After dragging its feet on the iPadOS 16 release last month, Apple has finally rolled out iPadOS 16.1 alongside macOS 13 Ventura and iOS 16.1, unlocking new features, Apple Ecosystem hacks, and more. This generation of software ties even better with Apple Silicon and is supposed to improve the productivity of supported devices.
macOS Ventura and iPadOS 16.1 – What’s new?
Apple has been streamlining its Ecosystem for a long time now and with the rise of Apple Silicon in Macs, this process has been getting a lot better in recent years. macOS Ventura and iPadOS 16.1 take that tight integration among Apple devices, a little bit further.
macOS 13 Ventura
The latest iteration of macOS has to be the most important yet for the Apple Silicon revolution. It shares a lot of similarities with iOS 16 and iPadOS 16 and feels more at home for the users in the ecosystem. Ventura brings a handful of upgrades and changes over its predecessor improving the overall experience on Macs.
Here’s a list of the most important features (and changes) on macOS 13 Ventura,
- The System Preferences page has been redesigned as System Settings and now looks & functions exactly like the settings page on iPhone and iPad.
- Continuity Camera lets you use the Magsafe connector on your iPhone as the Webcam for your Mac. This enables features like Center Stage for tracking the user’s face, Portrait mode to blur the background while keeping the user’s face in focus, and Studio Light for illuminating the user’s face while dimming the background.
- Desk View (a feature of Continuity Camera) uses the ultrawide camera on your iPhone alongside AI algorithms to create a top-down view of the desk you’re working on.
- Stage Manager for the Mac enables better multitasking as you can handle & work with multiple app windows more efficiently. It also works simultaneously with iPads that also support the feature.
- Handoff for FaceTime lets you transfer your call to a nearby iPhone or iPad for a more flexible experience.
- Passkeys in Safari enable locally stored biometric passkeys to replace passwords for better security.
- Weather and Clock apps are now available for the Mac
- Live Text can now be recognized and copied from paused video frames while Visual Look Up can recognize objects.
The update also brings better AAA Gaming performance using Metal 3, new Accessibility tools, better Security, Spotlight on Mac, and much more.
iPadOS 16.1
The new iPadOS update gets the best of both macOS and iOS worlds as it positions itself somewhere in the middle of Apple’s two most popular operating systems. It gets a lot of the same features as macOS Ventura making it both a great standalone device and an accessory to the Mac.
Here’s a list of the most important features (and changes) to iPadOS 16.1,
- There is now a Weather app for the iPad. Finally!
- Reference Mode (only available on the 12.9-inch Mini-LED XDR display) matches the color requirements for color-accurate workflows like color grading, review and approve, and compositing. This ensures consistent color performance.
- Virtual Memory Swap can use Internal Memory (up to 16GB) as System Memory to compensate when demanding apps require more than what your RAM has to offer.
- Display Zoom allows users to zoom into internal apps by increasing pixel density using the power of the Neural Engine in the M1 and M2 chips.
- Stage Manager is available for advanced multitasking and can work simultaneously with a Mac using macOS 13. You can also connect to the Pro Display XDR & Studio Display via. Thunderbolt 3 (using the USB Type-C port), and to AirPlay supported displays using a wireless connection.
- Handoff for FaceTime is also available on the iPad now, so you can continue your calls on your iPhone or Mac.
- Dictation lets users easily move between voice, touch, and Scribble (when using Apple Pencil).
- The Home app has been redesigned and it now also comes with Matter support.
- Game Center now shows games activity and accomplishments of you and your friends, in one place.
You also see some of the improvements that iOS 16 brought to iPhones, last month and as the iPadOS update was delayed, those features have been added to iPadOS 16.1. There are also several other features and improvements in this new version of iPadOS.
For those looking for the newly announced Freeform app for creative and collaborative workflows, it’s not included in iPadOS 16.1 (and iOS 16.1), but will be added in iPadOS 16.2 instead.
