iPadOS 18: The main new features and the big things that are still missing

Apple has officially released iPadOS 18 Beta 1 for all developers to try. I took the plunge and installed it on my primary iPad Pro M4 so you don't have to. Surprisingly, despite many bugs, it's not as bad as expected. So here are the best features of your iPad and what's still missing.

Be sure to watch our hands-on video with iPadOS 18 to get a real feel for what the new operating system looks like:

iPad supported

The first question people have been asking is whether their iPad will be compatible with the new iPadOS 18 update. Below are all the iPads that will support it.

• iPad Pro (M4)
• 12.9-inch iPad Pro (3rd generation and later)
• iPad Pro 11-inch (1st generation and later)
• iPad Air (M2)
• iPad Air (3rd generation and later)
• iPad (7th generation and later)
• iPad mini (5th generation and later)

Love it or hate iPadOS, it's surprising how much support Apple still offers. Even the iPad Pro 2018 still benefits from this new update! Name another device over 6 years old getting brand new OS updates.

New home screen

All the updates we received from iOS 18 have been carried over to the iPad. Some of the notable features to know about the home screen are:

• Ability to place application icons anywhere on the screen
• Ability to enlarge and reduce the size of widgets directly on the home screen
• Change icon theme from light mode to dark mode
• Change the icon tint color to match the current wallpaper
• Change app icon size

I'd say it looks great 80% of the time. Tints and tints start to dissipate if you have a lot of colors in your wallpaper, but if you use more monochrome colors then you can achieve a very pretty look. Overall, I like this new customization look. I wish you could create completely custom icons, but I'm glad Apple was able to give us at least that. Another cool tidbit to consider is that you can resize your widgets right on the home screen. When you enter wiggle/jiggle mode (comment below what you call it), a small tab appears at the bottom right of the widget. You can pull this tab to change the size of the widget.

New control center

The control center has undergone a major overhaul, both visually and functionally. The first major change will be visual. All icons are slightly different. They are either full circles when they are in the smaller version, or a pill shape when they are a larger icon. Apple has also added different views for Control Center. So you can swipe down to add more pages of icons or even see a larger view of apps like Music, Homekit and even all your connectivity.

The big functional change is that it is not 100% rearrangeable. We've had the same control center for years now, so being able to move each icon is a big deal for me. Not only can you move the icons and order them as you wish, but you can also remove them completely and also add new icons from hundreds of native Apple controls. Third-party developers will also be able to create control center icons, which will be awesome!

Calculator and math notes

If only this was available 10-12 years ago when I was still in high school and college. Apple refused to create a dedicated calculator app for the iPad because it did not want to install an old calculator app on the iPad. They had to do it the Apple way. They did it 100%.

The calculator app itself is very familiar and very basic. It has a basic calculator for simple arithmetic and a scientific calculator for solving geometry and algebra type problems. But the game changer here is the new Math Notes. You can access this mode through the Calculator app or directly in the Notes app. It takes any math equation you write and can solve it instantly. Not only that, but you can edit the equations and the answer changes in real time. Another cool feature is that you can also write a graphing equation and it will graph it for you. The capacity here seems quite unlimited. I saw some physics equations used, geometric solutions and proofs. I just wish we could ask Apple to show us how a problem was fixed instead of just giving the answer. Maybe in a future version.

There are so many other new features for iPadOS 18 and we're only scratching the surface. Let me know what you enjoy the most!

What is missing ?

Regarding iPadOS 18 and everything they showed, we are still missing a few features. Most, if not all, are related to Apple Intelligence. Currently, Beta 1 does not have any Apple Intelligence-related features. There are no new Siri animations, no genmojis, no ChatGPT integration. This will all come later, so be sure to follow along.

But Apple also forgot to fix many issues that plague iPads and iPadOS. People have been waiting to see if iPadOS 18 would be the operating system that would make them believe that the iPad Pro was now a computer. And iPadOS 18 didn't do that. I'm still a first-time iPad user, writing this on my iPad, but if anyone is on the fence about this, nothing about WWDC and iPadOS 18 would have enticed me to take the plunge. Apple did not respond:

• New Scene Manager Improvements
• flip mode
• better business apps
• better extended monitor support
• Samsung Dex-like experience when connected to Magic Keyboard
• Best Files App

People, myself included, wanted to see these things. But for now, Apple has avoided all that, making us wait another year.

Final Thoughts

Overall, this update was a good step forward. It's added some cool new features and better customization, and I'm sure Apple Intelligence will be a net positive for everyday use. But there are still things iPad users want.

What did you think of this update? Which iPad are you currently using? Was iPadOS 18 enough to get you to buy a new iPad? Let's discuss it in the comments below