16 September 2024

UPDATE

iPadOS 18 is now available and takes iPad to the next level with powerful new smart features and experiences designed for Apple Pencil

iPadOS 18 makes the iPad experience more versatile and intelligent than ever, and is available today as a free software update. iPadOS 18 brings incredible new features designed specifically for iPad’s unique capabilities, making it even easier for users to get things done. With iPadOS 18, the Calculator with math notes comes to iPad, along with new Smart Script handwriting tools in Notes — all designed for Apple Pencil. In addition, iPad users now have more ways to customize the Home screen and Control Center, and users get the most extensive redesign of the Photos app yet, new ways to express themselves in Messages, and more.

Starting next month, iPadOS 18 on iPad with M1 and later will introduce Apple Intelligence, the personal intelligence system that combines the power of generative models with personal context to deliver information that is incredibly useful and relevant to iPad users, opening up new ways for them to improve their writing skills, communicate more effectively, and express themselves.¹

Calculator on the iPad offers new solution possibilities with mathematical notes

Designed for the unique capabilities of iPad, Calculator offers a whole new way to solve expressions with Apple Pencil, as well as simple and scientific calculators with a new history feature and unit conversions. With Math Notes, users can now type or write out math expressions to see them instantly solved by hand, just like their own. They can also create and use variables and add an equation to insert a graph. Users can access their Math Notes in the Notes app and use all math functions in all their other notes.

More flexible handwritten notes with Smart Script

Handwritten notes become smoother, more flexible, and easier to read with Smart Script and the power of Apple Pencil. Smart Script brings powerful new features to users who edit handwritten text, allowing them to easily add spaces or even paste typed text into their own handwriting. Editing handwritten text becomes as easy and flexible as editing typed text. Users can even strikethrough handwritten text to delete it. Smart Script also preserves the appearance of a user’s personal handwriting and automatically refines it in real time to make it smoother, straighter, and more readable.

More ways to customize your iPad

In iPadOS 18, users can customize their Home screen in exciting new ways, placing app icons and widgets in any free position to frame the background or create the ideal layout on any page. App icons can be customized to appear light, dark, tinted, and larger, for a new streamlined look that removes the name underneath. And Control Center has been redesigned to provide easier access to many of the things users do every day, with new layers of customization and quick access to new groups of a user’s most frequently used controls. Additionally, users can now add controls from supported third-party apps to Control Center, and developers can leverage the new Controls API to enable their users to do even more things, like quickly start a virtual meeting or start a live stream for their followers.

A redesigned photo app to relive special moments

The Photos app is getting its biggest update yet, bringing users powerful new tools to help them find what they’re looking for more easily. A simplified and customizable app layout takes advantage of iPad’s larger display and helps users search by subject without having to organize content into albums. Photos uses on-device machine learning to automatically organize a library by helpful subjects, such as people and pets, recent days, travel, and even documents and receipts.

New ways to stay connected in news

iPadOS 18 gives users new ways to stay connected and express themselves in Messages, with all-new animated text effects, redesigned Tapbacks that can be extended with emoji or stickers, and new text formatting options including bold, underline, and italics. Messages also offers the ability to schedule messages to be sent at a later time, giving users full control over when and how they communicate with their contacts.

New data protection controls

With new privacy controls, iPadOS 18 gives users even more ways to control who can see their apps, how they share their contacts, and how their iPad connects to accessories. Users can now lock an app; and for even more privacy, they can hide an app by moving it to a locked, hidden app folder. When an app is locked or hidden, content such as messages or emails within the app are hidden from search, notifications, and elsewhere across the system.

A new tab bar makes navigation easier

A redesigned tab bar floats above app content, making it easier to navigate and keeping content edge-to-edge. The tab bar elegantly transforms into the sidebar when users want to dive deeper into an app’s full functionality, as seen in apps like Apple TV, News, Books, and Fitness. Users will also enjoy refined animations that make apps feel even smoother and more responsive, as well as an updated document browser that gives apps a distinctive look when accessing documents in apps like Pages, Numbers, Keynote, and Swift Playgrounds.

Thanks to Apple Intelligence, the iPad becomes even more useful and enjoyable

Deeply integrated into iPadOS 18 on iPad with M1 and later, Apple Intelligence leverages the power of Apple Silicon to understand and create voice and images, operate across apps, and use personal context to simplify and speed up everyday tasks—all while respecting user privacy and security.

Apple Intelligence enables experiences that are delightful, intuitive, and easy to use, and are specifically designed to help users do the things that matter most to them. Writing tools let users refine their words by rewriting, proofreading, and summarizing text almost anywhere they write, including in Mail, Notes, Pages, and third-party apps. Siri becomes more natural, flexible, and deeply integrated into the system experience, with a brand new design that includes an elegant glowing light that wraps around the edge of the screen when active on iPad. With richer speech understanding capabilities, Siri can follow as users stumble over their words and can maintain context from one request to the next. Users can type in Siri at any time and switch fluidly between text and speech while using Siri to speed up everyday tasks. In Photos, the Memories feature now lets users create the movies they want to watch by simply typing a description; and with the new Cleanup tool, you can identify and remove distracting objects in the background of a photo – without accidentally changing the subject.

Apple Intelligence is designed to protect users’ privacy at every step. A cornerstone of Apple Intelligence is on-device processing, and many of the models behind it run entirely on the device. To perform more complex requests that require more computing power, Private Cloud Compute extends the privacy and security of Apple devices to the cloud to unlock even more intelligence. Private Cloud Compute represents a fundamental breakthrough in server-based intelligence. When using Private Cloud Compute, users’ data is never stored or shared with Apple; it is only used to fulfill their request. Independent experts have access to continuously verify this privacy promise, and already do so.

The first Apple Intelligence features will be available in beta for iPad users next month as part of iPadOS 18.1, with additional features rolling out later this year and in the months following. Apple Intelligence will initially launch in US English and will quickly expand to localized English in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa and the UK in December. Additional languages, including Chinese, French, Japanese and Spanish, will be supported next year.

New hearing health features coming to iPadOS 18 and iOS 18

Later this fall, AirPods Pro 2 will be enhanced with a clinical-grade hearing aid available for users with mild to moderate hearing loss. Based on the results of an intuitive, clinically validated hearing test that users can take from the comfort of their own home using AirPods Pro 2 and a compatible iPhone or iPad, this new feature seamlessly transforms AirPods Pro into a personalized hearing aid that meets the user’s specific needs and makes access to hearing aids easier than ever as a free software update.²

Availability

iPadOS 18 is available for iPad Pro (M4), 12.9-inch iPad Pro (3rd generation and later), 11-inch iPad Pro (1st generation and later), iPad Air (M2), iPad Air (3rd generation and later), iPad (7th generation and later), and iPad mini (5th generation and later). For more information, see apple.com/ipados/ipados-18-preview and apple.com/apple-intelligence. Features are subject to change. Some features are not available in all regions, all languages, or on all devices. For more information on availability, see apple.com.

1. Apple Intelligence will be available as a free software update. The first set of Apple Intelligence features will be available in beta next month as part of iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, and macOS Sequoia 15.1, with more features rolling out in the coming months. It will be available on iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, iPhone 16 Pro Max, iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, and iPad and Mac with M1 and later, with the device language and Siri language set to U.S. English. More languages ​​and platforms will follow over the course of the next year. Later this year, Apple Intelligence will add support for localized English in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United Kingdom. In the coming year, Apple Intelligence will expand to more languages, such as Chinese, French, Japanese, and Spanish.
2. Starting this fall, Hearing Screen and Hearing Assist will be available in over 100 approved countries and regions, including the United States, Germany, and Japan. Hearing Screen and Hearing Assist are intended for people ages 18 and older, and Hearing Assist is intended for people with mild to moderate hearing loss. Hearing Screen and Hearing Assist are supported on AirPods Pro 2 with the latest firmware paired with a compatible iPhone or iPad running iOS 18 or iPadOS 18 and later.

Press contacts

Julia B.

Apple

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Skylar Eisenhart

Apple

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Apple Media Helpline

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