the Dock onto the screen to open the app in a floating window. This is easy and more convenient than the traditional method of using Slide Over.

      Split View

      Similarly, when using Split View for multitasking, you can drag an app from the Dock to the edge of the screen to split the display and use two apps simultaneously.

      For instance, suppose you are reading an article on Safari and instantly want to take notes. You can swipe up to access the Dock, drag and drop the Notes app and use it in Split View with Safari.

      Multitasking on an iPad with the Dock
      Multitasking on an iPad with the Dock

      You can check out our detailed guide on iPad multitasking to learn more ways to multitask.

      Signing off…

      Bringing the Dock to iPadOS was a step in the right direction since it significantly improves iPad’s multitasking capabilities. The Dock also provides a familiar working space for people who have switched to the iPad from a Mac. And now that you know all about it, you should be able to up your multitasking game on your iPad.

      FAQs

      Can I completely hide the Dock on the iPad?

      No, iPadOS doesn’t allow you to hide the Dock completely.

      How many apps can the Dock hold?

      The exact capacity may vary depending on the iPad’s screen size and resolution. Every iPad can hold at least 13 apps in the Dock, with bigger-screen models holding up to 17 apps.

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