iPadOS 15 should arrive sometime after mid-September. Apple revealed the features that made the cut at WWDC. Will the new OS be worth the wait or a letdown?
Below, I’ll give you a rundown of some of Apple’s most significant features to the iPad and iPad OS 15 this fall. In addition, I’ve been able to test using the Apple beta program, and I’ll let you know if I find them useful.
There’s some crossover between iOS 15 and iPadOS 15. In this blog post, I’ll be covering what’s new in the iPadOS.
App Library on iPadOS 15
The iPad now gets the App Library we’ve had on the iPhones. It shows all of your installed apps in one place, and you can access it from the dock.
Apps can be dragged and dropped onto the Home Screen for multitasking. You can easily find any app and put it into Split View or Slide Over, over your current app.
Quick Note and Notes Updates for Apple Pencil
With Quick Note, Apple has made taking notes easier. This brings the note-taking experience systemwide on iPadOS 15. With Quick Note, a user can call up the ability to jot something down on a dedicated pop-up window.
So if you’re browsing the web in Safari, checking out Facebook, or looking up a restaurant in Trip Advisor, using the Apple Pencil or your finger, drag it in from the lower right corner of your screen, and a Quick Note will be opened.
It’s fun and valuable. Students, professionals, and even seniors will enjoy how accessible it is and how it integrates with other apps. If you open Quick Note while in Safari, you’ll get a suggestion to add the page you’re on to the note. You can also select and move text from a website onto the note, say for research purposes. I believe this makes the Notes app a leading contender among all the other available Notes apps.
Improved Multitasking iPadOS 15
Another new feature that isn’t really new is multitasking. But Apple has made it easier to access, and the old methods of using gestures will still work too. For example, you can select apps from the Home Screen to add to Split View or Slide Over instead of just the dock. Plus, you can easily drag one app over the other in the App Switcher to enable Split View.
The Shelf is another new multitasking feature. It allows you to see and switch between all of your already- open app instances, even if some are in Split View. To give an example, if you’ve opened two or more instances of Safari, every time you go back to the app or press the new multitasking menu, the Shelf will pop up at the bottom of the screen.
I’m excited about this feature. However, I’m hoping Apple has bigger plans in mind.
Live Text in Photos iPadOS 15
This new Photos feature will recognize text in your photos, regardless of whether you took the shot yourself or downloaded it from the internet.
It detects text and lets you select it, copy it, or even translate it to and from several different languages via the new Translate app. In addition, if there happens to be a phone number in the photo, you’re able to call it or send a message quickly. This could be an entertaining feature, and so far, it works well.
Safari: Web Extensions, Redesigned Tabs, and Tab Groups
Apple says that web extensions will be coming to Safari and will be downloadable via the App Store.
Also, the iPad Safari tabs have been updated with a new, more rounded look. In addition, the search bar has been fused with these tabs to free up space and add more screen estate for existing websites. As a result, Safari looks even cleaner, and to access the now invisible search bar; you’ll have to tap on your currently open tab.
Safari also gets a new Tab Groups feature, making it easy to save and manage tabs in Safari. It allows you to group a bunch of tabs and lets you access them simultaneously at any time from your Reading List. Your Tab Groups will be conveniently synced between your iPhone, iPad, and Mac.
Universal Control
If you own a Mac, this new macOS feature in Monterey allows you to share one mouse/trackpad and keyboard between both your Mac and iPad. All you need to do is move your cursor from the Mac Screen to the iPad Screen. In addition, you can drag and drop files between the two devices.
As cool as that is, Apple seems to be making it clear the iPad is just an accessory to the Mac instead of a stand-alone computer.
Focus iPadOS 15
This new Focus feature can help filter notifications based on what the user is doing at the time. You can create custom Focus modes for when you are working, trying to relax, sleeping, and so on. You can silence certain notifications so they won’t bother you based on how you set it up. Less important notifications can be saved for later.
You’ll be able to edit your created Focus Modes in the new Focus menu settings. It’s all customizable. This feature looks useful.
Home Screen Widgets
This feature has been highly anticipated. iPadOS 15 now allows you to place widgets on your Home Screen as well as in between your apps. Before, you could only see them in the Today View. You’ll still have access to the Today View by swiping to the right on the Home Screen.
Moving widgets around and the option for larger ones sure makes a difference in how your Home Screen looks.
The widgets picker has been improved and is now wider. It makes choosing widgets a bit more intuitive and easier to do.
Conclusion
I’m hoping this has you as excited for iPadOS 15 as it does me. Apple has confirmed that the update will come to the iPad Mini 4 and later, iPad Air 2 and later, iPad 5th generation and later, and all iPad Pro models. Once iPadOS 15 is released, I’ll be doing more in-depth posts and videos.
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