当第一台iPad Air为超薄平板电脑带来类似笔记本电脑的处理能力时，这是一件大事。问题是当时的 iOS 一次只能运行一个应用程序。苹果(Apple)通过添加分屏多任务处理迅速纠正了这一问题，最终将 iPad 变成了潜在的笔记本电脑替代品(laptop replacement)。
今天，最新版本的iPadOS（现在称为）提供了更加精致和多功能的多任务处理形式。虽然它仍然不如 macOS 或Windows灵活，但如果您知道如何在 iPad 上创建分屏，则可以使用平板电脑完成大量工作。
检查是否启用了多任务处理
在尝试本文中描述的任何操作之前，请确保已启用所有多任务选项。可用选项可能因您运行的 iOS 或 iPadOS 版本而异。在这里，我们在 2018 iPad Pro 12.9英寸机型上使用 iPadOS 14.4。
确保启用这些功能很容易：
- 转到设置(Settings )>主屏幕和 Dock( Home Screen & Dock ) >多任务处理( Multitasking)
- 启用允许多个应用程序(Allow Multiple Apps)和手势( Gestures)开关。
请注意，允许多个应用程序(Allow Multiple Apps)选项与后台应用程序刷新无关，这是一个完全不同的设置。
应用程序支持是必不可少的
虽然 iPadOS 内置了多任务处理，但并非每种模式都适用于每个应用程序。应用程序(Apps)必须由开发人员编写，以支持可能的不同屏幕模式和功能。
例如，大多数游戏不支持任何形式的分屏，但您仍然可以在浮动的 Slide Over 窗口中拥有Twitter等应用程序。(Twitter)其他应用程序可能支持 50-50拆分视图(Split View)模式，但不支持 70-30 模式。最简单的检查方法是简单地使用应用程序进行尝试。
Dock和Slide Over 手势是关键(Slide Over Gestures Are Key)
最近在 iPadOS 中添加了类似 macOS 的扩展坞，使多任务处理变得更容易管理。除了已经运行的应用程序(Apps)之外，您还想要启动的应用程序可以从扩展坞访问。
坞站分隔器右侧的应用程序是您最近使用的应用程序。在左侧，您可以为应用程序提供一个永久的家，甚至可以将它们排列到文件夹中，就像我们在此处所做的那样。
从 Dock 以Slide Over(Slide Over)模式启动应用程序后，您可以使用各种手势访问其他多任务模式。但是，让我们首先看看如何让您的应用程序进入Slide Over模式。
让应用程序进入滑过模式
Slide Over 模式允许您的第二个应用程序浮动在全屏应用程序顶部的小窗口中。在这种模式下，应用程序将切换到智能手机风格的应用程序布局。
以下是在Slide Over(Slide Over)模式下打开应用程序的方法：
- 打开要全屏运行的应用程序。
- 向上滑动以显示扩展坞(dock)。
- 找到您想要多任务处理的应用程序。您可以打开停靠文件夹以及不在停靠文件夹中的图标。
- 按住应用程序的图标(icon of the app)并将其拖到主应用程序的屏幕区域。它应该形成一个 Slide Over 窗口。
- 释放应用程序，它应该显示为像这样的浮动窗口。
从这里，你可以做一些简洁的事情，我们接下来会介绍。
试试这些滑过技巧
现在您的第二个应用程序位于主应用程序顶部的浮动窗口中，您可以尝试一些技巧。
如果您查看窗口的顶部和底部，您将看到以下两个选项卡：
顶部选项卡可用于在屏幕的左侧和右侧之间移动窗口。您还可以将其移动到屏幕的顶部中间并使其成为当前的全屏应用程序。如果要切换到拆分视图(Split View)模式，请将其移动到屏幕的左侧或右侧，直到您看到该模式激活，然后松开。
在Split View中，您可以使用分隔线中间的选项卡并向左或向右拖动，在 50-50 或 70-30 之间切换。
要将Slide Over应用程序滑出视图，只需在屏幕右边缘滑动即可。要将其恢复，请从屏幕右侧的边缘滑动。
浮动窗口底部的选项卡可让您在最近打开的其他应用程序之间切换，假设它们支持拆分视图。您可以在其上向左或向右滑动以显示最近应用程序的轮播。
一次运行三个应用程序
虽然您可能假设一次只能运行两个应用程序，但您也可以运行三个应用程序。有三种不同的方法可以做到这一点，但我们将从最简单的一种开始。
在这里，您可以同时使用Slide Over和Split View。它的工作方式与以前相同，但这次您首先将两个应用程序放入拆分视图，然后通过将图标拖到拆分视图(Split View)分隔线上方，将第三个应用程序拖入浮动滑动模式。(Slide Over)
显然，第三个应用程序掩盖了它浮动的部分，但这在某些情况下可能很有用。例如，如果您想在撰写报告时快速查看推文。
在 iPad 上分屏运行三个应用程序的下一种方法依赖于其中一个具有画中画支持的(picture-in-picture support)应用程序。这是 iPadOS 的一项功能，即使您在做其他事情，来自Netflix等应用程序的视频也可以继续播放。(Netflix)画中画(PiP)窗口可以调整大小、四处移动和暂时滑出屏幕，而不会中断播放。
如果您首先启动画中画播放，并在主(PiP)屏幕(Homescreen)上播放视频，那么您也可以按通常的方式 启动拆分视图。(Split View)
在这个例子中，我们同时播放了Chrome、Word和Netflix。Netflix窗口看起来是空白的，因为该应用程序不允许对当前播放的视频进行屏幕截图。
运行三个应用程序的第三种方法很简单，您甚至可以通过这种方式运行四个应用程序。这里的额外应用程序是在后台播放音频的任何应用程序，例如Spotify。
打开Spotify（或您选择的音乐播放器）并开始播放。返回主屏幕(Homescreen)，音频应继续播放。从这里按照正常程序使用Split View、Slide Over或两者。
应用之间(Between Apps)的交互和两次(Same App Twice)打开同一个应用
最近才出现在 iOS 和 iPadOS 上的一项重要功能是能够将同一个应用程序打开两次甚至三次。例如，通常希望并排打开两个网页。过去您必须使用两种不同的浏览器，但现在您可以使用同一个浏览器。
它没有什么特别的技巧。按照与上述相同的步骤打开两个或多个应用程序，但对同一应用程序重复这些步骤。
在此示例中，我们在Split View中打开了两个(Split View)Chrome窗口，第三个使用Slide Over。
最后，您可以在任何多任务模式下打开的应用程序之间拖动项目和文本，但哪些项目可以工作取决于应用程序本身。查看他们各自的帮助文档以获取更多详细信息，并享受您全新的、更高效的分屏 iPad 体验。
How to Split Screen on iPad to Multitask
When the first iPad Air brought laptop-like processing power to a super-thin tablet form factor, it was a big deal. The problem was that iOS at the time could only run one application at a time. Apple quickly rectified this by adding split-screen multitasking, which finally turned the iPad into a potential laptop replacement.
Today, the latest version of iPadOS (as it’s now called) offers a much more refined and versatile form of multitasking. While it’s still not as flexible as macOS or Windows, you can get a lot of work done with your tablet if you know how to create a split screen on iPad.
Check That Multitasking Is Enabled
Before you try anything described in this article, make sure that all the multitasking options are enabled. The available options may differ based on the iOS or iPadOS version you’re running. Here we’re using iPadOS 14.4 on a 2018 iPad Pro 12.9” model.
Making sure these features are enabled is easy:
- Go to Settings > Home Screen & Dock > Multitasking
- Enable both Allow Multiple Apps and Gestures switches.
Just be aware that the Allow Multiple Apps option has nothing to do with background app refresh, which is a completely different setting.
App Support Is Essential
While multitasking is built into iPadOS, not every mode will work with every app. Apps have to be written by the developer to support the different screen modes and features that are possible.
For example, most games do not support any sort of split screen, but you can still have an app like Twitter in a floating Slide Over window. Other apps may support the 50-50 Split View mode, but not the 70-30 mode. The easiest way to check is to simply try it with the app.
The Dock and Slide Over Gestures Are Key
The recent addition of a macOS-like dock to iPadOS has made multitasking much easier to manage. Apps you want to launch in addition to the one that’s already running can be accessed from the dock.
The apps on the right side of the dock divider are your most recent applications. To the left you can give applications a permanent home and even arrange them into folders as we’ve done here.
Once you’ve launched an application in the Slide Over mode from the dock, you can use various gestures to access other multitasking modes. However, let’s look at how to get your app into Slide Over mode in the first place.
Getting Apps Into Slide Over Mode
Slide Over mode allows your second app to float in a small window on top of the full screen application. In this mode the app will switch to a smartphone-styled app layout.
Here’s how to open an app in the Slide Over mode:
- Open the app you want to run in full screen.
- Swipe up to reveal the dock.
- Find the app you want to multitask with. You can open dock folders and also icons that aren’t in dock folders.
- Press and hold the icon of the app and drag it onto the main app’s screen area. It should form a Slide Over window.
- Release the app and it should appear as a floating window like this.
From here, you can do a few neat things, which we’ll go over next.
Try These Slide Over Tricks
Now that your second app is in a floating window on top of the main app, there are a few tricks you can try.
If you look at the top and bottom of the window, you’ll see these two tabs:
The top tab can be used to move the window between the left and right sides of the screen. You can also move it to the top middle of the screen and make it the current full screen app. If you want to switch to Split View mode, move it to the left or right side of the screen until you see that mode activate and then release.
While in Split View, you can change between a 50-50 or 70-30 split by using the tab in the middle of the divider and dragging it left or right.
To slide the Slide Over app out of view, simply swipe if off the right edge of the screen. To bring it back, swipe from the edge of the right hand side of the screen.
The tab at the bottom of the floating window lets you switch between other applications that you’ve recently had open, assuming they support split view. You can swipe left or right on it to display the carousel of recent applications.
Running Three Apps at Once
While you may assume that you can only run two apps at once, you can run three apps too. There are three different ways to do this, but we’ll start with the easiest one.
Here, you can use both Slide Over and Split View at the same time. It works the same way as before, but this time you’ll first get two apps into split view and then drag the third one into the floating Slide Over mode by dragging the icon over the Split View divider.
Obviously the third app obscures a part of the one it’s floating over, but this can be useful in some cases. For instance, if you quickly want to check your Tweets while writing a report.
The next way to run three apps in split screen on iPad relies on one of these apps having picture-in-picture support. This is a iPadOS feature that lets the video from an app like Netflix keep playing even while you’re doing something else. The PiP window can be resized, moved around and temporarily swiped off-screen without interrupting playback.
If you initiate PiP playback first, with the video playing on your Homescreen, then you can also start up Split View the usual way.
In this example we have Chrome, Word and Netflix all playing at the same time. The Netflix window looks blank because the app does not allow screenshots of the currently playing video.
The third method to run three apps is simple and you can even run four apps this way. The extra app here is any application that plays audio in the background, like Spotify.
Open Spotify (or your music player of choice) and start playback. Go back to the Homescreen and the audio should keep playing. From here follow the normal procedure to use Split View, Slide Over, or both.
Interaction Between Apps and Opening the Same App Twice
One crucial feature that’s only recently come to iOS and iPadOS is the ability to open the same app two or even three times. For example, it’s common to want two web pages open side-by-side. In the past you would have to use two different browsers, but now you can use the same one.
There’s no special trick to it. Follow the same steps as above to open two or more apps, but repeat the steps with the same application.
In this example, we have two Chrome windows open in Split View and a third using Slide Over.
Finally, you can drag items and text between apps you have open in any multitasking mode, but which items will work depends on the apps themselves. Check their respective help documents for more details and enjoy your new, more productive, split screen iPad experience.
