How to make your iPad Pro feel like a Mac

For the past seven years I have been using my iPad Pro as my main computer. That year, I’ve seen internal hardware matches match the power of the MacBooks using the M4 chip. We’ve seen iPads evolve from a larger version of iOS to carve out small niche use cases. As much as you love an iPad, most people will agree that iPads sometimes feel like they’ll retreat that hardware. However, without giving up on the versatility of the iPad, I was able to change some simple things that make the iPad look like a Macos.

Watch the video below to see in detail all the changes I made!

Home screen

I first wanted to change how the home screen was set up. I like to make my home screen look minimal. Because if it’s cluttered, it feels like it’s confusing. Also, most of the time, my iPad is a work machine. So I just wanted to make the apps I needed ready to go. Everything else was thrown into the app library. Finally, the iPados 18 ultimately allowed apps and widgets to be placed anywhere in the app grid. This allowed me to return the old view of today from my iPados 13. I also want to change some settings to complete the home screen. Here’s what I do:

• Use two far left grid columns as space for the widget. I use this for the information and controls I need at a glance. So I put the weather, concepts, houses, batteries and apple card widgets.
• Next, expand the app size in the Customize section. This removes the app’s name and when you enlarge it, it feels like there’s less wasted space.
• Simply place the main work app on the home screen
• For the dock, I placed the most commonly used apps and turned off the “Recent Show” and “Show App Library” settings. Again, they seem redundant and a waste of space.

Below is what this looks like. It’s a clean and purposeful home screen. One quick tip I want to share is that you can use command + space to bring up the spotlight and search for apps in the app library. So if you have an app you use from time to time but don’t want it on the home screen, it’s an easy way to get this done.

Stage Manager and Desktop Browsing

Now that the home screen is set up, we need to talk about multitasking. The stage manager has gone under the radar since its release. When it first came out, it was a bit of a yanki. I wasn’t a huge fan of it. But that has improved over the past two years and I’ve mastered it. This is the main way to use your iPad when the magic keyboard is on. But again, there are a few settings that you would like to change to really make use of screen real estate.

• Turn on stage manager
• Add Stage Manager toggle to Control Center
• Turn off recent apps and docks

Below you can see the difference in window sizes when you maintain your recent app and dock settings

Chrome vs Safari

When it comes to browsing and using web apps, I use both of these apps. I’m not 100% sure why, but depending on the browser you’re using, some sites work for better or worse, but that’s what I’ve noticed. For example, using a Google app like Safari will work better in Safari. But things like WordPress work better in Chrome. So, the key here is to see which app you are using and test it across web browsers. However, one thing you need to do with both is to make sure you “request a desktop site” in each browser’s settings.

Final take etc.

This is just a few of the ways I have transformed my iPad Pro into a Mac-like experience without losing out on making it special. However, there’s plenty to cover, including how to fully manage your stage manager when connecting to an external monitor, my essential accessories for the best experience, and some special multitasking tricks that make your iPad feel even closer to replacing your MacBook. If you need a full breakdown (and see my setup working), check out the full video above.

Best iPad Trading: