What’s new in iPadOS 14

Redesigned widgets Today View widgets have been redesigned to show you more information right from the Home Screen. You can choose among different sizes or add a Smart Stack that displays widgets based on factors like your location, an activity, or the time. See Add widgets to the iPad Home Screen.

The iPad Home Screen. On the left side of the screen are the Photos, Weather, Tips, and Reminders widgets.

App design New enhancements like sidebars and pull-down menus let you quickly access more app functions from a single location, without switching views.

Photos is open in landscape orientation. At the left side of the screen, the Search button is selected in the sidebar. At the top of the screen is a search field; a location is entered in the search field. Below the search field, suggested search results are listed. A grid of photos yielded from the search terms are in the middle of the screen. At the top left of the grid of photos, the total number of photos in the search result is listed. At the top right of the grid of photos is a See All button.

App Clips An App Clip is a small part of an app that focuses on a specific task, like renting a bike, paying for parking, or ordering food. You can discover App Clips in Safari, Maps, and Messages, or in the real world through App Clip Codes (iPadOS 14.3) and QR codes. See Use App Clips.

Search Search is now a single destination where you can start all your searches. A new design and as-you-type experience delivers faster, more relevant results across apps, contacts, and web searches. See Use iPad to search.

The iPad Home Screen showing a search query. At the top is the search field that contains the search text “Safari,” and below it are search results found for the search text.

Compact calls Calls from your iPhone, FaceTime, and supported third-party apps appear in an all‑new compact design that doesn’t take up the full screen. See Make and receive phone calls.

Scribble Use Apple Pencil to write in any text field across iPadOS and your words automatically convert to text. Scratch over a mistake to delete it, and circle words to easily cut and paste. See Enter text with Scribble.

Notes Use Smart Selection to select and format handwritten text the same way you do with typed text. You can also copy handwritten text from Notes into another app and it’s converted to typed text. See Draw or write in Notes.

A note showing a drawing with handwritten text.

Messages Pin your most important conversations to the top of your conversation list so you can easily get to them. Mention someone in a conversation to direct a message right to them, and use inline replies to reply directly to a specific message in a group conversation. See Pin a conversation, Mention people in conversations, and Reply to a specific message in a conversation.

Memoji Along with more age options and face coverings, you can choose from over 20 new hair and headwear styles to reflect a hobby, your profession, and your personality. See Create your own Memoji.

Maps Use Maps to get cycling directions using bike lanes, paths, and roads. You can also see elevation changes, busy streets, and steep hills when planning your trip. Discover great places around you to eat, shop, and explore with Guides. See Get cycling directions from your current location in Maps and Explore new destinations with Guides in Maps.

A map showing multiple cycling routes. The information on the left provides details for each route, including estimated times, elevation changes, and the types of roads. A Go button appears next to each route choice.

People Detection (iPadOS 14.2) On iPad Pro 11-inch (2nd generation) and iPad Pro 12.9-inch (4th generation), you can use Magnifier to detect people and help you maintain a physical or social distance between others. See Detect people around you using Magnifier.

Headphone sound level You can check the precise audio level while sound plays through your headphones and set maximum volume limits. See Check headphone and environmental sound levels and Limit the headphone volume.

Home Adaptive Lighting lets you change lighting temperature throughout the day. Video cameras and doorbells can identify people you’ve tagged in the Photos app, and you can be alerted when there’s motion in activity zones that you set. See Turn on Adaptive Lighting, Set up Face Recognition, and Organize rooms into zones.

A notification from Home on the iPad screen. It shows the picture of a person at the front door with a Talk button at the left. Below are accessory buttons for the front door and entryway lights. The home’s address along with the words “Ashley is ringing the doorbell” appear under the accessory buttons. A Close button is at the top right of the notification.

Safari Safari is more secure and helpful than ever. You can view the Privacy Report to understand how websites treat your privacy, and Safari may warn you if a password you’re using isn’t secure. If you come across a website in a different language, Safari now provides translations for seven different languages (beta). See View the Privacy Report and Translate a webpage.

Siri Siri has a new compact design that lets you quickly get information while still focusing on what you’re doing. Siri now provides information from across the web to help you find answers and can send audio messages from the Messages app. See Find out what Siri can do.

Camera Quick toggles let you easily change video resolution and frame rate in Video mode. See Record a video.

Mirrored selfies (iPadOS 14.3) On all models, you can take a mirrored photo that captures the shot as you see it in the front camera frame. See Take a selfie.

Photos A new Photos sidebar for iPad gives you quick access to For You, Albums, and Search, as well as Shared Albums and Media Types. Filter your photos in collections and albums by Favorites, Edited, Videos, and Photos and sort photos by oldest or newest first. Add captions to your photos and videos so you can easily find them in Search. See Filter photos in albums, Sort photos in albums, and Add captions and view photo and video details.

On the left side of a screen in Photos is a sidebar to select Library, For You, People, Places, and other categories; Library is selected.. The rest of the screen shows the photo library in All Photos view. At the top of the photo library is the date and location where the photos were taken. In the top center are options to view photos by Years, Months, Days, and All Photos; All Photos is selected. In the top right of the screen are the Aspect, Select, and More buttons.

Reminders Reminders automatically suggests dates, times, and locations for a reminder based on similar reminders you’ve created in the past. You can also assign reminders to people you share lists with. See Share reminders and collaborate.

A screen showing several lists in Reminders. At the top left, there are smart lists for reminders due today, scheduled reminders, all reminders, and flagged reminders.

FaceTime FaceTime can now detect when a participant is using sign language and make the person prominent in a Group FaceTime call. Video calling is more natural by helping you establish eye contact even when you’re looking at the screen instead of the camera. See Make a Group FaceTime call.

Privacy A new setting allows you to share only your approximate location with an app, and an indicator appears at the top of your iPad screen whenever an app is using your microphone or camera. See Control the location information you share and Review or change access to the camera, microphone, and other hardware features.

App Store (iPadOS 14.3) You can now see the privacy practices of apps before you download them. Every app’s product page shows a developer-reported summary of its privacy protections, including what data is collected.

Learn tricks for iPadOS The Tips app adds new suggestions frequently, so you can get the most from your iPad. See Get tips.

Note: New features and apps may vary depending on your iPad model, region, language, and carrier.

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iPad User Guide

What’s new in iPadOS 14