If there’s one announcement during Monday’s WWDC keynote address that everyone is anticipating, it’s iPadOS 16. After Apple added a Thunderbolt port and M1 processor to the iPad Pro and upgraded the iPad Air and mini with 5G and Center Stage, all eyes are on iPadOS to finally bring Apple’s vision of the tablet to fruition.
Here’s everything we know about iPadOS 16 ahead of the keynote at 10 am PT on Monday.
iPadOS 16: Rumored features
According to a report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple is gearing up to make “significant changes” to the way we interact with our iPads. Gurman says the new iPad interface will be “one of the biggest upgrades” at WWDC.
Among the rumored changes are several interface tweaks that are long overdue. Gurman reports that Apple will revamp the iPad’s multitasking and app interface, and add features that will make the tablet “more like a laptop and less like a phone.” Among the expected new features are:
- A redesigned multitasking interface that makes it easier to see what apps are open and switch between tasks
- Resizable app windows
- New ways for users to handle multiple apps at once
Of note, Gurman reports that Apple will “expand” on the current multitasking interface, which cobbles together several methods for viewing two or three apps at once. There’s Split Screen for viewing apps side by side, Slide Over for viewing smaller app windows, and Picture in Picture for videos. Apple also introduced Quick Notes in iPadOS 15 which adds a floating window for taking notes.
iPadOS 16: iOS features
Among the features specific to iPadOS, Apple’s also brings iOS features to its tablet. In iOS 15, for example, the iPad gained the App Library, desktop widgets, and a redesigned Safari, along with Messages, FaceTime, and Spotlight changes. Here are the features rumored for iOS that could also come to the iPad:
- Lock screen widgets.
- Notification improvements.
- Updates to exiting apps, including Messages.
Apple is also rumored to bring improvements to the Health app on iOS, which could mean that it is finally coming to the iPad.
iPadOS 16: Compatability
iPadOS 15 supports the iPad mini 4 and later, 5th-gen iPad and later, iPad Air 2 and later, and all iPad pro models. It’s possible that Apple drops support for one or more of these models with the launch of iPadOS 16.
iPadOS 16: Release
Apple will release a beta of iPadOS 16 for developers immediately following the keynote, with a public beta several weeks later. The general release of iPad OS 16 will likely be in September.
Author: Michael Simon, Executive Editor
Michael Simon has been covering Apple since the iPod was the iWalk. His obsession with technology goes back to his first PC—the IBM Thinkpad with the lift-up keyboard for swapping out the drive. He's still waiting for that to come back in style tbh.