iOS 17 for iPad Review

Apple announced iPadOS 17 at WWDC this year, with many new features that will make your iPad even more impressive.

I’ve been lucky enough to try it out before it is officially released this autumn, and in this blog, you’ll find out what I think about everything, and how good or bad this next version of iOS software is overall.

lock Screen

It’s now possible for you to make your iPad more personal, by creating a custom Lock Screen, with options such as Astronomy or a Kaleidoscope. However, what’s cool about the Kaleidoscopic one is that it animates each time you rotate your iPad (it doesn’t work the same way though with the Astronomy version).

To set this up, all you have to do is:

• Swipe down from the top until your Lock Screen completely covers the screen.
• Hold down on the Lock Screen until the display disappears and brings up a screen that has the word ‘Customise’ on it.
• Tap Customise.
• Tap the Lock Screen.
• You can now choose whatever photo you want to use (including Live Photos, which will now show a new Motion Effect when you open your iPad that will then settle into your iPad as soon as you swipe into your Home Screen).
• If you’d like to customise the style of your text, you can do that now as well.
• To customise your text, you just have to tap on the time, and you can then change the style by tapping the different text styles that will come up. If you want to change the colour of text or the shade of it, you can do that by just tapping the colour you want and sliding the pale white slider back and forth.

Widgets

This next version of iPadOS brings interesting new features to your iPad as well, which both have unique aspects of usefulness.

If you fancy making your Lock Screen more fancy (other than just customised Lock Screen), you can also add Interactive Widgets to it.

To do this, you just have to swipe down to your Lock Screen using the instructions you followed earlier, but after you tap customise, you just have to go over to the option at the side that will say ‘Add Widgets’.

That will then bring up a window with a load of different widgets in them, and all you’ll have to do after is to tap or drag the options you want.

However, if you also want to use Interactive Widgets on your Home Screen, you can add them by just holding down your finger / stylus / trackpad button, then by going up to the + button. The same window that you’ll have seen earlier with all different widget options will come up, and yet again, you can add them by just tapping or dragging them.

If you’ve decided to add Widgets to your Home Screen, you’ll have a lot more space that you can fill up. These can turn on your favourite podcast or radio show, open the search feature on YouTube, turn on your lights and much more. But unfortunately there isn’t as much space on the Lock Screen, so you’d be best just using it for the time, weather, your calendar etc.

Messages

This new version of iPadOS has the same iMessage features as MacOS Sonoma and the iPhone’s version of iOS 17 have, in that you access all your message apps by just tapping the + button.

It also has the same Catch Up and Swipe Up to Reply features, with access to the search filters that help you find the message you’re looking for faster, Check In, audio message transcriptions, and the ability to use stickers that have synced via iCloud.

These features are supposed to come to Third Party apps by the end of the year or early next year as well.

faceTime

You’ll also still have access to the new version of FaceTime as well, which still lets you record a video or audio message when someone misses your FaceTime call.

You can also react with your hands to make 3D augmented reality effects appear on the screen, such as hearts, confetti, fireworks and more. And if you connect your iPad as a camera to your Apple TV, you can chat to your friends or family members face-to-face on your TV.

Stage Manager has also been updated, however, with options to resize windows on your workspace so it looks just how you want it.

However, while this does all seem good, I still think virtual options for the reactions you can give would also be good, as that would make it still accessible for physically disabled people who want to give reactions or anyone who has suffered muscle fractures.

health

The Health app that has been available for years on the Apple Watch and iPhone has finally made it to the iPad, with all the information you’ve stored on your other Apple devices still available.

You can look over rich details in favourites, review trends and highlights, and use interactive charts, but it’s also possible for you to create meditation reminders, to track your period cycle and to log symptoms straight from your iPad.

It also features an all new mental health feature that helps you reflect on your state of mind, while also offering valuable insights into what might be contributing to it. And you can also access standardised assessments that are usually used in clinics to understand your risk for depression and anxiety.

Elsewhere in the health app and your health settings, however, you can also find a feature that will involve your iPad telling you what sort of distance is the healthiest to hold your device at (it’s also available on the iPhone).

But nevertheless, while this is all good, I would like sachets to be added to the medications that are available in the medication part of the health app, as there’s a few medications I get that come in a sachet form.

PDFs and Notes

There’s good news if you’re a student or worker who collaborates on notes and PDFs together, because there’s a load of new features in this update that will help you collaborate a whole lot easier!

You can load PDFs into the Notes app, turn pages on the PDF and make notes on it using an Apple Pencil or other stylus pens, plus you can get real time updates of what is happening on the PDF or on another note on someone else’s iPad with Live Collaboration, which will let you see any updates the person you’re collaborating with makes on their own iPad.

But while all of this is by all means impressive, it could be even more impressive if it could be extended over to Locked Notes, although it might already be possible, and this blog will be updated when more information comes out on how to do this.

While writing this blog, I’ve read some guides on how to collaborate on a note with someone, and some of them claim you can’t currently collaborate together on Lock Notes. If this is the case, it does create a few problems for people who are in serious jobs where they could be threatened for investigating certain information, such as Lawyers, Journalists and the Police, as sources and other bits of information on people have to be kept private.

As someone who plans to move into Political Journalism and some other work projects in other industries, it works better for me to keep my notes Locked, if I’m working with someone on a serious project, who also has their notes Locked.

So that is something I would like to improve if it is true, but other than that, there’s nothing else.

Safari and Passwords

Exactly the same as the versions of iOS17 that are coming to iPhones and Macs, you can create profiles in your Safari settings that help you separate your browsing history, extensions, Tab Groups, cookies and favourites into Personal and Private.

You’ll also still get more relevant search suggestions, enhanced private browsing, the ability to Autofill verification codes you receive in Mail, as well as password and passkey sharing, which might be useful for parents who want to keep an eye on teenagers and young people.

Keyboard

Another feature that iPadOS 17 gets that is exactly the same on MacOS Sonoma and iOS17 for the iPhone is the enhanced accuracy of autocorrect, which applies to this version just as well as it applies to the other versions.

You’ll also see predictions appearing in the line just like how they appear in lines on iPhones or Macs, and all you have to do if you want to finish the line is to tap or click Space Bar, or to tap or click Enter, if you want to finish the sentence and start a new sentence on a new line.

Freeform

The FreeForm iPad app that came out last year has been updated to include new drawing tools, including a watercolour brush, a calligraphy pen, a highlighter and a variable width pen, which can even be used with a ruler. But you can also hand-draw shapes and watch the perfect shape snap into place, thanks to Shape Recognition.

You can also share your screen with others, however, thanks to the new Follow Along feature.

Spotlight

App shortcuts will show up in your top hit when you search for an app, which will offer to open the app you’re searching for as well.

But you’ll also be able to find what you’re looking for faster thanks to familiar app colours and icons from within your search results, which is very cool.

Siri

You can also still customised how you use Siri, by just going into Settings, and sliding down until you find your Siri settings, which you’ll want to tap on. You’ll then be brought over to a Screen that gives you a choice to use “Hey Siri or Siri”, to use just “Hey Siri” or to turn Siri off.

So you’ll just need to tap on whatever option you want, but you’ll be all sorted after that.

AirPlay

Later this year, you’ll have the ability to use AirPlay in any supporting hotel room, which will work on your iPhone or your Mac as well.

To set this up, you’ll just have to scan the QR code on your hotel room TV.

privacy and security

When it comes to privacy and security, you’ll have options to blur sensitive photos and videos, just like how you can do on your iPhone and iPad.

But you’ll also be able to improve permissions and have even more control over what you can share, and you can even enjoy the new expanded Lockdown Mode, which increases security to protect against cyber attacks.

conclusion

So there’s a lot to react to hear, but I’ll try to include my thoughts on it now.

The first thing I really like is how you can customise the Lock Screen, partly because of how easy it is. But I also like it because it’s extremely easy to do, even if you’re disabled and can only use one finger.

I feel the same way about the Widgets you can save to the Lock Screen and to your Home Screen, which again, it is extremely easy to do. But what I think could possibly make the Lock Screen widget feature somewhat better would be if you could add some widgets to the space at the right of the screen as well as the space on the left of the screen. However, it does make sense that Apple wants us to have more space to play with on the actual Home Screen, but having one more side to play about with still might be nice.

However, the feature I love most of all has to be how you can turn your Live Photos into Live Stickers, yet again, because of how little is required to do it.

The fact that you just have to open your Messages app, tap the + button and then stickers makes it really accessible, and it’s even easy to go and select whichever photo you want to turn into a sticker. But like what I said in my review of iOS17 for the iPhone and iOS17 for the Mac, the only other thing that could make it even better would be if Live Stickers and other Message features could be extended to Third Party apps such as WhatsApp, but I look forward to that happening.

Everything else, however, I feel pretty much the same way about as how I feel on other platforms, but there are still some exceptions.

As I said, it would be good if the Health App could include an option to add sachets into your medication reminders, and that is still the case.

I would also like there to be a digital way of adding reactions as not everyone can move their hands so they can have equal access to giving reactions to something someone says as their able bodied counterparts.

And although I haven’t had any problems with it in other versions of the update, I think something needs to be fixed in relation to the colour of the predictions that will come up as you type, because when I was searching for some videos on YouTube earlier, the predictions started to blend into the search bar on YouTube in a way that made the words hard to see, which wasn’t helped by the darkness of Dark Mode.

But other than that, I’m happy with everything else, and think the public will really be able to enjoy each of these features, just as much as I have.

iPadOS 17 is due to be released to the public this Autumn / Fall, and is available on:

• iPad Mini 5th Gen and later
• iPad 6th Gen and later
• iPad Air 3rd Gen and later
• iPad Pro 11-inch 1st Gen and later
• iPad Pro 10.5-inch
• iPad Pro 12.9-inch 2nd Gen and later