Digital Media Concepts/iPadOS

iPadOS 13
	IPadOS wordmark
Developer	Apple Inc.
Source Model	Closed
First Release	iPadOS 13.1
Latest Release	iPadOS 13.1
Predecessor	iOS 12
	v; t; e;

The iPadOS is the new upcoming operating system built for the iPad devices developed by Apple Inc. It was announced at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference in 2019 and was scheduled to be released on September 20, 2019.^[1] The new iPad coming forth in 2019 will be installed with the iPadOS but it will also support some older generation of iPads. The iPadOS originated from Apple’s iOS mobile operating system and now diverged to emphasize multitasking abilities and adding new features that are not available on the upcoming iOS 13.^[2]

History

Apple Inc. Logo

iPadOS is a derivative of the iOS 13. iPad devices were initially criticized because of its superior hardware compared to other competition but lacked software functionality to take advantage of its capabilities.

Timeline

The iPadOS was announced on June 2019 at WWDC 2019 and set to release on September 20, 2019.^[1] Public Beta version was released on August 28, 2019. Stable version was delayed that was supposed to come out on September 20, 2019, but later postponed the day before its supposed release date and released it on September 24, 2019.^[3]

Features

All of the features of iOS 13 will include with the iPadOS but it does not go vice versa. All of the Features below are the ones that do not come with the iOS 13.

Multitasking

The multitasking abilities is not new on the iPad but its new OS gave it additional improvements. Slide Over and Split View which both have been on the iPad, can now be used with multiple windows of the same app. This gives the ability to open two documents of the same format at once. To view all the opened windows of the same app, just tap the icon of the app in the App Switcher.

Slide Over have its new App Switcher interface. This makes easy to change and navigate over multiple apps opened in the Slide Over.

New Homescreen

One of the major changes of iPadOS is the new layout of the home screen. Application icons are now arranged in more compact grids to allow more space to application and information in a page. Widget screen can now be moved on the left side of the home screen when in landscape mode, making it more convenient to access than having its page.

Apple Pencil

Apple Pencil (First generation)

Apple Pencil (Second generation)

The Mark-up feature will have the ability to screenshot by swiping upward diagonally from either the bottom side of the screen. The option to screenshot a whole web page, email, or document at once will also be included.

The latency of Apple Pencil has also improved by 45% as well, down to 9 milliseconds from 20 milliseconds.

Sidecar

iPads can now function as a second screen for macOS Catalina with Sidecar. It can be used as a mirrored or extended display for Mac computers. It can be connected through wired while also charging or wireless within 10 meters. Sidecar can also be used with Apple Pencil allowing it to function as a graphics tablet.

Text Editing

New gestures are introduced for an easier process of text editing. Selecting a text can be done by tapping and swiping. Tapping three or four times will quickly select a whole sentence or paragraph. Double tapping an address, phone number, and email address will quickly select the text. A new cut, copy and paste gestures in also introduced. Pinching a text with three fingers will copy the selected text, repeating the copy gesture twice to cut, and pinching three fingers down will paste the copied or cut text. Instead of double-tapping with two fingers, swiping three fingers to the left will activate undo function or to the right to redo. Navigating through long texts can be done by dragging the scroll bar instead of swiping vertically. Directly dragging the cursor wherever will automatically snap to lines and between text precisely.

Keyboard

Pinching the QuickType keyboard will transform it into a floating keyboard which makes it easier to type with one hand and allows more apps on the screen.

Files App

Files App icon on iOS

The column view feature gives the option to view folders in the Files app in columns for easier navigation and also gives the documents a quick preview of the file and its metadata when selected. Zipping or unzipping files and Quick Actions to rotate, mark up, and create a PDF are also included. There’s also the addition of Downloads folder where all downloaded files from the internet are imported. Apple also included keyboard shortcuts support in the Files app similar to a computer.

iPadOS also included the ability to access an external storage. It means that flash drive, SD card, external hard disk drive or even file server is now supported through the Files app.

Safari

Icon of Safari Browser

The new update on Safari in iPad automatically opens websites as desktop version instead of the mobile version like in the iOS. Website will also automatically scale on an iPad’s screen ratio. Like in the Files app, Keyboard shortcuts support is also added on Safari. A minor update is that Safari toolbar can now be viewed when putting on Spit View.^[4]

Accessibility

Another major iPadOS feature is mouse support. Mouse can now be connected through Bluetooth or a connector. However, the mouse support on the iPad does not have the same functionality as the ones on computer operating systems. On iPad, it acts as a finger touch instead of an arrow cursor that is typically seen on computer OS. It is an accessibility feature that can be used as AssistiveTouch.^[5]^[3]