Can’t stop dock from hiding

DSAJones wrote:

Thanks for the reply LotusPilot. Yes, I've read the gestures guide and watched some videos so I'm beginning to understand that side of it. But I really wanted to be able to have the dock permanently, well, docked!! So I followed the guidance on how to set up multitasking functions. After unselecting the auto show/hide option for the dock I set up a test where I had no apps running at all. I then opened an app and resized the window so there was no overlap of the dock area. In fact it was barely occupying the top two thirds of the screen. But as soon as I tapped inside the app the dock just dissappeared. I closed the app so I once again had nothing running and then opened it again to the previous window setting and again, the dock dissappeared.

There doesn't seem to be anything I can do that makes the dock permanently visible. So I'm really baffled about what the point is of the Auto hide option.

Anyway, I guess I'll have to keep learning and getting used to the way it all works.

Thanks again for your reply.

Cheers, David

Hi David

Your iPad is operating as expected - as is the manner and circumstances that the Dock will remain visible on the iPad screen. As is, there is no way to override this behaviour and force the Dock to be permanently visible at the bottom of the iPad screen. Visibility of the Dock can only be influenced by Apps themselves.

Apple does invite submission of constructive comments and feature requests via its Product Feedback portal. For iPad and iPadOS:

Feedback - iPad - Apple

If you would like to see more control of this feature in a future version of iOS/iPadOS, this would be the most appropriate channel through which to make your request.

You're not doing anything wrong. Your iPad is operating just as expected.

When an active App is displayed full-screen, the dock will automatically hide. By contrast, when Apps are being used with the iPad's Windowed Apps or Stage Manger display modes, the Dock will remain visible at the bottom of the screen unless an App window overlaps the Dock - at which point the Dock will be hidden. This is how iPadOS is designed to operate.

The Dock, when hidden, can always be exposed by simply swiping up from the bottom edge of the screen - just enough to expose the Dock.

If instead of lifting your finger from the screen when the Dock has been exposed you continue the swipe to the centre of the screen - and then lift you finger - you will trigger the iPad's App-switcher screen (also known as the Exposé) view. Here you will see a small window for each of your currently open Apps; you can switch to another open App with a simple tap of the associated window.

The iPad User Guide is a rich and often overlooked source of information about iPad and iPadOS. Here is a link to the section of the guide that outlines the basic control gestures used to navigate iPad, the Control Centre and Apps:

Learn gestures to navigate iPad - Apple Support

The auto-hide function does NOT apply to a full-screen view of an app, just when it is in reduced mode. That is the case regardless of the multitasking mode selected. You can manually swipe it up when an app is in full screen.