I’d like to think I know most of what my iPad can do, but every once in a while I’m pleasantly surprised by a new feature.
To kill time on a recent road trip, I wanted to load up my iPad with movies and comic books, but I wasn’t sure how. I figured, based on the sheer volume of apps available in the App Store, that I could do just about anything I wanted to do on my iPad. It was easy enough to find apps for both purposes (PlayerXtreme for videos and ComicFlow for comics), along with guides for how to load them up.
I never noticed (or had reason to notice, maybe) the File Sharing area below the app list in iTunes when you plug in an iDevice to sync. I’d scrolled through my app list dozens of times, and used the preview to re-arrange folders and apps on my devices, but I’d (apparently) never scrolled below that.
Here, any and all apps you’ve downloaded that can load external files are listed. Before I downloaded PlayerXtreme and ComicFlow, the only apps down there were Kindle and Osmos. Kindle makes sense, but Osmos is a pretty standard game with no reason for being down there. I think that’s what threw me off the trail – I’d probably seen those apps down there before and thought, “This is an odd collection of two apps. Oh well. Nothing to see here!” Then I never thought about it again.
But now my eyes are open! File sharing is GREAT. My iPad just got a whole lot more useful. I loaded up e-books and videos and comics I’d had sitting on my computer for months and finally burned through a bunch on the road. And it was great! I’d been stuck using my Macbook Air to watch movies in the past. I’m not complaining – it’s incredibly light and portable, but a burden to hold when compared to the iPad.
I’m sure many iPad owners already knew this feature. I can’t believe I didn’t know about it, but it opened a whole new world for my media on the go – and I can’t wait to uncover more tips and tricks about my tech in the coming weeks and months.
Are there any cool “hidden” features about your tech that you think others would like to know? Share below!