iPadOS 14 tidbits: Multi-window support for Music, Low Power Mode, no emoji search

While iPadOS 14 adds many of the same features as iOS 14, including new widgets and upgrades to Siri, it also includes a few other changes specific to the iPad. iPadOS 14 brings multi-window support to the Apple Music app, as well as Low Power Mode support for the first time. On the other hand, iPadOS 14 also misses out on one of the most useful iOS 14 changes.

Multi-window support in Music

Apple added multi-window support to the iPad with last year’s introduction of iPadOS 13. The feature allows users to open multiple instances of the same application at the same time. It’s most useful for apps like Safari, allowing you to run two Safari windows side-by-side.

In iPadOS 14, the Music app becomes the latest system application to add support for multi-window capabilities. This means you can have two instances of the Music application open at the same time. While this isn’t as useful as a multi-window for an app like Safari, there are a couple of different ways you could take advantage of it.

For example, as you can see in the screenshot above, you can keep live lyrics in one window and continue browsing the Apple Music app in another window. You could also use it to keep the Now Playing screen along the side at all times or for quick access to a specific playlist or album or your queue.

There are a variety of other changes in the Music app with iOS 14 and iPadOS 14. Check out the details here.

Low Power Mode

iPadOS 14 also appears to add support for Low Power Mode, a feature that has been on the iPhone for several years. Low Power Mode aims to reduce the amount of power your device uses by disabling things like background email fetch, Hey Siri, and some visual effects.

On the iPhone, you can enable Low Power Mode via the Battery section of the Settings app, but in iPadOS 14, there is no toggle to enable Low Power Mode in the Settings app. Instead, you can use Siri to enable the feature. Interestingly, enabling Low Power Mode on the iPad does not turn off Hey Siri, but it does change your settings for things like Auto-Lock and background app refresh.

For example, Low Power Mode on iPhone will change your Auto-Lock setting to 30 seconds. Low Power Mode in iPadOS 14 will change to a slightly more generous 2 minutes. When Low Power Mode is enabled on iPad, the battery icon in the status bar turns yellow, as does the battery widget on the home screen.

It is possible this is a bug that Apple will remove in a future beta. The fact that there is no toggle in the Settings app for Low Power Mode on the iPad could mean that you shouldn’t even be able to enable it via Siri. We’ll have to wait and see as iPadOS 14 beta testing continues through the summer.

No emoji search

Finally, one of the most welcomed changes in iOS 14 is built-in emoji search. When you tap on the emoji button in the bottom left of the keyboard, there is a new search field above the row of emoji. Unfortunately, this feature has not yet made its way to the iPad with iPadOS 14. I

It’s possible this changes in a future beta, but for now, you’ll have to continue manually looking through the thousands of emoji choices.

What the iPadOS 14 wallpapers for your iPad? Download them here. 

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