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.

at least until ipad OS 26, where it slightly became different, but yes, screen gestures are pretty much copy pasted.
re: Ipad as main device, this is a complicated subject, but here's my view as someone who owns a macbook and an ipad.
first off, it's really specific to what you do, if you use macos specific apps a lot, of course macos will feel better off than ipad simply because it lacks it.
secondly, while apple wants to claime the ipad is a computer, from my experience, it is not, however, it's sitting between an iphone and a macbook, as I said before, it's not as smooth and specialized as either is, but the bridge is amazing for those who use it, E.G. After using the ipad for 4 days then using the mac, I found myself reaching toward the screen mid navigation just because I memorized a layout or I know where items should be and could navigate to them faster, only to realize that it's a macbook thus no touch screen, but I also know this won't work for most people, I simply grew up using a touchscreen device instead of a device with a keyboard so unlike many people touchscreens are natural to me.
similarly, having a keyboard there is useful, I thought of it this way, a touchscreen is great at rappid fire exploration while a keyboard is comfortable for consistant navigation, E.G. Reading.
also, from what I noticed voiceover on ipad OS is totally faster than macos, at least when navigating, which is interesting. Because I always thought ipad's keyboard experience is nowhere near as polished as macos is. So for voiceover to be faster there, even if slightly... Just reinforces the belief macos is just hopeless lol.
but yes depends, E.G. I'm a programmer and I never can code on ipad, swift playground is a joke apple spun up to trick parrents and it's practically useless for any serious work because it can't actually compile anything. So I need to use my mac, but I use the ipad if I just want to explore sites like applevis, or just quickly compose an email, or if I want a tiny portable thing for university, because my macbook pro is 14 inch, but even that, somehow, is barely fitting on the university class table and last thing I want is someone brushing by then slamming into the mac, sending it flying into oblivion, so I need something that is smaller, and an 11 inch ipad fits that perfectly. And the magic keyboard has proper friction and firmness on a table, unlike macbook's with their flimzy plasticky literally 0 friction corners.

If someone goes from a laptop be it windows or mac, (Not sure about it) the interaction with the keyboard is smooth and fast. iPad is not. Still like my iPad 9 and Slim keyboard. Mostly for typing long messages and mona and long search in youtube or facebook. Mostly I tap on the screen to select the app and opening. Apple would benefit if they spend time making sure it works as well a mac or a windows regarding the keyboard. Long live cats.

Yeah, the ipad will be incredibly great if keyboard was better, but actually there is a bug that is just an annoyance on iphone but is a dealbreaker for ipad and keyboard users. You know when the window changes, like a new webpage loads, sometimes the voiceover, er, how to put it, knowledge of the ui? Yeah, doesn’t change, imagine you pressed on submit, page changed, now if you press left or right arrows, or swiped left and right with touch screen, voiceover is stuck on that button, in that case, you’re forced to touch the screen somewhere with an element so voiceover realizes things changed, this never happens with macos.
It’s interesting you don’t notice things being any faster, for reference I’m on an m3 ipad air, so maybe the m series ipads are different? Though I’m doubtful. Voiceover rarely shows differences because of processers, maybe it’s user pospective then.

Do notice it. If they ever get their act together regarding iPad and external keyboard, it will takeover the computer system.

As always, my opinion is that, if you're planning to use the iPad primarily with the keyboard, you're going to get frustrated. I don't do this, but most people here find it's often buggy, you get stuck in places you can't get out of, etc etc etc.

Also, if you're trying to use an iPad like a giant iPhone you'll probably also get frustrated. Swiping everywhere and trying to use VO gestures to jump between elements and such again tends to be problematic.

On the other hand, if you take the time to learn to use the iPad as a touch device with the keyboard as secondary input it can be the most efficient GUI environment you've ever used in your life. You'll have to take the time to learn where things really are on the screen and how things are really laid out. These days you might have to learn to drag windows around. But as I said, it's my primary device and it's probably the fastest I've ever been navigating an interface in more than 40 years of using a computer, certainly a graphical one.

VO even gives you access to things sighted users of an iPad don't get, like remapping VO gestures to Spotlight or a Shortcut, both of which I've done. As always though your milage may vary, ☺️