What’s new in iPadOS 18

Apple Intelligence. (iPadOS 18.1) Apple Intelligence combines the power of generative models with an understanding of your personal context to deliver intelligence that’s useful and relevant. Apple Intelligence can prioritize and summarize notifications, mail, and messages, let you interact with Siri in new and more natural ways, search your photo library when you describe what you want to find, draw from information on your iPad to simplify everyday tasks, and more. (iPadOS 18.2) Use Image Playground to create entirely new images based on original descriptions, suggested concepts, or even a person from your photo library. Make Genmoji using your iPad keyboard to enhance a conversation or match a friend in your photo library. In Notes, use the Image Wand to turn words or a rough sketches into illustrations. To get started, see Get started with Apple Intelligence on iPad.

Personalize your Home Screen. Arrange apps and widgets on your Home Screen and change their size. Tint apps your favorite color, or have iPadOS suggest a color that complements your wallpaper. See Customize apps and widgets on the iPad Home Screen.

The iPad Home Screen. Apps appear in the same color at the bottom and side edges of the screen, and complement the color in the wallpaper photo.

Lock and hide apps. Protect sensitive apps and the information inside them by locking or hiding them. When you lock an app on your Home Screen, you need to use Face ID, Touch ID, or your passcode to open it. Hide an app from your Home Screen in a hidden apps folder that’s locked. Information stored in locked or hidden apps won’t appear in other places on your iPad, such as notifications and search. See Lock or hide an app on iPad.

An alert on the iPad screen requesting Face ID to open the Photos app.

Control Center. The redesigned Control Center features new groups of controls so you can quickly take actions on more features. The controls gallery displays all your options in one place, including controls from your favorite apps. You can also customize how controls are laid out, resize them, or build your own groups of controls. See Use and customize Control Center on iPad.

Control Center with customized controls.

Notes. Smart Script refines your natural handwriting as you write to make it straighter, smoother, and more legible; it also corrects your spelling and grammar inline as you write and can convert typed text into your handwriting. You can record live audio in a note and have the speech transcribed to text. Make text stand out with color, use collapsible headers in text-heavy sections, and solve mathematical equations instantly with Math Notes. See Work with handwritten text, Record and transcribe audio in Notes on iPad, Create and format notes on iPad, and Enter formulas and equations in Notes on iPad.

A note in the Notes app with collapsible headers at the top of the screen.

Calculator. The new iPad Calculator app has basic and scientific calculators and introduces new tools like history and unit conversions. Type or write out math with Apple Pencil to evaluate expressions, assign variables, plot graphs, and more. See Use the basic calculator on iPad, Solve math with Math Notes in Calculator on iPad, See previous calculations in Calculator on iPad, and Convert units or currency in Calculator on iPad.

Photos. The redesigned Photos app puts your photo library at your fingertips, so you spend less time searching and more time enjoying your memories. Your photos are organized by topics such as Recent Days, Trips, People & Pets, and more. Use Pinned Collections to quickly access the collections or albums most important to you. And you can customize the app to make Photos even more personal and useful. See Get started with Photos on iPad.

The Photos app showing the library photo grid. At the bottom of the screen are the the Recent Days, People & Pets, and Pinned Collections sections.

Messages. Add text effects such as bold, italics, underline, and strikethrough to emphasize your messages, or apply animated effects to any letter, word, phrase, or emoji—many of which are automatically suggested as you type. React to messages in new ways by using any emoji or sticker as a Tapback reaction and schedule a message to send at a specified time. See Style and animate messages on iPad, React with Tapbacks in Messages on iPad, and Schedule a message to send later on iPad.

A conversation in the Messages app. The most recent message is scheduled to be sent tomorrow at 10:00 am.

Safari. Safari automatically detects relevant information on a page and highlights it as you browse. Highlights display helpful information like maps, translations, and links to learn more about what you’re viewing. A redesigned reader view includes a table of contents and high-level summary to get the gist of an article before reading on. See See a webpage’s highlights in Safari on iPad and Hide distractions when reading articles in Safari on iPad.

Passwords. A new app that safely stores all of your passwords, account credentials, and verification codes in one place. If you use AutoFill, the passwords you generate are automatically added to the Passwords app. See Find your password for a website or app on iPad and View your passwords and related information on iPad.

The Passwords app showing a list of apps. One app is selected and shows the username, hidden password, website, and the group that shares the password.

Maps. View topographic maps with detailed trail networks and hikes, including all 63 U.S. national parks. Save hiking maps to your iPad to access them offline with turn-by-turn voice guidance. You can create custom walking and hiking routes with different route options, such as one way, out and back, or loop. See Get walking directions in Maps on iPad and Save walks or hikes in Maps on iPad.

Multiple walking route options are shown in the Maps app.

FaceTime. Help friends and family with their devices by tapping and drawing on your screen to point out what they should do on theirs. Or ask for permission to control their device remotely. See Share your screen in a FaceTime call on iPad and Request or give remote control in a FaceTime call on iPad.

Apple TV. Use InSight to learn more about the actors and music as a show or movie is playing and Enhance Dialogue to help hear what’s being said onscreen. See Get information about shows, characters, actors, and music and Change audio options during playback.

Home. Give guests scheduled access to specific controls in your home such as garage openers, alarm systems, and door locks. See Invite guests to control accessories.

Privacy and Security. Redesigned Privacy and Security settings help you manage how much information you share with apps, and you can decide specific contacts you want to share with an app instead of your entire contact list. See Control access to information in apps on iPad and Control access to your contacts on iPad.

Accessibility. Eye Tracking makes it possible for people to control iPad with just their eyes. Vocal Shortcuts helps people with severe atypical speech record sounds that trigger specific actions on iPad. See Control iPad with the movement of your eyes and Use Vocal Shortcuts on iPad.

Calendar. A redesigned Month view makes it easier to get an overview of your month ahead. And you can create, view, edit, and complete reminders from the Reminders app right in Calendar. See Change how you view events in Calendar on iPad and Use reminders in Calendar on iPad.

Freeform. Scenes let you organize and present your board section by section. Send a copy of your board to anyone with just a link. An improved diagramming mode makes it easier to form connections on your canvas. See Navigate and present scenes in your Freeform boards on iPad, Send a copy or PDF of a Freeform board on iPad, and Add diagrams to a Freeform board on iPad.

A board in the Freeform app. At the bottom of the screen, the Scenes menu is open.

Learn tricks for iPadOS 18. The Tips app adds new suggestions regularly, so you can get the most from your iPad. See Use the Tips app on iPad.

Note: New features and apps may vary depending on your iPad model, region, language, and carrier.

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iPad User Guide

What’s new in iPadOS 18