What’s New in iPad OS 15?
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The newest iPad OS update, iPad OS 15, will go live this fall. Ahead of its official release, however, some early adopters have gotten their hands on the new features to give us all an idea of what we can expect from the newest Apple update. So, will this finally be the OS update that turns your iPad into a laptop?
The answer is a resounding “maybe”.
Quick Notes are a new feature available in OS 15 and can be accessed by hovering an Apple Pencil in the lower-right corner of the screen. Doing so opens a little pane that you can scribble notes in on the fly. This is a great feature for artists or professionals who often work with their iPad in one hand and their Apple Pencil in the other.
The biggest thing that makes a tablet feel like a laptop is multitasking. Apple’s phones and tablets have been criticized in the past for their lack of multitasking capabilities due to their narrow focus in terms of what you can have on-screen at one time. The iPad’s been addressing this recently, with iPad OS 14 offering some robust multitasking options that allow for much more productivity with the device.
Apple’s iPad OS 15 makes it easier to get apps to appear side-by-side by adding some new ways to activate Split View and other buttons that let you switch from Split View to the layered “Slide Over” style of multitasking.
Face Time gets a facelift in this OS update, incorporating some features clearly lifted straight from competitor Zoom. Since conference video calls are the norm in the professional world now, it only makes sense that Apple would turn their attention to their proprietary Face Time software.
Some features added include the ability to share media seamlessly during a video call, allowing all members of the call to view the same stream or image while the call is ongoing. New layouts and a portrait mode also promise to make it that much more useful for chatting with friends.
That’s not everything, either. There are tons of new widgets and quality of life upgrades hiding under menus and in specific apps. Chief among these is a more granular approach to Focus Mode that lets you specifically dial in which notifications you want to receive when you’re in the zone.
The next iOS update lands this fall, and it promises to bring about a whole host of improvements to what is already one of the best tablets on the market.
