Jeff Richardson

On June 3, 2019, Apple debuted iPadOS at its WWDC developer conference.  One of the new features announced was the ability to run two instances of an app side-by-side.  To show how useful this would be, Apple demonstrated Microsoft Word running in this mode.  When iPadOS was released in September 2019, I had hoped to see Microsoft Word updated to see the feature that had been shown off on a big screen three months earlier:

Now it is May 2020, and we finally have a new version of Microsoft Word for iPad that includes this feature.  It is very useful because it allows you to work with two documents at the same time.

Entering Split View

If you have been using the Split View feature on your iPad since iPad OS was released last year, then you already know how to enter this mode in Microsoft Word.  In short, you drag to the right side of the screen.

First, when you are on the home screen of Word — the screen that has the New, Recent, Shared, Open, and Settings icons on the left — you can hold your finger down on any document name in the list and then drag that file over to the right edge of the screen.  That will open up the file on the right side of the screen, and then you can tap on any other document on the left side of the screen to view it.

Second, when you are on the home screen of Word you can tap the three dots at the far right of the file name.  One of the options in the pop-up list is Open in New Window.  Select that.

Third, you can slide up a finger starting just below the screen to show the dock.  (Or, if you are using an external keyboard, you can use the shortcut Command-Option-D to show the dock.).  Next, drag the Word icon from the dock to the right edge of the screen and you will open a second Word window on the right side.

Using Split View

Once you have activated Split View, you can work with the document on the left or the right just as if you had two Microsoft Word apps running side-by-side.  You can open or close documents on either side. 

Although you can edit either document in this mode, the text is rather small.  After all, you are now only using half of the width of a screen for a document.  Even on my 12.9″ iPad Pro — the largest iPad screen currently available — I find the two documents to be a little small to read when they are side-by-side.

If you hold down on the separator between the two documents (which Apple calls the app divider) you can make one side of the screen larger (two-thirds of the screen) and the other side of the screen smaller (one-third of the screen).  That does make one document much easier to see, but it makes the other document tiny.

Fortunately, there is a way to make the text larger when you have two documents open at once in Word.  At the top right of the screen in Word, the second-to-last button starts the Mobile View mode.  Or you can get to the same mode by tapping the View tab and changing from the default Print Layout mode to the Mobile View.  In this mode, you can pinch to make the text bigger or smaller and the line breaks adjust accordingly.  The Mobile View mode doesn’t show page breaks or footnotes.  In other words, you are no longer seeing what the document is going to look like when you print it, but instead you are just focusing on the words in the document.  By putting the document on half of your screen in Mobile View — or by putting both documents in Mobile View — it is easy to see all of the words even with just half of the screen devoted to a document.

By switching between the Print Layout view and the Mobile View as you are working with a document, it is easy to switch between seeing your entire document with all of the formatting and reading or editing a document.

With two documents open side-by-side, you can easily review one Word document on the left half of the screen while you type another document on the right side of the screen.  Or you can take a paragraph from one document, select it, and then drag a copy of that paragraph across the screen to place it in the other document.  You can also select text in one document and copy it and then go to the other document and paste it without having to close the first document, find the second document, and open the second document. 

On a computer, many of us are used to having lots of different Word documents open at the same time, although to be fair it can be confusing to find your place when you have too many open at once.  The iPad is more limited by now having only two documents open at once, but having two is far more useful than just having one.  Indeed, you can close a document on one side of the screen and then open another document all while you keep your primary document open on the other side of the screen, and that works well if you need to shuffle between three or more documents at the same time.

Note that technically it is possible to look at three different Word documents at the same time, but I’m not sure that this mode is very useful.  Here is how that works.  While you already have two documents open at the same time in Split View, you can bring up the dock and then drag the Word icon to the middle of the screen, right on top of the separator (the app divider).  This will open up a third instance of Microsoft Word in what Apple calls Slide Over view.  But in this. mode, the third Word document will be covering up most of the second Word document:

I suppose that having a third document in Slide Over in Word could be useful in rare circumstances because you can swipe the handle at the top of this third Word document to push it off of the screen, and then you could bring it back to the screen by swiping in from the right side of the screen.  So if you just need to briefly consult that third document, you could swipe to bring it in and then swipe the other direction to move it back off.  And if you need to see the second document on the right side of the screen you could move that Slide Over view so that it instead covers up the left side of the screen.  So I can imagine a scenario in which this three-document approach makes sense.  Most of the time, however, this would just make things confusing, so I suspect that I will stick with just one or two documents open at once.

Exiting Split View

When you want to return to working with just one document at once, drag the separator in the middle of the screen over to the right side (if you just want to look at the left document) or over to the left side (if you just want to look at the right document).  This will return you to looking at just one document at a time.

When you do this, the other document is still technically open.  You can see this by activating the iPad app switcher:  swipe up with one finger from the bottom edge of the screen and hold in the middle of the screen until the app switcher appears.  From the app switcher, you can jump between the two different documents, each of which is open in a full-screen mode. 

Conclusion

Although it is unfortunate that it took Microsoft so long to implement this feature, I’m glad that it is finally here.  I frequently find myself working with two documents at the same time.  Just last night, I had on the left side of the screen the Memorandum that I wrote in support of a motion for summary judgment while on the right side of the screen I was drafting my Reply.  It was useful to be able to look at the arguments in my original Memorandum and drag case citations and other things from my original Memorandum into the Reply that I was drafting.

My next big wish for Microsoft Word for iPad is to see full support for the new iPad OS cursor that you can use with a mouse or trackpad.  When Microsoft revises the Word app to take full advantage of the new cursor, it will be much easier to select text.  According to a recent article by Matthew Panzarino of TechCrunch, Microsoft is working on this feature but it won’t be out until Fall 2020.

All indications are that we are getting close to a time period when more folks will be leaving their homes again, many of whom will start to report to work.  Of course, this greatly increases the risk of more folks being exposed to the coronavirus.  Fortunately, we are also very close to the time when Apple and Google will make available the software required for public health authorities to release official apps that will notify you if you were potentially exposed to someone with the coronavirus because your iPhone/Android and their iPhone/Android were recently in close proximity.  It is currently unclear where these apps will be available.  For example, the NHS in the UK initially said that it was going to offer its own system which centralized the collection of data, but Natasha Lomas of TechCrunch reports that, according to the Financial Times, UK may be rethinking that decision.  As Jeffrey Goldberg of 1Password explains, a cornerstone of the Apple/Google approach is that it is decentralized to protect the privacy of folks who are using the apps.  For example, the apps will not result in any single government database that tracks where users were located.  When the apps are available, we now know a little more about what they will look like; Russell Brandom of The Verge reports that Apple released some sample screenshots.  I hope that these exposure notification apps are available soon.  Along with other measures, like encouraging everyone to wear a mask in public, it can help to save lives.  And now, the news of note from the past week:

• In the latest episode of the AppStories podcast, available here on the MacStories website, Federico Viticci interviews Apple VP Craig Federighi to discuss the fantastic new pointer support in iPadOS.  It’s a great interview.
• Federighi also talked to Matthew Panzrino of TechCrunch to discuss the new iPad cursor, resulting in this article.
• Although most Apple Stores around the world are currently closed, Apple has launched a new hub for its online store which tries to mimic the features of a normal Apple Store, like shopping assistance, a genius bar, and even a Today at Apple section — which features a number of high-quality videos recorded by Apple Store employees in their homes showing you how to do lots of different things with your Apple devices.
• If you are like me, your appearances in video conferences have vastly increased due to COVID-19.  If you don’t like the built-in camera on your computer, you can use your iPhone’s high-quality camera as a webcam.  Tim Brookes of How-To Geek explains how to do so.
• My favorite show (so far) on Apple TV+ is For All Mankind.  Former Astronaut Garrett Reisman, who is a technical adviser on the show, provides a guided tour of the lunar base featured in the series in this interesting video.
• John Moltz wrote a humorous review of the new iPhone SE.
• And finally, Apple CEO Tim Cook was the commencement speaker at the Ohio State graduation this week.  Of course, the event had to be virtual due to COVID-19, so Cook gave a recorded address.  It’s a great, well-written speech, and I recommend it:

On Thursday, Apple released the results for its 2020 fiscal second quarter (which ran from December 29, 2019, to March 28, 2020) and held a call with analysts to discuss the results. Unlike Apple’s Q1 which contains all of the holidays sales, Apple’s Q2 is usually not a particularly interesting quarter.  But this year, I was curious to see what impact COVID-19 might have.  It wasn’t until the end of March that COVID-19 started to have much of an impact in the United States, but China is also a large market for Apple.  Three months ago, Apple predicted that its Q2 revenue would be between $63 billion and $67 billion, which was a larger range than normal because of COVID-19 uncertainty.  A few weeks later in February, Apple announced that it no longer expected to see that much revenue because of COVID-19, and Apple did not release a revised number.  The actual revenue announced by Apple last week was $58.3 billion.  That’s actually a little bit higher than Apple’s $58 billion in revenue from 2019 Q2, so all things considered, it certainly wasn’t a horrible quarter for Apple even if it wasn’t as good as it had originally anticipated.  If you want to get all of the nitty gritty details, you can download the audio from the announcement conference call from iTunes, or you can read a rough transcript of the call prepared by Seeking Alpha.  Jason Snell of Six Colors also prepared a transcript.  Apple’s official press release is here.  As always, I’m not as interested in the financial details as I am the statements of Apple executives during the call that are of interest to iPhone and iPad users.  Here are the items that stood out to me.

iPhone

• iPhone revenue was $28.96 billion, compared to $31 billion this time last year.
• Apple had temporary iPhone supply shortages in February, but by the end of March seems to be back on track.
• Apple CEO Tim Cook pointed out that while the iPhone SE is the least expensive iPhone being sold by Apple, it is faster than even the fastest, most expensive, Android phones.  That is because the new iPhone SE contains the same Apple-designed A13 chip that Apple also includes in its most expensive models of the iPhone.  (The iPhone SE really is a fantastic value for folks who prefer the version of the iPhone with a button and Touch ID instead of a larger screen and Face ID.)

iPad

• iPad revenue was $4.4 billion, compared to $4.9 billion this time last year.
• Apple said that the new 2020 version of the iPad Pro, and the new iPhone SE, have “received outstanding customer response, even during these extreme circumstances.”

Other

•  This was a record-setting quarter for Apple — in a good way — in two areas.  First, Apple reported its highest-ever revenue in Services.  This includes just about everything folks pay to Apple other than hardware, things like the App Store, Apple Music, Apple TV+, iCloud storage, AppleCare, etc.  Apple considers this a critical area of revenue because it can be a steady source of income.  People may wait two to three years before buying a new iPhone, but they often pay Apple in the area of Services every month.
• For example, Apple now has over 515 million paid subscriptions across all of its services, and it expects to have over 600 million by December 31, 2020.
• Second, Apple reported that this was its best Q2 ever in the area of Wearables, Home and Accessories.  This segment includes the Apple Watch and AirPods, two items that are incredibly popular for Apple.
• For example, Apple said that its wearables business is now the size of a Fortune 140 company.
• Apple has sourced more than 30 million masks for frontline medical workers battling COVID-19.  It has also designed, tested, manufactured, and distributed more than 7.5 billion face shields and continues to ship more than one million face shields every week to medical workers.
• Cook said that Apple employees continue to work hard notwithstanding the pandemic.  “In some areas of the company, people may be even more productive, in some other areas they’re not as productive.  And so it’s mixed, depending upon what the roles are.  But as you can tell, from what we did this quarter, despite the environment, we have our head down and are working because we know that our customers want the products that we’ve got.  They’re even more important in these times.”
• Cook said that, in light of COVID-19, Apple cannot predict what kind of sales it will have in April, May, and June, and thus Apple is taking the unusual step of not issuing guidance for its 2020 Q3.  But Cook did say:  “We’ve always managed through difficult moments by doubling down and investing in the next generation of innovation.  And that’s our strategy today.  And so while we can’t say for sure how many chapters are in this book, we can have confidence that the ending will be a good one.”

Ever since iPad OS 13 was released last year, it has been possible to run two instances of certain apps side-by-side.  For example, you can have the Mail app open on the left side of the screen while, at the same time, you use Mail to compose a message on the right side of your screen — making it easy to consult older emails as you draft a new one.  Microsoft has an Office Insider program that offers beta versions of upcoming Microsoft software, and this week, the Office Insider Blog describes an upcoming feature in Word for iPad that lets you use two windows side-by-side.  This seems like an incredibly useful feature.  When I use Word on my computer, I virtually always have more than one Word window open at a time so that I can copy items from one document and paste them into another.  It will be great to be able to do the same thing on the iPad, even if you are limited to having two documents open at once.  If you use PowerPoint on your iPad, that same post says that this feature is also coming to PowerPoint for iPad.  And now, the news of note from the past week:

• California attorney David Sparks shares his initial impressions of the Magic Keyboard for iPad.
• Christina Farr of CNBC provides the behind-the-scenes story on how Apple and Google came together to create an exposure notification system for COVID-19 that protects your privacy.
• Brad Gibson of Cult of Mac notes that Apple Maps can now show you COVID-19 testing locations in your area.
• If you use the Group FaceTime feature to talk to multiple people at once, you know that the square of the person who is speaking gets larger while the squares of others get smaller.  That feature is visually interesting, but it also can make you feel a little seasick as faces move around the screen.  Dan Moren of Six Colors reports that the next version of iOS — iOS 13.5 — will include the option to disable this feature.
• In that same post, Moren reports that iOS 13.5 will also make it easier to unlock an iPhone when you are wearing a mask, bringing you directly to the screen where you enter your passcode instead of using Face ID.
• In a different post, Moren reviews the Logitech Combo Touch.  It looks somewhat similar to the Apple Magic Keyboard for iPad in that it combines a keyboard and a trackpad.  But while Apple’s Magic Keyboard works with the two most recent models of the iPad Pro (the 3rd and 4th generation iPad Pr0), the Logitech Combo Touch works with the 7th generation iPad (released in 2019), the 3rd generation iPad Air (released in 2019), and the 10.5″ version of the 2nd generation iPad Pro (released in 2017).  Moren concludes that the Logitech Combo Touch is fine, but not nearly as nice as the Apple Magic Keyboard.  Of course, it is also not as expensive.
• If you use Microsoft Teams for your videochats, Microsoft announced yesterday that background blur is “rolling out now” as a feature on the iPhone and iPad.  I don’t see it yet. but hopefully it will come in an update very soon.  The iPhone and iPad versions of Teams also lack the ability to use custom backgrounds, something added to the PC and Mac client a few weeks ago.  According to that same post, the desktop client is about to get the option to have nine people on the screen at one time instead of four — to which, I say, it’s about time!  (And Microsoft says that the number will increase even more in the future.)  No word on when, if ever, you will be able to see more than four faces on the screen at one time on the iPad or iPhone versions of Teams.
• Mike Peterson of Apple Insider shares some interesting tidbits about the origins of the Apple Watch from Imran Chaudhri, one of the original designers at Apple.
• Ben Sandofsky of Halide takes a detailed look at the camera on the iPhone SE.  While the hardware is essentially the same as what was included with the iPhone 8, you get more features and better results with the iPhone SE because it has such an advanced processor.  Every year, it becomes even more true that software, not hardware, determines how good a camera is.
• Bradley Chambers of 9to5Mac discusses HomeKit options for outdoor lighting.  Back in 2018, I reviewed the iHome iSP100 Outdoor Smart Plug, which is what I use to control the lights in my backyard.  I recently changed my outdoor configuration, so I updated that post earlier this week.  Since my wife and I have been sheltering in place for over six weeks, we have been using our backyard even more, and I really love being able to tap a button on my Apple Watch or iPhone to turn the outdoor accent lights on and off.
• If you want to use HomeKit to lock and unlock the deadbolt on a door, Level Lock is a new product that replaces the inside of your deadbolt but lets you keep the outdoor hardware.  As a result, the lock looks the same, but now you can lock/unlock it using your iPhone or Apple Watch.  And you can also give guests the ability to do the same thing during time periods that you create.  It looks like an interesting product.
• Max Zahn with Andy Serwer of Yahoo Finance tell the amusing story of how Tim Cook recently tried to teach Warren Buffett how to use an iPhone.
• No matter where in the world you are located, you can celebrate the second-and-final-weekend of what would normally be Jazz Fest in New Orleans this weekend by listening to Jazz Festing in Place on WWOZ, either in the iPhone app or on the web.  Great artists who are on deck for today through Sunday include Professor Longhair, Allen Toussaint, the Neville Brothers, Wynton Marsalis, Dr. Michael White, the Blind Boys of Alabama, John Boutte, the Hot 8 Brass Band, and many, many more.  You can also use the two-week archive to listen to last week’s Jazz Festing in Place.
• And finally, in this video called Float, Apple shows off the iPad Pro with the new Apple Magic Keyboard for iPad:

After doing the same thing at your house, day after day, week after week, it’s time for something different that will cheer you up.  Use your iPhone to download the WWOZ app.  Or go to this page from the WWOZ website on your browser.  Or, if you live in New Orleans, tune your radio to 90.7 FM.  Why?  Because every year, the last weekend in April and the first weekend in May means that it is time for Jazz Fest.  Because of COVID-19, the traditional festival — always one of my favorite times of the year in New Orleans — had to be canceled for the first time in its 50-year history.  But fortunately, the non-profit radio station owned by Jazz Fest, WWOZ, has stepped up to present Jazz Festing in Place.  On April 23-26 and April 30-May 3, from 11am to 7pm Central (the same days and times as the normal Jazz Fest), WWOZ is playing some of the best live performances from the history of Jazz Fest.  Yesterday, while I was working, I listened to a 1977 performance by Ella Fitzgerald, including the part where Stevie Wonder gets up on stage and they sing a duet of You Are the Sunshine of My Life.  Later, as my wife and I prepared dinner, we listened to a fantastic 2001 performance by Fats Domino.  Today, you can hear Aaron Neville and Irma Thomas.  This weekend, you can hear Dr. John, Trombone Shorty, Henry Butler, Alvin Batiste, and many, many, many more.  I guarantee you that it will make you tap your toes and smile.  After all, if you can’t live in New Orleans, let New Orleans live in you.  And now, the news of note from the past week:

• There is a great episode of the Apps in Law Podcast this week in which host Brett Burney interviews Commander Ben Robinson, a military judge who describes how use makes extensive use of his iPad in his practice.
• Illinois attorney John Voorhees of MacStories notes that you can now use the Look Around feature of Apple Maps to see Chicago.
• One of the big stories of this week is that you can now get the Magic Keyboard for iPad Pro.  There are lots of reviews, and here are the ones that I recommend.  Attorney Jeremy Horwitz of VentureBeat does a good job outlining the pros and cons.
• Scott Stein of CNet notes that the Magic Keyboard turns your iPad into something different, a tool for getting work done with the keyboard and trackpad.  He suggests leaving it on a desk so that you magnetically attach your iPad to get work done somewhat like a computer, and then you lift up the iPad to return to a traditional tablet mode.
• In an article for Macworld, Jason Snell notes that the Magic Keyboard makes your iPad weigh as much as a laptop — except that you can easily remove the iPad from the Magic Keyboard.
• Federico Viticci of MacStories wrote a good review that includes some great pictures of the device.
• John Guber of Daring Fireball says that the Magic Keyboard is “utterly brilliant” and gives you an “altogether new experience” using an iPad.
• Matthew Panzarino of TechCrunch says:  “If you work seriously with the iPad and that work is based on typing, the Magic Keyboard is essentially mandatory.”
• The new iPhone SE is being released today.  A number of reporters had a chance to try it out and write some reviews.  Here are the ones that I recommend.  John Gruber of Daring Fireball points out how powerful the iPhone SE is, even though it lacks many of the fantastic features on more expensive iPhones.
• Joanna Stern calls the iPhone SE the iPhone for people who don’t like new iPhones.  And the video at the top of her article is funny.
• Dieter Bohn of The Verge says that the iPhone SE is everything that many folks need.
• Five years ago today, on April 24, 2015, the original Apple Watch became available.  I started using mine on that day, and a version of the Apple Watch has been on my wrist every single day since then.  Hokinkee, a website devoted to high-end watches, takes a look at the impact that the Apple Watch has had on the industry for the past five years.
• And finally, I recently noted that Apple and Google have teamed up to create a contact tracing system that also preserves your privacy.  In this video, David Pogue of CBS Sunday Morning explains what is great about the effort and interviews Bud Tribble, the VP of Software Technology for Apple, and Dave Burke, the VP of Engineering for Android:

I am the guest on the brand new Episode #8 of the Texas Appellate Law Podcast, and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience.  Despite the name of this podcast, this particular episode has nothing to do with Texas, except that the two hosts are Texas appellate attorneys:  Todd Smith of the Smith Law Group and Jody Sanders of Kelly Hart. 

Appellate litigation is a major part of my law practice, and I am currently one of only 11 lawyers certified by the Louisiana Board of Legal Specialization as an Appellate Practice Specialist.  My iPad Pro is an integral part of everything that I do when I work on an appeal.  In this episode, I talk with Todd and Jody about how I use my iPad as an appellate attorney, including working with trial counsel on complex and case-dispositive motions, reviewing the record on appeal, writing an appellate brief, and preparing for and giving an oral argument.  We also talk about the 2020 version of the iPad Pro and the new Apple Magic Keyboard, which started shipping this week.

I love the idea of a podcast focused on appellate litigation in a state.  We don’t have a podcast like that in Louisiana, but another member of the appellate team at my law firm — Ray Ward — publishes a fantastic blog devoted to Louisiana appellate litigation.  I’ve been relying on Ray’s blog more than ever over the last few weeks to get the latest information on how the appellate courts in which I practice are dealing with COVID-19.

Thanks to Todd and Jody for inviting me to their podcast, and be sure to check out this episode if you ever work on appeals in your own law practice.

Apple continues to show leadership in combating COVID-19.  Using technology that it developed for its Find My app, Apple teamed up with Google to develop voluntary contact tracing technology that can alert you when you (or more specifically, your smartphone which is presumably close to your body) has spent time in close proximity to someone else who uses the software and has reported having COVID-19.  The first version of the technology will be released in May.  Because Apple is involved, the system has privacy protections built-in.  President Trump apparently is not a fan, making the curious assertion earlier this week that the technology has constitutional problems even though it is voluntary to use.  Indeed, the fact that it is voluntary enhances privacy but reduces its effectiveness; someone who had the virus and was in close contact with you may not be using the software.  Nevertheless, I can still see this as being one of the many helpful tools that we can use to protect ourselves as we slowly begin to explore ways to have more people return to the outside world.  And now, the news of note from the past week:

• If you are looking for a way to keep track of what TV shows you have watched and what to watch next, Illinois attorney John Voorhees of MacStories reviews TV Forecast, saying that he has used the app for almost a year and he really likes it.  His review convinced me to give it a try.  I’ve tried similar apps in the past and for various reasons none of them have really stuck with me, but this one looks like it has potential.
• Voorhees also reviews Highlights, a PDF annotation app for the iPad.
• San Francisco attorney Kevin Underhill of Lowering the Bar reminds us all to wear a shirt when you are on a videoconference with a judge.  Sigh.
• Rene Ritchie wrote an interesting review of the new iPhone SE for iMore.
• John Gruber of Daring Fireball explains Apple’s strategy in releasing the new iPhone SE.
• I’m a big fan of using GoodNotes on my iPad to take handwritten notes.  This week, GoodNotes introduced a universal app for the Mac.  This means that if you already own the iPad app, you can now also use the app on a Mac for free.  Of course, one is unlikely to take handwritten notes on a Mac given the lack of a touchscreen, but it is incredibly nice to be able to skim through my notes on my computer screen while I am working at home.  The app is only for Mac, so if you use a PC you still need to export your notes to PDF and then review them on the PC that way.  Note that when you download the app from the Mac App Store, you will at first be told that you have to pay for the app, but before you are charged Apple will realize that you already own the app and will tell you that there is no charge.  See this tweet from GoodNotes for more on that.
• M.G. Siegler explains on his 500ish site why he is such a big fan of the new cursor support on iPad OS.  Me too.  I find myself working on my iPad with an external keyboard and an Apple Magic Mouse 2 almost every day — I was just using it a few hours ago to edit some written discovery requests — and it works very well.
• Jason Cipriani of CNet shares 15 gestures you can now do with a trackpad or mouse using the new iPad OS.
• Christian Boyce shares tips for using the Mail app on the iPhone.  There are some useful ones in there.
• In addition to announcing its partnership with Google, Mark Gurman of Bloomberg reports that Apple announced another tool that might help those studying the COVID-19 pandemic:  anonymous data from Apple’s Maps app that shows how people in different parts of the world have moved around over time. 
• And finally, Apple released a fantastic video this week remind us that even during these difficult times, creativity goes on:

Apple announced a new iPhone yesterday called the iPhone SE.  If you have avoided purchasing an iPhone X, iPhone XS, iPhone XR, or iPhone 11 because you prefer having a button on your iPhone that uses Touch ID (fingerprint recognition) instead of an iPhone with Face ID (facial recognition), then this is the iPhone for you.  The second generation of the iPhone SE gives you most of what you get with an iPhone 11 and puts it in the body of an iPhone 8.  Moreover, if you have avoided purchasing the iPhone 11 and similar devices because they are too expensive, the new iPhone SE is the iPhone for you.  The new iPhone SE is available starting April 24, 2020, and it starts at only $399 for the 64GB model. 

The button

The single button at the bottom of the screen was the iconic feature of the original iPhone in 2007, and that button remained on all models of the iPhone until the iPhone X was announced in 2017.  As much as I loved using that button, I prefer the new design that was first introduced with the iPhone X.  By eliminating the button, there is space for a larger screen.  Thus, you can get the biggest screen possible in the smallest amount of space — a feature that I prefer on both the iPhone and the iPad (and hence my love of the iPad Pro).

But I know that not everyone feels that way.  My wife has been using an iPhone 7 for years.  Even as I upgraded from an iPhone X to and iPhone XS to an iPhone 11 Pro and thus had an extra one-year-old model in the house that she could use at no cost, she declined to upgrade.  (My son was delighted by my wife’s decision and quickly took advantage of the situation.)  Something about Face ID has never appealed to her, and she prefers using the button to unlock the phone or go to the home screen.  And my wife is not alone.  I’ve talked to many attorneys at my own law firm who have told me that they prefer having a button, so I’m sure that there are countless others out there.

And recently, even I joined that club — at least for a short period of time.  A few days ago, I made a temporary exit from my exile at home to go to the grocery store … which, as you know is a very different activity because of the COVID-19 pandemic.  I wore a cloth mask while I was in the store, and I quickly noticed that it severely interfered with my using the Notes app on my iPhone as a grocery list because you cannot use Face ID with a cloth mask.  Every time I looked at my iPhone and it was locked, it would not unlock automatically, so I needed to type in my passcode.  And because I use a passcode with more than 10 characters, it was incredibly inconvenient to enter that passcode many, many times while I was shopping.  Ugh.  As I left the store, I found myself longing for an iPhone with Touch ID instead of Face ID for the first time in many years.

If you prefer having a button and Touch ID on your iPhone, the new iPhone SE is the only new iPhone being sold by Apple that still has a button.  This is the iPhone for you.

Size

The new iPhone SE is pretty much the same size as the iPhone 6, iPhone 6s, iPhone 7, and iPhone 8.  In fact, it is almost exactly the same size as the iPhone 8, and cases that work on the iPhone 8 should also work on the iPhone SE.  Thus, if you are upgrading from one of those models, the new iPhone SE will feel like it is the right size.

If you used one of the “Plus” models of those phones, the iPhone SE is smaller.  Perhaps Apple will announce an iPhone SE Plus at some point, but for now, that is not an option.  For now, if you want a larger screen, you will have to give up the button and get the iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, or iPhone 11 Max, all of which are larger than the iPhone SE and all of which cost much more.

If you are upgrading from the first-generation iPhone SE or an iPhone 5s or an older model, then the second-generation iPhone SE is going to feel like a larger phone to you.  But it is also such a better phone than those older models that hopefully you won’t mind.

Colors

The iPhone SE comes in black, white, and red.

Speed and other features

Even though the new iPhone SE has a button and thus shares a trait with the 2007 version of the iPhone, this is still a very modern iPhone.  It uses the same A13 chip as the iPhone 11 and the iPhone 11 Pro, both of which were just released a few months ago.  The iPhone SE only has a single camera, but it is the same excellent camera that is on the iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro.  The iPhone SE simply lacks the additional wide-angle camera and the telephoto camera that you can get on those more expensive models.

The new iPhone SE also has a dual-SIM, which can be especially useful if you do a lot of international travel.  Not that you are likely to do much of that in the next few months, but when the world starts to get back to normal, your iPhone SE will be ready.

The screen is not quite as nice as what you get on the other iPhones that Apple is now selling as new, but the screen on the iPhone SE is still very nice.  And my guess is that the iPhone SE is at least as good and probably much better than whatever older iPhone you are upgrading from.

Put it all together, and you have all of the features that most lawyers need in an iPhone.  It is fast enough to be super-responsive as you are working with emails and attachments.  It will work great for phone calls and video conferences.  It runs the latest operating system, and it has the power necessary to continue to be a great iPhone for many years to come.  And it will run all of the latest apps that you use to manage your tasks, calendar, contacts, etc.

Price

The iPhone 11 starts at $699 and the iPhone 11 Pro starts at $999.  In contrast, the new iPhone SE starts at only $399.  I love my iPhone 11 Pro, but unless you are a power user, I suspect that you won’t find the iPhone 11 Pro to be worth an extra $600.  And if you don’t care about the larger screen and second camera, you may consider the additional $300 for an iPhone 11 to be wasted money.  Starting at $399 is a great price for many people.

Having said that, I strongly encourage you to spend an extra $50 to get the 128GB model instead of the 64GB model.  As you take pictures and video and as you store documents and other files, you will definitely appreciate the extra space.  For $549 you can get the 256GB model of the iPhone SE.

Conclusion

When Apple introduced the iPhone 11 last year but didn’t update the iPhone 8, I was afraid that Apple was giving up on iPhone with a button and Touch ID.  I’m glad to see that Apple didn’t do so.  The second-generation version of the iPhone SE is going to be the perfect iPhone for many attorneys and many others.  If you want to have a powerful iPhone but don’t want to spend a lot of money, and/or if you want to use a button with a fingerprint sensor instead of a buttonless phone that uses facial recognition, this is the iPhone for you.

Apple has shown incredible leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic.  It started by donating masks to medical professionals that Apple already had in its possession (presumably accumulated during the California fires).  Apple then found a company to make more masks that Apple could give away, and a few days ago Apple CEO Tim Cook announced that Apple would be obtaining and giving away over 20 million masks to medical workers.  Cook also announced that Apple designed and was producing face shields for medical workers.  You can see how the face shield works in this support document on Apple’s website.  And then Cook announced that Apple was contributing $10 million to Lady Gaga’s effort to raise money for the World Health Organization, which will put on a concert on April 18 called One World Together At Home.  It will be broadcast by Apple and by all three U.S. networks, it will be hosted by Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, and Stephen Colbert, and the list of participating artists is impressive including Paul McCartney, Elton John, Keith Urban, Billie Eilish, Stevie Wonder, Alanis Morissette, and many more.  As so many of us are using Apple devices to stay connected while we practice social distancing, kudos to Apple for inspiring us all by doing what it can to help.  And now, the news of note from the past week:

• California attorney David Sparks explains why he is a fan of Watchsmith, an interesting app that lets you create your own complications for the Apple Watch.
• Ryan Christoffel of MacStories also wrote an extensive review of Watchsmith,
• Apple’s upcoming Magic Keyboard incorporates a keyboard and a trackpad into an iPad case.  It looks fantastic and starts at $299.  Jason Snell of Six Colors reviewed the Brydge Pro+ keyboard, which is about $100 cheaper.  Unfortunately, Snell reports that the trackpad doesn’t work well so this isn’t a good alternative.
• Matt Webb Mitovich of TV Line reports that everyone can now watch many of the best shows on Apple TV+ for free.  Not all of the shows are available — for example, The Morning Show and See are missing — but of what is available, I can recommend For All Mankind and Dickinson. 
• If you are following the latest guidelines and wearing a mask to prevent COVID-19, FaceID on an iPhone no longer works while a mask covers your mouth and nose.  Joanna Stern of the Wall Street Journal discusses possible work-arounds.
• Jack Foster of Hodinkee writes a detailed and passionate argument for the Solar Face on the Apple Watch.
• Not that any of us are traveling right now, but if you want a travel charger for your Apple Watch, Ed Hardy of Cult of Mac wrote a favorable review of the Satechi Charging Dock for Apple Watch.  It uses USB-C and appears to take up almost no space.  Looks neat.  $39 on Amazon.
• GoodNotes updated an older post on Medium in which it selects the best styluses to use with an iPad.  Unsurprisingly, the Apple Pencil comes up on top, but they also like what they call the Adonit Jot Pro.  I believe that stylus is now called the Adonit Pro 4 and costs only $29.99 on Amazon.  For many years, the Adonit Jot Pro was my favorite stylus (here is my review of the 2015 model), because of its fine tip attached to a clear disk.  One nice thing about the Adonit Pro 4 is that it works with any device, even the iPhone.  If you want a stylus but don’t want to pay over $50 and/or want to use it on an iPhone, I think that the Pro 4 would be a great pick.  Having said that, once you start using an Apple Pencil, everything else pales in comparison.
• And finally, here is an interesting drone video by Duncan Sinfield showing what Apple Park looks like when virtually everyone is working at home:

With so many of us staying at home and practicing safe social-distancing, videoconferencing has replaced in-person meetings.  There are many different platforms that you can use for videoconferencing, but lately I have been spending a lot of time using Microsoft Teams.  If you primarily use Teams on your computer, I hope that this post will encourage you to try out Teams on your iPad and iPhone for videoconferences.

This is not a full review of Microsoft Teams, which is a sophisticated product that has many features I haven’t even begun to explore.  Also, if you are trying to decide what videoconferencing platform to use in your law practice, I have not tried them all and I cannot tell you what is best for you.  Having said that, you may have seen some of the recent critiques of Zoom in the news.  For example, The Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto recently issued an extensive report identifying security and privacy issues with Zoom, ultimately concluding:  “As a result of these troubling security issues, we discourage the use of Zoom at this time for use cases that require strong privacy and confidentiality, including … [h]ealthcare providers handling sensitive patient information … lawyers, and journalists working on sensitive topics.”  In light of these reports, Zoom has announced that it is going to place more focus on security, and that is good news.  However, as security expert Bruce Schneier noted at the end of his extensive analysis of Zoom, only time will tell whether Zoom makes real progress.

In this post, I’ll start by describing how Teams works on the iPad and iPhone when you are participating in a videoconference.  Then, I’ll explain why the iPad is my favorite way to use Teams in a videoconference.

Teams on the iPad

The main screen of the Microsoft Teams app for the iPad has multiple tabs at the bottom.  When you tap Calendar, you see all of the events that are on your calendar — the same events that you would see using the calendar feature of Microsoft Outlook on your computer or the Calendar app on your iPad or iPhone.  When you tap on a meeting on the left that is scheduled as a Teams meeting, you have an option to click a button to join the meeting.

Before you enter the meeting, you have a chance to see if your video is turned on (and if so, see how you look), see if your microphone is turned on, and see if your speaker is turned on.  When you are ready to join the meeting, tap the button that says Join now.

Once you join the meeting, you will start to see other participants as they join. 

In the current version of Microsoft Teams for iPad, you will never see more than four people on the screen at one time, and the one in the bottom right corner is always you.  The other three parts of the screen show the three people who spoke most recently.  Of course, you will only see the face of a participant if they have their camera turned on, but you will always see their first name and the initial of their last name, if Teams can identify that.  If someone is participating in the Teams conference via telephone, you will see an icon instead of a face and their phone number instead of their name.

There are other videoconferencing apps that show a larger number of people on a single screen at one time, or that at least give you the option to tap a button or swipe to see additional participants in the videoconference.  But Teams only shows four people, with a small circle in the corner to indicate how many people are off-screen.  Indeed, on the iPad, it is perhaps more accurate to say that you see only three people because your own camera is always shown at the bottom right; on a computer, Teams shows the four people who have spoken most recently along with a small fifth window showing your own camera.

I’ve heard some folks say that they like seeing only a few people at a time because with only four faces on the screen, it is easier to see each person.  But I think that Microsoft should at least give you the option to see more faces on a screen at one time.  In Zoom, you can see nine faces on an iPad screen at one time — which may remind you of The Brady Bunch or The Hollywood Squares — and I find that works well, plus you can swipe left or right to see additional people.  According to a post by a Microsoft engineer on the official Microsoft Teams User Feedback Forum, Microsoft is working on adding a similar feature:  “Based on recent feedback, we are accelerating our work to increase the number of participants shown in the main meeting window.”  But who knows if that feature is coming next month or next year.

[UPDATE 4-13-2020:  Today, Microsoft announced on Twitter that before the end of April, Teams will add the ability to view nine participants simultaneously.  No word yet on whether the iPad will get this new feature at the time as the computer.  And Microsoft is also working to increase that number even more.]

 If you tap on the screen, you will see additional options.

There is an arrow at the top left that you can tap to go back to the main screen of the Teams app.  When you do so, a small window will float on the right side of the screen that you can tap to return to the conference.  The middle of the top of the screen shows the conference title and elapsed time.  Buttons at the top right let you see the Chat window associated with the screen (more on that in a moment) or a list of the participants who are either in the meeting or who were invited to join the meeting.  (From that screen, you can add additional people to the conference.)

A bar at the bottom of the screen shows various options including buttons to turn the camera, microphone, and speaker on or off.  As I’m sure you have heard before, if you are not speaking it is often a good idea to tap the mute button — especially if you are not using a headset — so that others do not hear pets, children, and other potential sources of noise around you. 

I’ve been using my AirPods Pro for all of my Teams videoconferences using my iPad (and iPhone), and they work great.  Unlike larger headsets, they don’t block any part of my face, and the audio quality has been great.

Tap the three dots on the bar for additional options.  There are two interesting options in there that I have not used much except to see that the work.  One option allows you to share a PowerPoint, photo, video, or your entire screen so that everyone else in the meeting can see it. 

Another option is to turn on live captions, which allows you to see a transcript at the bottom of your screen of what people are saying as they are speaking.  The transcript is far from perfect, but it is designed to make meetings more accessible to individuals who are deaf or have difficulties hearing.  This is a new feature, added just a few weeks ago, and I don’t yet know all of the details on how it works, including how the transcript is created and whether it is retained. 

Another option is to record a video of the meeting.  If anyone in a meeting starts a recording, then everyone in the meeting will be able to view that recording in the chat channel associated with the meeting.  And when there is a live captions transcript associated with the meeting, you can search for a word in the transcript to jump to a part of a recording.

Note that many of these options — including sharing, live captions, and the ability to record video — can be disabled at the administrator level.  So if your law firm decides to prohibit screen sharing or recording video, you may not see this option in your Teams app.

What if you don’t want other participants to see what is in your background?  On a computer, Teams provides the option to blur your background.  This option is not yet in the iPad version of the app, but on March 19, 2020, Microsoft announced that “[y]ou can expect to see this feature appear on your iPhones and iPads in the coming weeks.” 

What if you want to use a picture for your background, almost like you were in front of a green screen?  A recent post on Microsoft’s official forum says that Microsoft engineers are “working on this feature and are hoping to release within a quarter.”  That post doesn’t say if the feature will come to the iPad at the same time that it comes to the computer.

Teams on the iPhone

As far as I can tell, everything that you can do with Teams on an iPad also works on an iPhone.  Of course, the larger iPad screen is better for seeking four people at one time, but for a one-on-one videoconference, the iPhone works well and is very convenient.

While the iPhone screen is too small to be ideal for a large conference, I find that it is a perfect way to use the chat function during a videoconference.  Teams allows you to chat with participants while a conference is going on (or even before or after the conference), which can be a nice way to have a public side conversation that doesn’t distract from the speakers.  You can see that chat area on the iPad, but not at the same time that you are looking at the faces.  But while you are using an iPad to see faces, you can also use the Teams app on the iPhone to participate in the chat.  And the iPhone size is perfect for chatting, much like the iPhone works great for text messages.

The focus of this post is videoconferencing, but I’ll note that the chat feature in Teams is a useful way to have a back-and-forth conversation with someone in your organization even if you are not having a videoconference.  A single chat session can often replace dozens of emails.  Sure, you could also use your iPhone’s Messages app to text with someone, but Teams makes it easy to chat with everyone in your organization, even if you don’t have their cellphone number.

One word of warning:  if you are using Teams on your iPhone just for the chat function, don’t tap the Join button by accident.  If you do, your active camera will switch from your iPad to your iPhone.  Having said that, there may be times when you find it a useful feature to switch between using the camera on your computer, iPad, and iPhone.

Putting it all together

The main reason that I love using my iPad and iPhone in a videoconference is that it gives me easy access to all of the tools that I want.  On my iPad screen, I can watch and participate in the video portion of the videoconference.  On my iPhone, I can use the Teams chat feature.  And then I typically have my computer right next to me on my desk as well, making it easy to pull up a document, email, something on the Internet, etc. that I want to refer to during the meeting.  I could accomplish something similar using Teams on my computer by having two monitors connected to my computer, but that’s not a luxury that I have at my home.

I also like that the iPad is so portable, making it easy to participate in a videoconference from anywhere in my house.  I even tried attending a conference from my backyard, but my Wi-Fi signal was mediocre and it degraded the video quality enough that I quickly decided to go back inside.  But if it works for you, go for it.

I’m sure that I will still attend some calls using Teams on my computer.  But so far, the iPad has been the better option for almost all of my calls.  If you currently only use Teams on your computer, I strongly encourage you to download the Teams app on your iPad and iPhone so that you have the best tool for any situation.

Click here for Microsoft Teams (free):