iPadOS 15: All The Little Things

[MozMan68]

This is a Wiki thread to list new features for the iPad with iPadOS 15.

These are the new iPad-specific features announced at WWDC '21. Please note any corrections/updates under the each feature:

Multitasking​

• Multitasking menu
  • A menu at the top of apps lets you enter Split View, Slide Over, full screen, or center window with just a tap. You can also quickly close a window from the menu.
• Access to all apps
  • When you enter Split View, the app moves aside to reveal the Home Screen, giving you access to all Home Screen pages and the App Library.
• Open a window in the center
  • Simply touch and hold an email message, note, or message conversation to open it in a window centered on the screen, perfect for quickly previewing the content without leaving your current view. Swipe down on the multitasking control to put it in the shelf or create a Split View, Slide Over, and more from the Multitasking menu.
• Shelf
  • The new multiwindow shelf gives you quick access to all the open windows for an app. The shelf appears when you open an app and elegantly fades away as soon as you interact with the app. Tap one to open it or flick it away to close.
• Improved App Switcher
  • The App Switcher has been updated to include Slide Over apps and allow you to create Split View spaces by dragging one app over another.

External Keyboard​

​

• Redesigned keyboard shortcuts bar
  • The keyboard menu bar has an all-new, compact look that packs the same functionality into a smaller space so you can better access the functions of the app behind it.
• All-new keyboard shortcuts view
  • The keyboard shortcuts view has a new look and added functionality. Keyboard shortcuts are now organized by categories like File, Edit, Format, View, and Search in a more compact space.
• More keyboard shortcuts
  • Additional keyboard shortcuts across apps and the system include multitasking and contextual menus. The globe key is now a modifier, enabling you to perform more tasks from the keyboard
• Full keyboard navigation
  • Navigate through an app using the keyboard for enhanced productivity. Use the tab key to highlight text fields and buttons, all without taking your hands off the keyboard.

Widgets​

• Place widgets on the Home Screen
  • Place widgets among apps on your Home Screen to take full advantage of the larger space.
• Rotate widgets
  • Widgets remain in their place whether you’re using your iPad in portrait or landscape.
• Find My widget
  • Keep track of your friends and personal items right from the Home Screen with the Find My widget.
• Contacts widget
  • Stay connected to family and friends from your Home Screen with the Contacts widget. Reach them via Phone, Messages, FaceTime, Mail, or Find My. With Family Sharing, you can take additional actions, like approving purchases or Screen Time requests from your kids.
• Game Center widgets
  • The Continue Playing widget displays your recently played Game Center–enabled games across devices. The Friends Are Playing widget helps you discover the games your friends play.
• App Store widget
  • See the stories, collections, and in-app events from your Today tab right on your Home Screen.
• Mail widget
  • Glance at your latest email and get quick access to one of your mailboxes with the Mail widget.
• Default widgets
  • When you upgrade, you’ll see a new default layout, with widgets from the apps you use most arranged in Smart Stacks.
• Intelligent widget suggestions
  • Suggested widgets for apps you already use can automatically appear in your Smart Stack at the right time based on your past activity. For example, if you have an upcoming reservation, the widget for that app will temporarily appear at the top of the stack and disappear after it’s done. An option lets you add the widget to your stack so it’s always there when you need it.
• Reorder Smart Stacks
  • Easily reorder the widgets in your Smart Stacks right from the Home Screen with new controls.

App Library​

• App Library​

  • The App Library is now on iPad. It automatically organizes your iPad apps into helpful categories like Productivity and Games or an intelligent category like Suggestions. The App Library gives you one simple, easy-to-navigate view of all your iPad apps.
• Dock access
  • Get quick access to the App Library right from the Dock no matter where you are, even over an app.
• Reorder Home Screen pages
  • Personalize your Home Screen by reordering pages.
• Hide Home Screen pages
  • Hide pages to streamline your Home Screen. New apps downloaded from the App Store automatically go into the App Library.

Notes​

• Tags
  • Tags are a fast and flexible way to categorize and organize your notes. Add one or more tags by typing or handwriting them directly in the note — like #activities or #cooking.
• Tag Browser
  • The Tag Browser in the sidebar lets you tap any tag or combination of tags to quickly view tagged notes.
• Custom Smart Folders
  • Custom Smart Folders automatically collect notes in one place based on tags.
• Activity view
  • See what others have added to your shared note while you were away. The new Activity view gives a summary of updates since the last time you viewed the note and a day-to-day list of activity from each collaborator.
• Highlights
  • Swipe right anywhere in your note to reveal details of who made changes in a shared note. View edit times and dates with highlighted text color-coded to match collaborators in the note.
• Mentions
  • Mentions make collaboration in shared notes or folders more social, direct, and contextual. Type or handwrite an @ sign and the name of a collaborator anywhere in your note to notify them of important updates and link them back to the note.
• Images in handwritten notes
  • Combine handwriting and images in handwritten notes. Just drag images into the drawing area, then position, resize, or even draw directly on them.

Quick Note​

• Easy to access​

  • Access Quick Note with a swipe of a finger or Apple Pencil. You can also access Quick Note from Control Center or with a keyboard shortcut.
• Available everywhere
  • Access Quick Note from anywhere in the system. You can be using any app, on the Home Screen, or in full screen or Split View.
• Write any way you want
  • Write or sketch using the tool palette — making it easy to jot something down just the way you want.
• Adaptable
  • Adjust the size or position of a Quick Note, or even hide it on the side so you can quickly bring it back to add more information later.
• Links
  • Add links from an app to your Quick Note to create context. When you return to the same place in the app or website, a thumbnail of the Quick Note appears in the corner to remind you of what you noted earlier.
• Persistent highlights with Safari
  • Keep track of websites you’ve visited by highlighting text or images in Safari and adding them directly into your note.

Universal Control​

• Use your keyboard, mouse, and trackpad across Mac and iPad​

  • Use a single keyboard, mouse, or trackpad to work between your devices. When you move from your Mac to your iPad, the cursor for your mouse or trackpad transforms from an arrow to a round dot, automatically changing shape to the one that is best suited for the device.
    
• No setup required
  • Universal Control works effortlessly — no setup required. Simply use your mouse or trackpad to push the cursor from one device toward the other until it pops onto the second device. Then you can move your cursor seamlessly between the two.
• Optional continuous setup
  • If you use your devices together all the time and want to use Universal Control without the need to link the two using the cursor, you can set them up to work with Universal Control continuously in System Preferences.
• Support for multiple devices
  • Universal Control works with up to three devices.
• Drag and drop content between devices
  • Use your mouse or trackpad to drag and drop content between your devices, perfect for when you’re sketching a drawing with Apple Pencil on your iPad and want to drop it into Keynote on your Mac.

5G​

• 5G preferred over Wi‑Fi​

  • Your 11‑inch iPad Pro (3rd generation) and 12.9‑inch iPad Pro (5th generation) now automatically prioritize 5G when Wi‑Fi connectivity on networks you visit occasionally is slow, or when you are connected to captive or insecure networks, so you can enjoy faster, safer connectivity.

Settings​

• Software Updates​

  • iPadOS now offers a choice between two software update versions in the Settings app. You can update to the latest version of iPadOS 15 as soon as it’s released for the latest features and most complete set of security updates. Or continue on iPadOS 14 and still get important security updates until you’re ready to upgrade to the next major version.
    

Translate​

• Translate on iPad​

  • Translate comes to iPadOS with all the features of the iOS app, along with capabilities that are unique to iPad, like handwriting with Apple Pencil and opening Translate in Split View.​

    
    

Watch Integration​

iPad as Watch Keyboard​

• So I received a notification for a WhatsApp message and was using voice dictation to reply, with my iPad near me and turned on it prompted to use my iPad and type my message out - think that was pretty cool. Tested it with messaged and worked too - thought I’d throw that feature out there.

Little things​

• Pressing Command-R whilst viewing a picture in Photos app activates editing mode and rotates the photo instantly (in previous iOS versions, you had to tap into Edit then Crop/Rotate before this shortcut would work)

Podcast App​

• Playback at 1.25x now available

 

[TimFL1]

A link to the iPadOS feature page would‘ve been more elegant. Leaves space for users to add the „little things“ without bloating the first post.

 

[MozMan68]

A link to the iPadOS feature page would‘ve been more elegant. Leaves space for users to add the „little things“ without bloating the first post.

Boy, I thought it was pretty clear that this was still being edited...hah

The benefit of doing it this way is that the feature page always leaves out little details or issues. Once this is pared down, you will be able to add any of those directly under the featured area so others can quickly see the issue/feature.

Yes...it is bloated...for now...I have a day job.

 

[bscheffel]

It’s a shame that iPadOS/iOS 15 adds no new enhancements to the Music app. It seems that Apple has given up making any new iPadOS (or even iOS) enhancements to the Music app that don’t involve Apple Music. They pitch the iPad as a computer replacement but yet you are still 100% reliant on a Mac or PC to manage your music library. You can’t add music to your iCloud Music Library from iPadOS/iOS unless it comes from iTunes (which did not get the lossless upgrade that Apple Music got). You can’t create smart playlists, you can’t edit/add tags to songs/albums, and when browsing by genre you are stuck with albums as second level (not artists or songs) - no grid view, no column picker. I can see how on iOS the screen size limits these features but certainly an iPad screen can do these.

 

[Ludatyk]

They pitch the iPad as a computer replacement but yet you are still 100% reliant on a Mac or PC to manage your music library.

Tbf, when I see stock apps lack features that I want. I try to look at 3rd party solution.. Things you list might be possible in the App Store, granted… it could be annoying trying to find certain features you want. But I try to work within the iPad platform not against it.

 

[MozMan68]

First post has been updated to remove cross platform iOS features.

Again, if any are missing or there are non iPad-specific features still listed, the first post is a Wiki post and may be edited by those with enough posts on MacRumors. Thanks!

 

[bscheffel]

Tbf, when I see stock apps lack features that I want. I try to look at 3rd party solution.. Things you list might be possible in the App Store, granted… it could be annoying trying to find certain features you want. But I try to work within the iPad platform not against it.

Well it’s clear that Apple wants to transition everyone to Apple Music (which conveniently guarantees them a monthly subscription cost) as the previous way they embraced music iTunes/iTunes store/iTunes match has been left to wither with no enhancements. It’s a bit strange since Apple loves to tout how “music is in our DNA” but now the only music paradigm they are going to invest in is streaming. I need to own my music tracks and be able to use them outside of music app, and I need them to be lossless for mixing/editing purposes so it’s Mac only for that workflow.

 

[bmac89]

Is it still possible to have the widgets as a slide out from the left of the home screen like iPadOS 13/14? I.e. Keep widgets exactly how they were before?

Or is this where the app library is located?

Thanks!

 

[Ludatyk]

Is it still possible to have the widgets as a slide out from the left of the home screen like iPadOS 13/14? I.e. Keep widgets exactly how they were before?

Yup… that still exist. Swiping from the left on the Home Screen or Notification Center, even Lock Screen… gives you access to widgets as before.

 

[Mr. 123]

Well it’s clear that Apple wants to transition everyone to Apple Music (which conveniently guarantees them a monthly subscription cost) as the previous way they embraced music iTunes/iTunes store/iTunes match has been left to wither with no enhancements. It’s a bit strange since Apple loves to tout how “music is in our DNA” but now the only music paradigm they are going to invest in is streaming. I need to own my music tracks and be able to use them outside of music app, and I need them to be lossless for mixing/editing purposes so it’s Mac only for that workflow.

Completely agree! The music app on the iPad should have more features than the iPhone, as they’re selling it as a kind of computer and there’s definitively enough screen and processing power. Album view in playlists, ability to add music from an other source (like HDtracks for instance).
The ability to tag music (and displaying info) + smart playlists would be a good start to making the music app more full fledged on the iPad.

 

[cupcakes2000]

Rotate widgets

• Widgets remain in their place whether you’re using your iPad in portrait or landscape.

That’s got to be a joke! Putting everything where you want it whilst in landscape (eventually, after fighting with the bad implementation of icon placement), turning to portrait does the opposite of keeping anything in its place! I really hope this behaviour gets changed.

 

[Ludatyk]

That’s got to be a joke! Putting everything where you want it whilst in landscape (eventually, after fighting with the bad implementation of icon placement), turning to portrait does the opposite of keeping anything in its place! I really hope this behaviour gets changed.

Agreed! I avoid putting my HomeScreen in portrait… because it doesn’t remain in place.

 

[cambookpro]

Anyone have any idea what this icon means in the multitasking view? Not sure if it’s new in 15, but don't think I’ve seen it before.

 

[bmac89]

Anyone have any idea what this icon means in the multitasking view? Not sure if it’s new in 15, but don't think I’ve seen it before.
View attachment 1795055

Interesting. That looks identical to the old tabs button in Safari.
Interested to find out why it’s there.

 

[gwhizkids]

Anyone have any idea what this icon means in the multitasking view? Not sure if it’s new in 15, but don't think I’ve seen it before.
View attachment 1795055

It means there are multiple windows of that app open.

 

[bmac89]

It means there are multiple windows of that app open.

Thanks. Can someone confirm whether you can infact have multiple instances of the photos app open?
I.e. Two instances of the photos app side by side (split view). Useful for comparing photos etc.

I asked in another thread whether this was now possible but was told it was still not an option in iPadOS 15. However this icon suggests that it is possible?

Thanks!

 

[cupcakes2000]

Thanks. Can someone confirm whether you can infact have multiple instances of the photos app open?
I.e. Two instances of the photos app side by side (split view). Useful for comparing photos etc.

I asked in another thread whether this was now possible but was told it was still not an option in iPadOS 15. However this icon suggests that it is possible?

Thanks!

Nope, still not possible unfortunately

 

[cambookpro]

It means there are multiple windows of that app open.

Cheers. I thought that, but I only have one Photos window open. Presume it’s therefore just a bug.

 

[Ludatyk]

Thanks. Can someone confirm whether you can infact have multiple instances of the photos app open?
I.e. Two instances of the photos app side by side (split view). Useful for comparing photos etc.

I asked in another thread whether this was now possible but was told it was still not an option in iPadOS 15. However this icon suggests that it is possible?

Thanks!

You could always place photos you want to compare in the files app.

Even though the files app leaves alot to be desired... it can be useful for instances like that, just yesterday I was moving some content from my flash drive to the files app. It was so satisfying seeing that progress bar and it transferred rather quickly too.

 

[Slartibart]

Nope, still not possible unfortunately

Not iPadOS 15 related: Filebrowser Professional allows to run 2 instances and opens pictures directly from Apple Photos library.

 

[Ludatyk]

Not iPadOS 15 related: Filebrowser Professional allows to run 2 instances and opens pictures directly from Apple Photos library.

I have the FileBrowserGo app... I actually like the Gallery view, it's perfect for using it for photos.

I like the improvements Apple made with Files app on iPadOS 15.. but I plan on using FileBrowserGo app in tandem with it.

 

[LFC2020]

Big Zol at it again.

 

[Ludatyk]

Big Zol at it again.

Yessir! I think the most hidden feature I wasn’t aware of was the swiping away of the Keyboard Shortcut. That was brilliant!

Although, majority feels iPadOS 15 was disappointed… however, the more and more I use it I find that the features added makes iPadOS less annoying. And I think that’s a good thing!

 

[gwhizkids]

Big Zol at it again.

Ok. We get it. No need for any more Big Zol promos.

 

[LFC2020]

Ok. We get it. No need for any more Big Zol promos.

Maybe people like seeing the new features. ??