WWDC 2023 was home to the unveiling of the new iPadOS 17 and macOS Sonoma updates. Apple announced its latest software for the iPad and Mac line of products alongside iOS 17. iPadOS 17 focuses on improving productivity while introducing new features that focus on health, creativity and multitasking. Apple also will let users personalise the lock screen on the iPad. In addition to this, there are interactive widgets, a new Notes app with the ability to edit PDFs. macOS Sonoma, too, is getting support for widgets on the home screen, new screensavers and more.
Apple’s new iPadOS 17 and macOS Sonoma will be available for download later this year for eligible devices. Meanwhile, here is a quick look at all the new iPadOS 17 and macOS Sonoma features announced at WWDC 2023.
iPadOS 17 features
iPadOS is getting support for customised lock screen for the first time. The feature works the same way iPhone users customise their iOS 16 lock screens. Users can personalise their iPad lock screen and set custom wallpapers, adjust the font, and set Focus modes as per their preferences.
Live Activities, another iOS 16 feature, is now coming to iPad with iPadOS 17. In addition to this, Apple is also adding support for interactive widgets in iPadOS 17. Users will be able to turn on the lights, play a song, or mark a reminder as complete from a widget without having to open the specific app.
iPadOS 17 has support for interactive widgets on the Home Screen
The Notes app is also getting a new PDF experience. iPadOS 17 will allow users to quickly add details, such as names, addresses, and emails from Contacts in PDFs. “In iPadOS 17, PDFs appear full width, making it easy to flip through pages, make a quick annotation, or sketch directly in the document with Apple Pencil. Users can now review and mark up PDFs and scanned documents right in their note, and with live collaboration, updates appear in real time when users are sharing a note with others,” Apple stated in its blog post.
Apple has also added support for the Health app in iPadOS 17. Users will be able to check their Health data without needing their phone as the data from the iPhone’s Health app is already stored on iCloud. The Health app for iPad has been optimised and designed to take advantage of the bigger display.
There have been improvements made to Stage Manager, which will offer more flexibility to the position and size of the windows. The Freeform app will offer new drawing tools, support for hover, tilt, and snap to shape. It will also have the ability to add connection lines and new shapes to any object.
iPadOS 17 will be available to developers today, and is expected to be released to eligible iPad users later this year.
macOS Sonoma features
The new macOS Sonoma update introduces support for screensavers featuring slow-motion videos of various locations worldwide. It also lets users add interactive widgets to the desktop screen, which is also said to blend seamlessly with the wallpaper while users work in apps. The feature also makes use of Apple’s Continuity feature, allowing users to bring their iPhone widgets to macOS.
Apple, for the first time, has added a new Game Mode in macOS to take advantage of the Apple Silicon’s powerful performance. Game Mode is claimed to deliver an optimised gaming experience with smoother and more consistent frame rates, by ensuring games get the highest priority on the CPU and GPU. Game mode is claimed to be compatible on all existing and upcoming games on the Mac.
For those who attend meetings virtually, Apple has introduced enhanced video conferencing features that claim to present and share their work more effectively within any video conferencing app. It has a new Presenter Overlay video effect, which presents the user on top of the content they are sharing. There are updates to Safari, Siri, Messages, Reminders, etc.
Apple confirmed that macOS Sonoma will be available for developers today, and is expected to be available for eligible devices later this year.