Last fall, iPadOS 17 launched on the latest iPad models. It introduced features like an overhauled, customizable lock screen, dedicated Health app, communication upgrades, and much more. Despite all of this, this operating system is still relatively lacking in terms of power user features, especially since Apple has marketed this device as a laptop replacement. The upcoming iPadOS 18 introduces new features, with the first beta expected in July and a stable release set to follow this fall. Here's everything you need to know about what's coming to iPadOS 18.
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iPadOS 18 features
There are some seriously exciting features that are coming with the iOS 18 update.
Customization options: Control Center tweaks and more
With new customization options, you can adjust the look of the Home Screen, including app icons, and enjoy multiple Control Center screens for different functions, customized with the widgets you use most. Make app icons appear light, dark, or even tinted. Make them larger, remove the name from under them, and have the color scheme match your wallpaper. Control Center, meanwhile, now includes new groupings of controls, including ones for media playback, smart home, connectivity, and more. Easily swipe among pages to get to what you need, and add controls from supported third-party apps to easily do things like unlock your vehicle or capture content with a single swipe and tap.
Apple Intelligence: iPad is getting smarter with AI
Many mobile device manufacturers are integrating AI features into their latest devices, and Apple is joining the fray with Apple Intelligence, a personal intelligence system that will be available across iPad as well as iPhone and Mac. With deep integration, it can understand natural language commands and take various personalized actions across apps. It can even create content; for example, it can summarize web pages or e-mails, create unique images, and more.
Available for iPad models with an M series chip, you could get help rewriting an e-mail in different tones (think friendly, professional, or more concise), get assistance proofreading documents, get suggested responses for e-mails, get summarized messages, and more. Apple Intelligence can also prioritize the most urgent messages and notifications to help reduce interruptions. With the Safari browser, you can get key information about a webpage, a summary of an article, or see relevant contextual information, like a restaurant's location, a link to an artist's track from within an article about their new song, and otherwise.
Apple is also integrating ChatGPT, so for queries or assistance where Apple Intelligence doesn't fit, you'll be asked if you want to give permission for ChatGPT to handle things, and it will take over.
Finally, there's a cool option with images that can now create original photos, emojis, and GIFs from your personal photos. Create an image of your dad wearing a cape to show him that he's your superhero, for example, using sketch, illustration, or animation effects.
New tab bar: It floats at the top for a nicer view
A new tab bar design in certain apps floats above the app so you can retain your full view. Tap into what you need, and a sidebar pops up where you can choose what you need from there. You can re-order the tabs, add additional ones from the sidebar, and more. It works in apps like Apple TV.
Siri upgrades: The AI assistant focuses on LLMs
Siri will understand natural language commands, providing contextually relevant and more personal replies and assistance. With a glowing light that wraps around the screen, it can better follow along with your commands or questions, understanding context if you follow up with a secondary command (like showing you the best coffee shop close to "there," referencing a location you mentioned in a previous query). You can also now summon Siri and give text-based commands, seamlessly switching between voice and text. Siri also now has a better understanding of the features and settings of the device, so you can ask it how to do something and receive step-by-step instructions. There are better in-app actions as well, like searching for a very specific photo (your son wearing a blue T-shirt riding a skateboard, for example). It can even help you fill out a form more quickly by calling up a photo of your driver's license and intelligently pulling the relevant details for you to insert them into a form.
Calculator app: An enhanced version leverages Apple Pencil
The calculator app is one of those underrated apps on iPhone that everyone uses and no one talks about. It seems crazy that it has taken this long, but it will soon be available for iPad as well. Not only can you enjoy it in all its mathematical glory on the larger screen of the iPad, it will also have intelligent computational features that make good use of the Apple Pencil. With a new Math Notes option, you can type or even write out a mathematical equation right on the tablet and it will be instantly solved. You can assign values to variables, calculate budgets, and more. There's even a new graphing feature. As soon as you draw a symbol, like a multiplication sign and tap the equal bar, the answer will appear. Draw a line under a series of numbers and it will add them together. Adjust one part of an equation, and it can alter the rest of the results accordingly. A History feature keeps track of previous calculations as well, and there are handy unit conversions that will come in handy for everything from DIY home projects to cooking.
Refreshed Photos app: Simplified view and easier search
The Photos app has been redesigned to make the experience more seamless and intelligent. Photos are organized into libraries, and there's a simplified view with a grid and new connections, so you can browse by themes versus albums. A carousel view shows highlights for each day and can feature favorites, including people, pets, places, and more. Past moments can autoplay as you search for content. The app is also customizable, so you can organize your own collections, pin collections you access frequently, and choose what appears in the carousel view. A handy feature is the ability to filter out things like screenshots, so you can get a clear view of the best and most relevant recent images, or images within a specific category.
Messages are redesigned: Get more expressive
Apple is adding new ways for you to express yourself through Messages. You can use text formatting to indicate context, including bolding, underlining, italics, and animated effects for things like bounce or shake. Tapbacks, which let you easily add something like a laughing emoji or thumbs up, now include any emoji or sticker. A nice feature is the ability to now schedule messages. For example, you could set "Happy Birthday" messages to be sent at specific days and times for your contacts so that you'll never miss a greeting.
Smart Script: Flexible handwritten note-taking
Using Apple Pencil, it will be easier to make handwritten notes, even with your quick chicken scratches. That's because the feature will help improve your penmanship while maintaining your personal writing style. It can help smooth and straighten handwritten text in real time. You can also more easily edit handwritten text, adding spaces, removing sentences or sections, and even pasting typed text that will convert to your handwriting. With typed text, you can also more easily collapse sections under headings or subheadings, add information, and highlight text in one of five new colors.
Better privacy features: Hide apps and more
Apple is focusing on privacy across the board, and new privacy controls allow you to better control who can see your apps, how you share contacts, and how the iPad connects to various accessories. There's a new option to lock apps so that they'll require Face ID, Touch ID, or a passcode to get into them. You can also move certain apps to a hidden apps folder, which keeps them private and prevents notifications and content from appearing, even on the lock screen. You can now also choose what contacts an app gains access to, versus your entire list. With some developer tweaks, you can even pair Bluetooth accessories more securely.
Ended support for older models: Older models are not powerful enough
The rumors were that the powerful new AI features in the latest iPadOS would result in older model iPads not being able to support the latest OS upgrade. The latest features in iPadOS will only be available for newer models with Apple's M series chips. The new software will be available for iPad Pro 12.9-inch (3rd-Gen and later), iPad Pro 11-inch (1st-Gen and later), iPad mini (5th-Gen and later), iPad Air (M2), iPad Air (3rd-Gen and later), iPad (7th Gen and later), iPad mini (5th-Gen and later), and of course iPad Pro (M4). Apple Intelligence, however, will only be available for iPads with M1 and later.
The iPad needs to find itself
Apple has been doing a decent job so far, and iPadOS 18 focuses on fun and useful upgrades, though it's still far from being a computer alternative. Nonetheless, with things like Apple Intelligence and ChatGPT integration, a useful and highly intelligent calculator app, and a more contextual Siri, the iPad is moving in the right direction.
The iPad right now is in a weird spot where it aspires to be a serious productivity device, yet it remains restricted by iPadOS. Either way, iPadOS 18 offers some exciting promise, especially with the highest end iPad Pro models, to become a powerful computing tool.
