As much as I like the experience of pulling any new device out of the box — be it a smartphone, tablet, smartwatch, or game console — my first hour is inevitably spent tweaking settings to get things just the way I like them. There’s more work than usual on an iPad, which can potentially replace a laptop. I can’t stop experimenting with my iPad Pro — and I’ll probably stay in that mode once I get its inevitable replacement.

If you’ve just bought a new iPad, or are planning on getting one in the next few months, here are some changes I’d suggest for getting the most for your money. You might be surprised at what you’re missing with the stock settings.

Display Zoom

For meaningful productivity

If there’s any sign that Apple still treats iPads like oversized iPhones, it’s the default zoom level for iPadOS. Icons are huge and widely spaced, and fonts are also larger than necessary, at least for those of us with glasses or healthy vision. This does make navigation a breeze — but it also means that you’re getting less functional real estate than you would on a similarly-sized Mac or Windows PC.

Remedy that by going to Settings -> Appearance -> Display Zoom and selecting More Space. It’s kind of shocking how much this can improve the practicality of an iPad. Multitasking actually becomes meaningful on an 11-inch model, and on a 13-inch screen, you might no longer feel the need for an external monitor. It’s just a shame Apple doesn’t include this option on Minis (as of this writing, anyway).

The Dock and Menu Bar

Useful no matter what you’re up to

Although iPadOS has become increasingly Mac-like, improving its convenience, Apple almost seems to go out of its way to hide that. Case in point: the Dock and Menu Bar. Both of these are literally set to auto-hide by default, so you’ll have to swipe from the top or bottom of the screen to bring them up. To fix the Menu Bar, head over to Settings -> Multitasking & Gestures, then toggle off Automatically Show And Hide Menu Bar. Ironically, you have to toggle on Automatically Show and Hide Dock.

There are some additional catches to making this work properly. To keep the Dock onscreen, windows have to be sized and positioned in a way that leaves enough room for it. Likewise, for the Menu Bar, you may have to leave some space up top if you want it to show the full range of options for whichever app you have selected. This isn’t such a big deal once Display Zoom is changed.

Stage Manager

Snapping into gear

This one might be controversial, since it automatically groups all the apps you have onscreen, and switches them when you tap on an app from a different grouping. Having tested Apple’s more Mac-like Windowed mode, however, I found that this far better suits my real-world usage. If I have Spotify and Facebook Messenger active, I don’t want Asana or Slack to pop up over top — want them to be paired with something work-related, or else show as much of their interface as possible.

You can enable Stage Manager by selecting it under Settings -> Multitasking & Gestures. If it rubs you the wrong way, I’d suggest switching to Windowed instead of Full Screen Apps. That might still take some getting used to, plus resizing apps the way you prefer, but going fullscreen all the time robs an iPad of its multitasking potential — especially if you need to drag-and-drop media and text.

Auto-Lock, Night Shift, and brightness

Power, security, and a good night’s sleep

I’m lumping these three together partly because they’re all under Settings -> Display & Brightness, and partly because Auto-Lock and brightness share an impact on battery life. Most of the time, your iPad’s display is its most power-hungry component — so you can greatly extend battery life by keeping brightness only as high as you need it, and letting your screen shut off when you wander away for a few minutes. Five minutes seems to be the sweet spot. Conversely, if you’re often using an iPad as a second screen (like me), you’ll need to disable Auto-Lock completely. That does mean I have to leave it plugged in, and remember to hit the Sleep/Wake button when I’m finished.

Setting up a regular Night Shift schedule may help you fall asleep better by reducing blue light towards bedtime. Harvard Health Publishing recommends cutting out all bright light about 2 to 3 hours before you go to bed — but since that’s not realistic in 2026, Night Shift is a reasonable compromise. In fact I have it kick in at least 5 hours before sleep on all my devices, for added effect.