iPadOS 15 New Features

Iskander Fathallah
4 min readJun 8, 2021

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With no introductions, let’s dive directly into iPadOS 15 most important new features that were introduced in the 2021 WWDC.

iPadOS 15

Widgets :

Widgets are now available on Home Screen for easier access to our favourite apps’ features.

There is even a larger format for widgets designed exclusively for iPad.

Large format for AppleTV widget on iPad

App Library :

Previously introduced on iOS 14, the App Library feature is now brought to iPad allowing the OS to organise apps automatically and the user to hide home pages that are no longer needed.

App Library on iPadOS 15

Multitasking :

On iPadOS 15, there’s a new control that appears on the top of your screen that reveals the multitasking menu.
This makes it possible to work with two apps at the same time via SplitView or SlideOver.

Notes App is slid over to the right side of the screen
Working with two Apps at the same time with SplitView mode

With some apps that could have many open windows like the Mail App or Safari, Apple introduces “The Shelf” on iPadOS 15 for an easy access to those windows.

“The Shelf” on the bottom of the screen containing Safari opened windows

New Features in the Notes App :

Tags :

Now it’s possible to tag someone in a note by simply tagging their name and the person will be instantly notified of that mention.

Tagging Amy in this note

Also there’s a better way to organise notes, and that’s by adding hash tags anywhere in your note.

Organise notes through hash tags

Quick Note :

Starting a quick note is now made easy with a swipe gesture from the bottom corner to top. It’s a new way to capture information anywhere.

Jotting down a phone number with Quick Note

Also, the Notes App is aware of the opened App when it’s on Quick Note mode.

For instance, if Safari is opened, Notes App detects the visited link in order to register it in the quick note so you could visit it again later.

Link saved in a Quick Note so the user could visit it later

Links could be added from any app you are using, including third-party apps like “Yelp”.

And of course, in case you want to check the quick notes you have jotted down, they will be available in the Notes App.

Apple Translate & Auto Translate :

After iOS 14, Apple Translate is now available on iPadOS 15 with the possibility to practice handwriting for newly learned languages and the capability to Auto Translate a conversation between two persons without any intervention from them.
The concept is simple : Just Speak and let Translate do the rest !

Auto Translation with Apple Translate

FYI : The Auto Translate feature is also available on iOS and MacOS.

Swift Playgrounds :

Swift Playgrounds is a great way to learn how to code through a series of Apple coding lessons that are interactive and fun.
It’s even possible to build apps directly on iPad and submit them directly to AppStore !

App development on iPad

And of course, iPadOS 15 includes new features that came with iOS 15 (available via this link).

And that’s about it for iPadOS 15 :

iPadOS 15 new features summary

You could find other articles about MacOS Monterey and iOS 15 via the following links 🔗 :

Finally, here’s the link to the complete 2021 WWDC.

Thanks for reading 🙌 😃

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Iskander Fathallah

Fund of IT technologies, fan of football, photography and Aspirig to be a FilmMaker, acting as an Agilist and a Product Owner.