Table/Desktop UI Option for iPad Pro

We’ve received quite a few requests for this, and it’s certainly something we’re considering!

One of the reasons that we made the mobile UI card-centric is because cards are far easier to tap and manipulate on a touch surface than tiny grid cells. Why, in particular, would you want to have the table/grid view available on iPad? What makes that view more appealing/useful to you, as opposed to the card view? Something we’ve heard from a lot of our users who’ve requested grid view on mobile is that many of them want to ditch (or have already ditched!) their desktop computers entirely in favor of iPads. Does this describe you?

Hi Katherine,

I totally get the decision to go with “cards” on mobile; and agree, it’s a better interaction model for taps. The thing that’s interesting about the iPad Pro is that it’s big enough for table view AND has pretty decent keyboard and “trackpad”/pencil support. And yes, we have some users that barely employ their desktops/laptops now, especially in meetings. One of the biggest proponents of the Pro is our CMO actually, because he’s on the road so much.

That said, I also think that a card-based model could be interesting on desktop/laptop at least for reporting views. Or maybe it’s that your future reporting views are sorta card-like.

Anyway, my team recently started using Airtable, after many years using a Filemaker solution, and we’re pretty psyched. There are really only a few key features missing that have prevented us from replicating our old workflow. We’re happy to help you-all in any way we can.

Cheers,

A.

Agreed that its easier to work with cards on mobile but the full “spreadsheet view” on iPad provides an overview of the data with a quick glance. I would prefer to have the option of both views depending on the tasks on hand.

M

@Katherine_Duh, I’ll add my :thumbs_up: to the idea of having the standard desktop view available on an iPad Pro. I’ve been using the large iPad Pro for a while with Apple’s Smart Keyboard. In most cases, it functions a lot more like a laptop with touch support than a standard iPad.

I can’t see full text at a glance because columns on my iPad are narrower than they need to be and it doesn’t wrap or allow resize. When collaborating with other airtable users I’m not able took see the same view as them when they are on a desktop which is frustrating.

Just want to re-up this request. There really needs to be an option for having the full web version Airtable through the iPad Pro. The screen is big enough and high resolution enough to facilitate the types of things you really can’t do on a phone.

To me the best option would be enabling web view from Safari on the iPad - and those that would prefer to use Card View can simply use the App.

Imagine Airtable under iOS 11… :zap:

@Katherine_Duh, yes. I do not have a laptop any more.
The AirTable app is unfortunately not very functional, intuitive, or consistent, on the iPad.

The desktop version could work pretty well for us, with the exception of the scrolling which unfortunately would not work in Safari on IOS at the moment.

I too would like this - the full UI would be perfectly serviceable on an iPad - just have to sort out the scrolling!

I would also like this function- I recently ditched my laptop in favor of an iPad Pro and much to my sadness AirTable does not function for me without being able to have the full spreadsheet view. I use it to track the text for my podcast, e.g., I have a column of Titles, Descriptions, Show Notes, Facebook Ad Message, Call to action, Images Used, etc., and being able to see a whole column at a glance helps me keep my messaging consistent but not repetitive when I can see what I said in the previous 4-6 weeks.

I prefer AirTable, but until this functionality exists I will have to use another project management tool that is more further developed for iOS.

Thank-you for creating a great product and hopefully I will be able to return once this functioning is available.

Thanks,

Jen

Yes! I was so sad to discover that now that I’ve switched to iPad Pro Airtable is basically not functional for me. It is just too clunky to create records, (as compared for example to sheets where I can drag content into cells) and the views are so limited. So far Airtable is literally the only reason to keep my laptop, and I can’t justify carrying it around for that. Please let us have the web version option!

Would also love to see the iPad app closer match the Mac and web views. Especially Kanban.

Why wouldn’t scrolling work? Two fingers, just like everywhere else within iOS.

Honestly, a big iPad Pro has more pixels than many laptops… So scrolling is not needed MORE when “mobile”.

Yes, speaking out on behalf of myself and a client who also want this - Pleeeeeese, because we can’t see grouped records in the app. This is an important aspect of tracking BI through the data we’ve collected in our base.

Katherine_Duh, it has been 3 years and we are still waiting for a better iPad Pro interface. What is the hold up? We use AiTable for business and the card format is not conducive for business. IT does not give us all the tools that the desktop version does. It in fact takes more time and makes us more inefficient when using it in the field. Pleas help us and stop us from making the same request year after year after year. PLEASE!!!

What is more, the web view is perfectly functional except from one thing — it does not support touch drag, so there’s no workaround.

Hello @Katherine_Duh. When I was watching the WWDC 2019 keynote and apple explain the changes to ipadOS and that safari is known as a desktop-class browser and couldn’t immediately start thinking about if with this, airtable could support the grid view! That is something that people like me who wants to move from mac.

My thoughts EXACTLY!

I would be thrilled if we could finally get all Airtable features on the iPad with the new desktop-class safari. I would also be totally interested in a native iPad add that could port to the Mac with Project Catalyst. But I imagine that would take a lot more time/engineering than Airtable on iPad Safari.

I just installed the iPadOS and Airtable at Safari it´s full desktop!!!

I belive you are wrong @calepes?? My PadOS experience is absolutely horrible. I can’t even scroll a table. In my experience Airtable on browser on PadOS it’s totally useless.

I’m missing something or did you post a reply without trying to scroll?

I’m traveling in the next few days and was hoping to get some work done with my iPad on this trip that requires more power than the native app provides. I just installed iPadOS for this reason but I find it’s clunky as well. I can only navigate a table using the keys on an external keyboard. Other things do seem to be working as expected, though. I’m not sure whether the Safari or the Airtable team need to work on a fix for this — but I hope it comes soon :slightly_smiling_face:

Yes. I use Airtable almost exclusively on my IPad Pro. And being able to copy columns and exporting is a must. I currently cannot copy the correct columns even when I go to web view since I cannot scroll. When will this be updated?

I really can’t believe it’s been almost 6 years since this post, and just today I tried to use the Airtable web app on my iPad Pro and you still can’t scroll.

That’s it for AirTable. I’m moving to a different solution. You people have had plenty of time to fix these basic issues and have decided your customers are not important.