How to Swipe to Text on the iPad with the Floating Keyboard

The Swipe Keyboard on the iPhone, often called Swipe Text, Swype Keyboard, Slide to Type, or sometimes QuickPath, is available on the iPad as of iPadOS 13. Using the iPad’s floating keyboard, you can drag your finger from one letter to the next without lifting it, spelling out whole words in one quick motion. There’s no need for a keyboard app. To get Slide to Type working on your iPad, you’ll need to use the floating keyboard, and learn how to switch between the floating keyboard and the regular keyboard. Read on for quick instructions on how to use QuickPath and the floating keyboard on your iPad.

Related: How to Swipe Text on the iPhone

How To Swipe Text on the iPad with the Floating Keyboard

To use Slide to Type on your iPad, you’ll need to switch from the regular on-screen keyboard to the floating keyboard.

1. Open any app that requires typing. I’ll demonstrate in Notes.
   
   
    
2. Tap on a text area to begin typing. The keyboard will fill the bottom of your screen.
3. Tap and hold the keyboard icon in the bottom right corner of the keyboard. A menu will pop up. Unlike many menus in iPadOS, this menu requires that you keep holding your finger on the screen and drag your finger to the menu option you want.
   
   
    
4. Select Floating from the keyboard menu.
   
   
    
5. The keyboard will disappear, to be replaced with the floating keyboard.
6. You can move the floating keyboard around the screen by touching and dragging the grab bar at the bottom.
   
   
    
7. You can compose text with QuickPath aka Slide to Type by touching the first letter of a word, and then dragging your finger to the rest of the letters in turn.
   
   
    
8. Pro tip: you can also touch the 123 key and slide to the punctuation mark or number that you need.
9. To switch back to the regular keyboard, grab the bar at the bottom of the floating keyboard and drag it to the center-bottom of your screen.

Now you can swipe text like crazy on your iPad!