Typing on the iPhone and iPad just became more fun.You now have a choice to swipe or slide your finger over letters instead of tapping each character on your keyboard.

By sliding your finger over letters, you can create words instead of tapping on the keyboard one character at a time.

On the iPad, it’s a little bit more difficult with the full-screen keypad, but if you press your finger on the lower right-hand icon that looks like a keyboard, then choose floating keyboard, it looks like the same keyboard on your iPhone, which makes it easier to swipe across.

You can also slide the floating keyboard around the screen. To set-up this feature, go into the iPhone Settings, General, Keyboard, click on “Slide to Type,” then also click on “Delete Slide-to-type by Word.” It takes a little getting use to, but once you master it, you can type much faster.

Need to create a quick Microsoft Word document but don’t have Word? No problem. Just use Text Edit. Create a Rich Text Document in Text Edit, and when you go to save, choose one of several different Word formats from the File Format pull-down menus at the bottom of the save dialog. You can also open Word documents in Text Edit, though it can’t handle any fancy formatting or objects.

Also, in the new iPadOS upgrade, Safari now looks like a Desktop version instead of a Mobile version. At the top left side is “aA,” and if you click on it, you can make the text larger; you can also choose Reader View and Request Desktop Website.

Now you can use a wireless Bluetooth Mouse with your iPad. To set this up. go to Settings, Accessibility, Touch, Assisted Touch, Devices, Bluetooth Devices. Then let it search and find your Bluetooth Mouse to add. To scroll, just click and drag.

Assistive Touch appears on the desktop as a blurred circle. Clicking on it gives you many options and devices to choose from. There you can quickly press Screen Shot and capture an image of anything displaying on the desktop screen. For instance, if you see a page in Safari showing hair-growing shampoo, press on the blurred circle and choose “Screen Shot.” Now look in your photos. and there it is. I don’t need any.

Clicking on Devices allows you to control volume up and down, and clicking on the Control Center allows you to adjust your brightness, music, flashlight, choosing Wi-Fi and rotating your screen. I tap on this blurred circle all the time to quickly do things instead of going into Settings and wearing my fingers out tapping a thousand times.

Maps has a new feature similar to Street View, which is called Look Around. Go to any location on your Maps app and tap on it. You can see the actual location, and swiping with your finger, you can move up and down the street or move left and right. You can zoom in by pinching in and out to see more detail.

The new video adjustment tools allow you to add cool features to your videos, like you did with the photos.

Here is something cool you might want to try out on your iPad. It’s called Split Screen. Open up Safari, and on the bottom lower right side, slide your finger up. Notice that a bunch of app icons appear. Tap and hold on any one, drag it up to the right side of the screen and release your finger. Now you have two apps side-by-side. I use this when I have a Safari site opened up and have the Notes app next to it. Then I can cut and copy from Safari to Notes any text or graphics.

Send your computer-related questions to Mauimist@aol.com.