UPDATE 10/18: Apple will release iPadOS 16 on Oct. 24 alongside macOS Ventura. It will be available as a free software update for iPad (5th generation and later), iPad mini (5th generation and later), iPad Air (3rd generation and later), and all iPad Pro models. That includes the new iPad and iPad Pro announced today.
Original Story 8/23:
Apple doesn’t plan to release iPadOS 16 alongside iOS 16—or at all. (Technically.)
Apple has decided to delay the iPad’s latest operating system update, which boasts improvements to Live Text, the introduction of a new multitasking system called Stage Manager, and other features, until iPadOS 16.1 is ready for release later this fall, TechCrunch reports(Opens in a new window).
“This is an especially big year for iPadOS,” Apple tells TechCrunch. “As its own platform with features specifically designed for iPad, we have the flexibility to deliver iPadOS on its own schedule. This fall, iPadOS will ship after iOS, as version 16.1 in a free software update.”
That means Apple won’t officially release iPadOS 16.0 to consumers. The operating system has been available to developers since June 6, and the public beta was released on July 11, but most iPad owners will be skipping right to iPadOS 16.1 when it debuts later this year.
MacStories notes(Opens in a new window) that iPadOS 16’s betas have suffered from a variety of problems that go beyond what one would expect from pre-release software. Stage Manager, the marquee update to iPadOS that’s also featured in macOS Ventura, has proven to be particularly troublesome.
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Apple has also released a new public beta of iPadOS 16.1 with improvements to Stage Manager as well as what TechCrunch describes as “the standard spate of beta bug updates,” which according to the release notes(Opens in a new window) affect Accessibility, WeatherKit, and iCloud, among other things.
It’s been about three years since Apple officially split the iPad’s operating system from iOS. Now, as the company is looking to continue differentiating the platform from its predecessor and justify the iPad’s increasingly powerful hardware, it seems that iPadOS is having some growing pains.
