iPadOS: Everything you need to know!

Apple finally split up iOS 13 for iPads, now dubbing the iPad version as iPadOS, respectively. It comes with a ton of awesome new features that are designed to make you more productive than ever before. Want to know all about iPadOS and it's latest and greatest features? iMore's got'cha covered (as always).

What's new with iPadOS?

May 20, 2020: Apple releases iPadOS 13.5

Apple has released iPadOS 13.5 for the iPad. A fairly minor update, iPadOS 13.5 fixes some bugs relating to FaceTime, Bluetooth, and more.

The first thing you'll notice on your iPad is a tighter grid of icons for more tools on your home screen. You can also now pin widgets right on the home screen, and using slide over, you can pick up reminders and other applications and drag them over to the side of your screen.

Drag up from the bottom of your screen to easily fan out apps and slide along the bottom to move quickly between each one, or you could use Apple Expose that's available with iPadOS.

With the new split view feature, you can view and access two different apps on one screen, or two different portions of a single app on your iPad's screen. It can be used from everything from photos to writing and responding to emails, and if you need to drop a link in that email, you can tap and hold to preview it before dragging and dropping it in.

• 10 most important features in iPadOS
• How 'Sign in with Apple' works in iOS 13, iPadOS 13, and macOS Catalina
• How to use widgets on iPad in iPadOS 13
• How to use App Exposé and split-screen apps in multiple spaces in iPadOS 13
• How to create Favorites and Collections in Maps on iPhone and iPad
• Six features in iPadOS you may have missed
• How to set up Screen Time for your child
• How to connect your PS4 and Xbox One S controller with iPhone or iPad
• How to turn your iPad into a second screen using Sidecar on Mac
• How to sign documents on your Mac with your iPhone or iPad
• Why iPadOS changes everything

Files

With Files for iPad, a new Column view is available for file preview. Quick actions and rich metadata are also new features that come along with iPadOS and Files.

Apple is also improving on sharing files with a support folder for sharing your iCloud drive and built-in support from SMB file sharing. Not only that, but you can now plug in a thumb drive, external disk drives, and SD cards right into files app.

If you're a photographer, you can even import photos right into an app like Lightroom from camera to your iPad, too.

• iPadOS Preview: Files app, USB Storage, SMB Shares
• How to use external hard drives with your iPhone or iPad in iOS 13 and iPadOS 13
• How to access the Files app on iPhone and iPad

Safari

Desktop class browsing is available for Safari on your iPad with iPadOS, meaning that instead of a mobile site, you'll see a desktop site for an optimal display.

The download manager is also new to Safari, along with and thirty brand new keyboard shortcuts.

• How to manage downloads in Safari on iPad
• New keyboard shortcuts in iPadOS
• iPadOS Preview: Desktop-class Safari, Download Manager, and more!

Fonts

All is working with some of the leading font developers in the world so you can customize and get creative with your font choices on iPad. Custom fonts can be downloaded right from the app store.

Text Edit

Possibly some of the most exciting updated that come with iPadOS involve Text Edit. Jump anywhere in the document instantly with moving cursors that can be dragged anywhere you want to go.

Using a three-finger pinch, you can copy blocks of text or images, and using a three-finger spread, you can paste your copied information anywhere you please.

A two-finger swipe allows you to cut whatever you've written or pasted, while a three-finger swipe will undo whatever you've written.

No more shaking that iPad!

The new keyboard swipe is called Quick Path and allows you to use your iPad effortlessly.

• How to use text editing gestures on iPhone in iOS 13
• iPadOS text editing tools have made my iPad my favorite computer (almost)
• How to use the keyboard on iPad

Apple Pencil

The Apple Pencil goal is to make sure that it feels like you're writing on paper. Before, the latency of the Apple Pencil was around 20 milliseconds, but now the latency is 9 milliseconds, meaning drawing on your iPad is even more smooth and seamless.

Apple also announced Pencilkit developer API for iPadOS, and with the new Apple Pencil, you can pin the tools section to any area of the screen making markups and edits all the more simple and straightforward.

• How Sidecar works in macOS Catalina and iPadOS 13
• 7 things you didn't know you could do with Apple Pencil

When can I install it?

Right now, the brave and the bold can install the latest developer beta of iPadOS 13 if you have a developer account. There is also a public beta that is available right now. You should also never install a beta on your main device and you should always back up your data before installing.

For everyone who just wants the general release, iPadOS 13 is now available as of Sept. 24.

Here are all of the devices compatible with iPadOS 13

What do you think?

There's so many improvements in iPadOS that it is sure to boost your productivity levels and then some. What do you think about iPadOS? Let us know in the comments!

May 2020: Updated for iPadOS 13.5 public release.