[OtinG]

Originally Posted by tomsem

I have mini 5 (corrected ^^) also. But I’m confused: it doesn’t have TouchID in the screen lock (like iPad Air), it still has Home button for that. I am more interested in having no Home button so the screen is bigger, don’t care whether it is FaceID or the iPad Air style lock button that enables this.

I’ve got both the iPad mini 5 and the iPad Air 4 (2020 model). Both work in a similar way for unlocking the device. Both require a thumb or finger to push down a button. The button for the iPad mini 5 is the Home button while the button for the iPad Air 2020 is the Top button. Both the Home button on the iPad mini 5 and the Top button on the iPad Air 2020 are touch ID sensors which read your finger print/thump print. But they operate slightly different as shown below:

To unlock the iPad mini 5:

1. Place thumb or finger on the Home button, press down on the button and wait until iPad mini 5 unlocks.
2. Once the iPad mini 5 unlocks, release pressure on the Home button.

To unlock the iPad Air 2020:

1. Place thumb or finger on the Top button, press down on the button momentarily, then release pressure on the Top button.
2. Lightly place thumb or finger on the Top button for a second time but do NOT depress it, wait until iPad Air 2020 unlocks.
3. Once the iPad Air 2020 unlocks, remove thumb or finger from the Top button.

For some reason Apple added another step to unlock the iPad Air 2020. I find that if I place my thumb on the iPad Air 2020 Top button then quickly depress and release it and move my thumb about a millimeter above the button to ensure it isn’t still depressed, then again depress gently rest my thumb on the Top button without depressing it hold it down a second or so it unlocks the iPad Air 2020. A bit clunky compared to the iPad mini 5, but with practice I’ve learned to do this smoothly and quickly.

ETA: Note that I made some corrections to my earlier statements. On depress the iPad Air 2020 Top button once, then after releasing it gently rest your thumb on it for a moment until it unlocks the device.