New features
available with iPadOS.
iPadOS 15 introduces new ways to help you be even more productive, stay focused, and connect with others.
New features
Key Features and Enhancements
Multitasking
Multitasking menu
A menu at the top of apps lets you enter Split View, Slide Over, full screen, or center window with just a tap. You can also quickly close a window from the menu.
Access to all apps
When you enter Split View, the app moves aside to reveal the Home Screen, giving you access to all Home Screen pages and App Library.
Open a window in the center
Simply touch and hold an email message, note, or message conversation to open it in a window centered on the screen, perfect for quickly previewing the content without leaving your current view. Swipe down on the multitasking control to put it in the shelf or create a Split View, Slide Over, and more from the Multitasking menu.
Shelf
The new multiwindow shelf gives you quick access to all the open windows for an app. The shelf appears when you open an app and elegantly fades away as soon as you interact with the app. Tap one to open it or flick it away to close.
Improved App Switcher
The App Switcher has been updated to include Slide Over apps and allow you to create Split View spaces by dragging one app over another.
External Keyboard
Redesigned keyboard shortcuts bar
The keyboard menu bar has an all-new, compact look that packs the same functionality into a smaller space so you can better access the functions of the app behind it.
All-new keyboard shortcuts view
The keyboard shortcuts view has a new look and added functionality. Keyboard shortcuts are now organized by categories like File, Edit, Format, View, and Search in a more compact space.
More keyboard shortcuts
Additional keyboard shortcuts across apps and the system include multitasking and contextual menus. The globe key is now a modifier, enabling you to perform more tasks from the keyboard.
Full keyboard navigation
Navigate through an app using the keyboard for enhanced productivity. Use the tab key to highlight text fields and buttons, all without taking your hands off the keyboard.
Widgets
Place widgets on the Home Screen
Place widgets among apps on your Home Screen to take full advantage of the larger space.
Rotate widgets
Widgets remain in their place whether you’re using your iPad in portrait or landscape.
Find My widget
Keep track of your friends and personal items right from the Home Screen with the Find My widget.
Contacts widget
Stay connected to family and friends from your Home Screen with the Contacts widget. Reach them via Phone, Messages, FaceTime, Mail, or Find My. With Family Sharing, you can take additional actions, like approving Screen Time requests from your kids.
Game Center widgets
The Continue Playing widget displays your recently played Game Center–enabled games across devices. The Friends Are Playing widget helps you discover the games your friends play.
App Store widget
See the stories, collections, and in-app events from your Today tab right on your Home Screen.
Mail widget
Glance at your latest email and get quick access to one of your mailboxes with the Mail widget.
Default widgets
When you upgrade, you’ll see a new default layout, with widgets from the apps you use most arranged in Smart Stacks.
Intelligent widget suggestions
Suggested widgets for apps you already use can automatically appear in your Smart Stack at the right time based on your past activity. For example, if you have an upcoming reservation, the widget for that app will temporarily appear at the top of the stack and disappear after it’s done. An option lets you add the widget to your stack so it’s always there when you need it.
Reorder Smart Stacks
Easily reorder the widgets in your Smart Stacks right from the Home Screen with new controls.
App Library
App Library
App Library is now on iPad. It automatically organizes your iPad apps into helpful categories like Productivity and Games or an intelligent category like Suggestions. App Library gives you one simple, easy-to-navigate view of all your iPad apps.
Dock access
Get quick access to App Library right from the Dock no matter where you are, even over an app.
Reorder Home Screen pages
Personalize your Home Screen by reordering pages.
Hide Home Screen pages
Hide pages to streamline your Home Screen. New apps downloaded from the App Store automatically go into App Library.
Notes
Tags
Tags are a fast and flexible way to categorize and organize your notes. Add one or more tags by typing or handwriting them directly in the note — like #activities or #cooking.
Tag Browser
The Tag Browser in the sidebar lets you tap any tag or combination of tags to quickly view tagged notes.
Custom Smart Folders
Custom Smart Folders automatically collect notes in one place based on tags.
Activity view
See what others have added to your shared note while you were away. The new Activity view gives a summary of updates since the last time you viewed the note and a day-to-day list of activity from each collaborator.
Highlights
Swipe right anywhere in your note to reveal details of who made changes in a shared note. View edit times and dates with highlighted text color-coded to match collaborators in the note.
Mentions
Mentions make collaboration in shared notes or folders more social, direct, and contextual. Type or handwrite an @ sign and the name of a collaborator anywhere in your note to notify them of important updates and link them back to the note.
Images in handwritten notes
Combine handwriting and images in handwritten notes. Just drag images into the drawing area, then position, resize, or even draw directly on them.
Quick Note
Easy to access
Access Quick Note with a swipe of a finger or Apple Pencil. You can also access Quick Note from Control Center or with a keyboard shortcut.1
Available everywhere
Access Quick Note from anywhere in the system. You can be using any app, on the Home Screen, or in full screen or Split View.
Write any way you want
Write or sketch using the tool palette — making it easy to jot something down just the way you want.
Adaptable
Adjust the size or position of a Quick Note, or even hide it on the side so you can quickly bring it back to add more information later.
Links
Add links from an app to your Quick Note to create context. When you return to the same place in the app or website, a thumbnail of the Quick Note appears in the corner to remind you of what you noted earlier.
Persistent highlights with Safari
Keep track of websites you’ve visited by highlighting text or images in Safari and adding them directly into your note.
FaceTime
SharePlay: Watch together
Bring movies and TV shows into your FaceTime calls and enjoy rich, real‑time connection with your friends while watching the same videos.
SharePlay: Listen together
Share music with your friends right in your FaceTime calls.
SharePlay: Share your screen
Share your screen to bring web pages, apps, and more into your conversation on FaceTime.
SharePlay: Synced playback
Pause, rewind, fast-forward, or jump to a different scene — everyone’s playback remains in perfect sync.
SharePlay: Shared music queue
When listening together, anyone in the call can add songs to the shared queue.
SharePlay: Smart volume
Dynamically responsive volume controls automatically adjust audio so you can hear your friends even during a loud scene or climactic chorus.
SharePlay: Multiple device support
Connect over FaceTime on your iPad while watching video on your Apple TV or listening to music on your iPhone.
SharePlay: Connect through audio, video, and text
Access your group’s Messages thread right from the FaceTime controls and choose the mode of communication that matches the moment.
Portrait mode
Inspired by the portraits you take in the Camera app, Portrait mode in FaceTime blurs your background and puts the focus on you.2
Grid view
Lets you see people in your Group FaceTime calls in the same‑size tiles, and highlights the current speaker so it’s easy to know who’s talking. You’ll see up to 20 faces in the grid at a time.
Spatial audio
Creates a sound field that helps conversations flow as easily as they do face to face. Your friends’ voices are spread out to sound like they’re coming from the direction in which they’re positioned on the call.2
Voice Isolation mode
This microphone mode spotlights your voice by using machine learning to identify ambient noises and block them out. So a leaf blower outside or a dog barking in the next room won’t interrupt your call.2
Wide Spectrum mode
This microphone mode brings every single sound into your call. It’s ideal for when you’re taking music lessons or want your friend to hear everything that’s happening in the space you’re in.2
FaceTime links
Invite your friends into a FaceTime call using a web link you can share anywhere.
Join FaceTime on the web
Invite anyone to join you in a FaceTime call, even friends who don’t have an Apple device.3 They can join you for one-on-one and Group FaceTime calls right from their browser instantly — no login necessary.
Calendar integration
Generate a web link for a FaceTime call while creating an event in Calendar, so everyone knows exactly where to meet and when.
Mute alerts
Lets you know when you’re talking while muted. Tap the alert to quickly unmute and make sure your voice is heard.
Zoom
An optical zoom control for your back camera helps you zero in on what matters when you’re on a FaceTime call.
Messages
Shared with You
Content sent to you over Messages automatically appears in a new Shared with You section in the corresponding app, so you can enjoy it when it’s convenient for you. Shared with You will be featured in Photos, Safari, Apple Music, Apple Podcasts, and the Apple TV app.
Shared with You: Pins
For content that’s especially interesting to you, you can quickly pin it in Messages, and it will be elevated in Shared with You, Messages search, and the Details view of the conversation.
Shared with You: Continue the conversation
Alongside shared content in the corresponding apps, you can see who sent it and tap the sender to view the associated messages and continue the conversation right from the app — without going to Messages.
Shared with You: Photos
Photos sent to you over Messages automatically appear in your Photos app. Your library includes the photos you care about most — like the ones you were there for. And in For You, the broader set of shared photos will be featured in a new Shared with You section, your Memories, and your Featured Photos.
Shared with You: Safari
Interesting articles, recipes, and other links sent over Messages automatically appear in the new Shared with You section on the Safari start page and in the sidebar.
Shared with You: Apple Music
Music sent over Messages automatically appears in the new Shared with You section of Listen Now in Apple Music.
Shared with You: Apple Podcasts
Podcast shows and episodes sent over Messages automatically appear in the new Shared with You section of Listen Now in Apple Podcasts.
Shared with You: Apple TV app
Movies and shows sent over Messages automatically appear in the new Shared with You section of Watch Now in the Apple TV app.
Photo collections
Enjoy multiple photos as beautiful collections. A handful of images appears as a glanceable collage and a larger set as an elegant stack that you can swipe through. Tap to view them as a grid and easily add a Tapback or inline reply.
Easily save photos
You can quickly save photos sent to you by tapping a new save button right in the Messages conversation.
Focus
Focus
Match your devices to your mindset with Focus. Automatically filter notifications based on what you’re currently doing. Turn on Do Not Disturb to switch everything off, or choose from a provided Focus for work, personal time, sleep, fitness, mindfulness, gaming, reading, or driving.
Focus setup suggestions
When you’re setting up a Focus, on‑device intelligence about your past activity suggests apps and people you want to allow notifications from.
Focus contextual suggestions
Get intelligent suggestions about selecting a Focus based on your context, using different signals like location or time of day.
Focus customization
Create a custom Focus to filter notifications based on what you’re currently doing. Choose an icon for your custom Focus and name it whatever you like.
Focus across your devices
When you use a Focus on one device, it’s automatically set on your other devices.
Matching Home Screen pages with Focus
Dedicate a page on your Home Screen to a specific Focus and organize your apps and widgets in a way that reduces temptation by making only related apps visible. The page appears when you’re in a Focus and hides everything else.
Allowed notifications
Select the notifications you want from people and apps so that they get through to you while you’re focusing.
Status
Contacts outside the notifications you allow for a Focus will be told that your notifications are silenced. Your status appears the moment someone tries to contact you in Messages, so they know not to interrupt.
Driving auto-reply
Turn on an auto-reply for your contacts when they message you while you’re using the Focus for driving. You can customize your auto‑reply to say whatever you like.
Urgent messages
If someone’s status is turned on, signaling that they have notifications silenced with Focus, you can break through with an urgent message. If you’re on the receiving end, you can prevent an app or person from breaking through.
Status API
For conversations in third‑party messaging apps, developers can use your status to reflect that you’ve stepped away.
Notifications
New look for notifications
Notifications have a fresh new look, with contact photos for people and larger icons for apps.
Notification summary
Receive a helpful collection of your notifications delivered daily, in the morning and evening, or scheduled at a time you choose. The summary is intelligently ordered by priority, with the most relevant notifications at the top, so you can quickly catch up.
Mute notifications
Mute any app or messaging thread temporarily, for the next hour, or for the day.
Muting suggestions
If a thread is really active and you aren’t engaging with it, you’ll get a suggestion to mute it.
Communication notifications
Notifications from people across your communication apps now feature contact photos to make them easier to identify.
Time Sensitive notifications
Time Sensitive notifications from apps are always delivered immediately, so you won’t miss out on timely alerts like a fraud alert, car waiting outside, or reminder to go pick up your kids.
Notification APIs
New notification APIs for developers allow them to automatically send Time Sensitive notifications and adopt the new look for notifications coming from people.
Maps
Interactive globe
Discover the natural beauty of Earth with a rich and interactive 3D globe, including significantly enhanced details for mountain ranges, deserts, forests, oceans, and more.2
Detailed new city experience
Explore cities like San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, and London with unprecedented detail for elevation, roads, trees, buildings, landmarks, and more.2
All-new place cards
Completely redesigned place cards make it easy to find and interact with important information for businesses, explore details about cities, and learn about physical features like mountain ranges.
Editorially curated Guides Home
It’s now easier to discover great places with the all‑new Guides Home, an editorially curated destination where you can find Guides for places you’ll love.
Improved search
When looking for places like restaurants, you can filter your search results by cuisine or whether they offer takeout. Or you can choose to see only places that are open right now. When you move the map while searching, Maps automatically updates your search results.
User account
Maps users can now find their most used settings all in one place, including their preferred mode of transit, reported issues, favorites, and more.
Redesigned Maps contributions
With an all-new design, it’s faster and easier to report an issue in Maps.
Safari
Redesigned tabs
Tabs have a rounder and more defined appearance and adjust with the toolbar to match the colors of each site, extending your web page to the top of the window.
Tab Groups
Save and organize your tabs in the way that works best for you. Switch between Tab Groups using the redesigned sidebar or drop‑down menu.
Tab Group syncing
Tab Groups sync across devices so you have access to your tabs from anywhere.
Customizable start page
Customize the start page to make it your own. You can set a background image and select new sections to display, like Privacy Report, and Shared with You. Customizations sync across devices, so you can have the same Safari everywhere.
Compact tab bar
Safari has a new compact design option that combines the Smart Search field and tabs to give you more space for your content.
Redesigned sidebar
Manage your Tab Groups, bookmarks, Reading List, and Shared with You links in the redesigned sidebar.
New privacy protections
Intelligent Tracking Prevention now also prevents trackers from profiling you using your IP address.
HTTPS upgrade
HTTPS upgrade automatically uses HTTPS whenever available.
Pull to refresh
Refresh a web page by pulling down from the top of the page.
Web extensions on iPadOS
Personalize Safari on iPadOS with web extensions. Web extensions can add functionality and features to Safari. You can install extensions through the App Store.
Voice search
Search the web using your voice. Tap the microphone in the tab bar and speak your search to see suggestions or be taken directly to the page you’re looking for.
Live Text4
Live Text in photos
Text is now completely interactive in all your photos, so you can use functions like copy and paste, lookup, and translate. Live Text works in Photos, Screenshot, Quick Look, and Safari.
Spotlight
Rich results
Brings together all the information you’re looking for in one rich result, including your contacts.
Photos search
Spotlight uses information from Photos to enable searching your full photo library by locations, people, scenes, or even things in the photos, like a dog or a car. Find images shared through Messages by including a contact name in your search.
Web images search
Spotlight allows you to search for images of people, animals, monuments, and more from the web.
Lock Screen access
Pull down from the Lock Screen or Notification Center to open Spotlight.
App Clips in Maps results
For businesses that support App Clips, you’ll see an action button on the Maps result in Spotlight. Action buttons include Menu, Tickets, Reservations, Appointments, Takeout, Order, Delivery, Waitlist, Showtimes, Parking, Availability, and Pricing.
Improved App Store search
Quickly install apps from the App Store without leaving Spotlight.
Photos
Memories: Apple Music
In addition to the hundreds of newly included songs, Apple Music subscribers can add any of the tens of millions of songs from the Apple Music library to enjoy on their devices.
Memories: Song suggestions
Apple Music song suggestions are personalized just for you, combining expert recommendations with your music tastes and what’s in your photos and videos. Song suggestions can even recommend songs that were popular at the time and location of the memory, songs you listened to while traveling, or a song from the artist you saw for a concert memory.
Memories: Memory mixes
Customize your memory by swiping through Memory mixes, which let you audition different songs with pacing and a Memory look to match.
Memories: Fresh new look
Memories has a fresh new look including animated cards with smart, adaptive titles, new animation and transition styles, and multiple image collages for a cinematic feel.
Memories: Memory looks
Inspired by the art of cinematography, 12 Memory looks add mood by analyzing each photo and video and applying the right contrast and color adjustment to give them a consistent look — just as the colorists at film studios do.
Memories: Interactive interface
Tap to pause, replay the last photo, skip to the next, or jump ahead, and the music keeps playing and the timing adjusts to keep the transitions on the beat. Change the song or Memory look or add or remove photos, and the adjustment happens in real time, without the need for the movie to recompile.
Memories: Browse view
View all the content from your memory in a bird’s‑eye view where you can add, remove, or change the memory duration or jump ahead to another part of the memory.
Memories: New memory types
New memory types include additional international holidays, child-focused memories, trends over time, and improved pet memories, including recognizing individual dogs and cats.
Memories: Watch next
Memories suggests related memories to watch next after your memory finishes playing.
Memories: On-device song suggestions
Song suggestions are determined on device to protect your privacy.
Shared with You
The Shared with You section in the For You tab allows you to view photos and videos that have been shared with you in Messages. Photos taken when you were present also appear in All Photos and in Days, Months, and Years views and can appear in your Featured Photos and Memories, including the Photos widget. Save a photo to your library or respond to the sender in Messages.
Richer Info pane
Swipe up on a photo or tap the new info button to view information about the photo, such as the camera, lens, and shutter speed, the file size, or who sent a Shared with You photo in Messages. You can also edit the date taken or location, add a caption, and learn about items detected by Visual Look Up.
Faster iCloud Photos library initial sync
When you upgrade to a new device, iCloud Photos syncs more quickly, so you can get to your photo library faster.
Limited Photos Library improvements in third-party apps
Third-party apps can offer simpler selection workflows when you grant access to specific content in the Photos library.
People identification improvements
The People album has improved recognition for individuals.
People naming workflow
Correct naming mistakes more easily in the People album.
Selection order in the Photos image picker
The Photos image picker, including in the Messages app, now allows you to select photos in a specific order for sharing.
Suggest less often
Tap Feature Less to let Photos know you prefer to see less of a specific date, place, holiday, or person across Featured Photos, in the Photos widget, in Memories, or highlighted in the Library tab.
Universal Control*
Use your keyboard, mouse, and trackpad across Mac and iPad
Use a single keyboard, mouse, or trackpad to work between your devices. When you move from your Mac to your iPad, the cursor for your mouse or trackpad transforms from an arrow to a round dot, automatically changing shape to the one that is best suited for the device.
No setup required
Universal Control works effortlessly — no setup required. Simply use your mouse or trackpad to push the cursor from one device toward the other until it pops onto the second device. Then you can move your cursor seamlessly between the two.
Optional continuous setup
If you use your devices together all the time and want to use Universal Control without the need to link the two using the cursor, you can set them up to work with Universal Control continuously in System Preferences.
Support for multiple devices
Universal Control works with up to three devices.
Drag and drop content between devices
Use your mouse or trackpad to drag and drop content between your devices, perfect for when you’re sketching a drawing with Apple Pencil on your iPad and want to drop it into Keynote on your Mac.
Mail Privacy Protection
Mail Privacy Protection helps protect your privacy by preventing email senders from learning information about your Mail activity. If you choose to turn it on, it hides your IP address so senders can’t link it to your other online activity or determine your location. And it prevents senders from seeing if you’ve opened their email.
Privacy
App Privacy Report
A section in Settings lets you see how often apps have accessed your location, photos, camera, microphone, and contacts during the last seven days. It also shows you which apps have contacted other domains and how recently they have contacted them. This is a good complement to an app’s privacy label, so you can be sure you’re comfortable with how it’s treating your privacy.5
Secure paste
Developers can allow you to paste content from another app without having access to what you’ve copied until you want them to have access.
Share current location
Developers can let you share your current location with a customizable button in their apps. It’s an easy way for them to help you share your location just once, without further access after that session.
Limited Photos library access improvements
Developers are able to offer smart functionality — for example, recent photos folders and album selection, even when you’ve granted limited access to your Photos library.
iCloud+
Beta iCloud Private Relay
iCloud Private Relay is a service that lets you connect to virtually any network and browse with Safari in an even more secure and private way. It ensures that the traffic leaving your device is encrypted so no one can intercept and read it. Then all your requests are sent through two separate internet relays. It’s designed so that no one — including Apple — can use your IP address, location, and browsing activity to create a detailed profile about you.6
Hide My Email
Hide My Email allows you to create unique, random email addresses that forward to your personal inbox so you can send and receive email without having to share your real email address.
HomeKit Secure Video
Connect more security cameras than ever to record, analyze, and view your footage in the Home app. iCloud will store your recordings in an end-to-end encrypted format automatically, so that only you and people you choose can view it. None of the video footage counts against your iCloud storage — it’s part of your subscription.7
Custom email domain
Personalize your iCloud Mail address with a custom domain name, and invite family members to use the same domain with their iCloud Mail accounts.
Even More
Accessibility
Sound actions for Switch Control
Sound actions for Switch Control let you control iPad with simple mouth sounds — such as a click, pop, or “ee” sound — without the need for physical buttons, switches, or complex verbal commands.
Background sounds
Background sounds play balanced, bright, or dark noise, ocean, rain, and stream sounds continuously in the background to mask unwanted environmental or external noise and help you focus, stay calm, or rest. The sounds mix into or duck under other audio and system sounds as you use your device.
Eye tracking support
Eye tracking uses third-party MFi eye tracking hardware to track where you are looking onscreen so you can control iPadOS with only your eyes. The onscreen pointer moves to what you look at, while dwelling performs an action, like a tap, scroll, or swipe.
Per-app settings
Customize display and text size settings on an app-by-app basis. Bold or enlarge text, increase contrast, invert colors, add color filters, and more for only the apps you want.
Import audiograms
Import paper or PDF audiograms in Settings and quickly customize Headphone Accommodations to amplify soft sounds and adjust certain frequencies based on your hearing test results.
Magnifier app
Magnifier becomes a default app on iPadOS, so you can use your iPad as a magnifying glass to zoom in on objects near you.
Accessibility Memoji
Memoji represent more of your look and style with new customizations, including oxygen tubes, cochlear implants, and a soft helmet for headwear.
App Store
In-app events
Discover timely events within apps and games — such as a game competition, a new movie premiere, or a livestreamed experience — right on the App Store. Events are discoverable in editorial curation and personalized recommendations on the Today, Games, and Apps tabs, in search results, and on the app product page.
App Store widget
See the stories, collections, and in‑app events from your Today tab right on your Home Screen.
Apple ID
Account Recovery Contacts
Choose one or more people you trust to become an Account Recovery Contact to help you reset your password and regain access to your account.
Digital Legacy program
The Digital Legacy program allows you to designate people as Legacy Contacts so they can access your account and personal information in the event of your death.5
Augmented Reality
RealityKit 2
Apply custom shaders, add post rendering effects, and build more immersive AR experiences with RealityKit 2 — Apple’s 3D rendering, physics, and spatial audio engine built from the ground up for AR.8
Better Note‑Taking (Japanese support)
Smart Selection
Use Smart Selection to select a single handwritten word or entire sentences using the same gestures as typed text. Double‑tap for a word and triple‑tap to select a sentence.
Smart Selection: Drag to select
Sweep your Apple Pencil or finger over your handwriting to select entire paragraphs in a single motion.
Copy and paste as text
Select your handwritten notes, choose Copy as Text, and when you paste, they’ll be converted to typed text. The converted text retains the format of the original handwritten notes.
Make space
Add or delete space between sentences or paragraphs in your handwritten notes by selecting text and then dragging the small triangle that appears. You can also use the Insert Space Above option in the callout bar.
Data detectors
On-device intelligence recognizes addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, and other data so you can take action on your handwritten notes.
Handwriting search
Search your handwritten text in Notes.
Books
Search redesign
Search results come up as soon as you start typing and will correct spelling mistakes. Enjoy personalized showcases of top books, audiobooks, and genre collections within your results.
Dictionary
New dictionaries for India
Bilingual dictionaries for India include Urdu–English, Tamil–English, Telugu–English, and Gujarati–English.
New thesaurus and idiom dictionary for China mainland
There’s a new Simplified Chinese thesaurus with synonyms and antonyms as well as a dictionary of idioms.
New dictionaries for Hong Kong
Dictionaries now include a Traditional Chinese–English dictionary of Cantonese colloquialisms and a Traditional Chinese dictionary of Standard Mandarin with Cantonese pronunciations.
Find My
Live locations for family and friends
See your family and friends’ locations with continuous streaming updates. This provides an immediate sense of direction, speed, and progress when viewing people’s locations.
Locate after erase
The Find My network and Activation Lock can locate your device even after it has been erased. To help ensure that nobody is tricked into purchasing your device, the Hello screen will clearly show that your device is locked, locatable, and still yours.
Separation alerts
Enable separation alerts, and if you leave a device, AirTag, or compatible third-party item behind, your iPad will alert you with notifications and Find My will give you directions to your item.
Find My network support for AirPods
Use the Find My network to get an approximate location of your missing AirPods Pro or AirPods Max. This will help you get within Bluetooth range so you can play a sound and locate them.*
Find My widget
Keep track of your friends and personal items right from the Home Screen with the Find My widget.
Gaming
Game Center recents and groups invitations
Bring your most recent Messages friends and groups into Game Center–enabled games with the new multiplayer friend selector.
Game Center friend requests
See incoming requests in the Game Center friend request inbox. Navigate to the App Store or within your Game Center profile in a game.
Games category in App Library
When you download a new game, it’s automatically added to the new Games category in App Library. You can also access and navigate the category with a game controller.
Game highlights
With a press of the share button, save a video clip of up to the last 15 seconds of gameplay using game controllers like the Xbox Series X|S Wireless Controller or Sony PS5 DualSense™ Wireless Controller.
Game Center widgets
The Continue Playing widget displays your recently played Game Center–enabled games across devices. The Friends Are Playing widget helps you discover the games your friends play. You can use both widgets in the larger-size widget designed specifically for iPad.
Focus for gaming
Choosing the Focus for gaming lets you stay fully immersed in your game by filtering out unwanted notifications.
Home
Package detection
Using HomeKit Secure Video, your security cameras and video doorbells can now detect and notify you when a package has arrived.7
Inclusive Language (Spanish language only)
Choose your term of address
Choose your term of address for Spanish to make your device feel more personal. In Language & Region settings you can choose how you would like to be addressed throughout the system: feminine, masculine, or neuter.
Keyboard
Magnification loupe for text cursor and selection
Select exactly the text you want with an improved cursor that magnifies the text you’re looking at.
Vietnamese VNI and VIQR keyboards
Type in Vietnamese using VNI and VIQR, two of the most popular input methods.
QuickPath language expansion
New languages that support QuickPath include Dutch, Swedish, and Vietnamese.
New keyboard layouts
New keyboard layouts for Ainu, Amharic, Assyrian, Fula (Adlam), Igbo, Navajo, and Rohingya offer more language options.
Enhanced 10-key layout for Chinese Pinyin
Enhanced 10-key layout includes improvements that let you quickly switch to QWERTY, access symbols more easily, and type words that share the same keys with greater accuracy by allowing you to select the exact Pinyin for more than just the first syllable in the phrase.
Suggestions for Cantonese and Shanghainese
Type words and phrases in Cantonese and Shanghainese more easily when using the Simplified Chinese keyboard.
Smart Replies for Hindi
Smart Replies now support Hindi and Hindi (Latin).
Keyboard shortcuts for Magic Keyboard
Magic Keyboard now supports keyboard shortcuts for over 100 layouts, automatically adapting them for the layout you’re using.
Memoji
Clothing
Customize your Memoji with over 40 outfit choices to reflect your style, mood, or the season — and choose up to three different colors. Show it off using Memoji stickers with expressive body language that include the upper body.
Two different eye colors
Now you can select a different color for your left eye and your right eye.
New glasses
Customize your Memoji with three new glasses options, including heart, star, and retro shapes. Select the color of your frame and lenses.
New Memoji stickers
Nine new Memoji stickers let you send a shaka, a hand wave, a lightbulb moment, and more.
Multicolored headwear
Represent your favorite sports team or university by choosing up to three colors for headwear.
New accessibility options
Three new accessibility options let you represent yourself with cochlear implants, oxygen tubes, or a soft helmet.
Music9
Spatial audio with dynamic head tracking
Listeners with AirPods Pro and AirPods Max can now get an even more immersive experience of Dolby Atmos music with Apple’s dynamic head tracking.10
Shared with You
See all the music your friends have shared with you in one place, right in the Music app. And when browsing music, quickly jump back to Messages to keep the conversation going.
Photo Memories
Bring your memories to life with the power of Apple Music. Select the perfect soundtrack to accompany your memory and share it with your friends.
SharePlay
Use SharePlay in FaceTime to listen to music together in real time. You can pick out songs with your friends, and everyone can pause, rearrange, or skip tracks in the SharePlay queue.
Passwords
Built-in authenticator
Generate verification codes needed for additional sign‑in security. If a site offers two-factor authentication, you can set up verification codes under Passwords in Settings — no need to download an additional app. Once set up, verification codes autofill when you sign in to the site.
Podcasts
Personalized recommendations.
Discover new podcasts about topics you’re passionate about. The best podcasts, personalized for you, grouped by topics you care about.
Shared with You
Share your favorite podcast episodes in the Messages app and find all the episodes shared with you in Listen Now.
Reminders
Tags
Tags are a fast and flexible way to organize your reminders. Add one or more tags, like #errands, to your reminders to make them easy to search and filter for across your Reminders lists.
Tag Browser
The Tag Browser in the sidebar lets you tap any tag or combination of tags to quickly view tagged reminders.
Custom Smart Lists
Create your own Smart Lists to automatically include reminders that matter most to you by selecting for tags, dates, times, locations, flags, and priority. Choose more than one tag (such as #gardening and #errands) and combine them with other setting filters for more specific lists.
Delete completed reminders
Access quick options to easily delete your completed reminders.
Improved natural language support
Type more advanced phrases to create reminder settings. Try something like “Jog every other morning” for a specific, recurring reminder.
Expanded suggested attributes
Choose tags, flags, priority, and people you message with a quick tap when creating a reminder.
Screen Time
Screen Time API
Developers can use the Screen Time API in parental controls apps to support an even wider range of tools for parents. The API provides developers with key features like core restrictions and device activity monitoring, all in a way that puts privacy first.
Downtime on demand
Turn on downtime on demand. During downtime, only phone calls and apps you choose to allow will be available. A five‑minute downtime reminder will be sent and downtime will be turned on until the end of the day.
Scribble
(Japanese support)
Handwrite in any text field
With Scribble, you can use Apple Pencil to handwrite directly into a text field and the writing will be converted to typed text. Transcription happens on your device, so all your writing stays private.
Scratch to delete
New editing gestures help you write and edit with greater ease. Simply scratch a word or space to delete it.
Circle to select
Circle a word to select it — perfect for when you need to copy or move a word.
Touch and hold to add space
Touch and hold between words to add a space with your Apple Pencil.
Scribble shortcut palette
The shortcut palette offers you the most commonly used actions for the app you’re using, so you can tap the palette without using the onscreen keyboard.
Settings
Software Updates
iPadOS may now offer a choice between two software update versions in the Settings app. You can update to the latest version of iPadOS 15 as soon as it’s released for the latest features and most complete set of security updates. Or continue on iPadOS 14 and still get important security updates.
Low Power Mode
Low Power Mode helps you extend your battery life by reducing the amount of power used by apps and the system.
Setup Experience
Temporary iCloud storage to transfer your data
Now when you buy a new device you can use iCloud Backup to move your data to your new device, even if you’re low on storage. iCloud will grant you as much storage as you need to complete a temporary backup, free of charge, for up to three weeks. This allows you to get all your apps, data, and settings onto your device automatically.
Shortcuts
Cross-device management
Build and manage shortcuts on iPhone, iPad, or Mac for any of your devices — shortcuts automatically sync across all of them.
Improved sharing
Share shortcuts as easily as sharing a link and download them for your own use without managing complicated security settings. If you’re the recipient, smart prompts allow you to share only the data you want.
Smarter Shortcuts editor
Next Action Suggestions help you complete the shortcut you’re building.
System Font
SF Arabic system font
The new SF Arabic system font features a refined, contemporary design that is integrated with the SF font, providing a clear, cohesive reading experience.
Translate
Translate on iPad
Translate comes to iPadOS with all the features of the iOS app, along with capabilities that are unique to iPad, like handwriting with Apple Pencil and opening Translate in Split View.
System-wide translation
Translate text by selecting it and tapping Translate. Then copy, save, replace selected text, or open the translation in the Translate app. You can also translate selected text in photos. Handwritten content with Apple Pencil can be selected and translated as well.
Auto Translate
Translate speech without tapping the microphone button in a conversation. Auto Translate automatically detects when you start speaking and when you stop, so the other person can just respond.
Face to face view
Change the conversation view when chatting face to face so that each person can see the conversation from their own side.
Conversation mode
In the Conversation tab, tap the single microphone button to speak, and automatic language detection will transcribe what you say in chat bubbles on the correct side of the conversation.
On-device mode
Enable a fully offline experience in Translate and system-wide translation for downloaded languages. Keep your translations private without needing to turn off your internet connection.
Voice translation
Translate your voice from one language to another. The app detects which of the two selected languages you’re speaking and provides the translated text and audio in the other language.
Text translation
Text translation is fast, simple, and intuitive. All supported languages include their keyboards so you don’t have to download or manually switch between them.
Favorites
For phrases you use frequently and want to keep, save them to your Favorites in the sidebar for easy access later.
Dictionary
Tap a word in a completed translation to see the definition in the built‑in dictionary.
TV
Shared with You
The Apple TV app now helps you see all the shows and movies your friends and family have shared with you in Messages. See them in a new dedicated section called Shared with You on Watch Now and easily keep the conversation going directly from the Apple TV app.
SharePlay
The Apple TV app works seamlessly with Messages and FaceTime so you can watch your favorite shows and movies together with friends and communicate using text, voice, or video while you watch. SharePlay lets your friends join in from their iPhone, iPad, Mac, or Apple TV — so everyone can watch together wherever and however they want.
Now works with streaming apps in Japan
The Apple TV app now works with popular streaming apps in Japan. Connect your favorite apps and use Up Next to continue where you left off from all your favorite shows and movies all in one place. Browse each service through the Apple TV app to easily discover and watch the best of what’s on TV.
Voice Memos
Playback speed
Speed up or slow down playback of Voice Memos recordings.
Skip silence
Voice Memos analyzes your recordings and automatically skips over gaps in your audio with a single tap.
Improved sharing
Share multiple Voice Memos recordings at once.