I have an iPhone 17max. Recently a friend gave me her iPad 9th gen.
how do I setup the iPad so that all settings including screens, carrier, etc are as close as possible to my iPhone? Including home screen, Dow loaded apps, carrier, etc. is this even possible?
.
iPad (9th generation)
First, make sure your friend properly prepared the iPad for giving away. Too many peple fail to do that, and the result is a non-working iPad. If properly prepared, it will start up with the "hello" animated screen.
https://support.apple.com/guide/ipad/sell-give-away-or-trade-in-your-ipad-ipada92a4d12/ipados
If not, it will be useless to you.
The most important factor about consistency among your Apple devices is that all devices must be on the same Apple Account/Apple ID. Some think that the Apple Account/Apple ID is a DEVICE identifier. It is not. Rather it is a USER identifier so your devices can communiote. Example: when an iPad and iPhone are on the same Apple ID, all emails. messages, Contacts, etc are the same.
Like the Force, your Apple Account/Apple ID binds your Apple-verse together.
just set it up using the iphone, that will transfer the data over
Set up your iPhone or iPad - Apple Support
more
How to set up a new iPad to match iPhone settings?
