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I love WWDC – particularly the modern variant of Apple’s biggest event of the year. They smash through updates as fast as most of us want them to and leave just enough intrigue to prompt hidden gem finders to dig into the release notes and beta releases.
The problem is that so many of the features that are announced each year seemingly get forgotten once the operating systems make their way out into the world.
Can you remember everything that was included in iPadOS 17? Do you use all of the headline features that were announced? I can’t – and don’t.
I’m not throwing shade at Apple here, by the way – it’s nice that these OS updates are so comprehensive. Equally, we all find what works for us, and that’s why I want to give you my thoughts on the five iPadOS 18 updates that I’ve enjoyed using since installing the beta (yep, I went for it).
But first…
A quick update on the 11-inch iPad Pro
If you haven’t been following my iPad journey this year, I should quickly confirm that I’ve recently made the switch from the 13-inch iPad Pro to the 11-inch version (M4 edition, of course).
It was the right thing to do. The 11-inch iPad Pro is so much more portable, so much more ‘iPad sized’, and just an utter joy to use.
I don’t get anywhere close to touching what the M4 chip is capable of (I still don’t think anyone can) but that’s irrelevant; chip aside, this is the iPad to get if you want something that’s going to last several years and have the performance headroom to keep you out of trouble – whatever you do with it.
It’s now running the beta version of iPadOS 18, and I’ve been having a play with some of the key features.
iPadOS 18 feature 1: Smart Script
My handwriting is appalling. It’s so bad, that I genuinely don’t enjoy writing with it.
Despite this, I love the idea of handwritten notes. There’s a timeless quality to them and something very satisfying about looking down at a completed page of notes.
That is, if they look nice.
Mine don’t. At all.
Apple wants to solve this challenge for people like me with Smart Script. It uses machine learning to pick up on your handwriting style and tidy it up as you go. As you scribble, Smart Script gently straightens and smooths out your handwriting to make it more legible.
It works well – but it’s not perfect. The tidying it does of my handwriting is subtle, but it does make it more legible and a bit nicer on the eye. I guess that’s the point – Smart Script isn’t designed to replace your handwriting, it’s supposed to simply make it look better.
The problems I’ve encountered relate to the formatting of text. ‘Scratching out’ text to delete it doesn’t seem to work at all, and the pasting feature (where you can paste typed text into your handwriting) is incredibly fiddly – I can barely get it to work, and when it does, it often pastes the text into a completely random style of handwriting.
This is a beta, though – let’s not forget that. The idea behind Smart Script is brilliant and I can see it forcing me to handwrite far more often.
iPadOS 18 feature 2: Calculator
Quite why it has taken so long for a calculator app to appear natively on the iPad is anyone’s guess, but it has arrived, finally, in iPadOS 18.
There’s not much to say here – it’s a calculator with a scientific function for anyone smart enough to need it. For me, it’s just great for the iPad calculator app to actually be there. No more hunting around for ad-infested third-party calculator apps on the App Store. Bliss.
Oh, and Maths Notes is something I’ll never use because I’m not smart enough, but I can confirm that it is deeply impressive and, I’m sure, an absolute game-changer for anyone who is smart enough.
iPadOS 18 feature 3: Customisation
The ability to rearrange apps and widgets relatively freely on your iPad Home Screen is embarrassingly exciting. It doesn’t feel like something that should be celebrated, to be honest, but I’m glad it’s here, regardless.
The additional Home Screen customisation Apple has included in iPadOS 18 is interesting, too. App icon and widget tinting is very hit and miss in terms of what your iPad ends up looking like (it’s very easy to make it look utterly hideous), but if you choose the right wallpaper and opt for the ‘Tinted’ option, iPadOS usually does a good job of matching the tint to the wallpaper.
It takes Apple a long time to get to this kind of customisation, but I’m glad they eventually do.
I’m also a fan of the ability to lock specific apps with FaceID – even if you often realise that the app in question is already locked by FaceID inside the app itself. Still, there are use cases, I’m sure.
iPadOS 18 feature 4: Control Centre
I wasn’t expecting to be impressed by the new Control Centre in iPadOS 18, but it’s actually very well thought out, and ideal for tweakers.
Apple provides four Control Centre screens out of the box, but you can add your own, or customise those that are already there. It just feels more organised, tidier, and, once again, personalised. I love the fact you can resize the controls, too.
The proof of the pudding will be whether or not I use it regularly. I’ve always found with Control Centre that I nip in there to change a focus mode or to figure out why my AirPods Pro haven’t automatically connected – and that’s it. But maybe that’s because the old design was so rigid.
The new Control Centre in iPadOS 18 feels very ‘widgety’, to be honest – but in a good way.
iPadOS 18 feature 5: Apple Intelligence… bring it on!
The one iPadOS 18 update I can’t try at the moment – but about which I’m easily the most excited – is Apple Intelligence.
If you download the iPadOS 18 beta in the hope of trying out Apple Intelligence and the new supercharged Siri, you’ll be sorely disappointed. It’s nowhere to be seen at the time of writing, and, I believe, will only technically arrive in beta form sometime later this year.
Regardless, I’m excited for Apple’s take on AI. The iPad always feels like it’s ready to leap out of the starting blocks, and while the updates above are welcome, they’re not exactly pushing the boundaries of what’s possible with this immensely powerful hardware.
Apple Intelligence, from the looks of Apple’s demos, should really unlock the iPad. Bring it on please, Tim.
Wrapping up
There’s lots more to iPadOS 18. The Photos app has received a significant redesign – one that’s too big for me to dive into here. Messages has gained the usual tweaks – but I so rarely use it. As for the new Passwords app – it has indeed finally arrived, but it is pretty lightweight in terms of features at the moment (that’s fine, but a third-party password manager is still advisable for anyone who wants a proper vault for all of their digital stuff).
I’ll be leaving the iPadOS 18 beta on my 11-inch iPad Pro for now and will report back as and when I find anything else worthy of mention before the full release later this year.
Oh, and if you’re wondering how stable this beta is, I can confirm that (at the time of writing) it’s one of the most stable I’ve used to date.
Before you go
Some images courtesy of Apple.
