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PEVO

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 5, 2019
49
17
This year we finally got iPadOS, a dedicated OS for Apple tablets, instead of the classic iOS update. Finally the roadmap for new iPad software features was changed, so we can only expect better optimization in the years to come.
Next year we’ll see the new iPadOS 14 with different new iPad-dedicated features. What do you expect to see at WWDC 20 and what do you want to have in the next big iPad update?
 

JD2015

macrumors 6502a
Sep 16, 2014
818
494
rename external storage
Format external drive
Automatic requirement for apps to support split screen and opening duplicate windows (where appropriate).
Optimise PDFs
Be able to hook up multiple iPads together so can have multi screen set up when sat at a desk.
Start to bring desktop versions of Final Cut and handover support for those working on multiple machines.
Reset or restore an iPad from another iPad or iPhone instead of having to rely upon a Mac
 

boston04and07

macrumors 68000
May 13, 2008
1,788
866
Count me in for also wanting real mouse support. The Magic Mouse 2 and Trackpad should both work pretty much as they do on macOS, with gestures, automatic connecting, and the like. Right now it feels like a beta. I’m happy to have it, but hope they go all the way with it. I’d really love it if they came out with a Smart Keyboard with an integrated trackpad. I use the Magic Mouse at my desk, but that would be infinitely useful on the go.

I’d also really, really like the missing iOS apps to finally make their way over to the iPad. Specifically: Phone app (hopefully with some clever iCloud integrated voicemail access), Weather, (severe weather alerts and a radar view would also be great additions), Health and Activity (shouldn’t be too hard since that data is already synced and stored in iCloud anyway, and it’s always bothered me I can’t view my health data on my iPad), Wallet (now that Apple Card is out I think that’d be extra helpful for transaction history and such), and Calculator (whyyyyy this still isn’t on the iPad is beyond me!)

There are things that aren’t iPadOS specific that I’d like to see as well. I’d like it for alarms and timers to go off on all of a user’s devices, not just the device they’re set on. I’d like it if all nearby devices showed up in Now Playing so you can control what’s playing on your iPhone from your iPad (would be helpful for when you’re listening to airpods).

So yeah, my wishlist isn’t anything drastic, just a bunch of little things that would make it nicer and easier for my daily use.
 

Ludatyk

macrumors 603
May 27, 2012
5,369
4,355
Texas
I’m pretty content with the direction Apple has with iPadOS... my only hope is that they separate it from iOS even more.

I think notifications needs a major overhaul. From the way iPadOS receive alerts and the NotificationCenter. It needs to be somewhat like macOS... we need to be alerted from the corner right instead of directly in the middle. I would then combine the ControlCenter and NotificationCenter, I don’t know how... but it needs to be revamped.

Everything else.. should be focus on making it faster and work on bug fixes, because email is horrible right now. Everyone is mentioning better mouse support... Apple prefers iPadOS to be touch input, I highly doubt they put more effort into mouse features for iOS 14.
 
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subjonas

macrumors 603
Feb 10, 2014
5,541
5,870
- handwriting recognition input
- versioned backups
- a faster, more intuitive way to invoke split screen that doesn’t involve long press or the limited number of apps on the dock
- more keyboard shortcuts

Mainly I think we need more robust apps.

For the record, I don’t think ipadOS is the revolution many seem to think it is. I believe the trajectories of the iPhone and iPad are more or less the same as they have been. Both have been advancing, with iPad getting extra features to make use of its bigger screen. The name change was likely just to reflect what has already been happening. Apple has been tweaking their philosophical line that divides iPad and Mac over the years, but I think those who hope that this signifies a radical shift will be met with disappointment. But time will tell.
 

Ludatyk

macrumors 603
May 27, 2012
5,369
4,355
Texas
For the record, I don’t think ipadOS is the revolution many seem to think it is. I believe the trajectories of the iPhone and iPad are more or less the same as they have been. Both have been advancing, with iPad getting extra features to make use of its bigger screen. The name change was likely just to reflect what has already been happening. Apple has been tweaking their philosophical line that divides iPad and Mac over the years, but I think those who hope that this signifies a radical shift will be met with disappointment. But time will tell.

Agreed! That's my belief as well. That's what I'm hoping that iPadOS can help Apple separate it from iOS... but with iPadOS 14 and the features it brings that will get us an indication of how serious Apple it is about the name change.
 

The Samurai

macrumors 68020
Dec 29, 2007
2,051
738
Glasgow
Count me in for Mouse Support and also would like better Safari support as some elements of Squarespace website don't work even on the new iPad OS (inventory forms cant be altered on iPad).
 
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MBX

macrumors 68020
Sep 14, 2006
2,030
816
- Multiple video and audio sources playback at the same time. Sometimes I want to watch a video while watching or hearing another audio playback and don’t want the other video or audio to pause. Basically even „truer multitasking„.

- A very good voice recognition input assistant that let‘s you operate the OS with just the voice.

- As others mentioned already: Real mouse support and real Magic Trackpad support with gestures that behave exactly as on MacOS.
 
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TheRealAlex

macrumors 68030
Sep 2, 2015
2,860
2,016
iPad OS 14.1 On the 2020 iPad Pro.

#1. Dual Camera support and all the cool Depth of Field and AI lighting features
#2. Full ThunderBolt 3 speeds and support (only on new 2020 iPad Pro)
#3. 6GB RAM enhanced management
#4. Full featured Trackpad and Keyboard & Mouse support (we need a keyboard with a TrackPad)
#5. 120 FPS mode I want max frame rate always.
#6. Ability to Resize the on screen Keyboard heck if my Note 10+ can have a dedicated Number Row
#7. WiFi 6 WPA3 Security
#8. Ability to Fully enable 256-bit Encryption with new T3 security chip and Encrypt Folders
#9. Quick Action Launch gestures of Multiple apps at Once (I‘ve already emailed this to and Tweeted Craig Federighi about this to get credit) I want 1 custom gesture that you can assign 2-3 apps to Launch Simultaneously instead of one by one.
 
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subjonas

macrumors 603
Feb 10, 2014
5,541
5,870
- Multiple video and audio sources playback at the same time. Sometimes I want to watch a video while watching or hearing another audio playback and don’t want the other video or audio to pause. Basically even „truer multitasking„.

- A very good voice recognition input assistant that let‘s you operate the OS with just the voice.
I’d like these as well. Total voice control is the dream but a decent level of productivity is probably years away. Jarvis or “Her” is decades or never...
 

augustya

Suspended
Feb 17, 2012
3,331
464
Not going by fancy imagination and wishlist, what is the realistic features speculated by Techies and Rumors ?
 

MBX

macrumors 68020
Sep 14, 2006
2,030
816
Some more:

- keep videos playing in background when minimizing window or switching app

- ability to split screen horizontally when holding iPad in portrait mode

- a battery friendly always on lock display mode with pinned widgets that can be chosen

- ability to have same timemachine back up functions like on Mac and able to back up & restore versions
 

ericwn

macrumors G4
Apr 24, 2016
11,833
10,418
Better external monitor support and more options in mouse support would be nice for sure. Not so sure what other killer features are missing at the moment, I feel pretty satisfied with iPadOS so far.
 

*~Kim~*

macrumors 65816
May 6, 2013
1,050
377
UK
Ability to monitor WiFi usage not just cellular. Happens on Android and you can set data limits on cellular.
 

MandiMac

macrumors 65816
Feb 25, 2012
1,431
882
- A very good voice recognition input assistant that let‘s you operate the OS with just the voice.
Don't we have this already? Or is this Mac only?

#3. 6GB RAM enhanced management
#5. 120 FPS mode I want max frame rate always.
#3: Is there anything where the current 4 GB RAM (6 GB on 1 TB models, I know) hamstring you?
#5: Serious question: Why would you? When you touch the screen you get 120 Hz anyways, and if the game/app/content is @120fps, you get 120 Hz as well. No point in having 120 Hz when displaying static content.
[automerge]1575540768[/automerge]
About iPadOS 14: Definitely multi-user support. Fast switching between user profiles, enhanced Face ID recognition so the iPad knows who's currently handling it, and I'd love to see more iCloud storage when I pay for it. Currently on the 200 GB plan, but 2 TB is too much a jump in terms of storage and price for me.
 
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canesalato

Cancelled
Jan 31, 2010
1,387
1,321
#3: Is there anything where the current 4 GB RAM (6 GB on 1 TB models, I know) hamstring you?
For my work I heavily rely on webapps. Safari tabs keep reloading under iPadOS (and iOS before), which makes my iPad 2018 12.9 iPad Pro (4GB) completely unfit for that use case.
 

MandiMac

macrumors 65816
Feb 25, 2012
1,431
882
For my work I heavily rely on webapps. Safari tabs keep reloading under iPadOS (and iOS before), which makes my iPad 2018 12.9 iPad Pro (4GB) completely unfit for that use case.
Gotcha. We do know that iOS 13 had some issues regarding RAM usage and killing tabs/apps too fast. But maybe, just maybe an iPad isn't the right tool for your work and 6 GB of RAM won't change anything?
 

LoganT

macrumors 68020
Jan 9, 2007
2,382
134
Wishlist (in no particular order)
  • better mouse support (option for inverted scrollwheel direction and faster scrolling in particular)
  • support for multiple profiles or guest mode
  • NTFS support

I’d bet all the money in the world we’ll never see NTFS support. NTFS is a Microsoft proprietary file system and it’s never been supported on any Apple product.
 

canesalato

Cancelled
Jan 31, 2010
1,387
1,321
Gotcha. We do know that iOS 13 had some issues regarding RAM usage and killing tabs/apps too fast. But maybe, just maybe an iPad isn't the right tool for your work and 6 GB of RAM won't change anything?

Well, first of all, an iPad is not the only tool I use for my work. I also use an iPhone, an iMac, 2 MacBooks and a windows laptop.

When I need to work on mobility, my iPad Pro generally works well. It's super light, so I can take it with me anywhere I like, the web apps I need to use work perfectly (since 13) and the 4/3 ratio works much better for me than the 16/10 found on laptops. Instead of using the unreliable, noisy, and uncomfortable keyboard that comes with MacBooks (well, in my opinion), I can connect anything I like, and indeed, I have a nice mechanical keyboard on my office desk, and a lightweight one for when I move. Sure, you can connect keyboards on laptops too, but it's quite clunky.

I don't know if 6 GB of ram would solve the problem. Over the years, 2GB made it better than 1GB, then 4GB made it better than 2GB. Unfortunately iOS updates and the expansion of multitasking capabilities counterbalanced those benefits, in part. There's only so much optimization you can do while driving a 2019 operating system on a 13-inches retina display with a high refresh rate using only 4GB of memory. People say: but iOS/iPadOS is optimized. Sure...and tabs/apps getting killed and reloading are indeed one of the main optimizations. This did not start with 13 (it just got a little worse under 13.2.0). It happened under 12 as well, the optimized OS. How many times a day is it ok to lose part of your work when an app or tab reloads? In 2019, on a >1000$ device aimed at professionals, it wouldn't seem like asking the impossible or being unreasonable. =)

In short, potentially, the iPad is adeguate for many tasks and could be the perfect tool for working in mobility with the web apps I need to use. Unfortunately, that issue is a dealbreaker. I still use it for entertainment and other, more light-weight, tasks. But I have a 2011 MacBook with 8 gb of RAM that does this job perfectly and tabs never reload. At the time I paid around 1000 dollars for it. It came with 4GB of RAM. A couple of years ago tabs started reloading (I think under Sierra). I upgraded to 8GB (for 30$) and it never happened again. 8 years later, an iPad that in 2019 costs more than what I paid that laptop in 2011 cannot perform as well in keeping a few safari tabs open, a task that even in 2011 I considered...pretty basic. Its processor is a beast and eats my old MacBook in benchmarks, but it's an unbalanced machine, in my opinion.
 
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Ungibbed

macrumors 6502a
Dec 13, 2010
765
198
USA
I’d bet all the money in the world we’ll never see NTFS support. NTFS is a Microsoft proprietary file system and it’s never been supported on any Apple product.

At least there was read support on macOS (not entirely useful but it’s “there”. Hopefully that much can be brought to the iPad.
 
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RevTEG

macrumors 65816
Oct 28, 2012
1,347
1,192
San Jose, Ca
Count me in for also wanting real mouse support. The Magic Mouse 2 and Trackpad should both work pretty much as they do on macOS, with gestures, automatic connecting, and the like. Right now it feels like a beta. I’m happy to have it, but hope they go all the way with it. I’d really love it if they came out with a Smart Keyboard with an integrated trackpad. I use the Magic Mouse at my desk, but that would be infinitely useful on the go.

I’d also really, really like the missing iOS apps to finally make their way over to the iPad. Specifically: Phone app (hopefully with some clever iCloud integrated voicemail access), Weather, (severe weather alerts and a radar view would also be great additions), Health and Activity (shouldn’t be too hard since that data is already synced and stored in iCloud anyway, and it’s always bothered me I can’t view my health data on my iPad), Wallet (now that Apple Card is out I think that’d be extra helpful for transaction history and such), and Calculator (whyyyyy this still isn’t on the iPad is beyond me!)

There are things that aren’t iPadOS specific that I’d like to see as well. I’d like it for alarms and timers to go off on all of a user’s devices, not just the device they’re set on. I’d like it if all nearby devices showed up in Now Playing so you can control what’s playing on your iPhone from your iPad (would be helpful for when you’re listening to airpods).

So yeah, my wishlist isn’t anything drastic, just a bunch of little things that would make it nicer and easier for my daily use.

Great list but it would be a nightmare if alarms and timers went off on all the devices in my house at the same time. I would have to hit the snooze on four separate devices, my wife would also, our three kids would have to hit the snooze on 2 devices EACH... all around the same time each morning. Now that would create some morning moods. 14 alarms needing snoozed... that option would need turned off in my house. Lol
 
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