Apple just came out with a test version of iPadOS 18 for people who make apps. I tried it on my iPad Pro and it’s pretty good, even though it has a few small problems. Let’s talk about the cool new stuff and what’s not there yet.
Will it work on your iPad? You might be wondering if your iPad can use the new iPadOS 18. Well, if you have one of these iPads, you’re in luck:
- The newest iPad Pro
- iPad Pro that’s 12.9 inches, but only if it’s the 3rd generation or newer
- iPad Pro that’s 11 inches, starting from the very first one
- The iPad Air that came out after the M2 chip
- Any iPad Air from the 3rd generation onwards
- iPads from the 7th generation and up
- The iPad mini, but only if it’s the 5th generation or newer
It’s really cool that Apple is still letting older iPads like the one from 2018 use the new system.
What’s new on the Home Screen The iPad’s home screen got some updates from iOS 18:
- Now you can move your app icons around wherever you want.
- Changing the size of the little info boxes (widgets) right there on the home screen is easy.
- The app icons can change color to match whether you’re using light or dark mode.
- The color of the app icons can also change to go with your background picture.
- You can make the app icons bigger or smaller.
These changes let you make your iPad look more the way you want it to. It’s not everything we wanted, but it’s a good start. The part where you can change the size of the widgets is really useful.
Control Center Updates The Control Center, which is like the iPad’s command hub, got a makeover and some new tricks. The icons look different and are now round or shaped like pills. You can pull down to see more icons or bigger views of apps like Music and Homekit.
The best part is you can now change the Control Center however you want. You can move icons around, take them out, or add new ones from a big list of Apple’s controls. Even people who make apps can make icons for the Control Center now.
Calculator and Math Notes At last, Apple made a calculator just for the iPad. It’s got a simple version and one for more complicated math. The coolest thing is Math Notes. You can write down math problems, and it figures them out right away. It can even draw graphs and solve tough problems. It would be even better if it showed you how it solved them, but maybe that will happen later.
What’s still missing? Even with all the new stuff, there are things that aren’t in iPadOS 18 yet. We don’t have new animations for Siri, new emojis, or a way to work with ChatGPT. Maybe these will come in later updates.
There are also some things we thought we’d get but didn’t, like:
- Making Stage Manager better
- A mode where you can just use the keyboard
- More apps for professionals
- Better support for using a second screen
- A way to make the iPad feel like a desktop computer when it’s connected to a Magic Keyboard
- An improved app for managing your files
A lot of us were hoping for these things. Without them, the iPad Pro doesn’t quite feel like it can replace a computer yet.
My Thoughts All in all, iPadOS 18 has some nice new things and lets you change more to your liking. But there are still some big features that people really want.
What’s your take on the update? Which iPad model do you have? Did the new iPadOS 18 make you think about getting a new iPad? Let’s talk about it in the comments.