Wikipedia

iPadOS 16

iPadOS 16 is the fourth major release of the iPadOS operating system developed by Apple for its iPad line of tablet computers. The successor to iPadOS 15, it was announced at the company's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) on June 6, 2022, along with iOS 16, macOS Ventura, watchOS 9, and tvOS 16.[6][7] It received numerous new features, improving multitasking and many other aspects of the operating system, most notably on iPads with Apple's M1 SoC and later.

iPadOS 16
Version of the iPadOS operating system
iPadOS 16 home screen
DeveloperApple Inc.
Written inC, C++, Objective-C, Swift, assembly language
OS familyUnix-like, based on Darwin (BSD), iOS
Working stateSupported[citation needed]
Source modelClosed with open-source components
General
availability		October 24, 2022; 2 years ago (2022-10-24)
Latest release16.7.10[1] (August 7, 2024; 4 months ago (2024-08-07)) [±]
Marketing targetTablet computers
Available in40 languages[2][3][4][5]
Update methodOTA, software update through iTunes, Apple Configurator, or Finder
Package managerApp Store
Platforms
Kernel typeHybrid (XNU)
Default
user interface		Cocoa Touch (multi-touch, GUI)
LicenseProprietary software with open-source components
Preceded byiPadOS 15
Succeeded byiPadOS 17
Official websiteiPadOS 16 at the Wayback Machine (archived November 22, 2022)
TaglineIncredibly capable. Unmistakably iPad.
Articles in the series
iOS 16

The public beta of iPadOS 16 was released on July 11, 2022. The public version of iPadOS 16 was released on October 24, 2022[8] as iPadOS 16.1.[9]

iPadOS 16 is the final version of iPadOS that supports the first-generation iPad Pro and iPads without Apple Pencil compatibility, especially the fifth-generation iPad.

Features

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See also: iOS 16 § Features

Freeform

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Main article: Freeform (Apple)

Freeform is a whiteboard app that lets users collaborate together in real time. It was released with iPadOS 16.2.

Weather

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For the first time, Apple's Weather app is available on the iPad. It was originally only available on the iPhone and iPod Touch.

Lock screen

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The date and time on the lock screen have bold text and display the date above the time to match iOS 16, but lacks the customization features, which were later added in iPadOS 17.

Passkeys

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iPads are able to sign into websites that implement WebAuthn using just the user’s passcode or biometrics.

Stage Manager

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On iPads with Apple A12X Bionic, Apple A12Z Bionic, Apple M1 and Apple M2 processors, Stage Manager displays up to four apps at a time in adjustable windows. In addition, on iPads with Apple M1 and later, external displays are now driven using Stage Manager instead of screen mirroring, enabling display scaling on external displays.

Display scaling mode

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On iPads with Apple M1 processors and later, and iPad Pro 11-inch with Apple A12X Bionic and A12Z Bionic processors,[10] Display scaling mode allows more view space in apps by increasing the pixel density of the display.

Reference Mode

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On the iPad Pro 12.9-inch (5th generation) and (6th generation) with Liquid Retina XDR display, the iPad can be used in "Reference Mode" for color-graded work. This extends to Sidecar, as long as the Mac being connected to has Apple Silicon.

Spoken Content

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As with iOS 16, some already supported languages have received additional voices (including "Novelty" voices for English), and voices and support have been added for the following languages:

Notes

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More text indentation features are added, as well as the ability to create column tables.

Files

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Allows the changing of file extensions and showing all file extensions.

Photos

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  • Touch ID, Face ID or passcode is now required to view the Hidden and Recently Deleted albums, unless the user turns this off in Settings.
  • Photos can now detect duplicate photos or videos. The user can choose to delete the duplicates or to merge them, so that the device retains the higher quality photo with relevant data from the duplicate(s).

App toolbar

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Allows the customisation of toolbars to add tools, as well as editing the position of tools.

Criticism

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iPadOS 16's Stage Manager feature has been criticized by various sources for only being supported by certain iPad models with an M1 chip or M2 chip owing to strict performance requirements. In an interview with TechCrunch, Craig Federighi explained: “It’s only the M1 iPads that combined the high DRAM capacity with very high capacity, high-performance NAND that allows our virtual memory swap to be super fast”.[11] It was later discovered that the feature is disabled for older devices by an internal setting.[12] Due to criticism, a single-screen version of Stage Manager was added on 2018 and 2020 iPad Pros in iPadOS 16.1 beta.[13] Apple later provided a statement to Engadget, stating that “…customers with iPad Pro 3rd and 4th generation have expressed strong interest in being able to experience Stage Manager on their iPads. In response, our teams have worked hard to find a way to deliver a single-screen version for these systems, with support for up to four live apps on the iPad screen at once”.[14]

External display support for Stage Manager on M1 iPads was delayed until further notice by Apple due to instability, and was brought back in the iPadOS 16.2 update.[15][16][17]

Stage Manager was also criticized for being "hard to use" and some reviewers and critics called the feature "fundamentally misguided".[18]

The lack of iOS 16's lock screen customization features was also criticized by reviewers such as David Pierce from The Verge.[19] iPadOS had a hidden lock screen customization app named PosterBoard which included the iOS 16’s lock screen customization features in iPadOS 16 Beta 1.[20]

Supported devices

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iPadOS 16 requires iPads with an A9 or A9X SoC or later, which means it drops support for the iPad Air 2 and iPad Mini 4, both with an A8 or A8X SoC. This also marks the second time Apple has dropped support for older 64-bit iPads. The iPad (5th generation) is the only supported iPad without Apple Pencil support. Alongside dropping support for the iPad Mini 4, the iPad Mini (5th generation) is the only supported iPad with the exclusive 7.9-inch display.

iPads that support iPadOS 16 are as follows.

Release history

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Further information: IPadOS version history § iPadOS 16

The first developer beta of iPadOS 16 was released on June 6, 2022. The first public release, iPadOS 16.1, was officially released on October 24, 2022.

Previous release Current release Current beta release Security response
iPadOS 16 releases[21]
Version Release date
16.1 October 24, 2022
16.1.1 November 9, 2022
16.2 December 13, 2022
16.3 January 23, 2023
16.3.1 February 13, 2023
16.4 March 27, 2023
16.4.1 April 7, 2023
16.4.1 (a) May 1, 2023
16.5 May 18, 2023
16.5.1 June 21, 2023
16.5.1 (a) July 10, 2023 (pulled after 10 hours)
16.5.1 (c) July 12, 2023
16.6 July 24, 2023
16.6.1 September 7, 2023
16.7 September 21, 2023
16.7.1 October 10, 2023
16.7.2 October 25, 2023
16.7.3[a] December 11, 2023
16.7.4[a] December 19, 2023
16.7.5[a] January 22, 2024
16.7.6[a] March 5, 2024
16.7.7[a] March 21, 2024
16.7.8[a] May 13, 2024
16.7.9[a] July 29, 2024
16.7.10[a] August 7, 2024

See Apple's official release notes, and official security update contents.

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Only available for devices not supported by iPadOS 17: iPad (5th generation), iPad Pro (12.9-inch, 1st generation) and iPad Pro (9.7-inch)

References

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  1. ^ Cross, Jason (August 19, 2024). "Apple re-releases iOS 17.6.1, but we don't know what has changed". Macworld. Retrieved September 3, 2024. Apple also released iOS/iPadOS 16.7.10, macOS Sonoma 14.6.1, and macOS Ventura 13.6.9 with the same fix.
  2. ^ "Apple – iPad Pro – Specs". Apple Inc. Archived from the original on January 4, 2019. Retrieved January 4, 2019.
  3. ^ "Apple – iPad mini 4 – Specs". Apple Inc. Archived from the original on October 24, 2015. Retrieved October 24, 2015.
  4. ^ "Apple – iPad Air 2 – Technical Specifications". Apple Inc. Archived from the original on October 26, 2015. Retrieved October 24, 2015.
  5. ^ "Apple – iPhone XS – Technical Specifications". Apple Inc. Archived from the original on January 4, 2019. Retrieved January 4, 2019.
  6. ^ Burns, Matt (June 7, 2021). "iPadOS 15 announced at WWDC, features improved multitasking and surprising Swift Playgrounds features". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on June 8, 2021. Retrieved June 7, 2021.
  7. ^ Cipriani, Jason (June 7, 2021). "iOS 15 and iPadOS 15: How to download and install Apple's latest software". CNET. Archived from the original on June 8, 2021. Retrieved June 7, 2021.
  8. ^ "iPadOS 16". Apple. Archived from the original on October 18, 2022. Retrieved October 18, 2022.
  9. ^ "First public iPadOS 16 release will actually be iOS 16.1, in October". AppleInsider. August 23, 2022. Archived from the original on September 5, 2022. Retrieved September 5, 2022.
  10. ^ "iPadOS 16 Beta Expands 'Zoomed Out' Display Option to Older 11-Inch iPad Pros". MacRumors. September 29, 2022. Archived from the original on October 5, 2022. Retrieved October 5, 2022.
  11. ^ "IPadOS 16's Stage Manager will only work on M1 iPads — here's why". June 14, 2022. Archived from the original on August 23, 2022. Retrieved August 22, 2022.
  12. ^ "Apple could theoretically enable Stage Manager for older iPads in iOS 16". June 16, 2022. Archived from the original on August 22, 2022. Retrieved August 22, 2022.
  13. ^ Clover, Juli (September 27, 2022). "New iPadOS 16.1 Beta Expands Stage Manager to Older iPad Pro Models, Delays External Display Support". MacRumors. Archived from the original on September 27, 2022. Retrieved September 27, 2022.
  14. ^ "The latest iPadOS 16 beta brings Stage Manager to older iPad Pro models". Engadget. September 27, 2022. Archived from the original on September 27, 2022. Retrieved September 27, 2022.
  15. ^ "Apple will bring Stage Manager to more iPads after all with iPadOS 16.1". GSMArena.com. Archived from the original on October 1, 2022. Retrieved October 1, 2022.
  16. ^ Loyola, Roman. "Apple expands Stage Manager support to older iPads, delays key feature". Macworld. Archived from the original on October 1, 2022. Retrieved October 1, 2022.
  17. ^ Espósito, Filipe (December 13, 2022). "iPadOS 16.2 brings these improvements for Stage Manager, plus AirTag tracking alerts". 9to5Mac. Archived from the original on December 15, 2022. Retrieved December 15, 2022.
  18. ^ "Apple Criticized for 'Fundamentally Misguided' Approach to Stage Manager in iPadOS 16". August 19, 2022. Archived from the original on August 22, 2022. Retrieved August 22, 2022.
  19. ^ Pierce, David (July 11, 2022). "iPadOS 16 preview: jack of all trades, master of some". The Verge. Archived from the original on July 16, 2022. Retrieved September 5, 2022.
  20. ^ Espósito, Filipe (June 11, 2022). "iPadOS 16 beta 1 has secret debug menu that enables custom lock screen – sort of". 9to5Mac. Archived from the original on November 13, 2022. Retrieved November 13, 2022.
  21. ^ "About iPadOS 16 Updates". Apple Support. October 11, 2023.
Preceded by iPadOS 16
2022 		Succeeded by
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