The Apple iPad beholds quite a few nifty multi-tasking features up its sleeves. One among them is the ability to open and interact with multiple apps simultaneously.
For example, you could play a video on one half of your screen, open a notes app on the other half, and jot down all the important points.
Along the same lines, it also allows you to transfer contents between the two app windows. The iPadOS offers three multi-task options- the Split Screen, Slide Over, and Center Window.
And it’s the first — Split Screen view that has been the preferred option for many users. As is evident from its name, it allows you to open two windows side by side, each occupying 50% of the screen.
Depending on your need, you could also resize the window size by dragging the vertical line at the center to either the left or right side of the screen.
The best implementation of the Split Screen view is inside the Safari browser, allowing you to interact with multiple windows simultaneously.
This guide will show you how to launch and close the Split Screen in the Safari browser on your iPad.
Safari Split View on iPad
There could be two approaches to this: open a link (a specific web page) or a blank tab in the split-screen view.
We have listed the instructions for both scenarios; refer to the one in sync with your requirements.
Open a Link in Split Screen
If you are reading an article and want to refer to a secondary link simultaneously, you can open the link in Split View and close it. Follow the steps to open the links within Safari iPad in Split View:
- Launch the Safari browser on your iPad.
- Open any website that you want to read.
- Long press the link you wish to open in the other half.
- Select the Open in Split View option from the context menu.
That’s it. The link will launch in the split view, and you can view the content in the second half of the split-screen.
You could also long-press and drag and drop that link to the other half of your screen to open the split-screen window.
Open a Blank Safari Window on Split Screen
If you want to open a separate unrelated site in Split View, you can launch the new Safari window in the Safari browser and start browsing.
Here are the steps to open a blank window in Split View within the Safari browser:
- Open the Safari app on your iPad.
- Open any website in the first tab.
- Tap and hold the New Tab
for the context menu. - Select New Window in Split View option.
It shall open a new blank tab and send it to the right-hand side of your screen. - Open any other website or link to use the multi-screen split view on iPad.
You can generally open any other website within the left-side blank Safari window.
Open Other apps in Split View
In iPadOS 11+ and newer iPad variants, Apple has added a Slide Over functionality, allowing you to slide the third app on top of the two opened in the Split Screen. Follow on to open other apps with Safari on iPad’s Split View screen:
- Open Safari windows in the Split View screen.
- Bring up the Dock by sliding up from the bottom of the screen.
- Drag and drop the desired app from the Dock over to the desired split-view screen
It shall replace on existing Safari window with the app.
Now you can multitask the split view screen with Safari browser and any desired app.
Close Split Screen in iPad Safari
There are three different methods to close the Split Screen view in the Safari browser on your iPad. You can use these methods to close Safari Windows on your iPad.
Split View option menu
When you open Safari or any App in Landscape mode, you will see the Split View options menu in the header section. You can use this option to open and close the split view. Follow on the steps:
- Hold your iPad in Landscape mode.
- Tap on the Split View Menu
at the top of the Safari window that you want to retain. - Select the first Full-Screen option.
It will make the current tab occupy the entire screen, hiding the other tab window in the background.
Using Divider Bar
The Split View is vertically separated with a divider bar to slide to resize and close the window.
Drag the view divider to the right of your screen if you wish to close the tab present on the right-hand side of the split-screen. Or drag it to the left to bid farewell to the left tab.
Using Merge All Windows
If you do not wish to close or hide the window, merge it with the existing window; it will close the current split view and make it one window with multiple tabs. Here are the steps to merge the split view windows in Safari iPad:
- Tap and hold the New Tab of the main window.
- Select Merge All Windows from the option list.
It will merge all the open, hidden, and split-view windows into separate tabs. Hence, closing the split view screen in Safari iPad.
Bottom Line
We round off the guide on launching, using, and closing the Split Screen in the Safari iPad.
While this functionality is supported across the iPadOS, it proves to be most beneficial inside the browser window. Moreover, it significantly streamlines our workflow by allowing us to interact with multiple tabs simultaneously.
We can place any app along the side of the Safari tab for multi-tasking on a split-screen.
What are your views on Safari browser using split view? Likewise, you may drop your queries about the above instructions in the comments section.
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