Today, Apple gave a sneak peek of iPadOS 17. This new release lets users customize the Lock Screen and interact with widgets in new ways. AutoFill helps users fill in fields in forms when working with PDFs, and Notes now has a better experience for collaborating and marking up PDFs. Messages has some updates, with a new stickers experience, and users can now leave FaceTime video and audio messages. The Health app is now available on iPad, with interactive charts, and HealthKit allows developers to create innovative experiences specifically for the iPad display. iPadOS 17 is available as a developer beta today and will be launched as a free software update this fall.
Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering, said:
“iPadOS powers our most versatile device and enables users to do so many things on iPad, and now with iPadOS 17, we deliver an experience that’s even more personal and capable. With interactive widgets on the Lock Screen, updates to PDFs and Notes, as well as enhancements to Messages and FaceTime, iPadOS gives users even more ways to get things done easier and faster than ever.”
Personalized and Beautiful Lock Screen
Users can now customize their iPad Lock Screen to make it more personal, useful, and beautiful. They can choose their favorite photos, set them as the Lock Screen background, and stylize them in new ways. They can select a photo from their personal library, choose a dynamic set of photos that shuffle throughout the day, or a Live Photo for a smooth slow-motion effect whenever they wake iPad.
Users can also choose from a wide range of wallpapers in the Lock Screen gallery that will look stunning on the large canvas of iPad, pick from a set of expressive font styles and colors to customize the look of the date and time, or create unique designs with their favorite emoji and color combinations.
With Live Activities on iPadOS, users can stay on top of things that are happening in real time right from the Lock Screen, such as a sports game, travel plans, or a food delivery order.
Enhanced Widgets
Widgets have become interactive in iPadOS 17, so users can accomplish tasks with a simple tap. For instance, they can turn on lights, play music, or check off reminders from within a widget. Developers can now integrate interactivity into their widgets with updates to WidgetKit.
Interactive widgets are now accessible on both the Lock Screen and Home Screen, letting users take action and receive helpful information at a glance. On the Lock Screen, widgets blend seamlessly with the wallpaper and are optimized for legibility with adaptive tinting.
Working with PDFs Made Easier
Entering information in PDFs has become more convenient with iPadOS 17. The system uses machine learning to recognize fields in a PDF. This enables users to quickly add details such as names, addresses, and emails from Contacts.
Notes Introduces a New PDF Experience
The Notes app has been updated to provide users with new ways to organize, read, annotate, and collaborate on PDFs. In iPadOS 17, PDFs now appear full width, which makes it easy to flip through pages, make a quick annotation, or sketch directly on the document with Apple Pencil. Users can now review and mark up PDFs and scanned documents right in their note. With live collaboration, updates are shown in real time when users share a note with others.
Messages offers new communication tools for enhanced interaction
Messages provides new ways to connect, including the use of emoji stickers in a stickers experience. Users can create Live Stickers from their own photos by removing a subject from the background. Live Stickers can also be enhanced with effects to make conversations more engaging. A new drawer is available from the keyboard that gathers all stickers in one place for easier access across iPadOS.
The new Messages features include an expandable menu that appears with a simple tap for easy access to the user’s most frequently used iMessage apps. The search experience is improved with filters that allow more specific searches for people, keywords, and content types. Users can now easily jump to their last-read message in an active group chat, and replying to a message inline is even simpler and quicker by swiping on a message bubble.
Audio messages are transcribed automatically so users can read or listen to them in the moment or later. When a user shares their location in Messages, it appears live in the conversation until the sharing session is over.
Clearer Ways to Use FaceTime
In FaceTime, users can leave an audio or video message when the call recipient is unavailable.
Reactions add more ways to express yourself during FaceTime calls. Users can choose from a wide variety of effects, including hearts, balloons, fireworks, laser beams, rain, and more. These new effects are activated through simple gestures, and third-party video-calling apps can also use them.
If the call recipient doesn’t answer, users can now leave a message to communicate exactly what they want at that moment.
Apple TV 4K now includes an exciting update to FaceTime. Users can now initiate a video call directly from Apple TV through Continuity Camera. Alternatively, they can start the call on an iPad and then switch to Apple TV to see their friends and family on the big screen. With Center Stage, users will remain perfectly framed even when they move around the room.
Safari Improves Productivity for Users
Safari’s latest improvements have made users more productive than ever. With Profiles, users can keep their browsing separate for different topics, like work and personal. Each profile has its own history, cookies, Tab Groups, and Favorites, and it’s simple to switch between them.
Private Browsing now allows users to lock the window they’re viewing with Face ID or Touch ID, and removes trackers used for cross-site tracking. The search experience is even better with increased responsiveness, more relevant search suggestions, and suggestions that are easier to read.
The Health App is now available on iPad
iPadOS 17 introduces the Health app to iPad, allowing users to view their health data in more detail. With an optimized design for the iPad display, Favorites has a new look and users can receive insights into their health data with Trends, Highlights, and detailed interactive charts. iPad users can now also track and manage their medications, use Cycle Tracking, log their momentary emotions and daily moods, view their available health records from multiple institutions, and more – all in one central, secure, and private location.
Health and fitness developers can now use HealthKit on iPad, offering new opportunities to create innovative experiences in their apps that incorporate data users choose to share, with rigorous privacy and data security protocols from the Health app.
Additional iPadOS 17 updates include:
- Stage Manager adds even more flexibility to the position and size of the windows, giving users more control over their workspace, and supports built-in cameras on an external display.
- Freeform offers new drawing tools; support for hover, tilt, and snap to shape; the ability to add connection lines and new shapes to any object; and Follow Along to guide collaborators around the board.
- Spotlight helps users find information and take action even faster by offering shortcuts to the next action, enhanced visual results, and video search.
- Visual Look Up expands its recognition capabilities to food, storefronts, and signs and symbols on things like the laundry tags on clothes.
- Keyboard brings improvements to autocorrect, allowing users to enter text faster and easier than ever before. Inline predictive text helps users quickly finish sentences, and the new speech recognition model in Dictation improves accuracy.
- Siri can now be activated by simply saying “Siri.” Once activated, users can issue multiple commands back to back without needing to reactivate it.
- Sharing content using AirPlay is even easier with on-device intelligence now learning a user’s preferences. AirPlay will also work with supported TVs in hotels, allowing users to easily enjoy their favorite content on the TV when traveling. Built with a foundation of privacy and security, this capability will be available before the end of the year in select hotels, starting with brands from IHG Hotels & Resorts.
- Reminders introduces a new intelligent grocery list experience, making shopping easier by automatically grouping related items into sections, and provides a new column view to display sections horizontally across the screen.
- Maps now allows users to download maps and use them while offline. Users can select an area, search and explore rich place information, and get routes for all modes of mobility, all while offline.
- Privacy updates include the expansion of Communication Safety, adding protections for children as well as a Sensitive Content Warning for adults. Updates to Photos and Calendar permissions help users make more informed choices about what data they share with apps. And a Lockdown Mode update enhances the protections for those who may be targeted by mercenary spyware.
- New accessibility tools make iPad even more accessible. Assistive Access is a customizable interface that helps users with cognitive disabilities use iPad with greater ease and independence. Live Speech helps nonspeaking users type what they want to say and have it read aloud during phone, FaceTime, and in-person conversations. Personal Voice gives users at risk of speech loss the option to create a personalized voice that sounds like them and integrates seamlessly with Live Speech. And in Magnifier, Point and Speak helps users who are blind or have low vision interact with electrical appliances and other physical objects with small text labels.
The developer beta of iPadOS 17 is available to Apple Developer Program members at developer.apple.com starting today, and a public beta will be available to iPadOS users next month at beta.apple.com. New software features will be available this fall as a free software update for iPad (6th generation and later), iPad mini (5th generation and later), iPad Air (3rd generation and later), 12.9-inch iPad Pro (2nd generation and later), 10.5-inch iPad Pro, and 11-inch iPad Pro (1st generation and later). For more information, visit apple.com/ipados/ipados-17-preview. Features are subject to change. Some features may not be available in all regions, all languages, or on all devices. For more information about availability, visit apple.com.
