Can You Use an iPad for Remote Work?
Apple iPads are cheap, powerful computing devices that have become more and more popular recently, but can you use an Apple iPad to work remotely?
Or would you be better off with a laptop? Well, we looked at this in our quest for the perfect work-from-home device and we concluded “it depends” and this is why.
Why An iPad May/May Not Be Suited For Remote Working
A lot depends on the nature of your work as to whether you can plan to live remotely and work with an Apple iPad.
You can certainly send e-mail, attend Zoom calls, update social media, take notes, bash out the occasional document on an Apple iPad without any problem.
And if that’s all you need when you are working remotely, then that’s going to mean your Apple iPad is good enough for your needs.
(Great examples of jobs that might run entirely from an iPad are online transcription jobs for beginners, jobs for college students that require no experience, and online jobs for those with disabilities).
However, there’s no doubt that the screen offers less control than a traditional keyboard (though you can always buy a plug-in keyboard, it seems to defeat the point of using an iPad rather than a laptop) and that these devices are nowhere near as powerful as the desktop or laptop computer.
So, if you work with heavy graphics, video processing, or demanding coding applications, you may well find that an iPad is a bit too puny to do the job. You may find that an iPad Pro can bridge the gap with more traditional devices, mind you, as they have more power, or you may want to continue working remotely with a more traditional setup.
Tips For Using An iPad or iPad Pro To Work Remotely
If you do decide the iPad has the control you need, then make sure you make the most out of your device with these tips.
Tap Into Apple’s Apps Ecosystem
Nearly every single one of the Mac apps that most of us work with on a day-to-day basis can be run as apps on an iPad too.
That means you have total control over your Apple devices and can work remote from an iPad and then switch back to your Mac seamlessly in the office.
Just make sure you talk to IT support for your company to ensure that you get the full benefits of iOS security apps on all your devices too – this is because if someone else can access a fully-connected device, they have control over all your data.
Get An Apple Pencil
It’s so much easier to control an iPad device with an Apple Pencil.
In fact, it can add enough additional physical control that you decide you don’t need a keyboard at all.
It works well with every app and it makes access to functionality so much easier to obtain.
Learn Shortcuts
Finally, you want to learn to make your iPad work for you and much of this is down to learning shortcuts.
For example, you can use a three-finger pinch control to copy text quickly.
If you switch to Airplane Mode while charging, your device will charge much, much faster – which is super handy when you need to charge for a meeting that you’ve only just remembered you’ve got to go to.
Siri‘s voice control can give you access to every app and every part of every app. It’s like having a personalized support assistant at your beck and call in iOS.
iOS has come a long way in recent years and working on an iPad may, indeed, be feasible for your workload.
It all depends on the kind of work you need to do. If it’s just a bit of writing every now and again, you’ll be fine but if your work requires heavy-duty processing power – you may need to stick to a laptop for your portable solution, at least, for now.
