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.
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.
Freeform is a whiteboard app that lets users collaborate together in real time. It was released with iPadOS 16.2.
For the first time, Apple's Weather app is available on the iPad. It was originally only available on the iPhone and iPod Touch.
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.
iPads are able to sign into websites that implement WebAuthn using just the user’s passcode or biometrics.
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.
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.
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.
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:
More text indentation features are added, as well as the ability to create column tables.
Allows the changing of file extensions and showing all file extensions.
Allows the customisation of toolbars to add tools, as well as editing the position of tools.
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]
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.
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 |
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.
iOS is a mobile operating system developed by Apple Inc. and was first released as iPhone OS in June 2007, coinciding with the launch of the first generation iPhone. iPhone OS was renamed iOS following the release of the iPad, starting with iOS 4. With iOS 13, Apple began offering a separate operating system, iPadOS, for the iPad. iOS is also the foundation of the newer audioOS and tvOS, and shares some of its code with macOS. New iOS versions are released yearly, alongside new iPhone models. From the launch of the iPhone in 2007 until the launch of iPhone 4 in 2010, this occurred in June or July; since then, new major versions are usually released in September, with the exception of iOS 5, which released in October 2011. Since the launch of the iPhone in June 2007, there have been 18 major releases of iOS, with the current major version being iOS 18, released on September 16, 2024.
The iPad is a brand of iOS- and iPadOS-based tablet computers that are developed and marketed by Apple. The first-generation iPad was introduced on January 27, 2010. Since then, the iPad product line has been expanded to include the smaller iPad Mini, the lighter and thinner iPad Air, and the flagship iPad Pro models. As of 2022, over 670 million iPads have been sold, making Apple the largest vendor of tablet computers. Due to its popularity, the term "iPad" is sometimes used as a generic name for tablet computers.
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The iPad Mini is a line of small tablet computers developed and marketed by Apple Inc. It is a sub-series of the iPad line of tablets, with screen sizes of 7.9 inches and 8.3 inches. The first-generation iPad Mini was announced on October 23, 2012, and was released on November 2, 2012, in nearly all of Apple's markets. It featured similar internal specifications to the iPad 2, including its display resolution.
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The iPad Air is a tablet computer developed and marketed by Apple Inc. It was announced and released on March 18, 2019, alongside the 5th-generation iPad Mini.
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Apple also released iOS/iPadOS 16.7.10, macOS Sonoma 14.6.1, and macOS Ventura 13.6.9 with the same fix.