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Pairing Apple Pencil with iPad Pro

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Image of Apple Pencil being used with iPad Pro on flat surface

This weekend I received my Apple Pencil, and the first thing I did was get my iPad Pro and pair it with the Apple Pencil. The process is very simple and will take less than a minute. Here is how you pair the two devices.

Pairing the Apple Pencil

The Apple Pencil has a magnetic cap on the end opposite the nib. You will feel a metal ring, and the cap will be above that ring. Simply pull the cap off the back of the pencil and you will see a Lightning connector. You can pair your Pencil by either plugging that lightning connector into the iPad Pro and have it stick out the bottom of your iPad, or by using the adapter that comes with the pencil. This will allow you to plug a lightning cable into the pencil, and then into the iPad. This will make sure you don’t hit the pencil breaking the lightning connector on it. This would be the best for charging, but to pair it is just simple to plug the pencil right into the iPad for a few seconds.

Once you plug the Pencil into the iPad Pro, you just have to wait until a pairing dialog appears. Once it does, double tap on the pair button to pair your Apple Pencil, and you will be ready to write in the Notes app or other apps that work with the device. When the battery gets low on the pencil, the iPad will tell you to charge the pencil by using a method mentioned above.

We will soon have an article here on iAccessibility’s website discussing how to do more with the Apple Pencil with VoiceOver, so keep checking back to learn more about this amazing device. We will discuss how to use it with drawing apps, and how to navigate the iPad Pro with the Apple Pencil.

Quick Tip: How to pair Magic Keyboard with iOS Devices

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Magic Keyboard

The Magic Keyboard is the newest keyboard from Apple and it offers a new sleek and slim design. The nicest feature of the keyboard is its multiple uses with devices. This keyboard can be a wireless keyboard for iOS and Mac, or a wired Mac or PC keyboard.

To pair the Magic Keyboard with an iOS device follow the below instructions.

  1. Make sure your keyboard is on. The keyboard now has an on/off switch instead of a button to make this easier.
  2. Open the settings app
  3. find the Bluetooth section
  4. Look for Magic Keyboard and select it

You may also like to un-pair your keyboard or disconnect it for use with other devices. Here is how you do this.

  1. Open the settings app
  2. Find Bluetooth
  3. Find your Magic Keyboard in the list
  4. Find the More info or details button to the right of your keyboard and select it.
  5. Find the disconnect for forget device option to un-pair your keyboard.

There will be more Magic Keyboard tips added here soon so keep checking back.

Quick Tip: Enable the iCloud Drive App in iOS 9

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iCloud Drive logo

One of the best features that has been added to iOS 9 is the ability to access your saved files and folders in iCloud Drive, and you can even enable an app that lets you simply view and open your files. Here is how to enable this app. Once enabled, you will be able to go to your home screen, and access the iCloud Drive app.

  1. Open the settings app
  2. Find and select iCloud
  3. Find iCloud Drive and double tap. 
  4. Make sure iCloud Drive is on
  5. Enable Show on Home Screen

That’s it. Once you do this then you can press the home button, and the iCloud Drive app will be on your home screen.

Quick Tip: Clear up space on iPhone taken up by cached Apple Music files.

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Is there a lot of space being taken up on your iPhone, but you don’t know where it is going? It is probably because Apple Music is storing the songs you listen to for future listening. This can however, keep you from downloading certain files to your phone, and will give you a message like your phone is running out of storage. The good thing is that there is a quick fix for this.

How to Clear the Apple Music Cache

  1. Open the Settings app
  2. Find Music
  3. turn off iCloud Music Library
  4. You will then want to select Turn off on the next screen
  5. Press the Home Button
  6. Open the Music app
  7. Press home again
  8. Open Settings and then turn iCloud Music Library back on
  9. You will then get a screen asking if you want to replace or merge your libraries. I would select merge.

If you follow these steps, then you will notice that there is considerably more space on your iPhone.

Quick Tip: Zooming without the mouse?

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It is well known that zoom users use the mouse to navigate the Mac, but what if you did not want to use the mouse and were primarily a keyboard user. How would you move the zoomed region of the screen?

Moving the zoom region is very simple with the keyboard. As long as VoiceOver is off, you can use the Control and Option keys along with the arrows to move the zoom area around the screen without the mouse.

Quick Tip: Copy the last thing VoiceOver reads to the clipboard.

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Having trouble hearing something VoiceOver says and just want to paste it as text to navigate and work with the way you want to? Here is how.

Steps to copy last spoken VoiceOver text to clipboard

  1. Find the information you would like to be copied. 
  2. take 3 fingers and tap 4 times on the screen. This may take some practice.
  3. VoiceOver will repeat the last thing it said, and will then say, “Copied to pasteboard.” 

It is that simple!

So what is a pasteboard?

You may be wondering as you read the instructions above about that word pasteboard. All it means is that what you copied went to the clipboard. Pasteboard is a neat word the folks at Apple came up with to represent the clipboard.

Quick Tip: Enabling Extensions in iOS 8

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New feature added with IOS 8 that many people still don’t know about is extensions. With extensions, you can extend the power of your iPhone iPad or even Mac. Here’s how to enable them in IOS.

  1. You must first install apps like Tumblr and Pinterest that contain extensions from the iOS App Store
  2. If you find a share button in iOS, you can use an extension there. tap, or double tap on the share button to activate it. Check picture 1 below for an example of a share screen.
  3. scroll, or flick to the end of the list of sharing options, and find the More button and activate it.
  4. You will see a list of the options you have available on your iOS device. activate each available switch to use that feature in future sharing screens. See picture 2 below for reference.
Picture 1 showing a share screen.
Picture 1 showing a share screen.
Picture 2 showing the activities screen.
Picture 2 showing the activities screen.

That’s all there is to it. Now, you can use Safari or any other app in conjunction with apps like Tumblr and Linkedin to post content without being in that app.

Quick tip: use your iPhone as a level

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Have you ever used a level to see if an object is perfectly level? Did you know you can do the same with your iPhone? From your iPhone Home screen, open the compass app and you’ll notice 2 dots at the bottom. If VoiceOver is, on flick to th left with three fingers. If voiceover is not on, flick with one finger to the left to reveal the level part of the application. Once you are there, put the iPhone up against the object you wish to test. Speech will tell you the degree of The object you are trying to test. If you are not using speech, the amount of degree will be shown on the screen. If the amount is 0°, your item is level. If voiceover is on, the app will tell you if you are measuring vertically or horizontally.

Quick tip: Spotlight Search

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Have you ever wanted to find anything on your iOS device? There is a simple way to search for anything on your device and beyond.

With VoiceOver

  1. Make sure you are at your home screen
  2. Tap an icon on your home screen
  3. Swipe down with three fingers to bring down Spotlight Search
  4. Use the keyboard to type your search

Without VoiceOver

  1. Make sure you are at your home screen
  2. swipe down with one finger. Make sure you are not at the top of the screen or Notification Center will come down instead.
  3. Use the keyboard to search your device.

Once you start typing, iOS will start suggesting search results. you can then tap the return button to hide the keyboard.

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