iOS 9 iPad Keyboard Shortcuts

This is a subject very near and dear to my heart: iPad keyboard shortcuts. When Craig Federighi announced iOS 9 offers improved hardware keyboard shortcut support, he had my full attention.

In a limited number of Apple mobile apps for iPad, holding down the Command key on your hardware keyboard will spawn a popover window showing (some of) the available keyboard shortcuts. That said, Mail and Mobile Safari support the most keyboard shortcuts, while Notes and Contacts list only a couple.

Notes, which could obviously benefit greatly from improved keyboard shortcut support, offers few.

Here’s a quick look at the iPad keyboard shortcuts that are currently supported.

iOS 9 Mail Keyboard Shortcuts

— Reply: Command + R

— Reply All: Command + Shift + R

— Forward: Command + Shift + F

— Mark as Junk: Command + Shift J

— Flag: Command + Shift + L

— Mark as Unread: Command + Shift + U

— Go to Previous Message: Command + Up Arrow

— Go to Next Message: Command + Down Arrow

— Delete Message: Delete

— Get All New Mail: Command + Shift + N

— Mailbox Search: Command + Option + F

— New Message: Command + N

iOS 9 Safari Keyboard Shortcuts

— Reload Page: Command + R

— Find: Command + F

— Open Location: Command + L

— Show Reader: Command + Shift + R

— New Tab: Command + T

— Close Tab: Command + W

— To the Right Through Tabs: Command + Shift + ]

— To the Left Tabs: Command + Shift + Tab

— Previous Page: Command + [

— Next Page: Command + ]

— Show/hide Bookmarks Sidebar: Command + Shift + L

And, don’t forget that most welcome of all new iPad keyboard shortcuts (top image) — Command + Tab app switching!

That said, Apple has a spotty at best record vis-a-vis iPad + hardware keyboard shortcut support, unceremoniously boosting the functionality in iOS 7 and then trimming it back in iOS 8. Now, with iOS 9 beta, Apple is heralding iPad keyboard shortcuts as important “new” functionality.

I would very much like Apple to add the ability to select text simply by placing the cursor and then, while holding the shift key, selecting text using the cursor keys. It’s a simple function, but a very big deal for getting things done — notably when editing text and monkeying around in code.

What additional Mac like functionality would you like Apple to add to your (powerful one pound computer called) iPad?