iPadOS 18 is Apple’s current operating system for its iPad models. After offering a few design changes and focusing on health with iPadOS 17, Apple centers on Apple Intelligence, a revamped Home Screen, and other changes. Here’s everything you need to know about iPadOS 18.
Release Date
iPadOS 18 has been available since September 16, 2024. Its first beta was released on June 10, with a public beta made available the following month. However, M4 iPad Pro owners could only download this new software update on October 3, when Apple released iPadOS 18.0.1.
iPadOS 18 features
iPadOS 18 shares several of the features available for iOS 18. Even so, Apple has focused on some new tricks for the iPad by taking advantage of the Apple Pencil. While we wanted exclusive functions for the M4 iPad Pro, most features are available for most iPads.
A new Calculator app is here
Apple took 14 years to launch a Calculator app for the iPad. At first, it looks similar to what you’d expect from Apple’s Calculator app. However, it brings an all-new Math Notes feature, allowing users to type or write out mathematical expressions and see them instantly solved in their handwriting.
They can also assign values to variables when learning new concepts in class, calculating a budget, and more. With a new graphing feature, users can write or type an equation and insert a graph with just one tap. They can even add multiple equations to the graph to see how they relate. Math Notes are automatically accessible in the Notes app in the new Math Notes folder.
Smart Script
With Apple Pencil’s help, Smart Script makes handwritten notes fluid and easier to read. Smart Script allows users to write quickly without sacrificing legibility by smoothing and straightening handwritten text in real-time. It also makes editing handwritten text just as simple as editing typed text. With Apple Pencil, users can easily add space, scratch out a sentence, or even paste typed text in their own handwriting, and the paragraph will automatically reflow to fit the new content.
The Notes app brings enhancements to typed text, too. For added convenience, users can now organize the content of their notes by collapsing sections under headings or subheadings. And for information that needs to stand out, they can choose from five new text highlight colors. We gathered all the features coming to the Notes app here.
Home Screen redesign
Apple has finally taken customization to a new level. Now, apps can be organized in any way, which means they can be placed anywhere. App icons and widgets can take on a new look with a dark or tinted effect, and users can make apps appear larger to create the perfect experience. BGR teaches you how to customize the Home Screen in iPadOS 18.
Finally, the Control Center has been redesigned. Users can create new groups of widgets for Home controls, connectivity, and music listening and reorganize the widgets’ locations. The new controls gallery displays the full set of available options, and users can customize how the controls are laid out, including adjusting them to the ideal size and creating entirely new groups. BGR teaches you how to customize the Control Center in iPadOS 18.
Photos app gets the biggest revamp to date
Apple has an ambitious plan for iPadOS 18’s Photos app. With its redesign, Apple wants to make it easier for users to find and relive special moments. With a single-view display, it offers new collections to help users browse by themes without having to organize content into albums.
Collections can be pinned to keep favorites easily accessible. While there was a new carousel view, Apple removed it during the beta test in favor of a more simplified experience. Apple says that auto-playing content throughout the app brings libraries to life “so past moments can be enjoyed while browsing.”
If you disliked the new look, there’s a way to almost bring back the old design. Here’s how to fix the iPadOS 18 Photos app.
Passwords App and new ways to stay safe
Building on the foundation of Keychain, the new Passwords app makes it easy for users to access their passwords, passkeys, Wi-Fi passwords, and verification codes.
In addition, Apple has released new features that let users lock and hide apps. When an app is locked or hidden, content like messages or emails inside the app is hidden from search, notifications, and other places across the system. Users can only unlock it with Face ID and Touch ID. BGR teaches you how to hide and lock iPad apps in iPadOS 18.
Messages get powerful new features
With iPadOS 18, Apple adds even more features to Messages. These are the top new functions:
- All-new text effects: You can amplify any letter, word, phrase, or emoji with dynamic, animated appearances
- Personalize messages: Users can better express tone by adding formatting like bold, underline, italics, and strikethrough;
- Tapbacks: Includes any emoji or sticker;
- Schedule messages: Over the iMessage menu, you can schedule a message to send later;
- Messages via satellite: When cellular and Wi-Fi connections aren’t available, you can send and receive texts, emojis, and Tapbacks over iMessage and SMS.
There’s even more features available with iPadOS 18
- SharePlay gets even better with powerful updates to screen sharing. Users can tap and draw on their screen to point out what should be done;
- With Freeform, users can create scenes to organize sections of a board by topic or easily present content by moving around quickly;
- Gaming becomes even more immersive with features like Game Mode and Personalized Spatial Audio, which put players in the middle of the action in upcoming titles like Assassin’s Creed Shadows and RESIDENT EVIL 7 biohazard;
- Calendar becomes more helpful by showing both events and tasks from Reminders. Users can create, edit, and complete reminders right from Calendar;
- Reminders get new tools, including the ability to view, create, and edit directly from the Calendar app, access a recently deleted list, and find subtasks in Smart Lists for quick reference.
iPadOS 18 Apple Intelligence’s major features
Available for users with an M1 iPad Air, M1 iPad Pro, iPad mini (A17 Pro), or newer, Apple will offer Apple Intelligence, which is AI built-in with “privacy from the ground up.” These are the main features:
- Writing Tools: Users can rewrite, proofread, and summarize text nearly everywhere they write, including Mail, Notes, Pages, and third-party apps;
- Image Playground: Users can create playful images in seconds, choosing from Animation, Illustration, or Sketch. This app is built right into apps like Messages and is also available in a dedicated app;
- Genmoji: With this function, iPad users will use AI to generate new emoji characters based on text input, such as “T-rex wearing a tutu on a surfboard.” Learn more about it here;
- Memories in Photos: Users can create stories they want to see just by typing a description. Apple Intelligence will pick out the best photos and videos based on the description, craft a storyline with chapters based on themes identified from the photos, and arrange them into a movie with its own narrative arc;
- Clean Up tool: This Photos app feature can identify and remove distracting objects in the background of a photo without accidentally altering the subject;
- Siri: Users type to Siri and switch between text and voice to communicate with Siri in whatever way feels right for the moment.
- ChatGPT integration: When you feel Apple Intelligence isn’t enough, you can allow ChatGPT to access Writing Tools and other features for a better response
iPadOS 18 features coming later
Some features will take longer to arrive.
New emojis
During every iPadOS cycle, Apple always adds new emojis. Even though they don’t come with the first major update, the company unveils them during the life cycle of the newest operating system, most likely with version x.4 of that system.
We already have an idea of the possible emojis coming with iPadOS 18 early next year.
iPadOS 18 accessibility features already confirmed by Apple
Before Apple introduced iPadOS 18 during the WWDC 2024 keynote, the company had already unveiled several accessibility features coming later this year for iPad users. These are the three main features:
Eye Tracking: Powered by artificial intelligence, Eye Tracking gives users a built-in option for navigating iPad and iPhone with just their eyes. Designed for users with physical disabilities, Eye Tracking uses the front-facing camera to set up and calibrate in seconds, and with on-device machine learning, all data used to set up and control this feature is kept securely on the device and isn’t shared with Apple.
Wide Range of Speech: With Vocal Shortcuts, iPhone and iPad users can assign custom utterances that Siri can understand to launch shortcuts and complete complex tasks. Listen for Atypical Speech, another new feature, gives users an option for enhancing speech recognition for a wider range of speech.
Vehicle Motion Cues: Vehicle Motion Cues is a new experience for iPhone and iPad that can help reduce motion sickness for passengers in moving vehicles. With Vehicle Motion Cues, animated dots on the edges of the screen represent changes in vehicle motion to help reduce sensory conflict without interfering with the main content.
Major software updates
With iPadOS 18 now available, Apple focuses on iPadOS 18.1 beta. This new build allows developers to try Apple Intelligence.
iPadOS 18.1 features
Apple released iPadOS 18.1 on October 28. These are the main features:
- Writing Tools: Proofread your text, rewrite different versions until the tone and wording are right, and summarize the selected text with a tap.
- Improved Siri: With a new design, Siri can maintain context between requests. Even if you stumble over words or shift what you’re saying mid-sentence, Siri can understand what you actually want.
- Priority notifications: They appear at the top of the stack, letting you know what to pay attention to at a glance. Notifications are summarized, so you can scan them faster.
- Priority messages in Mail: Elevate time-sensitive messages to the top of your inbox, like an invitation that has a deadline today or a check-in reminder for your flight this afternoon.
- Clean Up: This Photos app feature can identify and remove distracting objects in the background of a photo without accidentally altering the subject.
- Summarization: Apple Intelligence can now summarize more than just Messages and Mail notifications.
- Record and transcribe calls in the Notes app: Just hit record in the Notes or Phone apps to capture audio recordings and transcripts. Apple Intelligence generates summaries of your transcripts, so you can get to the most important information at a glance.
- Reduce interruptions: With iPadOS 18.1 beta 1, an all-new Focus Mode understands the content of your notifications and shows you the ones that might need immediate attention, like a text about picking up your child from daycare later today.
- Smart Reply in Mail: Quickly draft an email response with all the right details. Apple Intelligence can identify the question you were asked in an email and offer relevant selections to include in your response.
iPadOS 18.2 features
On December 11, Apple released iPadOS 18.2. It expands Apple Intelligence features while adding other functions and bug fixes:
- Genmoji: Create custom emojis by combining two figures; users can type a prompt like “monkey with pink hat” to make an entirely new emoji; here’s how to use it;
- Image Playground: Users can create playful images in seconds, choosing from Animation, Illustration, or Sketch. This app is built right into apps like Messages and is also available in a dedicated app; having trouble with the waitlist? Check this;
- Image Wand: “Rough sketches can be turned into delightful images, and users can even select empty space to create an image using context from the surrounding area” in the Notes app;
- Create Images expansion: Another Apple Intelligence feature available with iPadOS 18.2 is the ability to create an image when you highlight text in the Notes app;
- ChatGPT integration: When you feel Apple Intelligence isn’t enough, you can allow ChatGPT to access Writing Tools and other features for a better response; if you are tired of Apple Intelligence asking to confirm every prompt, do this.
These are other features available with this update:
- Share Item Location in Find My helps you locate and recover misplaced items by easily and securely sharing the location of an Airtag or Find My network accessory with trusted third parties, such as airlines
- Natural language search in Apple Music and Apple TV app lets you describe what you’re looking for using any combination of categories like genres, moods, actors, decades, and more
- Favorite Categories in Podcasts allows you to choose your favorite categories and get relevant show recommendations that you can easily access in your Library
- Personalized Search page in Podcasts highlights the most relevant categories and editorially curated collections tailored to you
Supported devices
With iPadOS 17, Apple cut off the iPad 5 and the first-gen iPad Pro for this operating system. For iPadOS 18, Cupertino removed even more iPad models. These are the tablets that can download this software update:
- iPad Pro (2018 or newer)
- iPad Air 3 or newer
- iPad mini 5 or newer
- iPad 7 gen or newer
Official iPadOS 18 download
iPadOS 18 is already out. Here’s how to download it:
- On your iPad, open the Settings app
- Tap on General and Software Update
Can I download the iPadOS 18 beta?
Even with iPadOS 18 now available, keeping yourself on the developer’s beta lets you try upcoming features before everyone else. Below are the steps to download iPadOS 18 beta.
- On your iPad, open the Settings app
- Tap on General and Software Update
- Tap on Beta Updates and enable iPOS 18 Developer Beta
How to download iPadOS 18 public beta?
iPadOS 18 public beta has been available since July 15. After you enroll your ID in the Apple Beta Software Program, follow these steps:
- Open Settings;
- Go to General, then Software Update;
- In Beta Updates, select iPadOS 18 Public Beta;
- Download the public beta version.
Review
In our iPadOS 18 review, we think this update is a successful update, even though it doesn’t bring exclusive features to M4 iPad Pro users.
This software adds some worthwhile features and improves what an iPad can do with Smart Script, the Notes app, and so many other changes.
While I still have faith that Apple will continue to refine the iPad as a laptop replacement, I also appreciate that the company is making its tablets more of a tablet with iPadOS 18.
