Last month, Apple's tablets got a major refresh with the arrival of the M4 chip, two size options for the iPad Air, an update to the Magic Keyboard, and a new iPad Pro with a premium Tandem OLED display. And now, at WWDC 2024, Apple is looking to beef up the iPad's software with some new features for iPadOS 18, due for release later this year.
First, iPadOS adds new customization options for the Home screen, allowing you to place app icons wherever you want. Apple's Control Center has also been expanded to support creating multiple lists and views, resizing and reordering icons, and more. A new floating tab bar also makes it easier to navigate between apps, and is more tailored to remember your favorite software. Second, Screen Sharing lets you draw on someone else's iPad or share your screen when you need to help a friend or relative troubleshoot something.
After much demand, iPad now has its own calculator app, including a new Math Notes feature with support for Apple Pencil and the ability to enter handwritten equations. With Math Notes, you can update your equations in real time and even save them for later. And the Notes app's Smart Script tool uses machine learning to organize your notes and make them easier to edit.
General privacy has also been improved with a new feature that lets you lock apps, ensuring that if a friend or family member borrows your device they'll have full access to everything on your tablet, and there's also a new hidden app folder, so you can keep sensitive software more private.
In Messages, Tapbacks are now compatible with all emojis, and you'll now be able to schedule messages and send texts via satellite, even when you're not connected to Wi-Fi or a cellular network. Messages sent using satellite will be end-to-end encrypted, according to Apple.
The Mail and Photos apps are getting big improvements as well. Mail will have new categories to make it easier to find things like specific types of offers or flight information, while the Photos app will have an updated UI that allows you to see certain types of images while hiding things like screenshots. It will also add new categories like “Recent” and “People & Pets” to make it easier to find old photos and memories, and let you group all similar types of photos together in one collection.
Audio on iPad has also been improved, allowing Siri to understand “yes” and “no” gestures by shaking or nodding your head while wearing AirPods, making it easier to give quick responses to Apple's digital assistant in places where you might not feel comfortable speaking out loud, like a crowded bus or a quiet waiting room.
But the biggest addition this year is that, in addition to iPad-specific features, Apple's tablet OS will also come with Apple Intelligence, which includes many of the company's new AI-powered features, like the ability to create summaries of websites, proofread or rewrite emails, and generate new art based on prompts.
Apple says it will make its AI features more personalized and contextual to make it more useful. However, to protect user privacy and security, it says it will not create profiles or sell data to outside parties. In general, Apple says most tools will use on-device processing, but some features will require cloud assistance.
Siri, the iconic digital assistant, gets a major overhaul with Apple Intelligence, including better natural language recognition and the ability to understand and remember context between queries. Siri will assist you as you use your device, allowing you to ask your tablet how to accomplish specific tasks, find files, and control apps and features by voice.
Check out the latest news here Apple’s WWDC 2024.
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