iPadOS 26 keyboard guide

I’m also somewhat new to the ipad with a magic keyboard, but I’ve used it for a while so I could help with what I know. First of, a lot of macos voiceover shortcuts exist on ipad OS, if you know any of them, you could try them, but if not, and you’re starting from scratch, then let me list the things I find useful in day to day use.

Useful info to know before starting, the command or cmd key for short, is the key directly after the spacebar, I usually use the one on the left side, mainly because the other important keys are near it as well, after the command on the left, you have the option key, then the control, then the fn key, on the right side, after the command comes another options, but then after that is the arrow keys.

1: System shortcuts

These are pretty much universal. However since not all apps intentionally support the keyboard some might not work there.

• command + n, new, application dependent, might not exist in some apps, but for example if you’re in a text editor depending on your luck if this is supported, clicking on it creates a new file and takes you to it.

• command+w, quits an app, or closes a tab/window/dialog, sometimes app dependent, works in closing an app directly with most applications, but I noticed some apps struggling, like brave browser.

• fn+m, this is new in ipad OS 26, it shows you the file menu, this is possibly where you can find some actions or even shortcuts, some apps will tell you what is a shortcut for an action is in the menu, but again, new feature, not necessarily supported everywhere. If you used windows or macos before, you could think of it as the same as pressing alt or going to the menubar, respectively.

• f7, f8, and f9 are media previous, play/pause, and media next, respectively. I found since ipad is more like iphone with a universal media playback system this made listening to music on ipad better than on mac.

• command+h, takes you back to the home screen.

• f3: App switcher.

2: Voiceover

The voiceover key is either capslock or fn+options, whatever you prefer.

• left+right arrow, or you could use voiceover+shift+q, toggles quicknav, turned on by default.

• voiceover+q, turn single key quicknav, this is a mode where you can press keys like h to go to next heading, or shift+h for previous heading, there are a lot of shortcuts and I incurrage you explore, unfortunately though, right now this functionality is not completely reliable, it could work and fail sometimes, so I recommend using the rotor instead for now, until apple fixes the issue, I will report it soon.

• up+down arrow when quicknav is on: Click on the currently selected element on the screen.

• command+voiceover+left or right arrows: Select a rotor type.

• down/up arrow, or voiceover+down or up arrows(Depending whether on quicknav is on or not): move to the next or previous item from the rotor type, E.G. If I select headings as the rotor type, down arrow goes next heading, up previous.

• Left/Right arrows, or voiceover left or right arrows, goes next or previous item on the screen. Basically, normal navigation, same as swipes.

• voiceover+k: opens voiceover help, I recommend doing this to memorize where each button is on the keyboard.

• control+up or down arrows: Goes to the top or bottom of an entire screen, very useful, can work only when quicknav is on from what I can tell.

• control left/right(quicknav only): Goes to next or previous container, this is really useful because it could take you from app screen to the doc, or if you’re in an app with 2 screen sections, like mail, where messages are shown on the left and the current selected message is opened on the right, it helps with navigating them.

That’s all I can remember right now, but pretty sure there is more, also, don’t forget opening the file menu in each app to check for app specific keyboard shortcuts, if they exist.

Also, navigation note, I’d recommend mixing using touchscreen and keyboard, if you get used to it it feels like you got the best of both worlds iphone and macbook, even if it’s slightly less capable than both of them, but it’s nice for what it is.

This functionality is already built into VoiceOver. You can go through the list of commands in the VoiceOver settings, and if needed, adjust or reassign them to something that requires less effort.
I’ve personally used the iPad extensively as my main device, and honestly, the experience wasn’t ideal. Despite its quirks, the Mac still feels like a more practical and reliable option overall.
(HTH)

This may be a silly question but: So I'm guessing you can use the screen and the gestures are the same as the iPhone?

Yes, Sheila, Also I use the same and a keyboard. Sad the commands do not work 100%. Long live cats.