iPad OS 15: Apple redesigns how its tablet works with new software update

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

Apple has revealed iPadOS 15, a new update for its tablet.

The update brings a host of changes to the way the iPad shows information and uses apps.

New options for widgets allow users to see much more on their home screen, including rich information taken from within the apps themselves.

Apple has also changed how multitasking works on the iPad, with the intention of making it more powerful. While the iPad has long had the ability to work in different apps at once, the design has received criticism for being clunky and difficult to discover.

As well as offering new multitasking menus and design, the iPad also has new keyboard shortcuts to make it easier to get around them.

A new version of the Notes app will be able to appear anywhere on the iPad, for taking down important information. Users will be able to write into the Notes app while on the home screen, for instance.

Notes can also recognise hashtags, which can then be used to organise those notes by topics.

iPadOS 15 also brings new translation features, which will recognise when a person is speaking and switch languages.

Apple is also bringing major updates to Swift Playgrounds, the app that is intended to let people learn how to code. The changes mean that it will now actually be possible to create an app on the iPad, for the first time.

The iPad also gets many of the same features that are coming with iOS 15 for the iPhone, including new Messages tools and the option to watch videos over FaceTime.