Multi-Touch Gestures

You probably noticed that when you opened the iPad’s box, no stylus fell out. Until recently, most tablet computers and handhelds required that you use a plastic pencil to do anything. The iPad, instead, is designed for your fingers. You interact with the software on the screen by touching, tapping, swiping, and performing other Multi-Touch gestures. Many controls are intuitive: Tap the Edit button in Contacts, for example, to edit a person’s information. Other motions may not be obvious at first, but they quickly become natural.

Tap

As you’ve no doubt discovered, the most obvious action is to point at an area of the screen, like a button or other control, and lightly tap with one finger. Sometimes, you’ll want to double-tap the screen, such as when you want to zoom in on a section of a Web page in Safari.