Even better iPad
iPadOS 15 and 16 are portable powerhouses
iPadOS 15 introduced some very important changes to the iPad, and there are even bigger ones coming in iPadOS 16. The Home Screen widgets of iPadOS 15 will be joined by a much more customisable Lock Screen, M1 iPads will get Stage Manager to supplement multitasking and Split View, and the Mail app will be improved with much better search, Undo Send, scheduled sending and more. The better search is quite a biggie; it’s been pretty hopeless on iPads in recent years so a faster search is a massive time saver.
One of the best new features is the ability to isolate the subject of a photo in Photos, Screenshot, Quick Look or Safari and drag it into another app; we’re also looking forward to Live Text for video, which is brilliant for musicians studying chords or coders watching code demos: you’ll be able to pause playback and capture the on-screen text for use in another app. The redesigned Home app isn’t just better-looking; it’s also easier and quicker to organise and control your various smart home devices.
As with iPadOS 15, not all of the advertised features will arrive on launch day. Universal Control, which enables seamless operation between iPad and Monterey Macs, didn’t arrive for several months after iPadOS 15 shipped and the same seems to apply for the new real-time collaboration features in iPadOS 16.