Just turn the screen off while not using, instead of full shut down + iPad Pro (12.9-inch) (4th generation)

It shouldn't leave the screen illuminated. What kind of cover do you have? Do you have the other setting I mentioned turned on?

Feature requests go to Apple here, Feedback - iPad - Apple

The top button should lock the screen to blank it out. If you go to Settings>Display & Brightness. What do you show for Auto-Lock? You should just have to tap that button to get it to lock the screen and blank it. If shutting the device down does not fix the issue, your next step would be to create a current backup and restore to that backup. Are you able to use that button with the volume up button to shut the device down? Are you able to use that button with the volume up button quickly to create a screenshot?

I want to turn off the screen by closing the cover without locking the iPad. I want to turn off the screen to preserve battery. Why would I ever want to illuminate the underside of the screen cover? But I don't want to have to unlock the screen every time I open the cover - I'll lock the screen with the power button when I want. And I don't want the screen to turn itself off with a timer - I use the glow to get around in the dark. Can locking and turning off illumination of the screen not be separated?

The flashlight is far too bright for the purpose, which is essentially a need for a convenient nightlight that stays on long enough for me to shower and get ready for bed. I do not have a Pro, with face recognition. My standard iPad recognizes my finger, when it feels like it. I understand what it doesn't do. I suppose this is an enhancement request for what I am suggesting is a design flaw. Why should closing the cover ever leave the screen illuminated?

But thanks for the quick reply.

I got the cover, which attaches magnetically and folds to form a stand, from Apple. I have tried multiple settings. If I switch Lock/Unlock on, it both darkens the screen and locks the iPad. Nearly all of the time I use the iPad I'm at home, and don't want to lock it, or more significantly, to have to unlock it, every time I set it down. If I switch Lock/Unlock off, it neither locks the device nor darkens the screen. This is the part that is baffling to me. Why would closing the cover not darken the screen, whether I've elected to have it lock the device or not? To avoid the nuisance of locking and unlocking all the time, I turned Lock/Unlock to off, and then found my battery was running down all the time. On inspection, I see that the screen is brightly lighting the under side of the cover. Now I find that if I set Lock/Unlock to off, I have to remember to press the power button to darken the screen. It turns out that pressing the power button itself does not lock the device as I thought.

This is just so non-intuitive, and I expect Apple devices to be intuitive. Closing the cover should darken the screen and preserve battery, IMHO, regardless of whether it is configured to lock the device.

Thanks for your attention. I appreciate your help, but it appears that this is a design flaw, not a configuration error.

If you turn off that setting, then the iPad does not use the cover the darken or lock. As I said earlier, you can tell Apple you believe this to be a flaw and you would like to see a change. Use the link I provided.

Thanks. I've submitted an enhancement request.

If you have a cover that is designed to lock the iPad, it should do that when you close the cover, as long as you have the setting for Lock/Unlock set in Display & Brightness. There is no way to separate the two. You should be able to unlock the iPad quickly and easily with Face ID on the iPad Pro. If you need a light, you could use the flashlight by swiping down the Control Center.