control powerpoint presentation on ipad

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Wireless Presenter Option for Powerpoint for iPad

I have had several of our instructors ask about using iPad's and Powerpoint..can't seem to find any options for a wireless presenter like the Kensington models that most use with their PC..any thoughts on this..

Several do not have an iPhone..so that option is not available..did try the Windows Phone remote with regular laptops and that works great.

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• Article Author |
• Volunteer Moderator

If you want to control PowerPoint running on a PC/Mac using an app on an iPad/iPhone, Google will help if you tell it this:

control powerpoint with ipad

But if you're looking for a way to remote-control a copy of PowerPoint that's *running* on an iPad, I'm not sure there's anything like that. A google search on:

remote control for ipad

brings up lots of hits, but it's obvious that most of them are not relevant or require an iPhone.

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I know..thanks for replying..was trying to see if there was anything in the pipeline as many want to use it this way..but have continued to purchase new laptops..

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• Article Author

I did try finding some other options .. but I did find this and so far no one wants to spend the $ on it to test.

http://www.amazon.com/Satechi%C2%AE-Bluetooth-Pointer-Presenter-Control/dp/B00A3WRM5G

It may do the trick.

Thanks to everyone who has posted here.

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How to Play a PowerPoint Presentation on an iPad: A Step-by-Step Guide

Playing a PowerPoint presentation on an iPad is simple and straightforward. Just ensure you have the Microsoft PowerPoint app installed, and you’re good to go. You’ll be presenting in no time!

After following the steps, your PowerPoint presentation will be up and running on your iPad. Whether it’s for a business meeting or a classroom presentation, you’ll be able to engage your audience effectively.

Step by Step Tutorial on How to Play a PowerPoint Presentation on an iPad

Playing a PowerPoint presentation on an iPad involves a few simple steps that will get your slides up and ready for viewing. Let’s dive in!

Step 1: Download the PowerPoint app

First thing’s first – download the PowerPoint app from the Apple App Store.

The PowerPoint app is free to download but may require a Microsoft Office 365 subscription for full functionality. Make sure you’re signed in to your Microsoft account after downloading the app.

Step 2: Open the app and find your presentation

Open the app and locate the presentation you want to play.

You can access your presentations from cloud storage services like OneDrive or Dropbox, or you can transfer files directly to your iPad using iTunes or email.

Step 3: Open your presentation

Once you’ve found your presentation, tap to open it.

Your PowerPoint slides will appear just as they would on a computer. At this point, you can make any last-minute edits or go straight to presenting.

Step 4: Play your presentation

To start your presentation, tap the “Play” icon.

Your iPad will switch to presentation mode, displaying your slides full-screen. Swipe left or right to navigate through the slides.

Step 5: Use additional features as needed

Take advantage of PowerPoint’s features like highlighting or drawing on slides during your presentation.

These features can be accessed by tapping the pen icon on the screen. They add an interactive element to your presentation and can help emphasize key points.

Tips for Playing a PowerPoint Presentation on an iPad

• Make sure your iPad is charged or plugged in; you don’t want it dying mid-presentation!
• Familiarize yourself with the app’s interface before the presentation to avoid any hiccups.
• Use a stylus for more precise highlighting or drawing on slides.
• If you’re presenting to a group, connect your iPad to a larger screen using AirPlay or an adapter.
• Practice navigating through your slides on the iPad to ensure a smooth presentation.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can i edit my powerpoint presentation on the ipad.

Yes, the PowerPoint app allows you to edit presentations directly on your iPad.

Can I play a presentation without an internet connection?

Yes, once the presentation is downloaded to your device, you do not need an internet connection to play it.

Can I use my iPad as a remote for the presentation?

Yes, with the right setup, you can use your iPad as a remote control to navigate through your slides.

Are animations and transitions supported on the iPad?

Most animations and transitions in PowerPoint are supported on the iPad app.

Can I add notes to my presentation on the iPad?

Yes, you can add and view presenter notes in the PowerPoint iPad app.

• Download the PowerPoint app from the Apple App Store.
• Open the app and locate your presentation.
• Open your presentation.
• Play your presentation using the “Play” icon.
• Use additional features like highlighting or drawing as needed.

Playing a PowerPoint presentation on an iPad is a breeze once you know the steps. With the portability and convenience of the iPad, you’re no longer tethered to your laptop for presentations. The ability to edit on the go, use interactive features, and present without a hitch makes the iPad a powerful tool for anyone needing to share information visually.

Remember to download the PowerPoint app, familiarize yourself with its features, and practice beforehand to ensure your presentation goes smoothly. And don’t forget, a well-charged iPad is a happy iPad! So, the next time you need to play a PowerPoint presentation, consider using your iPad and impress your audience with your tech-savviness.

Matthew Burleigh has been writing tech tutorials since 2008. His writing has appeared on dozens of different websites and been read over 50 million times.

After receiving his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Computer Science he spent several years working in IT management for small businesses. However, he now works full time writing content online and creating websites.

His main writing topics include iPhones, Microsoft Office, Google Apps, Android, and Photoshop, but he has also written about many other tech topics as well.

Read his full bio here.

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How to control a presentation on computer using iPad?

I am presenting something to a small audience of 50+ people. I have a projector to which I will connect my laptop.

Instead of navigating the presentation (Microsoft PowerPoint) on the computer and reading the presenter's notes, is there a way to do that from an iPad?

My iPad and computer can connect using Bluetooth. If needed, I can connect both to Internet streaming from my phone.

My equipment is:

• Presentation in Microsoft Office 2013
• Laptop (Dell Inspiron, Intel i3) with Windows 8.1
• iPad (Air 2) with iOS 8.3

P.S.: Please note that I am more interested in solutions which don't require spending money, as I already spent a lot on the iPad and laptop.

• microsoft-powerpoint
• microsoft-office-2013
• presentations
• microsoft-powerpoint-2013

It would appear that there are apps on the appstore that accomplish this. Here is an example of one such app, though there seem to be several choices (some of which may be free).

Googling "control powerpoint with ipad" returned many results and apps that accomplish exactly what you are asking.

• 1 +1 Yes, I'm sure there are many similar apps, but there is one from Microsoft as well. –  paradroid Jun 2, 2015 at 15:49
• That seems like a good solution, I didn't see that in my research –  Matt Walck Jun 2, 2015 at 15:50
• I just realised that the iOS version is another app for Remote Desktop. Office Remote is currently only available on Windows Phone and Android, although the Android version only came out recently, so there may be an iOS version soon. –  paradroid Jun 2, 2015 at 15:51

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A Beginner’s Guide to PowerPoint on the iPad

This is the third in our series of articles about Microsoft Office for the iPad, and the results so far have been decidedly mixed. We found Word to be surprisingly powerful and a good alternative to the desktop version for all but the most hardcore word processors out there. Excel was more of a let down with lots more functionality missing, including many elements that would be notable to even light spreadsheet users. We’re happy to report that PowerPoint is much closer to Word than Excel, and even more than either of those apps, you could use PowerPoint perfectly well on your iPad and never touch the desktop version. In fact, some of the design decisions Microsoft have made might even make you put together better presentations than if you had the complete desktop app at your disposal.

Our Must-Have, Most Used Productivity Apps

We spend an inordinate amount of time sorting through hundreds of apps to find the very best. We put together a short list of our must-have, most-used apps for increasing productivity.

PowerPoint for iOS is free from the App Store and allows you to view PowerPoint files from anywhere. If you want to edit or create presentations from the iPad though, you’re going to need to subscribe to Office 365 , which runs $6.99/month or $70/year for individuals on up to 5 devices. An Office 365 subscription comes with the full Microsoft Office suite of apps as well was 1TB of OneDrive storage, so there is quite a bit of value there.

Whether this is a fair price is a matter we can only leave to you, but the software package on offer, and especially the 1TB of cloud storage that works across iOS, Android, macOS, Windows, and Linux, makes this a pretty compelling subscription in our eyes.

Of note, Microsoft only requires iPads over 10.1” to pay up to get editing functionality. If you have a 9.7” iPad, iPad Mini, or even an iPhone, then you can use the full version of PowerPoint (and all other Office apps) without an Office 365 subscription. Apparently productivity starts at 10.1” in Microsoft’s world — not that we’re complaining.

Out of the Box Experience

If you start with PowerPoint on the iPad and want to begin building presentations from scratch, the iPad version gives you everything you need to start creating right away.

There are 25 built-in templates you can start with. While not all of them are great, ones like Parcel, Celestial, Ion, and Mesh are all really nice templates that you can use to create professional-looking presentations. Some of them are more fun and offer a more distinct look, but for many people, simplicity is king and the options here are more than capable of making you look good at your next speaking gig.

As you would expect, each of these 25 templates have an assortment of slide types so you can move between titles, lists, and giant images with a consistent experience for your audience.

And if you were worried about getting your content into these slides, fear not because PowerPoint for iPad has tons of tools around adding animations to elements on your slides, transitions between slides, drawing on and marking up content, and adding things like tables, images, icons, and videos into your slides.

Basically, if you work entirely from the iPad, you’ll have more than enough control over everything to put together a presentation that you can be proud of.

Adding Some Flair

PowerPoint has quite a few tools for customizing the feel of your presentations, and while I’d contend that adding too many effects and transitions to a slide deck can be detrimental, these can of course be used well and the fact that so much is here should allow most people to create exactly what they want.

There are 35 ways you can have items on a slide appear or disappear and 17 different ways you can emphasize specific elements on a slide. And if you like transitions, there are a sweeping 49 options for how you move from one slide to another. Should you use all of these? God no. Does this level of flexibility enable a bunch of cool one-off effects? Oh yes!

And then there are a bunch of different drawing tools you can use to add a little panache. Similar to most markup apps you know and love , there are several drawing tools like pencils, markers, and highlighters, as well as a cool cosmic pen that is just fun. You can make this animate into the slide so you can have custom-looking animations that call out something specific on your slides.

Another thing I really like is a feature called Design Ideas. This is found under the Design tab and you can use it on any slide in your presentation. PowerPoint will look at the content of the slide and give you a few suggestions for alternative styling. For example, I had a basic bulleted list and it suggested this nicer layout for a short list:

One of the things I love about how this is set up in the PowerPoint UI is that none of these effects are visible from the main tabs you’ll use when creating your slides. This breaks up the workflow between content and style. You’ll likely find yourself putting together all your content together across however many slides you need and then going back through it all to add whatever animations and transitions you think you need. Again, since the content of a slide deck is far more important than the flair on top of it, this behavioral encouragement is spot on.

Collaboration

As with Microsoft’s other Office apps, the collaboration features from the desktop and web versions are here and they work great. You can work in real time with anyone else whom you’ve shared the document. You can see their edits in real time and they’ll see yours, no matter the platform they are on.

Comments are supported as well, and you or others can leave comments on certain points of the presentation, and there is even version control so you can go back to potentially dozens of versions of the presentation and restore them (or save them as a new copy).

Giving Your Presentation

The presentation itself is the whole reason for making a slide deck — that experience is rock solid — but might be limited compared to what you have on the desktop.

First off, you can present a presentation you created on the iPad on any device that runs PowerPoint, but if you want to present from an iPad, the easiest way to do so is to plug into the screen you are going to be using via a DisplayPort/HDMI/DVI cable that uses Lightning or USB-C (depending on your iPad). After you’re connected to an external display, you’ll see your slides in all their glory on the external display and the presenter view will appear on the iPad itself.

If you happen to be somewhere that has an AirPlay compatible screen (most likely through an Apple TV), then you can also mirror your screen to the AirPlay device and you’ll get the same effect where the slides show on the AirPlay receiver and the presenter view shows on the iPad.

Whether using wired or wireless connections for the presentation, you can always tap and hold on your iPad screen to bring up a virtual laser pointer to point out whatever you want to highlight on a particular slide. It’s actually pretty slick and more useful than I expected it to be.

PowerPoint as a Good iOS Citizen

Unlike some other companies who take forever to support iOS’s latest and greatest features, Microsoft has done a pretty decent job of keeping up with the times. Using PowerPoint in late 2019 feels like using an app built to use most of iOS’s (and iPadOS’s) latest features.

Pretty much all the main contenders are here: drag and drop works well and lets you drag in your own media straight from things like Files, Photos, or even Safari and drop them into your slides with ease. The UI for this is rather limited, and you don’t quite know what will happen when you drop something like a photo onto a slide, but you can of course resize and reorient objects once they’re on the slide.

PowerPoint also supports split screen, which is very useful for this sort of app as it allows you to have your research on one side of the iPad and your presentation on the other. I constantly find myself bouncing back and forth when putting together a PowerPoint presentation, and this would be a near deal-breaker for me personally.

The one major iPadOS feature this doesn’t currently support is multi-window. iPadOS 13 enabled apps to have multiple documents open at once and PowerPoint does not support this at all. This is a less egregious omission since most people tend to work on one presentation at a time, but sometimes you might want to reference another presentation that you’ve created or are comparing your slides to ones someone else made.

Overall, PowerPoint strikes a good balance of being unmistakably Microsoft without feeling like a Windows app on the iPad.

Apple Keynote and Google Slides

While PowerPoint is the undisputed standard for presentations, the options from Apple and Google are also compelling and have the distinct advantage of each being completely free. Without getting too much into the weeds here, the short overviews of each of these competitors are:

Apple Keynote lets you more easily create great-looking slides with modern, elegant templates. The app also feels more finely tuned to iPadOS’s UI is a very smooth experience from start to finish. Collaboration is a big issue though if you are not working with others on iPads or Macs. And even if you are, the collaborative editing capabilities are far less robust than what Microsoft has in PowerPoint.

Google Slides is a very minimal presentation tool, but it gets the job done. If your needs are very basic and you value a cloud-based solution with great real-time collaborate editing, then Slides can serve your needs very well. But if you want to have a little more style in your deck, then you’re going to be left wanting here. It’s not the end of the world, but it’s certainly not the best in class.

In short, if you value compatibility and collaboration, PowerPoint is the clear winner. If you value great design in your slides and a delightful iPadOS experience, Keynote is king. And if you just want what is on the web and included in your Google account, then Slides will be okay for you, but you’re probably not going to fall in love with it.

Ultimately, many of us don’t have a choice in the apps we use to give presentations. These usually happen at work and the company has some standard in place for creating presentations, so the choice has been made for you already. If you have any say at all in what presentation software to use, then we think PowerPoint is a great way to make them on the iPad.

With a rich set of tools to make everything from basic to wild and flashy presentations possible, it’s bolstered by a robust set of collaboration features as well as the simple fact that it’s the de-facto standard across most of the business world. You’ll probably have little-to-no friction in making this work for you and your business.

If you are working solo or there really isn’t any need to use one app or another, then Keynote is a very compelling alternative, and is the feather in iWork’s cap. it’s an excellent app that makes is dead simple to create professional-looking presentations with very little effort. Oh yeah, and it’s completely free! Not everyone will love this, but it’s definitely something to consider using if you’re not totally sold on PowerPoint.

Training videos for PowerPoint for iPad

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PowerPoint for iPad: A Visual Guide

• PowerPoint Tutorials
• Miscellaneous
• October 29, 2017

In this first ever visual guide for the iPad version of Microsoft PowerPoint (iPad PPT), we show you step-by-step how to use the app, as well as all of the nitty gritty details behind it that you likely don’t know.

We highlight those “little hiccups” that will drive you up the wall (it’s still not the same experience as your desktop version), and we’ve done our best to show you the workarounds, if and when they exist.

Make sure to note the orange boxes we’ve sprinkled through the guide with pro tips and tricks based on years of experience building PowerPoint presentations…ignore them at your own peril

We will do our best to keep this guide up to date with each new Microsoft update. If you see something that we’ve missed, PLEASE let us know and we’ll do our best to update this guide ASAP.

Don’t have the PowerPoint app on your iPad yet?  Download it by clicking here .

Things that go well with your iPad

Here are some useful resources for working with PowerPoint for the iPad:

Microsoft apps for the iPad

If you want to edit or display your Microsoft documents in their native environments on your iPad or iPhone, you’ll need to download the Microsoft PowerPoint, Word, Excel, OneNote, and OneDrive apps on your iPad and iPhone through the iTunes store.  Find them here .

Microsoft Office 365

Get automatic upgrades and unlimited storage by signing up for the Microsoft 365 subscription model. Check out the latest of version of Microsoft Office here .

Lightning to VGA adapter

If you’re giving presentations with your iPad, don’t assume the meeting room will have the right adapters for you. So make sure you always bring one with you. I like apple’s adapters as they’re sleek and are 100% compatible with your device.

Bluetooth speaker

Again, if you’re giving a presentation in a meeting room and need to play music/video, be aware that your ipad’s speakers will probably not be strong enough to fill the whole room. This super compact wireless speaker hooks up incredibly easily to your ipad or iphone with no software or app necessary, and provides really high quality sound for the price.

iPhone/iPad stand

Although the iphone and ipad are designed to be light and portable, carrying them around throughout a presentation, especially if you’re moving around a room, can be a bit cumbersome. Keep your device upright and in front of you with this no-frills stand. It will fit just about any device.

Disclosure:  please note that some of the links below are affiliate links, and at no additional cost to you, we will earn a commission if you decide to make a purchase.  Please understand that we have experience with all of these companies, and we recommend them because they are helpful and useful, not because of the small commissions we make if you decide to buy something.  Please do not spend any money on these products unless you feel you need them or that they will help you achieve your goals.

FINALLY…PowerPoint on our tablet! Down with the laptop and the desktop! Not so fast…

Although it is EXCITING to finally have PowerPoint on the iPad….there are MANY more versions to come before it can replace the desktop PowerPoint environment.

Until then, PowerPoint on your iPad is best thought of as an “extension” of the desktop experience, not as a replacement.

Yes, with each new PowerPoint for iPad update, you do get some new features, but the vast majority of REAL work that you do in PowerPoint (in our humble opinion) should still be done on your desktop.

Why? Because it’s just plain faster!

Yes, we are biased…we live, die and breath shortcuts on our keyboard AND we use LOTS of tips and tricks that haven’t come onto the iPad (yet)….so it’s okay to disagree with us.

With all that said, this is a GREAT step forward and we are PSYCHED for all the future updates and the new Office 2015.

We hope this guides helps make PowerPoint on your iPad a little bit, if not A LOT, easier for you to figure out.

This guide is organized according to the different Views in the app, and then according to each element within those Views. You can access all of these pieces using the tables of contents bar on the left.

If you want a fast way to find a command, simply hit Ctrl + F on your keyboard to search this page.

Account Settings

In this section, we look at the different things you can do in the Account Settings, such as signing out, signing in, and how to add multiple OneDrive accounts. To do any of these, you’ll have to go into the File View. In the top left hand corner, you have your Account Settings icon (with or without your account picture).

Signing out

Pro Tip:  Instead of signing out of your account, you can add multiple OneDrive services to the same account so that you can access your business and personal files.

If you accidentally get signed out, here’s a step-by-step guide for how to sign back into your account. To sign into your account, follow these 4 steps (click to open gallery & instructions):

Microsoft Account: Sign in with the account you use for OneDrive, Xbox, LIVE,  Outlook.com  or other Microsoft services.

Organizational Account: Sign in with the account provided by your work, school or university.

Adding a service

Pro Tip:  Your Office 365 account starts with a OneDrive service attached to it (whether or not you have anything in it). If you have multiple OneDrive accounts, you can add them to your account (home or office accounts), allowing you to access those files directly on your iPad.

Note:  Only Microsoft OneDrive, SharePoint, and Dropbox are currently supported on Office for iPad.

In this section, you will learn how to create a new file/presentation, from scratch, as well as some key tips to keep in mind. To create a new presentation, follow these 2 steps (click to open gallery & instructions):

Recent files

• If you have an internet connection, the most recent version of the file will be downloaded from your OneDrive and will open on your iPad.
• If you do not have an internet connection BUT have previously opened the document on your iPad before, the document will open, but it will not reflect any recent changes made to the version on your OneDrive (if you’ve made any changes from your desktop).
• If you do not have an internet connection and have never opened the document before on your iPad. You will receive a ‘No Internet Connection’ dialog box (below).

• Email as Link: Creates a “View Only” link or a “View and Edit” link of your file and launches the Mail App.
• Email as Attachment: Attaches the presentation to an email, the recipient can open and edit the document natively.
• Copy Link: Creates a “View Only” link or a “View and Edit” link of your file that you can paste into other documents or emails.

Move to Cloud: Allows you to move a presentation stored locally on your iPad onto your OneDrive. This option is only available when working with a file that is stored locally on your iPad.

Remove from Recent:  Removes a file from this Recent menu here on your iPad AND on your desktop. This is not the same as deleting a file, it merely removes it from the Recent files list. To delete a file, you’ll have to go into Properties in the Open menu.

Discard Changes:  Still not really clear what this does. If you figure it out, let us know.

Properties: Shows you additional properties about your file including filename, location, type, size, author, created, last modified, modified by and company.

Note: You can only create links for files stored on your OneDrive. If you have a locally stored file that you want to share a link to, you first need to move it to your OneDrive before you can create and share a link.

Note:  You cannot edit any of these properties from your iPad, you must do so from your desktop version of PowerPoint. However, there are work arounds that will allow you to change the file name from your iPad. To see how that works, check out the section on renaming and duplicating your files.

Sharing:  Below the file name, you can see if the document is being shared with anyone else.

Reloading Your Files:  If you don’t see a file that you have recently saved to the OneDrive, push and drag down with your finger to reload the file menu. Sometimes there is some lag time depending on the speed of your internet connection.

• To Pin a file:  Simply select a non-colored pin
• To Unpin a file:  Simply reselect the colored pin

Pro Tip:  Keep in mind that pinned documents’ names do not update in this recent list if you change their file name. If you try and open a pinned file that has been renamed, you will receive an error message. So if you pin files and rename them, you will need to do some pin-maintenance either on your iPad or desktop version of PowerPoint.

The ‘Open’ area of the File View is where you will find all of the documents on your OneDrive services, as well as those saved on your iPad. So in this section, we’ll cover how to go about opening your files, as well as some EXTREMELY handy Pro Tips about sharing your documents and editing their properties.

• Email as Link:  Creates a “View Only” link or a “View and Edit” link of your file and launches the Mail App.
• Email as Attachment:  Attaches the presentation to an email, the recipient can open and edit the document natively.
• Copy Link:  Creates a “View Only” link or a “View and Edit” link of your file that you can paste into other documents or emails.

Delete: This is the only place where you can delete files from your different OneDrive accounts or from your iPad.

Properties: Shows you additional properties about your file, including: filename, location, type, size, author, created, last modified, modified by and company.

The Normal View

Navigation buttons

1. Back Button

The undo and redo commands are the iPad keyboard of the CTRL + Z and CTRL + Y keyboard shortcuts on the desktop version of PowerPoint. Similar to the desktop version, you are given 15 commands in both directions, you can undo undo up to 15 actions, or redo 15 actions.

Note: ​ The Navigation Bar is fixed as is. You currently cannot add other commands to it like you can on a Windows based version of PowerPoint with the Quick Access Toolbar. We hope to see this updated in a later version!

4. Autosave

The AutoSave command controls whether or not changes to your presentation are automatically saved and synced with OneDrive. By default, PowerPoint for your iPad is set to AutoSave, which occurs:

• Periodically as you are working within your presentation
• Immediately when you hit the back button to return to the file menu view

Don’t make the same mistake I made – save your presentation!

This might sound obvious, but before closing PowerPoint on your iPad, hit the Back Button to return to the file menu view to ensure that the latest edits to your presentation are saved.

If you close the PowerPoint app by double-clicking the Apple button and swiping up (thus closing the app), you can lose the latest changes to your presentation…not fun!

So to ensure you save your latest changes, hit the button BEFORE closing the PowerPoint app.

​ If you choose this mode, to save your presentation, you need to either:

• Open the file menu and hit the green save button
• Hit the back button to return to file menu view to launch the Save dialog box

The Name command allows you to edit the name of a newly created AND unsaved PowerPoint presentation. As 90% of the presentations you work on your iPad will not be newly created or unsaved, this option will likely always be greyed out.

For example, if you create a new presentation on your iPad and have not saved it, the name command option is available. That said, as soon as you save the file with a name, this option becomes greyed out (forever).

How do you rename a file on your iPad?

To rename a presentation (or other office file) on your iPad, you either have to:

#1: Duplicate the presentation and save it with a new name. This will create a brand new document, so if you don’t want the older document, you will need to navigate to where it is saved on your iPad, or on your OneDrive and delete it. Painful, I know!

#2: Use the OneDrive app to rename your document (see our blog post on how to rename files in your OneDrive app).

6. Duplicate

The duplicate command creates a new copy of your current presentation and takes you to the File Menu View to rename your presentation (the same is true for the other Microsoft Office apps on your iPad). This is the Save As equivalent, or F12 keyboard shortcut on your desktop version of PowerPoint.

Note:  Duplicating a presentation will not overwrite the original presentation, it will only create a new presentation with the new name you give it.

How to move my Presentation from OneDrive to my iPad:

To move a file from OneDrive to your iPad, you need to open the file, duplicate it and then select your iPad as the storage device. There is currently not a “move to iPad” command like there is a “move to cloud” command.

Note: Files stored on your iPad open faster than their OneDrive equivalents as they do not need to download the latest version.

The restore command gives you a options for reverting back to an earlier version of your PowerPoint presentation.

You can either:

• Back to the original you started with:  Revert back to when it was last opened (PowerPoint will give you the specific time that it was opened). Doing so you get a warning indicating at what time the file was opened, so you get a sense of how far back you are going. Note: If this option is greyed out, it means there is currently nothing to revert back to.
• Back to an online saved version of your presentation:  Can revert back to an online saved version of your presentation. This option assumes that the file is saved on OneDrive and that you have an internet connection. Selecting this option launches safari and takes you to OneDrive. Log in with your Microsoft account and you will see all of the previous versions of your file by date on the left (assuming you have some) and allows you to revert back to that specific date.

9. Properties

Shows you the properties of your PowerPoint presentation including:

• Last modified
• Modified by

Note:  File Properties (other than Name) are only editable on the desktop version of PowerPoint. To modify a presentation’s name, you can duplicate the presentation and save it as a new name, or use the OneDrive app for PowerPoint to edit the presentation’s name on your OneDrive. To learn more about this, check out our  article on using the OneDrive App .

The Help and Support button launches basic help, support and tutorials for PowerPoint on your iPad. This menu is not extensive, but does offer solutions to simple questions you might have.

Note:  You do need an internet connection to launch this dialog box.

The Home tab

1. New slide

This opens the PowerPoint slide gallery and allows you to pick from the available layouts within your presentation.

The five slide layouts shown in the picture are the standard layouts we use at Nuts & Bolts Speed Training for 99% of all of our PowerPoint presentations, you might have more or less slides layouts depending on your setup.

The Price of iPad Portability

Limited to Inserting Slides Only: You are limited to inserting slides layouts on your iPad. The Slide Master View is currently unavailable for PowerPoint on your iPad.

Changing a Slide’s Layout: You are limited to inserting new slides on your iPad, you cannot push a layout onto an existing slide.

To move an existing slide onto an new layout, you either need to wait until you are on your desktop version of PowerPoint, or insert a new slide layout, and copy and paste the different objects onto the new slide layout….kind of sucks, but that’s the price of portability.

2. Font styles

Copying and Pasting Style: If you are simply trying to match the font style of an object, it is often faster to copy and paste the font style you are trying to match, rather than identifying the font style, and then changing the font elsewhere

Microsoft Account: Sign in with the account you use for OneDrive, Xbox, LIVE,  Outlook.com  or other Microsoft services.

3. Font size

The font size dropdown in PowerPoint for iPad gives you three different ways to change the font size of your text:

#1 Pre-set Sizes:  Select a preset size in the dropdown menu

#2 Clicker:  You can use the plus and minus signs to select a font size

#3 Manually:  You can double-tab the number between the plus sign and minus sign, and manually type in your desired font size

4. Bold / italics / underline

• Bold:  Creates bold text for highlighting information, often used in titles.
• Italics:  Creates italicized text for highlighting information, often used in subtitles and quotes.
• Underline : Creates an underline text for highlight information, often used in titles and subtitles.

Note:  There is no way to make a double underline in PowerPoint for your iPad. Pro Tip:  Don’t overdo it

If everything is important, nothing is important. Use text highlighting sparingly to better emphasize your points.

5. Formatting

• Strikethrough: Creates a strikethrough effect to emphasize that something should be removed
• Subscript  &  Superscript : Creates the -25% offset subscript and +30% offset superscript formatting. These are typically used in formulas, mathematical expressions and specifications for chemicals and isotopes

Includes the basic theme colors for your PowerPoint presentation, and their resulting gradients (which you cannot manually set).

Automatic:  The automatic color is determined by the “Windows Text” color set in Control Panel Display Appearance. Changing this color will affect text color in all Windows applications.

Editing Your Presentation’s Theme:  Currently you are not allowed to change or edit your PowerPoint presentation’s theme on your iPad. All theme editing or updating must be done on your desktop version of PowerPoint.

Setting Your Presentation’s Defaults on Your Desktop:  You can set the default formatting for your objects on your desktop version of PowerPoint and those defaults will carry over into PowerPoint for your iPad.

6b. More colors

#1 More Colors:  Selecting more colors gives you a dialog box with standard colors to choose from.

#2 Recent Colors:  If you use the Custom Color option to create your own colors within your presentation, this second row of recent colors populates.

#3 Custom Color:  Allows you to select your own color from a color grid (which is not very useful as you cannot get a precise color).

Advanced Color Formatting:  Currently there are no options to input RGB or HSL codes to create specific custom colors or apply transparencies in PowerPoint for your iPad. The eyedropper tool is also not available.

To copy a custom color style (font color, shape fill or shape outline) into your recent colors to reuse somewhere else, see our blog post on using custom colors in PowerPoint on your iPad. 7. Text styles

Includes standard WordArt styles you can apply to highlight your message.

Style Note:  WordArt is often distracting and hard to read and should be used sparingly if at all. See the example of Aqua, Accent 1, Reflection below the font styles gallery I created.

Note:  You do not have the Text Fill, Text Outline and Text Effect options that you have on your desktop version of PowerPoint. You are currently limited to these 20 styles.

Left / Center / Right / Justify:  Dictates the horizontal text alignment for text within a given PowerPoint object.

Top / Middle / Bottom:  Dictates vertical text alignment for text within a given PowerPoint object.

Horizontal / Rotate Clockwise / Rotate Counterclockwise / Stacked:  Dictates the rotation of your text within a given PowerPoint object. See next page for examples of each.

Columns:  Controls how many columns of text are within an object. This is often used for objects with lots of text to visually break up the text.

Note:  Notice that the alignment drop down stays open so that you can make multiple selections at the same time while working in your presentation…very handy!

Allows you to select bullet and numbers options for your lists in PowerPoint, but there are number of limitations that you should be aware of:

Limitation #1 : The Ruler –  As you cannot access the ruler in PowerPoint for your iPad, you are stuck with the default bullet and numbering tab spacing

Limitation #2: Custom Bullets –  You cannot create custom bullets like you can on your desktop version. That said, custom bullets and numbering created on the desktop version of PowerPoint does carry over into PowerPoint for your iPad, but you are not allowed to use it outside of the shape that it is currently set in.

Limitation #3: Numbers Start at 1 –  All numbers on the iPad start at 1. You cannot adjust the starting number.

10. List level increase / list level decrease

Decrease List Level:  SHIFT + TAB equivalent on the desktop version of PowerPoint. Moves a bullet or numbering backwards one indent level

Increase List Level:  TAB equivalent on the desktop version of PowerPoint. Moves a bullet or numbering forward one indent level.

11. Text box

Inserts a text box into the middle of your PowerPoint slide.

Note:  All inserted objects always start in the middle of your slide. There is currently no setting to manually place/draw your objects in after you have selected them.

12. Shapes gallery

Opens the shapes gallery and allows you to pick a shape to insert into the middle of your PowerPoint slide.

Shapes Always Default to the Center of Your Slide:  Whenever you insert an object, it always defaults to the center of your slide.

You will need to manually drag it around and position it. To make sure your shapes are the same size, either copy and paste an existing shape on your slide, or line it up next to your shape, and resize it using your SmartGuides.

The Insert tab

Inserting a table immediately gives you a default 3 by 3 table in the center of your PowerPoint slide and opens the Table Tab on the Ribbon. See Table Tab for Table Options.

3. Pictures

Selecting pictures opens the Photo Gallery. Currently, you are only allowed to insert pictures that are stored locally on your iPad (in your Camera Roll, Photo Streams, etc.).

If you have company pictures on your computer that you want to access on your iPad, you can share those pictures wireless through the iCloud service so that you can access them in PowerPoint on your iPad.

Check out  Apple’s step-by-step walk-through of the iCloud service .

Opens the shapes gallery and adds the Shape Tab on the Ribbon.

Default Your Shapes on Your Desktop:  To avoid clumsy formatting in PowerPoint for your iPad, I highly recommend setting default formatting on the desktop version of PowerPoint for your specific decks as it carries over onto your iPad.

To set the default formatting on your desktop version of PowerPoint, simply right-click the shape you want to default the formatting for, and in the right-click menu, select set as default shape (line or text box, depending on what you are defaulting).

5. Text boxes

Inserts a text box into the middle of your PowerPoint slide and opens the Shapes tab on the Ribbon.

Pro Tip:  Insert rectangles instead of text boxes to avoid the default “resize shape to fit text” setting. All text boxes start with this default setting and there is no way to un-select or change this formatting option in PowerPoint for your iPad.

The Transitions tab

1. Transition effect

Represents the 39 different types of transitions you can apply to your PowerPoint slides on your iPad.

32 of the 39 transition effects have effect options associated with them which changes the direction of the transition. These variations are often from left to right, or from top to bottom. For the style effects to be active, a transition with effects has to first be applied to a slide.

To change the effect options, simply select the alternative transition effect you would like for your slide.

Style Note:  As transitions are often distracting when giving a presentation, I highly recommend using them sparingly (if at all) within your presentations.

Previewing a Transition:  To preview your transition, hit the “from current” icon in the upper right hand corner of your screen to start the presentation form the current slide. Once in presentation mode, swipe right once to move to the previous slide, and then swipe left to preview the transition you just set for your slide.

Transitions without effects:

• The Flash, Curtains

3. Apply to all styles

The Review tab

1. Show comments

Allows you to turn comments on or off in your PowerPoint presentation. Comments appear either in the upper left hand corner of the slide, or on the specific objects they have been added to.

Note:  Comments can be only be viewed on the iPad, there is currently no support for editing, adding or removing comments from a presentation.

2. Previous

Cycles backwards to the previous com ​ ment within your presentation, starting from your current slide

The Picture tab

1. Picture styles

Represents the 28 different preset picture styles you can apply to your pictures in PowerPoint.

2. Picture shadows

Represents the 23 different preset picture shadows you can apply to your pictures in PowerPoint.

4. Re-order

All objects on a PowerPoint slide exist in a stacking or layering order based on when they were inserted onto the slide.

• Bring Forward:  Brings an object forward, one layer.
• Bring to Front:  Brings an object to the front layer of all the other objects on the slide
• Send Backward:  Sends an object backwards one layer.
• Send to Back:  Sends an object all the way to the back layer behind all the other objects on the slide.

Pro Tip 2:  The Bring to Front and Send to Back commands are the fastest and easiest commands to use, as you know exactly where your objects will go. Best practice is to use these first, and then readjust any other objects that you want behind or in front of your other objects.

Note:  More than one object has to be present on the slide for this command to be active.

The Shapes tab

1. Text Styles

The Text Styles gallery includes the 20 standard WordArt text styles that you can use to bring emphasis to or highlight the text within your presentation.

Are text styles worth using?  Typically not, but it really depends on what you are trying to accomplish.

For example, for corporate presentations, WordArt is distracting and hard to read and should be used sparingly, if at all. That said, if you are using PowerPoint as a medium for creating a poster or a graphic for a website, the WordArt text styles could be useful.

Missing Text Styles Options:  In PowerPoint for your iPad, the Text Fill, Text Outline and Text Effect formatting options are not available, you can currently only play with these options on your desktop version of PowerPoint.

2. Shape Styles

The Shapes Styles represent the 42 different default shape formatting styles you can apply to your shapes in PowerPoint. Now although these are tempting to use, keep in mind that anyone who has PowerPoint has access to these shape styles, so simply using these default formatting styles will result in a very default looking PowerPoint presentation.

Can I change the default shapes styles in the gallery?  Yes, the shape styles are dictated by your PowerPoint theme settings, so manipulating or building a corporate theme will change these default formatting styles.

3. Shape fill

Allows you to change the shape outline color in PowerPoint.

• Bring Forward:  Brings an object forward, one layer
• Bring to Front:  Brings an object to the front layer of all the other objects on the slide
• Send Backward:  Sends an object backwards one layer
• Send to Back:  Sends an object all the way to the back layer behind all the other objects on the slide

The Table tab

• Single tap a table:  Get the standard object edit menu.
• Double tap a cell within a table:  Get the table specific edit menu.
• Cut:  Cuts the text out of the selected cell.
• Copy:  Copies the text in the selected cell.
• Paste:  Pastes in your last copied text or object. Note that you cannot copy and paste formatting between tables.
• Clear:  Clears the contents of the cell.
• Delete:  Opens an additional menu allowing you to either delete the column or row you are currently in.
• Insert:  Allows you to insert a column to the left of the current cell, or a row above your current cell.
• AutoFit:  Collapses the column width to fit the text within it.

• Header Row:  Formats the first row in your table as a header row
• Total Row:  Formats the last row in your table as a total
• Banded Row:  Adds a rotating fill color to the horizontal rows of your table
• First Column:  Highlights the first column in a table
• Last Column:  Highlights the last column in a table
• Banded Columns:  Adds a rotating fill color to the vertical columns of your table

​ ​​​​ Note:  As you make table selections, the style gallery will populate with a live preview of those options for the different table styles.

2. Table styles

From a formatting perspective, I highly recommend starting with a pre-formatted table style that gets you closest to your end result, and then manually tweaking the table from there.

Lists the different default table styles you can apply to your tables in PowerPoint.

Note:  The Styles Options (discussed above) that you have selected, will be shown within the Table Styles Gallery making it easier to pick the default style that get you closest to your end goal.

Style Note:  Use the formatting / highlighting sparing to increase the effectiveness of your table.

Tapping the fill colors opens the theme colors drop down, which you can use to manually override any of the Table Styles you have already applied to your table.

Pro Tip:  To reverse the banding of your rows or columns, first, manually format the first row or column with a fill color, and then toggle on or off the header row option or the first column option.

Note:  You are not able to change the outline weights or colors of a table or cells within a table in PowerPoint on your iPad. All table border formatting will have to wait until you are on your desktop of PowerPoint.

Gives you options to insert rows above or below the current cell you have selected within your table, or columns to the left or right of the current cell you have selected.

How can I insert multiple rows or columns at the same time?  To insert multiple rows or columns within your table, first select multiple rows or columns within your table. With multiple rows or columns selected, when you click insert, the same number of rows or columns will be added to your table.

Deletes the row, column or table that you currently have selected.

How do I AutoFit multiple columns at the same time?  First select the individual columns (or the entire table) before selecting AutoFit.

7. Alignment

The Text Alignment command changes the horizontal text alignment (Left, Center, Right) or the vertical text alignment (Top, Middle, Bottom) of a cell within the selected cell in your table (similar to using the Text Alignment tool on your shapes or other PowerPoint objects).

The Reorder command allows you to change the layering of the objects on your PowerPoint Slide. All objects on your slide exist in a stacking or layering order (one on top of the other) based on when they were inserted on to the slide.

• Bring Forward:  Brings an object forward, one layer
• Bring to Front:  Brings an object to the front layer of all the other objects on the slide
• Send Backward:  Sends an object backward one layer
• Send to Back:  Sends an object all the way to the back layer behind all the other objects on the slide

Pro Tip:  When using the reorder command on a busy PowerPoint slide with lots of objects, the Bring to Front and Send to Back commands are the fastest and easiest to use, as you know exactly where your objects will end up.

Why is the reorder command grayed out?  More than one PowerPoint object has to be present on your slide for the Reorder command to be active.

The Notes pane

1. Opening the Notes pane To open the Notes Pane, tap in the lower right-hand corner of your screen where it says ‘Notes’.

How do I best use the Notes pane on your iPad?  I find the notes pane useful for quickly reviewing notes prior to your presentation, as the automatic full screen mode makes it easy to both review the notes for a particulate slide, and see the thumbnail of that particular slide, outlined in orange on the left side of the screen. The notes pane will also conveniently stay open on your iPad until you manually close it.

2. Closing the Notes pane

To close the Notes Pane in PowerPoint on your iPad, simply click the notes icon in in the upper right-hand corner of the slide, and you will return to the Normal View of your presentation.

Share & Slide Show View

These are the options for sharing your documents:

• Email as Link:  Creates a “View Only” link or a “View and Edit” link of your file and launches the Mail App.
• Email as Attachment:  Attaches the presentation to an email, the recipient can open and edit the document natively.
• Copy Link:  Creates a “View Only” link or a “View and Edit” link of your file that you can paste into other documents or emails.

The Slide Show icon starts your presentation in slide show mode starting form the current slide. Besides running your presentation, this is great for spot checking your content and for reviewing any transitions you have applied as there is no “live preview” for them on your iPad.

The Slide Show icon is the equivalent of hitting the F5 keyboard shortcut on your desktop version of PowerPoint.

Help us keep this article updated

We hope you’ve found this PowerPoint for iPad guide helpful.

If you’ve see something that we’ve missed, PLEASE let us know and we’ll do our best to update this guide ASAP.

Oh, and we hope you’ve paid special attention to the pro tips and tricks we’ve sprinkled through the guide to help you avoid major errors, or to help you troubleshoot issues.

What’s next?

Related articles.

• What is a broken link chart in PowerPoint (and how to fix it)?
• Bar chart trick: Right aligning categories (PPT, Word, and Excel)
• PowerPoint settings: program level vs. presentation level
• What is a linked Excel chart in PowerPoint?
• Set Up Slide Show: Customize how your PPT presentations run

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Remote control a PowerPoint running on iPad pro

Is it possible to host a powerpoint presentation on an iPad Pro but advance the slides using my iPhone (Or other remote)? I basically have swapped out my laptop for an iPad Pro, and have my presentations on the iPad, which works fine, except that I have to swipe the iPad to get to the next slide. Since the iPad is tethered to the TV, this is not very convenient, and even if it was wireless, I would still rather not carry the iPad. Surely I'm not the first to encounter this, and hopefully someone has already worked out a solution. If so, I'd love to hear it.

Posted on Apr 1, 2016 6:49 PM

Posted on Oct 8, 2017 5:41 PM

You can absolutely do this with an iPhone as the remote controller and either an iPad or a Mac computer as the presentation device As long as you open the PowerPoint presentation in Apple’s keynote app. I use this all the time.

• Open presentation in Keynote on a Mac or iPad
• open keynote app on your iPhone
• make sure both the iPad (or Mac) and iPhone are on same WiFi network or that both are connected via Bluetooth
• on the iPad, click the three periods in the upper right hand corner of screen and, in the drop down menu, select, “allow remote control”
• on the iPhone, in the Keynote app, select the iPhone icon in the upper right hand corner of screen.
• Go back to remote settings menu on iPad and pair with iPhone.
• Back in the iPhone, follow pairing instructions. When complete, select “play”
• the presentation will start to play on the iPad and you’ll see a miniature version of the presentation on the iPhone. You can then advance the presentation or reverse it by touching or swiping on iPhone.
• One the iPhone screen, you can select the annotation tool to move a pointer that will appear in iPad screen. You can also use colored pens or highlighter to annotate the presentation.
• If you have an output dongle attached to iPad (or mac) you can output presentation to play through hdmi port on a tv or large screen.

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Oct 8, 2017 5:41 PM in response to Darron Jeans1

Apr 29, 2017 3:03 PM in response to Darron Jeans1

I have tussled with this as well and found a work-around solution you may find acceptable. First, some background. I taught a six-week class this past winter and wanted to host Powerpoint presentations from my iPad mini, which was tethered to the projection setup with a Lightning-to-HDMI cable. It worked great. But there was no way to control the presentation remotely (from iPhone or other remote), unless I converted the Powerpoint to Keynote, which I was not willing to do because the conversion was messy and made unwanted changes/substitutions. So here's what I figured out: You can pair an Apple wireless "Magic" keyboard to the iPad, then use the arrow buttons on the keyboard to advance the Powerpoint as you walk around the room. (Note: this isn't the "Smart" keyboard that physically connects to iPad Pro.) Carrying the wireless keyboard around is not as cumbersome as it may sound, and I generally just set it on a nearby desk wherever I was speaking, which was vastly preferable to being stuck within reach of the iPad.

Apr 2, 2016 5:12 PM in response to Darron Jeans1

You can try ppt slides with keynote. There is a remote app included with keynote.

May 10, 2017 5:22 AM in response to MikeinRM

Apple can´t develop a Bluethoot Remote Control to do this thinks?

Sep 20, 2017 6:53 AM in response to Darron Jeans1

Hello, any Bluetooth keyboard will do, I kind of hoped my Apple Watch would do the trick but it only works with the IOS deviced paired.

Oct 6, 2017 2:15 PM in response to estebanburneo

If you/I paired my Apple Watch to my iPad Pro, would it work?

Jan 3, 2018 12:59 PM in response to Darron Jeans1

https://satechi.net/products/satechi-aluminum-wireless-presenter

Detailed Guide on How to Control PowerPoint from iPhone

PowerPoint is Microsoft's widely used presentation program that enables you to make slideshow presentations where you can discuss and present your ideas in a fascinating way. When you make presentations at class, meetings or conferences, you may use a slideshow to support your discussion, and that slideshow is much easier when you use or control PowerPoint from iPhone . Moreover, the advantage of controlling PowerPoint using your iPhone is that you can see the next slide, so even if you go far from your computer and wants to be closer to your audience, you can still see your notes. You can also annotate while presenting. Read on the following ways to start controlling PowerPoint using your iPhone.

Top 3 Ways to Control PowerPoint from iPhone

ApowerMirror

ApowerMirror is a screen mirroring program which is compatible with Windows and Mac. Using it, you can mirror photos, videos, and other media to a bigger screen. What’s more, the latest version of ApowerMirror also allows you to control PowerPoint from iPhone. It means that it is more convenient for teachers who usually show slides in class. They can remote control PowerPoint from iPhone using ApowerMirror. Here is the detailed guide:

• Launch the program both on your computer and iPhone. Make sure to connect your phone and PC to the same WiFi network. On your iPhone, tap the “M” blue button to search for the devices.
• Then select your computer from the available devices whose initial name is “Apowersoft”.
• Add the PowerPoint remote control function by tapping the Tool Management icon at the upper right corner. Then you can control PowerPoint from your iPhone.

PPT Remote Pro

Controlling your PowerPoint and Keynote presentation remotely has never been easier by using PPT Remote Pro. Just connect both devices under the same internet connection. With this tool, you can control PowerPoint from iOS and can change slide with a single click, swipe or the volume buttons using your iPhone. In addition, you can get access to a lot of features that will help you to improve your ability to bring the presentation as smooth as possible.

• Go to the official link then download and install PPT Remote Pro on your PC. Launch it and select the IP address of your internet connection then click “On” button.
• On your iPhone, open the application. The phone will automatically detect your PC. Just click “Start” button to control your PPT using your iPhone.

Power Remote Pro

Next is Power Remote Pro. This tool is a PowerPoint, Keynote, Google Slides, PDF and Word clicker for Windows & Mac, supporting Dual-Channel Tech, Internet Connection, Previews, and Notes. Moreover, clicker for PPT Control iPhone app comes with a dual-channel connection that will ensure that you will never lose connection when you remote control PowerPoint from iPhone during a presentation. You can also use it in a single channel mode. It’s a-synchronized-Coding-Validation-Tech is one of the fastest, more precise, and reliable than other ordinary physical remotes. Read on the following steps to start controlling presentations using this tool.

• Download and install Power Remote Pro on PC and on iPhone then launch it afterwards.
• On your iPhone, scan the QR code if both devices are not on the same Wi-Fi server. If both devices are under the same internet connection, your iPhone is able to find your PC automatically. Just tap “START” button to connect.
• Now you can control the PowerPoint presentation.

These tools are very useful the fact that they do not only provide options for controlling PowerPoint slideshows but enable you to control Keynote, Google Slides, PDF and Word documents too by just using your iPhone device. Furthermore, these apps require no root privilege and are available at the App Store.

Related posts:

• 6 Best Presentation Apps
• How to Make a Video Presentation
• Detailed Guide on Running PowerPoint Presentation on iPad/iPhone
• How to Recover PowerPoint Files from a PC

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8 Things I’ve Learned Using an iPad for Presentations

I love using my iPad for travel to conferences, and not just because it’s so lightweight and its battery lasts all day. For one thing, with the LTE version I’m not beholden to conference Wi-Fi; while some conferences have good connectivity, I never want to count on it. With the iPad I can nearly always get online.

But the iPad isn’t convenient only for attending conferences. It’s a good tool for presentations, too-or at least an excellent backup for a dedicated computer. I can easily be ready to present if I have a last-minute computer replacement.

Still, I had some things to learn the hard way about using an iPad for presentations. Perhaps I can save you a few steps.

The Basics of Getting Started

Learn the differences between “desktop” keynote and the ipad version.

While I present nearly exclusively from an iPad, I usually build my initial presentation on a Mac. I build all of my presentations in Keynote, and store them in iCloud. I can (and do) make tweaks to a presentation on-site via the iPad version of Keynote, but it always feels as though I’m slightly fighting with the software.

Keynote supports a customizable presenter display in both versions. On the Mac desktop version, you can pick three ways to give yourself that during-the-talk cheat sheet, instructing it to show you the current slide, next slide, and presenter notes. On the iPad, the presenter display options only give you a “two out of three” option, between current slide, next slide, and presenter notes. I begrudgingly pick Next Slide and Presenter Notes, and then I hope the venue has a confidence monitor that shows me what’s on the projector behind me.

Some folks prefer to use Powerpoint or Google Slides. This distills down to religion, and I can confidently state that those people are wrong. Both tools offer iPad versions as well, but I’m not well versed in them. Deckset doesn’t offer an iPad version, and I’ve not had much patience for the swath of custom JavaScript-based presentation tools that render Markdown inside of browsers. I want to like them, but I can’t quite get there yet. As a result, use Keynote; you’ll be happier. As an added bonus, the presentations live in iCloud; with a bit of notice you can grab a copy on someone’s Mac, iPhone, or iPad and be back in business should calamity befall your iPad.

Do be aware that this means that if your presentation requires a demo in a terminal or a web browser, you either get to do some awkward transitions—or accept that presenting from an iPad isn’t right for this talk. I still haven’t found a good way to give my “Terrible Ideas in Git” talk from an iPad due to its live demos…

Invest in a presentation remote

A presentation remote is a necessity, unless you enjoy being trapped behind the podium. I treated myself to a little luxury with the  Logitech Spotlight .

This device does it all. It speaks its own wireless protocol via a USB-A dongle that plugs into most laptops, but the Spotlight also speaks Bluetooth with a great range. Its battery charges using a built-in USB-C port that hides behind the dongle, and a single charge lasts for months.

I freely accept that most folks find the idea of paying $129 for a single-purpose device a bit nutty. Those folks generally don’t give double-digit numbers of presentations a year. A word of caution: Don’t leave it behind at the podium after your talk. It’s expensive enough to buy the first time. Please don’t ask me how I know.

Pay attention to fonts and typefaces

I have a condition I jokingly refer to as “typeface blindness.” I can’t tell the difference between most fonts unless I stare at them and actively work out what I’m seeing. I’m told this is atypical, and whenever I forget this fact I get reminded on Twitter. “Well, that’s the fifth talk so far today that uses Helvetica (the system default)” always makes me facepalm. As a result, I make it a point to not use system default fonts.

Contrary to what many folks believe, you can use custom fonts on iOS, but the process is a bit arcane. Do yourself a favor and drop the $2 for  AnyFont . This magic app streamlines an otherwise incredibly painful process.

Lessons I’ve Learned

I’m conservative here; while you can save money by buying third party adapters, I find that minimizing the risk of screwing up a presentation in front of 400 people is worth the extortionate rate that Apple charges for first party adapters. You’ll want both HDMI and VGA adapters. Both of these are available in Lightning and USB-C flavors, depending upon which generation of iPad you’re using. Note that this is less of a concern with USB-C than it is with Lightning adapters—just make certain you test all of your adapters before you leave home.

Save time; don’t bother looking for DVI adapters. The iPad officially doesn’t support it, Apple doesn’t sell them for Lightning, and I’ve only ever encountered it on the speaking circuit once. Your test a few hours before your talk will validate that you’ll be okay.

You can never be too rich, too thin, or have a big enough battery pack

Grab a beefy battery pack, and you can go days without finding a power outlet. You don’t want to discover that the podium power strip is full, the extension cord is a trip hazard, or that you don’t have the right adapter for the country you’re in when it’s time to give a talk. Having a battery pack that can borderline jump-start a car means you’re fine so long as your iPad battery level is anywhere about roughly 3%. (Too much lower and the tablet won’t boot at all.)

I like Anker products for this, but your mileage may vary. I soundly endorse finding reputable brands. Saving a few bucks on chargers, cables, or batteries that (a) plug into a very expensive electronic device and (b) have a propensity to include “sets the building on fire” in their list of failure modes just never seemed worth the trade-off to me.

Note: If you need to give away something at a booth, don’t use branded USB battery packs or chargers, as swag. At best, they’re cheap and feel flimsy. At worst, something with your logo on it started a fire.

Spend extra for an LTE connection

You can tether your iPad to a mobile device or ride on conference Wi-Fi. However, if you’re presenting frequently it’s worth the extra money to get an iPad version that can speak to the cell networks. Suddenly you no longer care what the conference Wi-Fi password is, whether you remembered to charge your phone, or if the captive portal login page is going to expire and pop up again mid-presentation.

Speaking of which…

Before the presentation, turn on both “Do Not Disturb” and “Airplane Mode”

In presentation mode, Keynote swears that it blocks pop-ups, reminders, incoming calls, and other distractions. To its credit, I’ve never seen it do otherwise.

That said, I always enable Do Not Disturb on my iPad. I put the device in airplane mode. And only then do I plug in the projector. Perhaps I’m paranoid, but you’re also not seeing horrible screenshots from my talks that feature embarrassing notifications, either.

Update nothing before your presentation

If a new iOS version or a Keynote update comes out the same week as your presentation, fine. But resist the upgrade. It can wait a day.

There have been enough regressions in software over the years that I’m extremely hesitant to trust that everything will “just work” an hour before I go on stage.

These are the sometimes-hard-won lessons I’ve learned after spending a year giving talks solely from an iPad.

Corey is the Chief Cloud Economist at The Duckbill Group, where he specializes in helping companies improve their AWS bills by making them smaller and less horrifying. He also hosts the "Screaming in the Cloud" and "AWS Morning Brief" podcasts; and curates "Last Week in AWS," a weekly newsletter summarizing the latest in AWS news, blogs, and tools, sprinkled with snark and thoughtful analysis in roughly equal measure.

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AWS has been very publicly insecure about the perception that it’s lagging behind in the Generative AI space for the past year. Unfortunately, rather than setting those perceptions to rest, AWS’s GenAI extravaganza at re:Invent 2023 seemed to prove them true.  Of the 22 GenAI-related announcements, half of them are still in preview. Many were […]

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Let’s begin with the tl;dr: At this year’s re:Invent, I’m hosting a photo scavenger hunt with significant prizes for “most items found” and “most creative entry.” Sign up through my webapp at findme.lastweekinaws.com. The rest of this post details how I built this app.

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Can I do a PowerPoint presentation using an iPad?

By: Author Shrot Katewa

I love my iPad, and If you are like me, you would want to carry it wherever you go. It is compact, light and allows me to get things done that can’t be done using my phone due to its small size! In fact, it is so convenient that it makes me wonder if I could replace my laptop with an iPad even for my client meetings? 

But, can I create a PowerPoint presentation using an iPad? Yes, you can create a PowerPoint presentation using an iPad. In fact, iPad has a bunch of different apps that allow you to run PowerPoint presentations on it. iPad’s built-in Keynote presentation software also allows you to view the PPT files. You can also install Microsoft PowerPoint to run, edit and create a PowerPoint presentations from scratch on iPad just as you run it on a laptop!

Running a PowerPoint presentation on your iPad is actually a lot easier than you think. There are, however, a few things you should be aware of. Let’s get into the details of the workings of a PowerPoint presentation on an iPad.

How to put a PowerPoint presentation on an iPad?

Sometimes, you may already have a PPT file that was shared by your colleague or a client. However, many a times, it is you who has to create a PowerPoint presentation that dazzles your audience! Creating a presentation that holds our audiences’ attention is hard. We wrote a post that covers the steps that you should be taking while creating a PowerPoint presentation. We’ve broken it down to a step-by-step process that is designed to help you with creating a presentation. (Link – www.owlscape.in/what-are-the-steps-to-create-a-powerpoint-presentation )

If you have already created a presentation using a laptop or any other computer, you’ll first need to transfer it to your iPad. There are multiple ways you could do this. I would like to share my top 3 favourite method as they are free, doesn’t take too much time, and are easy to carry out as it doesn’t require any technical expertise.

1. Transfer the PPT file to your iPad using your email

This is probably the easiest of all the three options. In all likelihood, you may already have received a PPT file from your colleagues through an email. In this case, all you need to do is simply open your email account on your iPad, click on the email that contains the PowerPoint file, and download it.

2. Transfer the PPT file to your iPad using a cloud storage service

Another quick and easy option is using a cloud storage services. There are plenty of cloud storage services such as Google Drive, Dropbox, and even iCloud. Most of these services offer at least a few GBs of free data storage. Simply upload your PPT file from your computer. Then, login to your cloud storage service on your iPad and download the PPT file on your iPad.

3. Transfer the PPT file to your iPad using WhatsApp

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHShrP6cR88

Video on how to login to WhatsApp on your iPad

Another great way to download the file directly to your iPad is by using WhatsApp. While WhatsApp is a great way to stay in touch with you friends, it is also great to share files. You can ask your colleague to send the file to you over WhatsApp. All you need to do is simply log in to your WhatsApp account on your iPad, open your colleague’s chat message, and download the file.

What is the best app for PowerPoint presentation on iPad?

In our experience, Microsoft PowerPoint is by far one of the best apps to work with PPT presentations on iPad. You can easily download and use, and if you have an Office365 subscription, it allows you access to additional functionalities which come in handy especially if you plan to edit files on-the-go on your iPad. PowerPoint presentation has been the brainchild of Microsoft, and it has been the leader by a long stretch when it comes to the presentation software.

With Microsoft PowerPoint, not only do you resolve the compatibility issues of the PPT files with software, you also get an interface you are familiar with. You can be absolutely sure that PPT file will look exactly as it is intended to when using Microsoft PowerPoint on iPad.

You can download the Microsoft PowerPoint app for your iPad from the App Store.

Is Microsoft PowerPoint app FREE for iPad?

Microsoft PowerPoint app is FREE to download and use on an iPad. Microsoft realise that the future of technology is more towards smartphones and tablets. Thus, they have a strong focus on providing access to user files on-the-go. Although you can edit PowerPoint presentations on-the-go, if you wish to get advanced functionalities, you may want to get an Office365 subscription. Having said that, most of your basic editing needs are covered in the base version of the app.

Are there any other apps for PowerPoint presentation on iPad?

Absolutely! There are several other applications that you can use to open and edit a PowerPoint presentation on iPad. All the other applications have their pros and cons. We have listed down the top 3 alternatives to Microsoft PowerPoint on iPad. They are in no order to preference.

Keynote is the native software that offers an office suite on Mac and iOS devices including iPad. It has been built from the ground up for iPad and iPhone devices. Needless to say, it is one of the most powerful software when working with presentations.

While Keynote allows you to view, open and edit a PowerPoint file, the overall functionalities are different. We’ve also seen that the look and feel of the PPT file does change when using it on Keynote. However, the changes are not major and if you are only planning to view the major contents of the PPT file on your iPad, Keynote is effective.

2. Google Slides

The best part about Google Slides is that it allows real-time collaboration on projects with its online office suite. This is great especially when your team is not based in the same location as you are.

Google Slides is also compatible with PPT files. It allows you or open, view and edit PowerPoint files on your iPad. Google Slides is FREE . All you need is a Google account to start using it.

3. WPS Office

Image credit – Mr. Phone

WPS stands for Writer (W), Presentation (P), Spreadsheets (S). It is our favourite alternative to Microsoft Office suite. It has been designed with Microsoft Office users in mind. Thus, the look and feel of WPS Office has striking similarities to that of MIcrosoft Office. For all the Microsoft Office users, WPS Office makes you surprisingly feel just at home.

If you are looking to a cheaper/free alternative to Microsoft Office suite that looks and feels just like MS Office, in our experience WPS Office by far the best option for you. It was designed with Microsoft Office users in mind. It was originally launched for Windows, however, WPS Office suite 2019 version has been expanded to both Linux and Mac users as well.

WPS Office is now also available for Mac and iOS users. You can download WPS Office directly from the App Store or visit the download section on their website . WPS Office is FREE to use although simply signing up for an account with them gives you access to premium feature for 1 year.

What equipment will I need to do a PowerPoint presentation using an iPad?

What makes the iPad really powerful is that it allows you to connect to a projector and project the presentation on a bigger screen. This comes in really handy as this negates the need to carry any laptop. Alternatively, if you consider laptop to be your first choice, instead of carrying an additional spare laptop, you can keep an iPad device as a backup just in case your laptop fails to work. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0Z6VGNlxbc

Video on how you can connect your iPad to a projector

There are multiple ways to connect your iPad to a Projector. Two of the most common ways are – 

• HDMI connection
• VGA connection 

For both the connections, you will need to buy an additional connector cable that allows you to connect the two devices.

Our personal preference is to use the VGA connector. Main reason for this is the fact that a VGA connector allows the sound to be played from the iPad itself as opposed to a HDMI connector. In an HDMI connection for an iPad, the sound is played through your projector. Another reason for preference of a VGA connector over an HDMI connector is that it is more widely available as a default connection option to the projector in most corporate offices. However, connector preference comes down to a personal choice.

So, is it worth it???

We started this article wondering whether we could do a PowerPoint presentation using an iPad, and whether we could carry an iPad to our meetings instead of a laptop. With the availability of Microsoft PowerPoint application for iPad and several other alternatives to open a PPT file on iPad, as well as the possibility to connect the iPad to a projector, we can safely conclude that an iPad can be used as a replacement to a laptop while meeting clients!

Psst… please share!

If you enjoyed reading the article, please leave us a comment below and share this with you network. This acts as a great motivation for us to keep creating useful content for your folks!

PPTControl 4+

Control your presentation, bastian aunkofer, designed for ipad.

• Offers In-App Purchases

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Description.

Control your presentations with your iPhone, iPad, or Apple Watch. For this, you need to install PPTControl Desktop on your computer. After the installation, you can select the computer on your device. While selecting, a request is sent, which can be accepted in the PPTControl Desktop application. After successful pairing, you can block new requests so that only you have control over your presentations. PPTControl Desktop can be downloaded from https://bastian-aunkofer.com/pptcontroldesktop. Conditions: To establish the connection, Bluetooth is required. Therefore, this device as well as the computer must support Bluetooth. Control via Apple Watch: The iPhone must be connected to the computer in order to take control via Apple Watch (this is required due to Apple's restrictions on the Apple Watch). More information is available at https://bastian-aunkofer.com/pptcontrol.

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- Adjustments for iOS 17 Thank you for using PPTControl!

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The developer, Bastian Aunkofer , indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy .

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The developer does not collect any data from this app.

Privacy practices may vary based on, for example, the features you use or your age. Learn More

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How to set parental controls on iPad

A pple’s iPads are one of the highest-selling products globally, and recently many parents have started buying them for their children. With this, there has been a significant surge in many younger people using iPads. However, this also means that they’re getting exposed to all the right and wrong things going on the internet in this digital age.

So, how do you safeguard your little ones while giving them the best of the technology? Well, Apple’s robust parental controls can provide a strong barrier to your child’s safe experience on the internet. That’s why, in this guide, we’ll break down the entire process of setting up parental controls on your child’s iPad. After going through this article, you can set up various parental controls, including screen time limitations, putting up content & privacy restrictions, preventing iTunes purchases, and much more.

How to Set Parental Controls on iPad

For setting up parental controls on an iPad, you first need to set up Screen Time as almost all the parental control features are present in this section.

1. Setting Up Screen Time

Screen Time gives you access to various controls, including app limits, content restrictions, usage limits, and much more. Once you set this up on your child’s iPad, you can easily control most of their activities and even prevent them from exploring inappropriate content online.

Here is how you can set it up.

1. On your child’s iPad, open Settings and tap on Screen Time.

2. Now, tap Turn on Screen Time & press Continue to confirm.

3. You will now see a pop-up with two options, This is my iPad/ This is my Child’s iPad . Press on the later option to move ahead.

4. Now, click on Use Screen Time Passcode and set a passcode to prevent your child from changing your settings on Screen Time.

5. And that’s it. You’ve successfully activated the Screen Time settings on your child’s iPad.

2. Setting Up Downtime on iPad

Downtime on an iPad gives a structured approach to managing your child's screen time. When enabled, it restricts access to most apps and mutes notifications during scheduled hours. The feature allows only pre-selected apps and contacts under 'Always Allowed', ensuring that the iPad remains a productive tool rather than a distraction. This is particularly useful during homework time or bedtime, helping your child stay focused and develop better tech habits.

Follow these steps to set it up on your child’s iPad.

1. Open Settings and tap Screen Time on your child’s iPad.

2. Now, open Downtime where you can play with different settings and set limits on the device.

3. Once you’re in, you can either turn on Downtime Until Tomorrow or Schedule it accordingly.

4. While scheduling it, you can either set a fixed time for everyday or you can even have different schedules for each day. Set them up as per your preference.

3. Setting Up App Limits

App Limits on an iPad gives a proactive approach to managing your child's app usage. This feature allows you to set daily time limits for specific apps or app categories. Once the limit is reached, the app is temporarily unavailable, helping to enforce healthy usage patterns.

For instance, you can set a limit for social media or gaming apps, encouraging your child to focus on more productive activities. Educational apps can be excluded from these limits to promote learning. The App Limits feature is customizable, so you can tailor the limits based on your child’s age, the nature of the apps, and your family’s schedule. It also includes the option to require a passcode to extend time limits, giving parents additional control over their child’s iPad usage.

If you want to set up app limits on an iPad, follow these steps.

1. On your child’s iPad, open Settings and select Screen Time .

2. Now, navigate to App Limits .

3. Once in, you can tap Set Limit and choose either a category or a specific app to set various limits for your child.

4. Setting Up Content Restrictions

Content Restrictions add a barrier between your child and the inappropriate content on the internet. You can set up many restrictions for your child under this setting and can even alter them as and when needed.

Follow these steps to set it up.

1. Open Settings and navigate to Screen Time .

2. Next, tap on Content Restrictions & Privacy and toggle on the switch.

3. Finally, select Content Restrictions to tweak the settings according to your child’s age and your preference.

4. Once in, you can find out all the different restrictions available to alter on the iPad.

5. Here you can set different restrictions for your child like Music Videos, Movies, TV, Apps, etc., and set them according to your kid’s age and your personal preference.

5. Preventing iTunes & App-Store Purchases

Many times, children knowingly or unknowingly make unwanted purchases through iTunes and third-party apps that can put a burden on your pocket. That’s why putting restrictions on such purchases becomes vital for every parent. Thankfully, Apple has certain restrictions that you could remotely set on your child’s device to prevent this.

Follow these steps to set them up and safeguard your child from making these monetary mistakes.

1. On your kid’s iPad, open Settings & navigate to Screen Time .

2. Next, open Content & Privacy Restrictions and navigate to iTunes & App Store Purchases .

3. Now, under In-App Purchases , switch the toggle to Don’t Allow .

4. Additionally, if you want to allow in-app purchases for your child, but want to give a green flag whenever they are purchasing something, you can simply turn on the password for this setting. With this, they can only make a transaction with your approval.

6. Setting Up Web Content

Web browsing is probably the most vulnerable place for a child to be exposed to a plethora of inappropriate content. This makes it a no-brainer to put certain restrictions on the application. And with Apple’s parental controls, you can put a stop to this by restricting any content that is not appropriate for a child. To do this, follow these steps.

1. On your child’s iPad, open Settings and navigate to Screen Time .

2. Next, scroll down and tap Content & Privacy Restrictions and then open Content Restrictions .

3. As you get into this section, you’ll have to tap on Web Content .

4. Now, you can pick any of the available options as suitable. You can either go ahead and limit all the adult websites or you could even manually enter certain websites that you think are not good for your little ones.

7. Allowed Changes

If you don’t want your children to tweak the settings set by you, then you must put certain restrictions under the Allowed Changes section on your child’s iPad. Preferably, you should set Don’t Allow for settings like Passcode Changes, Account Changes, and Cellular Data Changes. However, you can leave Do Not Disturb While Driving, Volume Limit, or Background App Activities if your child drives and is not too young. Once done, they could only access those features that are not harmful for them and you will eventually have a firm control over their device. Here’s how you can do that.

1. Open Settings and navigate to Screen Time on your child’s iPad.

2. Now, open Content & Privacy Restrictions and scroll down to Allow Changes .

3. Here, you can change the permission from Allow to Don’t Allow for all the available options.

Apple’s Parental Controls vs Third-Party Parental Control Apps

Let’s see whether you should opt for Apple’s in-built parental controls for your child’s iPad or use a third-party tool.

1. Integration and Compatibility

Apple's Parental Controls are seamlessly integrated into Apple devices, offering native support without additional installations, ideal for families using solely Apple products. However, Third-Party Parental Control Apps offer broader compatibility, functioning across various platforms, including non-Apple devices, making them suitable for families with a diverse range of devices, though they may require a more complex setup.

2. Features and Customization

Apple provides essential features like Screen Time limits and content filtering with straightforward customization, catering to basic needs. In contrast, Third-Party Parental Control Apps often offer more advanced features like detailed web filters and geofencing, allowing for more tailored usage rules and monitoring, which can be particularly beneficial for specific parental concerns.

3. User Experience

Apple's Parental Controls are known for their intuitive and user-friendly interface, with settings easily syncing across devices. On the other hand, the user experience with Third-Party Parental Control Apps can vary significantly, with some offering equally intuitive interfaces, while others might be more complex or less polished.

4. Security and Privacy

Apple's built-in parental controls provide high-level security being less vulnerable to hacking. Whereas, the security of Third-Party Parental Control Apps can vary, and while many are secure, they can be more susceptible to vulnerabilities, necessitating thorough research from parents on data privacy and security.

5. Cost and Subscription Models

Apple's Parental Controls are free with Apple devices, offering a cost-effective solution for Apple users. Conversely, many Third-Party Parental Control Apps have free versions with basic features, but advanced features often require a subscription fee, which can be a consideration for long-term budgeting.

6. Reporting and Monitoring

Apple offers basic activity reports and location sharing, which can suffice for general monitoring needs. In contrast, Third-Party Parental Control Apps often provide more comprehensive activity reports and detailed internet usage statistics, which can be valuable for parents seeking in-depth monitoring.

7. Cross-Platform Management

Apple's solution is limited to managing Apple devices, which can be restrictive for families with various types of devices. On the other hand, many Third-Party Parental Control Apps allow cross-platform management, enabling parents to monitor and control a range of devices from different manufacturers through a single app.

8. Ease of Setup and Maintenance

Apple's Parental Controls are generally easier to set up for those already within the Apple ecosystem, requiring minimal maintenance. However, the setup and maintenance of Third-Party Parental Control Apps can vary, with some offering more flexibility in managing diverse devices but may require more regular updates or maintenance.

1. Are Apple’s parental controls effective?

Yes, Apple’s parental controls are quite effective when it comes to setting certain restrictions on app limits and screen time limits. Your child won’t be able to access their device once they cross the limits set by you on their iPads. However, when it comes to restricting web content or app downloads on the App Store, it fails to deliver sometimes as there are many third-party tools that breach this security and give a lot of freedom to the users.

2. How can I control my kid’s iPad?

To control your kid's iPad, use the Screen Time feature in Settings. Here, you can set daily time limits for apps, schedule downtime, restrict explicit content, and manage privacy settings. You can also approve downloads and purchases from the App Store and set up Family Sharing to monitor your child's iPad usage from your device.

3. Does restricting web content work on third-party web browsers on an iPad?

Yes, restricting web content through Screen Time settings on an iPad also applies to most third-party web browsers. This includes limiting access to adult websites and the ability to add specific websites to an "allowed" or "restricted" list. However, it's always a good idea to check each browser's compliance with Apple's restrictions, as there might be variations.

4. What is the best iPad for a kid?

The best iPad for a kid depends on their age and your budget. For younger children, the iPad Mini or the basic iPad model are great choices due to their size, durability, and affordability. For older kids or for educational purposes, consider the iPad Air for its enhanced performance and features.

5. Are there any parental control apps for iPads?

Yes, there are several parental control apps available for the iPad. These apps offer additional features to Apple's Screen Time, such as more detailed activity reports, location tracking, and the ability to set time limits for individual apps. Some popular parental control apps include Qustodio, OurPact, and Norton Family. Remember to research and choose one that best fits your family's needs.

Apple's new accessibility features will let you control an iPhone or iPad with your eyes

With the global Accessibility Awareness Day just a day away, Apple has unveiled new accessibility features across its app ecosystem to help users engage with its software in new ways.

The tech giant said on Wednesday that new accessibility features are coming to an array of apps, including Apple Music, CarPlay, and Apple's iOS operating system. While Apple said the features will become available "later this year," the company stopped short of saying exactly when iPhone and iPad owners would have access to them. Instead, the company touted the features as critical in making its software available to a broader base of users.

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"These new features will make an impact in the lives of a wide range of users, providing new ways to communicate, control their devices, and move through the world," Sarah Herrlinger, Apple's senior director of Global Accessibility Policy and Initiatives, said in a statement.

Read on for a look at some of the new accessibility features coming to Apple hardware this year.

New eye-tracking features

Apple is bringing a new feature to both iOS and iPadOS that will let you navigate your iPhone and iPad with just your eye movements. The feature uses the device's front-facing camera to track your eye movements and let you move through apps. Apple said that its new Eye Tracking feature will work across both its own and third-party apps, and will work with gestures powered solely by eye movements.

Apple Music haptics

For those who are deaf or hard of hearing, Apple plans to offer a Taptic Engine feature in Apple Music. When turned on, the feature will use a series of taps, vibrations, and other tactile responses to sync to a song's audio. Apple says the feature will work "across millions of songs in the Apple Music catalog."

Addressing motion sickness

Motion sickness in cars can often be the result of a disconnect between what you see and what you feel, Apple said in a statement. To address that, the company has unveiled a new feature called Vehicle Motion Cues that will display animated dots on an iPhone's or iPad's screen when a vehicle is in motion.

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"Using sensors built into iPhone and iPad, Vehicle Motion Cues recognizes when a user is in a moving vehicle and responds accordingly," Apple said. "The feature can be set to show automatically on iPhone, or can be turned on and off in Control Center."

Understanding speech

A new feature called Voice Shortcuts will let you "assign custom utterances" that Apple's virtual personal assistant Siri will save. When Siri hears those utterances, it'll perform whatever action was assigned to it, including launching apps or engaging in more complex tasks on the device.

Another feature, Listen for Atypical Speech, will use machine learning to understand your speech patterns and your requests on-device, Apple said. The feature "gives users an option for enhancing speech recognition for a wider range of speech," the company said.

New CarPlay features

Apple's in-car CarPlay software is also getting new accessibility features, including the ability for you to navigate CarPlay and engage with apps using only your voice. A new Sound Recognition feature will display alerts on CarPlay's screen when car horns or sirens go off, and Color Filters will make CarPlay easier to use for colorblind users.

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Some other updates

Beyond those updates, Apple said that it's launching a range of smaller upgrades to improve its software accessibility, including a Magnifier feature when reading content on a device, along with a Hover Typing feature that will enlarge text for low vision users, and a Virtual Trackpad -- for those with physical disabilities -- to use only a small portion of an iPhone or iPad screen to control the software. As with the other features Apple announced, these updates should launch later this year.

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Apple is letting you control your iPhone and iPad with your eyes

• Apple announced a suite of updates for Global Disability Awareness Day. 
• Eye Tracking lets users control their iPhones and iPads by monitoring where they look.
• There's also a new music experience for deaf and hard-of-hearing users.

Apple is soon letting iPad and iPhone users control their devices with a glance of their eyes.

A new AI-powered feature named Eye Tracking, unveiled Wednesday, is designed for people with physical disabilities. Apple says it's coming later this year.

The feature uses the front-facing camera to set up and calibrate, though Apple says it doesn't access or share any data.

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Users can navigate with Dwell Control , which works by monitoring how long the eyes stay trained on various controls. Users can access physical buttons and complete swipes and other gestures with their eyes.

"For nearly 40 years, Apple has championed inclusive design by embedding accessibility at the core of our hardware and software," CEO Tim Cook said in a statement.

Eye Tracking will be included in iOS and iPadOS, with no additional hardware required, Apple says.

The tech giant rolled out a suite of changes ahead of Global Accessibility Awareness Day on Thursday.

Other updates include Music Haptics, a new music experience for deaf or hard-of-hearing users in which taps and other vibrations are played along with music audio.

And two new features are designed for people with speech conditions: Vocal Shortcuts enables iPhone and iPad users to launch Siri shortcuts using custom phrases, while a Listen for Atypical Speech option can recognize a wider range of speech patterns.

Another cool feature may help travelers with motion sickness.

Vehicle Motion Cues places moving black dots on the edge of device screens to denote which way a vehicle is moving. Apple says this helps motion sickness by assuaging the "sensory conflict between what a person sees and what they feel."

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Get live captions of spoken audio on iPad

With Live Captions (beta) on iPad, you can get a real-time transcription of spoken audio. Use Live Captions to more easily follow the audio in any app, such as FaceTime or Podcasts, and in live conversations around you.

Note: Live Captions is available on supported models when the primary language is set to English (U.S.) or English (Canada).

Important: The accuracy of Live Captions may vary and shouldn’t be relied upon in high-risk or emergency situations.

Set up and customize Live Captions

Tap Appearance to customize the text, size, and color of the captions.

By default, Live Captions are shown across all apps. To get live captions only for certain apps such as FaceTime or RTT, turn them on below In-App Live Captions.

See live captions

With Live Captions turned on, iPad automatically transcribes the spoken audio in apps—or from dialogue around you. You can do any of the following:

Apple announces new accessibility features, including Eye Tracking, Music Haptics, and Vocal Shortcuts

Eye Tracking Comes to iPad and iPhone

Music Haptics Makes Songs More Accessible

New Features for a Wide Range of Speech

Vehicle Motion Cues Can Help Reduce Motion Sickness

CarPlay Gets Voice Control, More Accessibility Updates

Accessibility Features Coming to visionOS

Additional Updates

• For users who are blind or have low vision, VoiceOver will include new voices, a flexible Voice Rotor, custom volume control, and the ability to customize VoiceOver keyboard shortcuts on Mac.
• Magnifier will offer a new Reader Mode and the option to easily launch Detection Mode with the Action button.
• Braille users will get a new way to start and stay in Braille Screen Input for faster control and text editing; Japanese language availability for Braille Screen Input; support for multi-line braille with Dot Pad ; and the option to choose different input and output tables.
• For users with low vision, Hover Typing shows larger text when typing in a text field, and in a user’s preferred font and color.
• For users at risk of losing their ability to speak, Personal Voice will be available in Mandarin Chinese. Users who have difficulty pronouncing or reading full sentences will be able to create a Personal Voice using shortened phrases.
• For users who are nonspeaking, Live Speech will include categories and simultaneous compatibility with Live Captions .
• For users with physical disabilities, Virtual Trackpad for AssistiveTouch allows users to control their device using a small region of the screen as a resizable trackpad.
• Switch Control will include the option to use the cameras in iPhone and iPad to recognize finger-tap gestures as switches.
• Voice Control will offer support for custom vocabularies and complex words.

Celebrate Global Accessibility Awareness Day with Apple

• Throughout the month of May, select Apple Store locations will host free sessions to help customers explore and discover accessibility features built into the products they love. Apple Piazza Liberty in Milan will feature the talent behind “Assume that I can,” the viral campaign for World Down Syndrome Day. And available year-round at Apple Store locations globally, Today at Apple group reservations are a place where friends, families, schools, and community groups can learn about accessibility features together.
• Shortcuts adds Calming Sounds , which plays ambient soundscapes to minimize distractions, helping users focus or rest.
• Visit the App Store to discover incredible apps and games that promote access and inclusion for all, including the accessible App Store Award-winning game Unpacking, apps as tools for augmentative and alternative communication (AAC), and more.
• The Apple TV app will honor trailblazing creators, performers, and activists who passionately share the experiences of people with disabilities. This year’s theme is Remaking the World , and each story invites viewers to envision a reality where everyone is empowered to add their voice to the greater human story.
• Apple Books will spotlight lived experiences of disability through curated collections of first-person narratives by disabled writers in ebook and audiobook formats.
• Apple Fitness+ workouts, meditations, and trainer tips welcome users who are deaf or hard of hearing with American Sign Language, and Time to Walk now includes transcripts in the Apple Podcasts app. Fitness+ workouts always include Audio Hints to support users who are blind or have low vision, as well as modifiers so that users of all levels can participate.
• Users can visit Apple Support to learn how their Apple devices can be customized using built-in accessibility features. From adapting the gestures to customizing how information is presented on a device’s screen, the Apple Accessibility playlist will help users learn how to personalize Apple Vision Pro, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Mac to work best for them.

Text of this article

May 15, 2024

PRESS RELEASE

CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA  Apple today announced new accessibility features coming later this year, including Eye Tracking, a way for users with physical disabilities to control iPad or iPhone with their eyes. Additionally, Music Haptics will offer a new way for users who are deaf or hard of hearing to experience music using the Taptic Engine in iPhone; Vocal Shortcuts will allow users to perform tasks by making a custom sound; Vehicle Motion Cues can help reduce motion sickness when using iPhone or iPad in a moving vehicle; and more accessibility features will come to visionOS. These features combine the power of Apple hardware and software, harnessing Apple silicon, artificial intelligence, and machine learning to further Apple’s decades-long commitment to designing products for everyone.

“We believe deeply in the transformative power of innovation to enrich lives,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “That’s why for nearly 40 years, Apple has championed inclusive design by embedding accessibility at the core of our hardware and software. We’re continuously pushing the boundaries of technology, and these new features reflect our long-standing commitment to delivering the best possible experience to all of our users.”

“Each year, we break new ground when it comes to accessibility,” said Sarah Herrlinger, Apple’s senior director of Global Accessibility Policy and Initiatives. “These new features will make an impact in the lives of a wide range of users, providing new ways to communicate, control their devices, and move through the world.”

Powered by artificial intelligence, Eye Tracking gives users a built-in option for navigating iPad and iPhone with just their eyes. Designed for users with physical disabilities, Eye Tracking uses the front-facing camera to set up and calibrate in seconds, and with on-device machine learning, all data used to set up and control this feature is kept securely on device, and isn’t shared with Apple.

Eye Tracking works across iPadOS and iOS apps, and doesn’t require additional hardware or accessories. With Eye Tracking, users can navigate through the elements of an app and use Dwell Control to activate each element, accessing additional functions such as physical buttons, swipes, and other gestures solely with their eyes.

Music Haptics is a new way for users who are deaf or hard of hearing to experience music on iPhone. With this accessibility feature turned on, the Taptic Engine in iPhone plays taps, textures, and refined vibrations to the audio of the music. Music Haptics works across millions of songs in the Apple Music catalog, and will be available as an API for developers to make music more accessible in their apps.

With Vocal Shortcuts, iPhone and iPad users can assign custom utterances that Siri can understand to launch shortcuts and complete complex tasks. Listen for Atypical Speech, another new feature, gives users an option for enhancing speech recognition for a wider range of speech. Listen for Atypical Speech uses on-device machine learning to recognize user speech patterns. Designed for users with acquired or progressive conditions that affect speech, such as cerebral palsy, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or stroke, these features provide a new level of customization and control, building on features introduced in iOS 17 for users who are nonspeaking or at risk of losing their ability to speak.

“Artificial intelligence has the potential to improve speech recognition for millions of people with atypical speech, so we are thrilled that Apple is bringing these new accessibility features to consumers,” said Mark Hasegawa-Johnson, the Speech Accessibility Project at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s principal investigator. “The Speech Accessibility Project was designed as a broad-based, community-supported effort to help companies and universities make speech recognition more robust and effective, and Apple is among the accessibility advocates who made the Speech Accessibility Project possible.”

Vehicle Motion Cues is a new experience for iPhone and iPad that can help reduce motion sickness for passengers in moving vehicles. Research shows that motion sickness is commonly caused by a sensory conflict between what a person sees and what they feel, which can prevent some users from comfortably using iPhone or iPad while riding in a moving vehicle. With Vehicle Motion Cues, animated dots on the edges of the screen represent changes in vehicle motion to help reduce sensory conflict without interfering with the main content. Using sensors built into iPhone and iPad, Vehicle Motion Cues recognizes when a user is in a moving vehicle and responds accordingly. The feature can be set to show automatically on iPhone, or can be turned on and off in Control Center.

Accessibility features coming to CarPlay include Voice Control, Color Filters, and Sound Recognition. With Voice Control, users can navigate CarPlay and control apps with just their voice. With Sound Recognition, drivers or passengers who are deaf or hard of hearing can turn on alerts to be notified of car horns and sirens. For users who are colorblind, Color Filters make the CarPlay interface visually easier to use, with additional visual accessibility features including Bold Text.

This year, accessibility features coming to visionOS will include systemwide Live Captions to help everyone — including users who are deaf or hard of hearing — follow along with spoken dialogue in live conversations and in audio from apps. With Live Captions for FaceTime in visionOS, more users can easily enjoy the unique experience of connecting and collaborating using their Persona. Apple Vision Pro will add the capability to move captions using the window bar during Apple Immersive Video, as well as support for additional Made for iPhone hearing devices and cochlear hearing processors. Updates for vision accessibility will include the addition of Reduce Transparency, Smart Invert, and Dim Flashing Lights for users who have low vision, or those who want to avoid bright lights and frequent flashing.

These features join the dozens of accessibility features already available in Apple Vision Pro, which offers a flexible input system and an intuitive interface designed with a wide range of users in mind. Features such as VoiceOver, Zoom, and Color Filters can also provide users who are blind or have low vision access to spatial computing, while features such as Guided Access can support users with cognitive disabilities. Users can control Vision Pro with any combination of their eyes, hands, or voice, with accessibility features including Switch Control, Sound Actions, and Dwell Control that can also help those with physical disabilities.

“Apple Vision Pro is without a doubt the most accessible technology I’ve ever used,” said Ryan Hudson-Peralta, a Detroit-based product designer, accessibility consultant, and cofounder of Equal Accessibility LLC. “As someone born without hands and unable to walk, I know the world was not designed with me in mind, so it’s been incredible to see that visionOS just works. It’s a testament to the power and importance of accessible and inclusive design.”

This week, Apple is introducing new features, curated collections, and more in celebration of Global Accessibility Awareness Day:

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