Here’s a truth we’ve had to endure for the iPad’s entire lifespan until now: The bigger the iPad, the bigger the frustration of typing on the screen when you’re holding the tablet like a clipboard. One hand had to hold up the iPad, leaving the index finger of your other hand to hunt and peck its way across the QuickType keyboard on the expansive screen. It certainly didn’t help that the normal keyboard is simply bad for presentation because it obscures around a fourth of the screen.
Apple originally attempted to solve this problem by letting you split the keyboard in two halves, but Apple is removing that feature with iPadOS 13. That’s because iPadOS 13 introduces a better option: Now there’s a floating iPhone-sized keyboard that can freely move to any spot of the display. Unlike the iPad’s digital keyboard in its default configuration, this smaller floating keyboard even supports the swipe-typing feature Apple is bringing to the iPhone with iOS 13.