Apple has made some distinct changes to its mobile operating system by introducing a separate OS for the iPads: iPadOS. Although the basic foundation for iOS and iPadOS is nearly the same, iPadOS distinguishes the tablet experience from the iPhone experience by adding some new features and redesigning the user interface to better suit the bigger screen on the iPads.
Here are some of the major features that are unique to iPadOS. We’ve also compared these features between both iOS and iPadOS.
iPadOS Home Screen
On iPadOS, you’ll find a redesigned home screen in which the app icon size has been shrunk down to allow a greater number of apps to fit on each page. There’s also an option to show some widgets along these apps on the left side of the screen, also known as “Today View.” This is similar to the Today View page that is accessible by swiping right on the Home Screen on current versions of iOS. iPadOS essentially combines these two pages for a better overview, as well as efficiency while using the iPad.
Multitasking
One of the iPad’s most useful features is the ability to multitask using Split View. You can now open two app windows for the same app or two different apps. This is useful if you’d like to compare two versions of a file.
Similarly, Slide Over lets you pull an app in a side window without closing the current app you’re using. You can use this to quickly check your email or Reminders without disturbing your workflow. While this was something you could do previously, now you can flip through several apps in the Slide Over feature, allowing you to basically have dozens of apps accessible to you at any given time.
The Mac’s Expose feature has also been bought over to iPadOS, allowing you to get an overview of all your open apps. This makes it easier to jump between these apps and close them if you no longer need them open. So far, however, this is not available in the public beta that was just released.
Safari
Safari will now open the full desktop version of websites in iPadOS, as opposed to the mobile view that usually omitted many features. Websites will be scaled according to the iPad’s screen size and optimized for touch, which will make browsing and working in Safari much easier. Safari also has a new download manager, which helps to manage files you’ve downloaded.
Files App
The iPadOS Files app now supports complete folder sharing and external drive support for the first time. This means you can plug in a USB or an SD card and transfer data from it within the Files app. This feature is also available on the iPhone.
Gestures
Another notable addition to iPadOS is the new Gestures. These new gestures include three-finger pinch to cut, three-finger swipe down to paste, and three-finger swipe to undo. You’ll also be able to use another gesture which is bound to improve your experience: two-finger pinch on the keyboard to shrink it to iOS mobile size and move it around on the screen. If you move it to the side of the screen, you can effectively type one handed with your thumb.
iPadOS also supports the new QuickPath swipe feature which allows you to swipe across letters to type a word. This is similar to what we’ve already seen in third-party apps such as SwiftKey for a long time now.
Markup
Markup alcohol received an update in iPadOS, allowing you to mark up entire websites, documents and emails.
If you’re using an Apple Pencil, a simple swipe up from the corner instantly launches Markup and brings up the redesigned tool palette, allowing you to select your brush type / size and color. You can move this palette anywhere on screen. The latency of the Pencil has also been reduced from 20ms to 9ms, which will allow for a more natural pen-like experience when using it.
Fonts
Apple has added the ability to download, install and use custom fonts in specific apps. This is great for those who are fond of basic graphic design annotations on their iPads.
Supported Devices
iPadOS will be arriving on the following devices this fall:
- iPad Pro 12.9 (2018)
- iPad Pro 12.9 (2017)
- iPad Pro 12.9 (2015)
- iPad Pro 11 (2018)
- iPad Pro 10.5 (2017)
- iPad Pro 9.7 (2016)
- iPad Air (2019)
- iPad Air 2
- iPad (2018)
- iPad (2017)
- iPad Mini (2019)
- iPad Mini 4
Release Date
Since Apple has touted the iPadOS as “iPadOS 13,” we’re presuming a release with iOS 13, which will be hopefully somewhere around mid-September. A public beta was just released to allow users to try out the new OS and help iron out the bugs before the final release. Stay tuned to our site for more details as we get to know more about iPadOS.