As with iOS, the iPad operating system’s name was relatively easy to predict. Not only because, numerically, iPadOS 17 comes after iPadOS 16 but because Apple has now unified the numbering of its OS. Therefore, iOS 17 could not fail to be accompanied by iPadOS 17.
The most interesting news certainly concerns the lock screen. With iPadOS 17, the gap with iOS 16 is closed, which last year brought a breath of freshness to the lock screen. IPadOS 17 will also have a fully customizable Lock Screen:
The iPadOS 17 lock screen will also be customizable from a graphic point of view, being able to change the style, fonts and colors of the writing, including the clock numbers. It will also be possible to opt for lock screens with particular patterns, such as kaleidoscope, emoji and more, which users have already appreciated since iOS 16.
Widgets were the protagonists of the opening Apple keynote of WWDC23, proposed on Apple Watch but also renewed on macOS 14 Sonoma. Also, on iPadOS 17, the widgets will be improved, now interactive, to carry out some activities with a simple tap without opening the reference applications. Note that thanks to WidgetKit, even third-party widgets can be interactive. We need to understand how this can negatively affect the autonomy of the devices.
For the first time, Apple’s Health app appears on iPad. It is an application well known to iPhone users, which will now also allow the iPad to view their health data rather straightforwardly. The app will feature a design optimized for the large iPad screen, with highlighted data and interactive graphics.
iPadOS brings PDFs to the Notes app. These will appear within the notes as full pages, so the user will already have the entire document to take notes at first sight, even being able to use Apple Pencil.
The messages app becomes even more fun, thanks to the possibility of creating Live Stickers from your photos: with a single tap, you can extrapolate the shape of the main subject and transform it into an animated sticker. The Messages app, again, will welcome a new expandable menu for accessing the most used iMessage apps. Furthermore, among other new features, the audio messages will be transcribed so that the user can read or listen to them immediately. Furthermore, with iPadOS 17, the Messages app also improves the global Search: now users can search filters by people, keywords, photos or links.
Thanks to iPadOS 17, FaceTime also welcomes reactions to the iPad, such as hearts, balloons, laser beams, fireworks and more. All these effects can be activated simply with hand gestures (the operating system will take care of calling the corresponding one) and will also be available for third-party conference apps.
Also, considering the arrival of FaceTime on the big screen via Apple TV 4K, iPad can act as a wireless webcam. The basic idea is always to take advantage of the Continuity Camera function already available for macOS: when you start FaceTime on Apple TV, the iPad connected to the same account and WiFi network will turn into a high-quality wireless webcam.
The iPadOS 17 beta for developers is now accessible on the devoted site, while the public one will be accessible to Apple television clients in July 2023. iPad 17 will be accessible to everybody as a free programming update iPad (sixth era and later), iPad smaller than expected (fifth era and later), iPad Air (third era and later), iPad Master 12.9-inch (second era and later), iPad Ace 10.5-inch and iPad Star 11-inch (first era and later).
Contrasted with last year, the fifth era of iPad stays out, which won’t be upgradeable, similarly as the 9.7-inch iPad Professionals won’t be upgradeable to iPadOS 17. It will probably be delivered in the fall, agreeing with the arrival of iOS 17 and the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Expert series, expected in September 2023.
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