Apple’s latest iteration of the iPad OS promises to help you get things done a little more effectively.
Apple today is expected to release iPadOS 16.1. Most of its improvements aren’t confined to iPad — you’ll also find them on iOS 16 and macOS Ventura. But they should help you be more productive, whichever Apple device you use.
Here’s a look at some of the improvements and what they do.
As I mentioned, most of the best improvements in iPadOS 16 are shared across all of Apple’s platforms. Take the new smart tools in Mail, which let you cancel an outgoing message, schedule email send,s and set reminders. Just as on Macs, iPads can do all this and tip you off if you forget to include to add attachments to your message. Search has also been improved: it can handle typos better, use synonyms and will provide much richer mail search results.
The latest big change in the iPad user interface is also shared with the Mac. Stage Manager attempts to build a new logic to how you handle applications on both systems. In theory, it’s practical: it makes it far easier to move between different applications, or groups of applications and helps by keeping the application you are currently working with front and center. In practice, beta testers seemed to find the new UI more effective on Macs than iPads, but once people get used to it, the move may help bridge the ever-shrinking gap between the unique nature of both systems.
Stage Manager represents a major change in how windows and apps are organized on the iPad.
