The new iPadOS 13.1 is released with many powerful new features

Apple today released iPadOS 13.1, a powerful, newly named operating system that brings a unique experience to iPad. Building on the same foundation of iOS, iPadOS adds powerful new features and intuitive, easy-to-use features for iPad’s large display and flexible versatility.

In addition to new ways to use apps in multiple windows, more information at a glance with a redesigned Home screen, and more natural ways to use Apple Pencil, iPadOS also builds on the major updates in iOS 13, making iPad the ideal device for consumers and creative professionals alike.

“iPad has revolutionized the way people work and express their creativity, and with iPadOS we’ve taken that unique experience to the next level with exciting features that take advantage of iPad’s large display and versatility,” said Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering. “iPadOS is packed with amazing features like a new Home screen with widgets, more powerful multitasking and new tools that make using Apple Pencil even more natural.”

New Home Screen

The home screen has been redesigned with a new layout that displays more apps on each page. Users can now add the "Today" view to the home screen to quickly view widgets to view a variety of information at a glance, including weather, calendar, schedule events, usage tips, and more.

Get more done with Split View and Slide Over

iPad users can now work with multiple files and documents in the same app at the same time with the updated Split View feature, or use the Slide Over feature to quickly view and switch between multiple apps. For example, users can compose an email while viewing another email side by side, or swipe to easily access multiple apps such as Messages or Calendar. App Exposé provides a quick view feature that allows you to view the open windows of any app with just a tap.

More ways to use Apple Pencil

The arrival of iPadOS makes the wonderful experience of Apple Pencil and iPad more integrated. Now, users can mark and send entire web pages, documents or emails on iPad by swiping Apple Pencil from the corner of the screen to bring up the tool. The redesigned tool palette provides quick access to various tools, color palettes, graphics, object erasers, and provides a pixel eraser that can erase any part of the line and a ruler that can draw straight lines. Apple Pencil uses advanced prediction algorithms and optimizations to reduce the industry-leading latency performance to only 9 milliseconds, making it feel more natural to use.

A more powerful file app

The Files app provides a centralized place to quickly access and manage documents, and in iPadOS, the Files app becomes even more powerful with support for folder sharing with iCloud Drive. Anyone with access to a shared folder will see the folder in iCloud Drive and will always have access to the latest version of the files. iPadOS also supports external drives, allowing users to easily plug in USB drives, SD cards, or log in to an SMB file server. All of this can be done in the Files app. The new Column View provides high-resolution previews to help users navigate through directories, and support for quick actions such as tagging, rotating, and creating PDFs allows users to do more with less and easily improve their work efficiency with iPad. iPadOS also adds local storage, compression and decompression capabilities, and new keyboard shortcuts.

Safari brings desktop-class browsing experience

Safari on iPad is more powerful than ever. iPadOS automatically displays the desktop version of the website, scales the page to fit the iPad display, and optimizes it for touch, so web apps have an excellent experience in Safari on iPad. Safari also supports many major new features, such as a download manager, 30 new keyboard shortcuts, and enhanced tab management.

Improved text editing function

iPadOS brings a major update to text editing capabilities on iPad, making selection faster and easier, with improved speed and precision, the ability to select text with just a swipe of a finger, and new gestures for cut, copy, paste, and undo.

Other iPadOS features

Dark Mode brings a dramatic dark color scheme that not only looks beautiful across the entire system, but is also easy on the eyes in low-light environments.

Users can install custom fonts and use them system-wide, perfect for creating beautiful documents on iPad. The App Store will offer fonts developed by boutique design agencies and major font suppliers such as Adobe, DynaComware, Monotype, Morisawa and Founder.

The new floating keyboard saves screen space and supports QuickPath, which not only allows you to type easily with one hand, but also leaves more space to display apps. Users can pinch two fingers to enable the floating keyboard and drag it anywhere on the screen.

The Photos app curates and highlights the best photos from your library, automatically hiding clutter and similar photos to show you the important events and activities that happened in the past day, month, or year. Photo editing becomes more intuitive, with new tools that make it easier to apply effects, adjust, and view photos, and almost all photo editing features are now available for video editing.

Sign In with Apple is a fast, simple and private way to sign in to apps and websites using your Apple ID.

In the Maps app, Collections gives you a new way to share restaurants, stores or destinations, while Favorites allows you to quickly browse frequently visited places.

The performance improvement makes the entire system more responsive and Face ID unlocks faster. In addition, iPad apps on the App Store use a new packaging method that can reduce download size by up to 50%, reduce app updates by up to 60%, and increase app startup speed by up to twice.