How to travel with a Wi-Fi-only iPad – CNET

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Whether traveling for work or pleasure, the iPad is a perfect travel companion. It’s lighter and runs longer than a laptop and springs to life instantly. Plus, its screen is large enough to get work done or enjoy TV shows or movies while in transit.

If you have a Wi-Fi-only iPad (or are traveling abroad with a cellular iPad and don’t want to return to find hefty international data roaming charges tacked onto your next bill), here are five tips for making the most of your travels with an iPad.

1. Download music and movies before you leave

Don’t count on flying on a plane with Wi-Fi and watching Netflix — there’s no way to watch Netflix offline. Instead, download any shows or movies you want to watch before you leave. You can purchase and download movies and TV shows from iTunes to view offline. Amazon Video lets Prime member download select titles to Fire phones and tablets along with Android and iOS devices, and YouTube lets YouTube Red subscribers download videos for offline viewing.

Movie files can be large and can take a while to download, so be sure you leave yourself enough time to complete the download; this is something to do the night before you leave and not something to do as you are walking out the door.

Because movie files can be large, you may also need to remove some apps or delete or offload some photos and videos to make room for your in-flight entertainment.

2. Make Google Maps available offline

If you plan to use your iPad as a city guide, you can download areas of Google Maps to view offline. Here’s how:

• Search for a city in Google Map, tap the triple-dot button and then tap Save offline map.
• Pan and zoom on the map to get the area and level of detail you want.
• Tap Download in the lower-right corner, give the map a name and tap Save.

Screenshot by Matt Elliott/CNET

To view your saved offline maps, tap the hamburger button in the upper-left corner of Google Maps, tap Your places and then tap on one of your saved maps under the header, Offline maps.

Likewise, business travelers may want to make files available offline in Google Drive. To do so, tap the triple-dot button to the right of a file in Google Drive and tap Keep offline. Your offline docs can then be found by tapping the hamburger button in the upper-left corner of Google Drive and tapping Offline from the menu.

3. Turn off Wi-Fi when you aren’t using it

The iPad boasts good battery life, but constantly searching for a Wi-Fi can needlessly drain battery resources. Swipe up from the bottom edge and turn off Wi-Fi from the control panel before you toss your iPad in your backpack or purse and head out on the town.

4. Take security precautions

You’re more likely to lose your iPhone than iPad when traveling, but it’s still a good idea to turn on Find My iPad to help you locate a lost iPad and enable Lost Mode to remotely lock your iPad and display a message with your phone number on its lock screen. Lost mode also disables Apple Pay.

To turn on Find my iPad, go to Settings > iCloud > Find My iPad and turn the toggle switch on for Find My iPad.

Screenshot by Matt Elliott/CNET

In order to protect a missing iPad before Lost Mode can be turned on, give it a passcode while you are traveling. Go to Settings > Passcode and enter a passcode.

5. Accessorize: Case, keyboard and splitter

Protect your iPad from the bumps and bruises of being on the road by outfitting it with a tough case. That means leaving Apple’s Smart Cover at home and getting a case that protects both the front and back of your iPad.

If you plan to get some work done on your iPad during your travels, get a Bluetooth keyboard so you aren’t forced to type for long stretches on the iPad’s onscreen keyboard. Or combine the previous two tips and get a keyboard case for your iPad.

Lastly, a tip for parents traveling with two kids and one iPad: get a headphone splitter and thank me later.