Top Five New Features in iPadOS 17

[JapanApple]

Good update!

 

[_Spinn_]

I can't believe that we are finally getting the Health app. Next year has to be the year of the calculator

 

[ofarlig]

Have they fixed proper external display support now? As in letting users control the resolution instead of the iPad just choosing something at random as it does now? I don’t understand how they could have introduced external display support as a feature ins iPad OS 16 when it doesn’t even choose the proper aspect ration…

 

[klasma]

OR I and I am sure quite a few people have this too, have a wall mounted kitchen iPad for Home, Calendars, Robovacs, Lighting Control, Shopping Lists, Weather, Recipes, etc. that the whole family uses as a home hub. But Apple doesn’t make an easy way for that to be set up. Even if I turn off Messages and Mail, etc. the iPad is still on my account which is inconvenient for quite a few things.

You could create a separate account for that and add it to family sharing.

 

[koelsh]

I sometimes find my self typing "calc" into the search field and wondering why nothing happens before I remember.

Either there's some calculator-app-developer who's paying big money to Tim's retirement fond or they're just messing with us. How hard can it be to slap a more or less predefined GUI over some basic calculator functions already which are already defined in the programming language? That's something an intern who has never written a line of code before could do in a month. Do they think, people expect something like Mathematica as the standard calculator for an iPad?

At this point they’re just messing with us. My personal theory is it’s entirely on purpose because users are forced on to the App Store to get an early taste of what it truly is; A handful of genuinely good apps lost amid a sea of subscription and ad filled garbage.

I just type the math expression into the search field.

That’s cool until someone needs a calculation that doesn’t lend itself to being typed into the search field and for people who work well with 10 key entry.

I remember them explaining this at one point. They had one made early on, but took it off because they just couldn't do a good enough job of... putting a calculator app together. All the designers and engineers at apple couldn't figure out how to make a simple calculator WHEN THEY"D DONE IT THREE TIMES ALREADY (on mac, iphone and ipad).

I just love having to load a calculator app and find it streaming a bunch of ads over my connection bc they went to a subscription model now. Yes I really want to subscribe to a calculator. I wish this ranked higher on the list of the iPad OS's dysfunction.

Don’t forget Lisa and Newton and watchOS

 

[lsutigerfan1976]

Seriously, that’s it?

That’s what she said?!?

 

[Ctrlos]

I absolutely love my 12.9 inch iPad Pro. I’ve owned one iPad or another since it was introduced and this is the best one by far in terms of hardware.

But WOW is the OS inadequate. The potential of the iPad is really hampered by Apple’s apparent disinterest in focusing on it. Stage Manager for example. What a sad, half baked effort.

So any improvement is welcome, but it seems obvious to me that Apple needs to put a lot more thought and effort into making iPad more functional and intuitive.

I used to think this too until I started using an external display where it makes a huge difference. I think of it as Stage Manager for the monitor, regular interactions for tablet.

 

[Ctrlos]

At this point they’re just messing with us. My personal theory is it’s entirely on purpose because users are forced on to the App Store to get an early taste of what it truly is; A handful of genuinely good apps lost amid a sea of subscription and ad filled garbage.

You should see the Play Store *shudder*

 

[Solomani]

And all I really wanted was for iPadOS to have better use to its screen space. In most cases, the icon layout is stupid, with so much unusable space on the main home screen. The problem is even more glaring on the iPad Mini.

 

[fhall1]

I have the 2020 iPad Pro (A12Z) and the battery doesn't seem spectacular these days. Before WWDC, I thought I will be upgrading to this year iPad Pro model (if there is one). After looking at the iPadOS 17 features, I will just hold off my upgrade plan for another year. Thank you Tim!

I’ve been saying the same thing - and i have the 2018 Pro!

 

[Unregistered 4U]

Is it really that big a deal,..there are plenty of options. Craig has already said they have no intention of adding a calc, as there are so many already in the app store. PCalc is also ready for the Vision Pro, so don't expect it there.

Not really a big deal, just a meme by now.

 

[darngooddesign]

That’s cool until someone needs a calculation that doesn’t lend itself to being typed into the search field and for people who work well with 10 key entry.

The obvious solution is to download one of the many calculator apps.

Internet: Apple sucks when they Sherlock existing apps
Also the internet: Why won’t Apple Sherlock existing calculator apps

 

[O.N.Y.X]

True dat. But get the PCalc app (£€$ 10). It's better than anything calculator related that Apple would ever do, anyway.

I have the feeling the whining just won’t stop until one is built in…

 

[1284814]

That’s what she said?!?

Lol, she did not spend over 500$ ( close to the price of a laptop for it). Not the same thing

 

[Solomani]

I have the feeling the whining just won’t stop until one [iPad calculator] is built in…

It's a 3 trillion dollar company. They have no excuse.


It's like Elon Musk saying he can't afford to pay some immigrant housekeeper (minimum wage) to clean his master bedroom toilet. On second thought.... this might be the actual case.

 

[Philotech]

[...] There are lots of ”small” quality of life improvements like these that are going to be really nice for daily use.

I am in for the small things, too!
What I have been struggling to get my head around since iPad Gen. 2 is the share sheet. I just do not understand is when and in which apps which other apps show up in which order in the share sheet. Usually, the one I need is just not available when needed:
- none of the web apps ever show up (esp. noticeable with all iPad WhatsApp wrappers)
- typical use cases for me are not covered, e.g. I can't share photos from Google Photos to Apple Photos
- some apps (I am looking at you, Google Chome!) have a share sheet, but then still show a small, unexpected "open ..." line at the bottom of the screen
- iOS has a preview app similar to the Mac, but I have yet to find a way to open PDF docs, photos etc. in it UNLESS of course I am in the Files app
- PDF has been the core format for everything display-related for Apple since the introduction of Quartz on OS X v. 1. But I have only a few month ago come across the totally cumbersome, absurd, unintuitive and "unfindable" way to save something as PDF (use the share sheet to print, then use the share sheet WITHIN THE PRINT DIALOGUE to share to the Files app).

 

[Kal Madda]

I am in for the small things, too!
What I have been struggling to get my head around since iPad Gen. 2 is the share sheet. I just do not understand is when and in which apps which other apps show up in which order in the share sheet. Usually, the one I need is just not available when needed:
- none of the web apps ever show up (esp. noticeable with all iPad WhatsApp wrappers)
- typical use cases for me are not covered, e.g. I can't share photos from Google Photos to Apple Photos
- some apps (I am looking at you, Google Chome!) have a share sheet, but then still show a small, unexpected "open ..." line at the bottom of the screen
- iOS has a preview app similar to the Mac, but I have yet to find a way to open PDF docs, photos etc. in it UNLESS of course I am in the Files app
- PDF has been the core format for everything display-related for Apple since the introduction of Quartz on OS X v. 1. But I have only a few month ago come across the totally cumbersome, absurd, unintuitive and "unfindable" way to save something as PDF (use the share sheet to print, then use the share sheet WITHIN THE PRINT DIALOGUE to share to the Files app).

I think I may be able to help you out a bit with some of those things. 👍🏻. So to start with, the Share Sheet is a system feature that third-party apps need to support as far as I’m aware. So I think if an app isn’t available in the Share Sheet, it’s usually due to an app not supporting it, or not being compatible with the file format or type that you’re trying to share. I hope that helps with the Share Sheet, unfortunately I don’t know that there’s much of a solution for this, except perhaps adding a Siri Shortcut from the Shortcuts app to the Share Sheet. That may get the results you’re looking for, but it’s moderately difficult to do. Though I would recommend learning Shortcuts, because it unlocks a bunch of system utility. Now, one other possible solution would be to select the Photos you want and select “Save to Files” if you have the Google Drive app installed and added to the sidebar in Files, then you can select Google Drive in the Files app pop-up save window dialog, and save it there. Sadly, I don’t think there’s a solution for web apps not showing up in the share sheet, as they’re not designed to work with iOS and iPadOS system features such as the Share Sheet in particular, so I don’t think there’s currently a solution for this. In other words, web apps aren’t native apps, so they can’t do some of the same things that native apps can do.

- As to the built-in Preview system in iOS and iPadOS, there is one that is built-in to the Files app as you said, but I don’t think there’s a system-wide preview app per-say. Maybe there’s a third-party app that works like that. 🤷🏼‍♂️. However, there is preview functionality built into other apps in iPadOS as well, such as Messages, Mail, and if you tap on a screenshot when it’s floating in the bottom corner, you get a preview that you can edit and markup before you save it. All of these preview functions have varying tools depending on what you’re “previewing” so I don’t know that it’s the same as Previews on Mac. Honestly, I’ve never fully understood why previews on macOS isn’t built-in to Finder. When I first started using macOS, I was surprised when I would click on files expecting a preview of the file within Finder to pop up, but instead the file would open in whatever default app for the relevant file-type. To me, it’s a bit less intuitive to have to open files separately in a Preview app in order to get a quick preview of the file before I do something with it. Not saying that a separate Preview app can’t work well or that it’s not useful for some, I just never have understood why it’s separate in macOS rather than being baked into Finder. But to try to solve your problem, I think the best option I can think of would be some type of third-party app that you use the Share Sheet to share a file to for previewing or something.

- There’s a couple other far easier ways to convert files to PDF. One is using the word-processing software you used to create or read the document to convert it to PDF or save a PDF copy of the file. The other way is inside the Files app, pretty much exactly the way it works on macOS as far as I can tell. You can select the “Rename” option for the file you want to convert to PDF, and then just replace the file extension with .pdf. I’ve used that method as well before, and it seems pretty reliable. So that may solve your issues with converting to PDF. 👍🏻

I hope some of these ideas help you out! 👍🏻.

 

[Solomani]

I think I may be able to help you out a bit with some of those things. 👍🏻. So to start with, the Share Sheet is a system feature that third-party apps need to support as far as I’m aware. So I think if an app isn’t available in the Share Sheet, it’s usually due to an app not supporting it, or not being compatible with the file format or type that you’re trying to share. I hope that helps with the Share Sheet, unfortunately I don’t know that there’s much of a solution for this, except perhaps adding a Siri Shortcut from the Shortcuts app to the Share Sheet. That may get the results you’re looking for, but it’s moderately difficult to do. Though I would recommend learning Shortcuts, because it unlocks a bunch of system utility. Now, one other possible solution would be to select the Photos you want and select “Save to Files” if you have the Google Drive app installed and added to the sidebar in Files, then you can select Google Drive in the Files app pop-up save window dialog, and save it there. Sadly, I don’t think there’s a solution for web apps not showing up in the share sheet, as they’re not designed to work with iOS and iPadOS system features such as the Share Sheet in particular, so I don’t think there’s currently a solution for this. In other words, web apps aren’t native apps, so they can’t do some of the same things that native apps can do.

- As to the built-in Preview system in iOS and iPadOS, there is one that is built-in to the Files app as you said, but I don’t think there’s a system-wide preview app per-say. Maybe there’s a third-party app that works like that. 🤷🏼‍♂️. However, there is preview functionality built into other apps in iPadOS as well, such as Messages, Mail, and if you tap on a screenshot when it’s floating in the bottom corner, you get a preview that you can edit and markup before you save it. All of these preview functions have varying tools depending on what you’re “previewing” so I don’t know that it’s the same as Previews on Mac. Honestly, I’ve never fully understood why previews on macOS isn’t built-in to Finder. When I first started using macOS, I was surprised when I would click on files expecting a preview of the file within Finder to pop up, but instead the file would open in whatever default app for the relevant file-type. To me, it’s a bit less intuitive to have to open files separately in a Preview app in order to get a quick preview of the file before I do something with it. Not saying that a separate Preview app can’t work well or that it’s not useful for some, I just never have understood why it’s separate in macOS rather than being baked into Finder. But to try to solve your problem, I think the best option I can think of would be some type of third-party app that you use the Share Sheet to share a file to for previewing or something.

- There’s a couple other far easier ways to convert files to PDF. One is using the word-processing software you used to create or read the document to convert it to PDF or save a PDF copy of the file. The other way is inside the Files app, pretty much exactly the way it works on macOS as far as I can tell. You can select the “Rename” option for the file you want to convert to PDF, and then just replace the file extension with .pdf. I’ve used that method as well before, and it seems pretty reliable. So that may solve your issues with converting to PDF. 👍🏻

I hope some of these ideas help you out! 👍🏻.

Good suggestions. Also, altho I do agree that saving PDFs is not very intuitive on iOS/iPadOS .... when you know you are looking at a PDF on a website, one quick way to save it as PDF (locally to your iPhone/iPad) is to simply "Save to Books".

In fact, Books is one of my preferred repository for storing random PDF files.... such as lengthy Restaurant Menus (in PDF form) that I encounter on the web.

 

[inequals]

I absolutely love my 12.9 inch iPad Pro. I’ve owned one iPad or another since it was introduced and this is the best one by far in terms of hardware.

Same, I absolutely love my 12.9” M1 iPad Pro. But I try to just focus on the love, because when I think about how much I paid for it, how actually powerful and feature-laden it is, and yet I can only run code Apple approves of on it. I can’t boot another OS, I can’t use it as the amazingly compact and powerful UNIX based COMPUTER that it is. As someone whose heart is in freedom and free software, yet grudgingly lives in the gorgeous and convenient Apple ecoprison, it makes me fill with resentment.

That’s all one thing. I’d still feel that way even if iPadOS was a priority for Apple and they wanted users to get the most out of the device. But as it is - where it actually seems like they keep the iPad, the so-called ‘future of computing’, gimped so that Macs still have a technical reason to exist - it’s a [redacted] travesty.

 

[DailySlow]

I am now officially growing a headache. LOL

 

[miq]

Tim Cook 2015: "the iPad is the clearest expression of our vision of the future of personal computing".

2023: A new lock screen

Not even new, just an old iPhone lock screen

 

[JGIGS]

Curious if anyone else has found that Stage manager on ios 16 really effects their battery life negatively? I feel like I noticed that on the 2018 ipad pro. Maybe it doesn't help that the battery in it is getting a bit old.

 

[Kal Madda]

Tim Cook 2015: "the iPad is the clearest expression of our vision of the future of personal computing".

2023: A new lock screen

It’s a gross misrepresentation of the situation to pretend that the only improvement to the iPad since 2015 is the new Lock Screen. This was 1 smaller update after many bigger ones that added lots of Mac-like functionality such as multi-windowing, pro apps, external drive support, Files app improvements that bring it very close to Finder, etc. This year was a smaller update, and many people expected it would be, because Apple had to invest a bunch of resources into launching the Vision Pro and a brand new OS for it called visionOS. A smaller update every once in a while isn’t the end of the world. Is it a bit disappointing? Sure. But there are lots of “small” improvements being made in the betas that don’t get much attention. Under the logic of your comment, I could make a similar claim about macOS:

Apple back when they viewed the Mac as the future of personal computing: “We view the Mac as the future of personal computing”

2023: Desktop widgets.

But of course this doesn’t consider any of the major improvements to macOS across that period of time, just as your comment doesn’t consider the major advancements and improvements to iPadOS over the course of time between 2015 and today.

 

[Philotech]

I think I may be able to help you out a bit with some of those things. 👍🏻. So to start with, the Share Sheet is a system feature that third-party apps need to support as far as I’m aware. So I think if an app isn’t available in the Share Sheet, it’s usually due to an app not supporting it, or not being compatible with the file format or type that you’re trying to share. I hope that helps with the Share Sheet, unfortunately I don’t know that there’s much of a solution for this, except perhaps adding a Siri Shortcut from the Shortcuts app to the Share Sheet. That may get the results you’re looking for, but it’s moderately difficult to do. Though I would recommend learning Shortcuts, because it unlocks a bunch of system utility. Now, one other possible solution would be to select the Photos you want and select “Save to Files” if you have the Google Drive app installed and added to the sidebar in Files, then you can select Google Drive in the Files app pop-up save window dialog, and save it there. Sadly, I don’t think there’s a solution for web apps not showing up in the share sheet, as they’re not designed to work with iOS and iPadOS system features such as the Share Sheet in particular, so I don’t think there’s currently a solution for this. In other words, web apps aren’t native apps, so they can’t do some of the same things that native apps can do.

- As to the built-in Preview system in iOS and iPadOS, there is one that is built-in to the Files app as you said, but I don’t think there’s a system-wide preview app per-say. Maybe there’s a third-party app that works like that. 🤷🏼‍♂️. However, there is preview functionality built into other apps in iPadOS as well, such as Messages, Mail, and if you tap on a screenshot when it’s floating in the bottom corner, you get a preview that you can edit and markup before you save it. All of these preview functions have varying tools depending on what you’re “previewing” so I don’t know that it’s the same as Previews on Mac. Honestly, I’ve never fully understood why previews on macOS isn’t built-in to Finder. When I first started using macOS, I was surprised when I would click on files expecting a preview of the file within Finder to pop up, but instead the file would open in whatever default app for the relevant file-type. To me, it’s a bit less intuitive to have to open files separately in a Preview app in order to get a quick preview of the file before I do something with it. Not saying that a separate Preview app can’t work well or that it’s not useful for some, I just never have understood why it’s separate in macOS rather than being baked into Finder. But to try to solve your problem, I think the best option I can think of would be some type of third-party app that you use the Share Sheet to share a file to for previewing or something.

- There’s a couple other far easier ways to convert files to PDF. One is using the word-processing software you used to create or read the document to convert it to PDF or save a PDF copy of the file. The other way is inside the Files app, pretty much exactly the way it works on macOS as far as I can tell. You can select the “Rename” option for the file you want to convert to PDF, and then just replace the file extension with .pdf. I’ve used that method as well before, and it seems pretty reliable. So that may solve your issues with converting to PDF. 👍🏻

I hope some of these ideas help you out! 👍🏻.

Thanks for your elaborate reply!
I know my issues cannot all be solved on OS level. In particular in my case, it is often the apps which don't permit doing what I want to do, any because iOS is still so awfully limited in terms of file management, it often is not possible at all or really complicated.
In fact, one of my "favorite" app in this regard is GMail where I can only attach documents from Google drive (but not the iPad file system or the Files app), but photos only from Apple Photos (but not Google Photos). And of course I can attach files only from My Files in the standard account, but not from from any synced computer or let alone a different account.
Regarding PDFs, typically I want to save a web page as PDF. That works the way described, but I am just stunned how that is so completely hidden from sight. - What is your renaming mathod? If I try to rename a random file within the Files app, I can't change the file type suffix, and if I just change the name, the file type of course remains the same.

 

[Kal Madda]

Thanks for your elaborate reply!
I know my issues cannot all be solved on OS level. In particular in my case, it is often the apps which don't permit doing what I want to do, any because iOS is still so awfully limited in terms of file management, it often is not possible at all or really complicated.
In fact, one of my "favorite" app in this regard is GMail where I can only attach documents from Google drive (but not the iPad file system or the Files app), but photos only from Apple Photos (but not Google Photos). And of course I can attach files only from My Files in the standard account, but not from from any synced computer or let alone a different account.
Regarding PDFs, typically I want to save a web page as PDF. That works the way described, but I am just stunned how that is so completely hidden from sight. - What is your renaming mathod? If I try to rename a random file within the Files app, I can't change the file type suffix, and if I just change the name, the file type of course remains the same.

No problem! I’m happy to be of help if I can! 👍🏻. What version of iPadOS are you running? I think the file extension changing functionality was added in iPadOS 16, so if you’re on an older version like 15, that method wouldn’t work. I probably should have clarified that. If you want, I will get some screenshots and respond with them so you can see how it works. 👍🏻.