Apple iPadOS 18

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Apple's iOS and iPadOS mobile operating systems have many overlapping features, which makes sense considering the iPad serves as a more significant, work-oriented sibling to the iPhone. With the release of iPadOS 18, many standout features (such as improved Calculator and Notes apps) leap to the larger iPad screen where they feel more at home. Apple Intelligence enhancements also make their way onto the iPad, adding excellent new writing and photo editing functionality. ChatGPT integration further enhances those tools, though its implementation is notably clunkier than Apple Intelligence. Overall, iPadOS 18 provides a fantastic productivity boost if you work on an iPad.

How to Download iPadOS 18

iPadOS 18 is compatible with the following iPads: iPad Pro (M4), iPad Pro 12.9-inch (3rd gen and later), iPad Pro 11-inch (1st gen and later), iPad Air (M2), iPad Air (3rd gen and later), iPad (7th gen and later), and iPad mini (5th gen and later).

The critical OS flaw affecting the iPad Pro 11-inch and 13-inch (M4) has been patched and is no longer a concern. You can access the OS update via the Software Update screen in Settings.

Notes and Freeform: Improved Productivity

The Notes app benefits from many iPadOS 18 improvements, one of the most notable being real-time handwriting refinement. As you scribble in Markup mode, the iPad automatically tightens your writing to be cleaner and more legible. When finished, you highlight the written text to refine the handwriting. You also have the option to auto-refine as you write. This makes Notes a handy tool for hastily jotting down thoughts. If your handwriting is particularly sloppy, Notes highlights questionable words with suggestions for you to select or correct. It can be finicky, as the iPad needs time to recognize characters before cleaning up the handwriting. Sometimes, it won't do it at all.

Headers are now collapsible, which is a particularly useful feature when creating lengthy documents and outlines due to the simpler navigation. Like iPadOS 17, iPadOS 18 lets you highlight text without an Apple Pencil. Now, you can select text, tap the A formatting icon at the top of the screen, and choose the colored dot to highlight words. It adds pizzazz to Notes documents, and I have used it extensively since the OS launch.

You can transcribe audio within Notes. It's a fantastic feature, especially for people like me who frequently use voice memos. Notes saves the audio file as a card, complete with transcription (it even transcribes on the fly). You can export the M4A audio file or share the note via Airdrop, Mail, Messages, or Slack. The tool is handy, though the transcriptions are inaccurate at times. Your iPad can summarize these transcripts using Apple Intelligence.

Writing Tools helps you rewrite, proofread, and summarize your written text. Although it is especially prominent in Notes, you can use it anywhere you input words, including but not limited to Mail, Maps, Messages, and WhatsApp. To launch it, simply highlight typed text and select Writing Tools from the pill menu (or select it via the new Apple Intelligence icon on the toolbar).

ChatGPT integration lets you compose entirely from scratch with just a few prompts. I tested this by asking it to write a ninja revenge story and was given a ten-paragraph synopsis titled "The Blade of Silent Vengeance." Unfortunately, this handy addition is limited to three or four uses per day: any more requires a subscription to ChatGPT Plus or ChatGPT Pro. This makes the function feel alien to the rest of the OS. It's as if Apple integrated a demo for an alternate service into its ecosystem, which feels especially at odds considering how Apple Intelligence has been incorporated much more seamlessly.

Freeform, Apple's creative digital whiteboard app, lets you add Scenes to your board. Scenes are shortcuts to specific regions on your board that dramatically improve navigation. Freeform is an infinite canvas, so this update fixes a flaw that made finding sections in the previous version unusually challenging.

Formatting External Drives on iPad

The updated Files app lets you format SSDs by plugging them directly into your iPad. Previously, you had to format external drives on a separate Mac or Windows computer, adding a layer of tedium if you wanted additional storage space. This is another significant productivity boost, especially if you use the iPad as your main computer.

Simply plug in your SSD via the USB-C port, open Files, select your SSD within the Locations tab, and tap the Erase option. This opens a new window that lets you format your device as APFS (Apple File System), ExFat, or MS-DOS (FAT). Check out our SSD guide to find the drive that best suits your needs.

The Calculator App: Mathematical Wizardry

The iPad has lacked a calculator since its 2010 debut, and it's become a recurring joke. With iPadOS 18, the Calculator finally makes its way onto the iPad, along with some impressive improvements to leverage the tablet's size. In addition to a robust scientific calculator, Math Notes has a toggle that lets you perform advanced mathematical calculations via the Notes interface. You can type equations or jot them down with your finger (or Apple Pencil), which the Calculator automatically solves. It also keeps track of the solution and updates the answer as you write.

Thanks to the large display, the Calculator app feels great on the iPad. It runs well, too, except for when it fails to recognize sloppily written digits. The one major feature I would like to see added is the steps Calculator uses to arrive at the solution. This would help people better understand the solution process.

Enhanced Screen Customization

Like iOS 18, iPadOS 18 offers a significant boost to screen customization, putting device personalization almost on par with Android. You can move app icons and widgets to whatever position you like on the screen. You can also tint and resize these icons to better match your tablet's wallpaper image.

Control Center, the quick control page you access by swiping down from the top of the screen, now has multiple pages for favorites, media, and home apps/smart home toggles. You can add, remove, and swap controls to your liking. Android's Material You customization elements are still ahead of the curve thanks to the color suggestions and dynamic wallpaper functionality, but Apple is closing the gap.

Photos and Image Generation

The Photos app is redesigned with new viewing options to help you sort and browse your library, similar to Android. You can peruse your photo album by swiping down from the top of the screen or viewing specialized collections based on recent days, people and pets, memories, trips, and other factors.

Additionally, swiping the collections opens a carousel view of featured photos that you can customize by adding new people and places. This new interface radically streamlines the Photos app and is a welcome change.

With Apple Intelligence comes the new Clean Up tool, which is effectively Apple's version of Android's Magic Eraser. Selecting it directs Apple Intelligence to identify and highlight background people and objects within the selected photo. These elements can then be removed, and the AI fills in the blank space left behind. Removing too much at once can create visual errors, so it works best when you individually select particular elements. Despite this finickiness, Clean Up is an excellent new feature.

Image Playground is a new Apple Intelligence feature that lets you create images with a few prompts. Image Playground can generate animals and concepts from scratch, but it needs a reference when generating people. You can allow the app to draw from your Photos library. That said, Apple Intelligence won't accept certain descriptions. This is designed to prevent Image Playground from generating inappropriate images. The app also avoids trademarked prompts, like Donkey Kong or Pepsi, which we tried in our tests. While quite fun to use, Image Playground can feel overly limited and sanitized, and we hope these restrictions can be relaxed in future updates.

Messages Improvements

Messages get Rich Communication Services (RCS) support in iPadOS 18. You can now receive and send high-quality media to Android devices without a drop in quality. Likewise, group messages that include Android users no longer break the chat, letting everyone participate in a single conversation. You can even see typing indicators and schedule messages up to two weeks in advance.

Texts have additional graphical effects, like bouncing or exploding animations, to give your messages zing. Previously, the Tapback feature let you react to messages with basic heart, thumbs up, or laugh emojis; now, it lets you use the entire emoji library. So, you can react to surprising news with a mindblown emoji, for example. You can even use any stickers you've created as tapbacks, so your options are virtually limitless.

Verdict: A Promising New iPad Frontier

Apple's iPadOS 18 introduces many improvements to the iPad ecosystem, making the workhorse tablet even more productive. Notes and Freeform are superb writing and organizing tools made even better thanks to these refinements. Likewise, the Calculator app fits the iPad like a glove. Apple Intelligence elements strengthen the iPad's functionality even more, though ChatGPT integration feels more like a demo rather than a fully fledged feature. Even so, iPadOS 18 is an overall terrific update worth downloading.