Tech Tip — Putting iPadOS 18 Updates to Work For You
Credit: Laptop Magazine
The newest version of the iPhone and iPad operating system has been out for more than a month now. Every year we get updates from Apple to make our devices work better, feel better and to do more stuff. This year, as I explained in my previous look at iOS 18, this version was about smaller, more ‘quality of life’ updates than big sweeping changes. For the iPad specifically, this is very much true. In many ways, the iPad didn’t receive many unique features that are specific to the device itself, as we have seen in previous years.
That begs the question: can iPadOS help you put your own iPad to better work for you?
My answer to that question is probably not this year, unless you choose to work through a lot of the customizations that iOS has enabled. I think iOS 18 is a big leap forward in allowing you to make your devices more uniquely your own. In that way, I think this is a very nice improvement this year.
iPadOS 18 allows the same lock and Home Screen customizations that you can have on your iPhone. While I don’t think the Lock Screen changes are as big a deal on the iPad as the iPhone, the ability to modify the Home Screens is a nice change. If for no other reason, the amount of screen real estate you have on any iPad is bigger, and the changes allow you to do more with the space. The subtle shifts in allowing users to eliminate the app names under each icon and the ability to have a dark mode makes it a more custom experience. I started with the iPhone and have done the same on the iPad, and it just makes it a little more fun to look at. This may be a personal preference, but that is the point of adding these customizations.
In terms of features, there are a few, and as I noted in the previous article on iOS18, I expect the more significant changes will be coming with iOS 18.1 when Apple Intelligence is made available to all users. I think that will be a much bigger benefit to iPad users than those using only the iPhone. So many of those features will help with longer form writing and use cases involving Notes, Mail, and other writing tools. I am excited to explore those once released.
Some new features that do stand out more on the iPad versus the phone involve the Notes application, the addition of a real calculator, Math Notes (especially for students), and a small change in Safari. Let’s take a look at those.
Notes
The Notes app continues to get better and better each year. There are some very nice editions to Notes again this year.
Collapsing Headers
Note taking applications have become rather sophisticated recently, and adding features to make them more widely useful beyond just simple notes has become common. Being able to quickly move through and identify areas of longer notes is more important now than maybe it was in the past when notes, in general, were simpler. The addition of being able to collapse notes within a heading is a great way to clean up longer notes, yet still have immediate access to information.
By assigning headers and sub-header styling to sections of your note, Notes can then collapse the information neatly to allow you to navigate your full note quickly. When you make your heading either a ‘header’ or ‘sub-heading’ you will get a ‘disclosure triangle’ next to your header and allow you to collapse everything below it up to the next header or style change. You can have a long document become a short document very quickly. This can be perfect for research notes, building an outline, or for a note where you have multiple areas of information you want to track. I also use this for dates with information for each. I can have a week ending date by a sub-heading and the notes or changes from that week underneath, then quickly collapse to see a month or longer at a glance.
Handwriting Clean Up
Another new feature that is already borrowing on an underlying AI support is for Apple Notes to clean up your handwritten notes. This takes whatever you’ve written with the Apple Pencil and makes it easier to read. I have found that it does a good job, and expect it will do a better job the more I use it. I don’t think it matches my handwriting exactly, but it is close enough, and in most instances does help to make the written words easier to read.
Transcription Notes
One really nice addition for notes is the transcription and voice recorder updates. Apple has had the Voice Memos app for a long time. You could even save audio files into a note previously, but this blends the best of all those things into one place. Within a note, you can now attach a voice memo file and Apple (again powered by behind the scenes AI) will transcribe your audio notes into text to be placed right in your notes. It works very well from my early experiments, and I expect that as I get better using it, the results and outcomes will get better also. I can see this as being a huge time saver and productivity tool to capture thoughts and notes while driving and then be able to quickly convert to text I can use for other things when I get to my destination.
Math Notes
OK, math notes is probably not going to be a super useful tool for people no longer in school. However, as I begin to play with it, it does have some real potential. Math Notes lets you write equations out, and Math Notes solves them (from the built-in AI). It is slick to see happen. If you write 2+2=
It will automatically solve the equation for you. Where I see this becoming more useful is being able to define a few variables and then write the variables out in different equation formats to refer back to later. So assume you have a district of 16 stores, and you want to know how much it would cost to add 5 hours of payroll to each of those stores. You can have a variable for STORES, a variable for HOURS, and then one for RATE. Write the equation out, assign a number to each variable, and the equation will get solved. Then, if you tap on the number for any of the variables, you get a slider to allow you to change the value of that variable, so you can quickly do several ‘what if’ scenarios.
Below shows a very basic example of what this looks like. It clearly takes some practice and handwriting recognition is very important here. But in time, I could see some interesting uses for this tool.
A Calculator — really?
This is going to sound silly, but in case you hadn’t realized it, the iPad did not have a native calculator application built in until now. I actually use a calculator on my iPad fairly frequently, so having one built in is helpful. It is basic, but handles most of what I need. There are two calculator options. One is your basic, simple calculator to do easy math. It also has a scientific calculator for more complex actions and calculations. This now covers easily 95% of what any user would need a calculator for on an iPad.
Additionally, as mentioned above, you can use the math notes feature within the calculator application. What I do like about using this from the calculator application is that you get a math canvas that is open for doing the calculations. It is just a little cleaner versus working in the Notes App.
Safari — Clean Up Your View
For a cleaner look when reading websites, Safari now allows you to select distracting items (I.e., ads) and eliminate them while viewing that page. It does not permanently delete them, and if you reload the page, they will come back. But if you are looking at a specific page or reading an article that has some of those distracting ads along the side, especially if they are flashing, you can now select and remove them from that view. This can also be helpful if you want to screen capture something, and you don’t want all the extra information that may not be needed in the view. It is a small thing that in certain situations can be a big help.
One other thing I remembered while putting this article together. I typically write my articles sitting at my Mac, a desktop computer (laptop docked — same thing), but this time it seemed appropriate to write on the iPad itself with the Magic Keyboard and case. I use my iPad daily, I write emails, jot down notes with the pencil and so on. But I had really forgotten how much of a joy it is to type longer form items on the iPad and interact with it. The operating system enables many things, but the device and the hardware compliments still make the product. The iPad is a fun tool to use. I love that Apple continues to enhance how this can be used for so many things. I hear many people, especially in the Apple-verse, complain that the iPad doesn’t do enough. It needs to be more ‘Mac-like’. I disagree. I use my laptop when I need to do laptop things. I use my iPad for things that are best on a tablet device. The iPad is perfect for consuming information, reading documents, emails, and especially watching video. But the iPad can also fill a nice in-between space. I don’t think I would use it for a research-intense paper, but for writing articles like this that balances the writing experience with enough power to switch between screen for reviewing notes, capturing notes, quickly trying something out and getting a screenshot, the iPad really does an excellent job.
What do you like best about the new iPadOS 18?
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