What’s new in iPadOS 17

Lock Screen. Personalize your iPad Lock Screen with new wallpaper options, interactive widgets, and fonts in styles and colors that you choose. Keep an eye on Live Activities to see information like the score of a game or the progress of your food delivery in real time. See Create a custom iPad Lock Screen.

The iPad Lock Screen with the date location and time at the top of the screen. On the left side of the screen, from top to bottom, are the following widgets: Clock, Calendar, Reminders, Weather, and Apple Pencil Battery.

Interactive widgets. Widgets on your Home Screen and Lock Screen are even more useful with interactive features. Just tap a widget to complete tasks like checking off a to-do item, controlling your living room lights, or playing a new podcast episode. See Add, edit, and remove widgets on iPad.

The iPad Home Screen. At the top of the screen are the Weather, Reminders, Home, Music, and Photos widgets. The Reminders, Home, and Music widgets display interactive features.

Messages. You can share your location or request a friend’s location right in a Messages conversation. Audio messages are now transcribed, so you can read them in the moment and listen later. Find the message you’re looking for faster by combining filters to narrow your search. See Share your location in Messages on iPad, Send and receive audio messages in Messages on iPad, and Search in Messages on iPad.

The Messages app showing a conversation on the right side of the screen. On the top-left side of the screen, the search field is populated with multiple search terms. Below the search field are the search results for conversations, messages, and photos that include the search terms.

Stickers. Use Stickers to decorate your photos, screenshots, and more. You can add stickers anywhere you can use the onscreen keyboard or Markup tools. Create stickers from Memoji in Messages, or make stickers from your own photos or Live Photos. See Send stickers in Messages on iPad, Decorate with stickers, and Make stickers from your photos on iPad.

A Freeform board in the Freeform app. The Media button is selected and stickers options appear in the menu.

FaceTime. If someone doesn’t answer your FaceTime call, now you can leave them an audio or video message. During a FaceTime call, use hand gestures to create reactions like hearts, confetti, and fireworks that fill the screen. Hand off FaceTime calls between your iPad and Apple TV. See Record a video message, Listen to a video or audio message, Add reactions in a video call and Hand off a FaceTime call from your iPad to your other Apple devices.

The FaceTime app showing a video message.

Health. The Health app is now on iPad and optimized for a larger screen. You can review your health trends and highlights, use interactive charts, create medication reminders, track your menstrual cycle, and more. You can also keep track of your state of mind to help build emotional awareness, and access mental health resources. See Get started with Health on iPad, Log your state of mind in Health on iPad, and Take a mental health assessment in Health on iPad.

The Health app Summary screen, showing details for activity, sleep, headphone audio levels, and more.

Screen Distance. Help protect your vision with the Screen Distance feature in Screen Time, which encourages you to move your iPad farther away if you’ve held it closer than 12 inches for an extended period. See Help protect your vision health with Screen Distance on iPad.

Keyboard. Autocorrected words are temporarily highlighted so you know what’s been changed; revert back to the original word with just a tap. Predictive text appears inline as you type—just tap the Space bar to finish a word or sentence (not available in all countries or regions). See Enter text using the onscreen keyboard and Use predictive text on iPad.

A conversation in the Messages app. At the bottom of the screen, text is entered in the text field and the word “chill” is highlighted. Above the highlight is the word “chillax,” with an arrow to replace “chill” with “chillax.”

Visual Look Up. Pause a video on any frame to use Visual Look Up in your videos. Visual Look Up can identify food in a photo or video and suggest related recipes. Visual Look Up information is also available for objects that you lift from the background of photos. See Use Visual Look Up to identify objects in your photos and videos on iPad.

Photos. iPad recognizes and sorts pets just like a friend or family member in the People & Pets album. Choose a new focus point when you edit a portrait. Add any photo from your photo library to a memory and reorder photos and videos within a memory. See Identify people and pets in Photos on iPad, Change the focus point of a portrait, and Personalize your memories in Photos on iPad.

Safari. Use different profiles for different topics—like work and personal—to keep your browsing separate. Autofill verifications you receive in Mail are populated automatically, so you don’t have to leave Safari to enter them, and you can share passwords to a set of accounts with trusted friends and family. See Create multiple Safari profiles on iPad and Share passwords or passkeys with people you trust on iPad.

Privacy and Security. Communication Safety now includes protections against sensitive videos and photos including content sent and received in AirDrop, Contact Posters, the systemwide photo picker, and FaceTime messages. You can choose to blur sensitive photos and videos before you view them using Sensitive Content Warning. Enhancements to Lockdown Mode help protect against sophisticated cyberattacks. See Receive warnings about sensitive content on iPad and Harden your iPad from a cyberattack with Lockdown Mode.

Freeform. Use new drawing tools like a watercolor brush, calligraphy pen, highlighter, variable-width pen, and ruler while brainstorming on a board. See what your collaborators are working on with Follow Along—your screen shows what they see as they move around the board. See Draw or handwrite on a Freeform board on iPad and View others in a board.

Drawings and handwritten text on a Freeform board. The drawing tools appear along the bottom.

Accessibility. Personal Voice helps people with speech loss create a voice that sounds like them and use it with Live Speech to communicate in calls and conversations. See Record your Personal Voice on iPad.

Magnifier. Point and Speak makes it easier for people who are blind or have low vision to interact with physical objects that have text labels. See Read aloud text and labels around you using Magnifier on iPad.

News. Apple News+ subscribers can do daily crossword puzzles in the News app, and Apple News+ audio stories are available in the Podcasts app. See Solve puzzles in Apple News on iPad and Listen to subscriber-only content in Podcasts on iPad.

A partially filled crossword puzzle, with the clues to one side and a keyboard open at the bottom.

Notes. Easily review PDFs and scans of presentations, assignments, research papers, and more, right in your note. You can also add links to connect related notes, like a trip itinerary and a list of recommended restaurants. See Work with PDFs in Notes on iPad and Add links in Notes on iPad.

Reminders. Grocery Lists automatically sort items into categories to make shopping easier. Lists can also be divided into sections with headers, and a new Column View arranges sections next to each other to help you visualize your tasks. See Make a grocery list in Reminders on iPad.

A grocery list in Reminders, with the categories organized in columns. The New Item button is at the bottom left.

Home. Activity History lets you see who locked or unlocked the door—and when. It also shows recent activity for garage doors, contact sensors, and your security system. See View Activity History.

AirPlay. (iPadOS 17.3) Use AirPlay in your hotel room to stream your favorite shows, listen to music, or view your vacation photos right on the television in your room (available in select hotels). See Use AirPlay in your hotel room.

Learn tricks for iPadOS 17. 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.

Helpful?

iPad User Guide

What’s new in iPadOS 17