iPadOS 17: Interactive widgets, Health app, lock screen settings and PDF support

At the WWDC 2023 conference, Apple unveiled not only iOS 17, but also a new version of its operating system for tablets, iPadOS 17.

Here's What's New About It

• Widgets have become interactive, allowing users to perform actions with a single touch: for example, turn on the backlight, play music or mark a reminder as made right from a widget. Interactive widgets are now available on the lock screen and home screen.

• Users can now customize the Lock screen with a wallpaper from the gallery, a snapshot from a personal archive, a dynamic set of photos that shuffle throughout the day, or Live Photo for a seamless slow motion effect every time the iPad wakes up. You can also get useful information from the lock screen - sports games, travel plans, meal delivery orders and more.

• iPadOS 17 adds support for PDFs, including Notes. Machine learning is used to identify information in the file. PDFs are displayed full-width to make it easy to flip through pages, quickly add annotations or make sketches right in the document using Apple Pencil.

• New Messages features include an expandable menu that appears with a simple tap for quick access to the iMessage apps you use most often.

• Updated Messages features include new emoticon stickers, the ability to create live stickers from your own photos and the ability to add effects to live stickers.
• Automatic transcription of audio messages, so users can read them now or listen to them later.
• Reactions (hearts, fireworks, balloons, etc.) in FaceTime.
• Private browsing allows you to lock the window a user is viewing with Face ID or Touch ID and removes trackers used for cross-site tracking.
• The Health app for monitoring one's health has finally arrived on the iPad.

The iPadOS 17 update will be available for iPad (6th generation and later), iPad mini (5th generation and later), iPad Air (3rd generation and later), 12.9-inch iPad Pro (2nd generation and later), 10.5-inch iPad Pro and 11-inch iPad Pro (1st generation and later). The first beta is available to developers from June 5.

Source: Apple