Here’s how iPadOS 17 is taking your iPad to the next level

At its annual WWDC 2023 conference, Apple introduced the latest iteration of its tablet operating system. Say hello to iPadOS 17, which is going to be out in the fall with some notable features updates in tow. For starters, a handful of iOS 17 tricks are also making their way to iPadOS 17. Starting with the most notable addition, the Health app has finally made its way to Apple’s tablet. In fact, the company is promising that the Health app will make better use of the larger screen real estate provided by an iPad. Apple is also bringing some of the lock screen customization and widget tricks from iOS 16 to iPadOS 17 this year. Just like the iPhone, you can now press on the Lock Screen and customize the wallpaper, widgets, and fonts to your heart’s content. You can pick between photos from your phone’s library, a selection of Apple’s own dynamic wallpapers, or select a Live Photo with a neat 3D wave effect every time you unlock an iPad. Just like the iPhone, each Lock Screen can be customized with its unique bonding of fonts, date formats, and the imagery to go with it. Apple has also paid special attention to widgets. Widgets are now interactive, with the ability to perform actions without launching the app, such as tapping reminders, turning on the lights in your room, controlling music playback, and more. Another important addition to iPadOS is Live Activities, which can be added to the lock screen for tasks like tracking delivery notifications, keeping an eye on sports scores, and more. Just like Google and its Material You design approach with Android, the widgets in iPadOS 17 will play well with the color tone of the wallpapers. Another major update happens in how the iPad handles PDFs, right in the pre-installed Notes app. To start, you can utilize autofill to fill out PDF fields, including documents scanned with a camera, and even save or draw a signature using an Apple Pencil without any format optimization shenanigans. The iPad’s camera can now be used for FaceTime calls when the tablet is connected to an external display. Users will also be able to hand off FaceTime calls from the iPad to their Apple TV. Further building up on the FaceTime experience, Reaction support has arrived, allowing users to play with creative effects like balloons, fireworks, and more. The Freeform collaboration app also gets new tricks such as watercolor and fountain pen tools. Spotlight has also been improved, as it now offers suggestions for the next stage of your text input and can also parse through video search results. Stage Manager also gets more flexibility with window resizing and screen adjustment. Taking a leaf out of Messages improvements on the iPhone, Apple will allow users to create stickers from their own library of photos, the addition of filters (people, content type, keywords) for search, and automatic transcription for audio messages.
iPadOS has often attracted criticism as merely a stretched-out version of the iPhone’s software, with a handful of Pro-grade apps and games thrown into the mix. With iPadOS 26, Apple is finally shedding that reputation.  In fact, the overhaul is so deep that iPadOS 26 now feels closer to the Mac than iPhone software. Now, this is purely a personal opinion, but the new Liquid Glass design language looks much better on the iPad than it does on the iPhone.  Of all the iPads that I have used so far, the baseline iPad continues to surprise me. Over the past half a decade, I have made a habit of picking the entry-level variant to see if a slate that costs $350 can get the job done.  It handled my workflow just fine, usually after spending over a hundred dollars on a keyboard case. It survived WordPress, Asana, Teams, Photoshop, Adobe Express, and Canva. Also, some darn poor attempts at sketching.