What a lazy update

[oldmacs]

It’s pretty clear Apple isn’t committed to improving and developing the iPad as much more than a big iPhone.

The fact that the headlining feature is something that iPhones have had for a year, and there’s almost no exclusive iPadOS features, is very telling.

The iPad has so much potential, but year after year Apple squanders it with uninspired software updates.

 

[F27]

The iPad is clearly becoming a forgotten product to Apple. Some Lock Screen hand me downs from iPhone and a health app repackage and that was about it.

I got sucked in with the M series coming to iPad’s and bought one, it was a total bait and switch. It will never be the computer they love to imply it is because they purposefully don’t want to cannibalise the Mac’s.

 

[Jeff Kirvin]

Ya think just MAYBE their focus was on something else this year? They don't have infinite resources. The iPad is still a perfectly cromulent tablet, maybe even the best tablet on the market. You'll get a treat next year.

 

[Abazigal]

I like the interactive widgets, and I wonder if the lock screen features means that the iPad will be getting an always-on display later this year? It seems a bit weird to be touting the benefits of a constantly-updating widget when your iPad's display will be off most of the time.

 

[oldmacs]

Ya think just MAYBE their focus was on something else this year? They don't have infinite resources. The iPad is still a perfectly cromulent tablet, maybe even the best tablet on the market. You'll get a treat next year.

This is a multi year problem, we’re not talking just this year - probably the last 6 years.

Sure the iPad is an acceptable tablet, but it could and should be so much better. The software is gimped, and Apple is making little attempt to improve it.

 

[Jeff Kirvin]

Well, look at it this way. iPadOS has to get better because it’s the basis for visionOS, and eventually visionOS is going to replace both iOS and macOS.

 

[soulreaver99]

Anyone successfully install the beta? Keeps failing for me on my m1 iPad pro

 

[Dented]

Well, look at it this way. iPadOS has to get better because it’s the basis for visionOS, and eventually visionOS is going to replace both iOS and macOS.

Yes, in the same way that Watch OS replaced tv OS, which replaced iPad OS, which replaced ios, which replaced Mac OS, because every time Apple release a new OS it’s the replacement for everything that came before it, right? Or… has that literally never happened.

 

[Cassandle]

It’s crazy that iPad OS still has the same Home Screen (except the expanded, Max-like dock) as an iPhone. Still a grid of apps and widgets. If anything, the Home Screen has got worse since Pad OS 15, when the widgets were in the sidebar.

 

[return2sendai]

Ya think just MAYBE their focus was on something else this year? They don't have infinite resources. The iPad is still a perfectly cromulent tablet, maybe even the best tablet on the market. You'll get a treat next year.

“Cromulent” : a month of fasting from Google’s OS.

 

[Jeff Kirvin]

Yes, in the same way that Watch OS replaced tv OS, which replaced iPad OS, which replaced ios, which replaced Mac OS, because every time Apple release a new OS it’s the replacement for everything that came before it, right? Or… has that literally never happened.

You really don't see how once Apple gets this shrunk down to Tony Stark glasses that last all day, it will be kind of pointless to also have a phone, watch, tablet or laptop?

 

[Kal Madda]

It’s pretty clear Apple isn’t committed to improving and developing the iPad as much more than a big iPhone.

The fact that the headlining feature is something that iPhones have had for a year, and there’s almost no exclusive iPadOS features, is very telling.

The iPad has so much potential, but year after year Apple squanders it with uninspired software updates.

iPadOS has gotten a lot of attention and updates over the past year, so one update not being an Earth-shattering paradigm changing thing doesn’t mark the death of the iPad, lol! 😂. I use the iPad Pro as my primary computer, and I can tell you that just in the last year so much has changed positively for my workflow, that I really don’t mind if this year’s going to be a bit more of a minor update. I also think the Stage Manager enhancements are being a bit more minimized by some people, but they actually will add improvements to Stage Manager that I think will add some very nice enhancements to my workflow. External webcam support was a big one, and now they will be supported, making video chatting far better when using the iPad Pro in landscape mode. Now you could even just lay it flat if you wanted, and not even have to worry about whether the iPad’s camera can see you. This is a very big improvement that is getting skimmed over. Also if you consider Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro coming to the iPad a few weeks ago, the iPad is definitely still getting some nice attention. And since visionOS is using iPadOS apps, this will possibly encourage yet more developers to bring their pro apps to iPadOS. We’re still seeing the impact of iPadOS 16 on the iPad. Every update can’t be a blockbuster update for the iPad, Apple has limited resources, and clearly they had a decent amount of resources tied up in developing Vision Pro, yet Apple still managed to devote attention to the iPad by giving it Pro apps, adding some nice improvements to Stage Manager that continue to level the playing field between the iPad and the Mac, and bring lots of nice feature refinements and improvements. Also, judging from the first beta, it looks like this is going to be a very smooth release, without many bugs or issues.

 

[Dented]

You really don't see how once Apple gets this shrunk down to Tony Stark glasses that last all day, it will be kind of pointless to also have a phone, watch, tablet or laptop?

No, and I’m quite sure Apple have no intention of obsoleting all those other products. No matter how impossibly small and light they become, nobody is genuinely going to want to spend their whole day looking through these things, nor will they be so ubiquitous as to mean that everybody you encounter will be wearing them 24/7 either. There will still be a healthy market for other devices which augment the experience further and make it easier to handoff and pickup work/calls/entertainment etc in different ways.

 

[Ludatyk]

I like the interactive widgets, and I wonder if the lock screen features means that the iPad will be getting an always-on display later this year? It seems a bit weird to be touting the benefits of a constantly-updating widget when your iPad's display will be off most of the time.

New iPad Pros are on track to release in 2024 with OLED… which could bring AOD especially for that new StandBy mode for the iPhone. But interactive widgets are not on the LockScreen, they are currently only for HomeScreen.

 

[Apple Knowledge Navigator]

To be fair, they've now brought it to almost parity with iOS. After years of complaining about the 'one year' gap between the two OSs', I'm actually quite happy. Hopefully Apple can now focus on adding iPad-centric features.

 

[Jeff Kirvin]

No, and I’m quite sure Apple have no intention of obsoleting all those other products. No matter how impossibly small and light they become, nobody is genuinely going to want to spend their whole day looking through these things, nor will they be so ubiquitous as to mean that everybody you encounter will be wearing them 24/7 either. There will still be a healthy market for other devices which augment the experience further and make it easier to handoff and pickup work/calls/entertainment etc in different ways.

Well, this will be fun claim chowder in a decade.

Apple absolutely intends to obsolete their other products. Better they do it than someone else. Remember how they had no problem with the iPhone replacing the iPod? Same thing.

 

[Kal Madda]

One thing that I think has been missed by many people is that iPadOS 17 will now support external web cams and capture cards! And it could be just a web cam plugged directly into the iPad and clipped to the top of the iPad when in landscape! 👍🏻. This doesn’t actually require an external monitor connected. This will be a big improvement for many people, so just calling it a “lazy update” because it has less flashy surface features is a bit misguided. Personally, I think updates like these are needed to lay a foundation for the bigger updates like iPadOS 16 to build on. Many of the big features in iPadOS 16 built upon features and improvements that came in iPadOS 15 (which was also a smaller update). Every update can’t be a complete paradigm shift.

 

[Dented]

Well, this will be fun claim chowder in a decade.

Apple absolutely intends to obsolete their other products. Better they do it than someone else. Remember how they had no problem with the iPhone replacing the iPod? Same thing.

Yeah and remember how they had no problem with the iPad replacing the Mac? That’s why they gave the iPad such a powerful OS right, so it can completely takeover the role of the Mac now that it’s literally powered by the same hardware and all? Or - wait - have they actually spent years carefully preventing that, and making it clear they have no intention of that happening at all?

As for the iPhone and iPod, that isn’t remotely the same thing, Apple knew full well that people were already starting to use their mobile phones as media players and the iPod had a limited future before the iPhone was ever announced. It was an easy product to kill because it only ever served one purpose, which was very easy to integrate into another device which people preferred to carry everywhere anyway.

Do you honestly think that everyone - or even a majority of people - is going to want to wear some future version of Vision Pro every minute of every day? There’s not going to be any time when those people don’t want to be staring at OLED panels directly in front of their irises and will actually wish to see the world around them first hand? They won’t ever want to see anyone else face to face, rather than “persona to persona”? Because if anyone does want to take off their goggles, live in the real world and still get stuff done, they’re still going to need their iphone, ipad, mac, etc.

 

[Jeff Kirvin]

Yeah and remember how they had no problem with the iPad replacing the Mac? That’s why they gave the iPad such a powerful OS right, so it can completely takeover the role of the Mac now that it’s literally powered by the same hardware and all? Or - wait - have they actually spent years carefully preventing that, and making it clear they have no intention of that happening at all?

As for the iPhone and iPod, that isn’t remotely the same thing, Apple knew full well that people were already starting to use their mobile phones as media players and the iPod had a limited future before the iPhone was ever announced. It was an easy product to kill because it only ever served one purpose, which was very easy to integrate into another device which people preferred to carry everywhere anyway.

Do you honestly think that everyone - or even a majority of people - is going to want to wear some future version of Vision Pro every minute of every day? There’s not going to be any time when those people don’t want to be staring at OLED panels directly in front of their irises and will actually wish to see the world around them first hand? They won’t ever want to see anyone else face to face, rather than “persona to persona”? Because if anyone does want to take off their goggles, live in the real world and still get stuff done, they’re still going to need their iphone, ipad, mac, etc.

The mainstream version of this, 3-5 years down the road, will look more like glasses. If you include shades, just about everyone is okay wearing glasses. By then the displays will be translucent, and you will be able to see people around you just fine.

I would kill to have a heads up display on my glasses showing me pertinent data everywhere I go, and allowing me to create arbitrarily sized displays anywhere in my field of vision that only I can see. That's where we're going. Vision Pro is just the first step.

Eventually, it won't even be glasses. It will be contacts, then a neural implant. But that's for later. This is the beginning.

In 20 years, computers you actually have to touch will be unbearably quaint.

Apple is showing us the first car, and you're holding out for a faster horse.

 

[jonnyb098]

Well, look at it this way. iPadOS has to get better because it’s the basis for visionOS, and eventually visionOS is going to replace both iOS and macOS.

No it’s not just like the Mac is still around 15 years after iPhone and 13 years after iPad.

 

[Royksöpp]

Under the hood improvements are never a bad thing in Apple land.

 

[trusso]

The mainstream version of this, 3-5 years down the road, will look more like glasses. If you include shades, just about everyone is okay wearing glasses. By then the displays will be translucent, and you will be able to see people around you just fine.

I would kill to have a heads up display on my glasses showing me pertinent data everywhere I go, and allowing me to create arbitrarily sized displays anywhere in my field of vision that only I can see. That's where we're going. Vision Pro is just the first step.

Eventually, it won't even be glasses. It will be contacts, then a neural implant. But that's for later. This is the beginning.

In 20 years, computers you actually have to touch will be unbearably quaint.

Apple is showing us the first car, and you're holding out for a faster horse.

I think you vastly overestimate the speed of this timeline.

Mark my words, we will not have "glasses" with a similar feature set in only 5 years. And we will not have contacts or neural implants in 20 years, if ever.

Physical limitations and ethical questions have a way (rightly so) of throwing water on science fiction dreams.

 

[Dented]

The mainstream version of this, 3-5 years down the road, will look more like glasses. If you include shades, just about everyone is okay wearing glasses. By then the displays will be translucent, and you will be able to see people around you just fine.

If Apple were going to have translucent displays ready for this in three years, we wouldn’t be having this conversation, and the Vision Pro would be a new product launching in 2026. But really that’s immaterial, it wouldn’t matter if it was a neural implant, there are still going to be times when you’re not going to want to be in an augmented space, it’s not going to be practical to be gesturing and dictating all your work, and you’re just going to want to be in a physical place with physical things shared with physical people, because for all the technology that’s what we still are - people.

Perhaps for you this is your dream and you can’t wait to wear them all day and night.. but for as long as any significant number of people *aren’t exactly like you* in that desire, all those other products will still need to exist.

And don’t get me wrong btw, I think this has the potential to be a great product and a big success for Apple. But as per most of their previous launches, it’ll be a successful product which forms part of their successful ecosystem, not the product that replaces everything else.

In 20 years, computers you actually have to touch will be unbearably quaint.

In the same way that of course today nobody uses physical keyboards or mice now we have touchscreens and haptics, nobody reads physical books or magazines, nobody paints with oil or sketches with pencil, nobody shoots on film or plays music on vinyl, etc etc.

Apple is showing us the first car, and you're holding out for a faster horse.

The funny thing about this tired old misquote is that we’re probably already in the last days of cars, certainly as Ford envisaged them, and yet people never actually stopped riding horses - nor are they ever likely to.

 

[acctman]

Installed iPadOS 17 and had to check if install failed. The changes are so minor they could of skipped this year, don’t even bother.

 

[oldmacs]

iPadOS has gotten a lot of attention and updates over the past year, so one update not being an Earth-shattering paradigm changing thing doesn’t mark the death of the iPad, lol! 😂. I use the iPad Pro as my primary computer, and I can tell you that just in the last year so much has changed positively for my workflow, that I really don’t mind if this year’s going to be a bit more of a minor update. I also think the Stage Manager enhancements are being a bit more minimized by some people, but they actually will add improvements to Stage Manager that I think will add some very nice enhancements to my workflow. External webcam support was a big one, and now they will be supported, making video chatting far better when using the iPad Pro in landscape mode. Now you could even just lay it flat if you wanted, and not even have to worry about whether the iPad’s camera can see you. This is a very big improvement that is getting skimmed over. Also if you consider Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro coming to the iPad a few weeks ago, the iPad is definitely still getting some nice attention. And since visionOS is using iPadOS apps, this will possibly encourage yet more developers to bring their pro apps to iPadOS. We’re still seeing the impact of iPadOS 16 on the iPad. Every update can’t be a blockbuster update for the iPad, Apple has limited resources, and clearly they had a decent amount of resources tied up in developing Vision Pro, yet Apple still managed to devote attention to the iPad by giving it Pro apps, adding some nice improvements to Stage Manager that continue to level the playing field between the iPad and the Mac, and bring lots of nice feature refinements and improvements. Also, judging from the first beta, it looks like this is going to be a very smooth release, without many bugs or issues.

I don't know what alternate universe you're on, but iPadOS hasn't got 'a lot of attention and updates' over the past year. There really aren't that many features that Apple has added to iPadOS that haven't been added to iOS.

Apple is a huge company with a lot of money and resources. They don't need to do 'blockbuster' features for the iPad, what they need to do is just steadily work on adding features every year that are iPad centric.

One thing that I think has been missed by many people is that iPadOS 17 will now support external web cams and capture cards! And it could be just a web cam plugged directly into the iPad and clipped to the top of the iPad when in landscape! 👍🏻. This doesn’t actually require an external monitor connected. This will be a big improvement for many people, so just calling it a “lazy update” because it has less flashy surface features is a bit misguided. Personally, I think updates like these are needed to lay a foundation for the bigger updates like iPadOS 16 to build on. Many of the big features in iPadOS 16 built upon features and improvements that came in iPadOS 15 (which was also a smaller update). Every update can’t be a complete paradigm shift.

iPadOS 16 isn't really what I'd call a bigger update - Stage Manager, External Display support and the weather app aren't what I'd call major updates.

Basic feature additions to make the iPad less of a giant iPad and more of a capable computer replacement aren't 'flashy updates', they're just things Apple has slacked off from doing - whether it's out of fear of cannibalising Mac sales or not I don't know.

Under the hood improvements are never a bad thing in Apple land.

Where exactly is everyone drawing ideas that iOS 17/iPadOS 17 is a bug fix/under the hood/stability release from, apart from a few anecdotal reports from testers?