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IOS Programming Apple

The iPad Finally Outgrows iOS (techcrunch.com) 65

Posted by msmash from the everyone-gets-an-OS dept.
Onstage at WWDC, Apple announced that iPad's software will now exist inside its own vertical OS. The new iPadOS doesn't look dramatically different from iOS 12, but the name change undoubtedly makes it easier for Apple to introduce functionality to iPads that won't exist in any capacity on the iPhone. Here's is the list of features it offers: 1. Chances are the best update is that desktop sites are now the default in Safari, hallelujah!!
2. You'll be able to bring widgets to the home screen that are just a swipe away. You'll also be able to fit more app icons on each screen.
3. Changes in iPadOS include an update to the Files app which will allow you share folders in iCloud drive, there's a new column view and you'll be able to grab files from USB-C flash drives.
4. You'll be able to bring up multiple windows of the same app, which wasn't previously possible and there are a lot of small interface changes that make it easier to multi-task with your larger screen real estate.
5. Apple Pencil latency is dropping from 20ms to 9ms, Apple is bringing a PencilKit developer API so that third-party app developers can integrate some new controls.
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The iPad Finally Outgrows iOS More

The iPad Finally Outgrows iOS

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  • So are they going to rename back iOS to iPhoneOS?

  • You need a real OS (Score:5, Insightful)

    by ArhcAngel ( 247594 ) on Monday June 03, 2019 @02:36PM (#58702594)
    When Apple introduced the iPad Pro and announced it was running iOS I laughed because it was hamstrung by the OS. Windows 10 is no darling but at least on a Surface Pro I can install any software I want/need. We'll see if this hybrid approach is any better.

    • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward

      You CAN install any software you want, as long as you want to install the software Apple wants you to install.

      See? It all JUST WORKS!

      Now get back into your box and THINK DIFFERENT.

    • Windows 10 is no darling but at least on a Surface Pro I can install any software I want/need.

      Funnily enough even with all the humdrum conspiracy theories about SecureBoot for the better part of the last decade you can even replace Windows and install Linux on that Surface Pro.

      • Well yes and no. The conspiracy theories were wrong that MS would lock down every PC on the market, but they were completely right that it reduced consumer options. There's no Linux for Surface RT despite the fact that it's one of the few OSes that's universal enough to be compiled on ARM.

        • Well yes and no. The conspiracy theories were wrong that MS would lock down every PC on the market, but they were completely right that it reduced consumer options.

          What options did they have before that they don't now have?

          There's no Linux for Surface RT

          And before SecureBoot there was no Surface RT, and now there is no Surface RT either.

  • Still no profiles? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by neurojab ( 15737 ) on Monday June 03, 2019 @02:44PM (#58702646)

    What the iPad needs more than anything, IMO is user profiles. At least the ability to have an admin profile and a few restricted user profiles, so it can finally be a shareable device. I realize that Apple wants me to buy a separate iPad for everyone in the family, but that's not what I want to do. The current parental controls, though they largely work, are a real pain to work with.

    • What the iPad needs more than anything, IMO is user profiles. At least the ability to have an admin profile and a few restricted user profiles, so it can finally be a shareable device.

      Interesting.

      I had never before thought of the iPad (or any other tablet) as a shareable device.

      I mean, I don't share my phone, and the two are in my head at least similar in that manner, a personal device with access to email, contacts, notes, etc...

      Interesting point you bring up, I'd never considered it before.

      • iPads have been popular as a kiosk solution, or at least a digital clipboard.
        So having a more secure method of having a stack of iPads and hand them out to customers, or patients to fill out information is actually handy. Because you don't get all the data entry errors from an other person.

      • You likely don't have 4 kids and 2 adults in your house like I do. In our house our iPads sit and only get used by the adults, while the kids use various Android tablets mainly because we have profiles on those devices, and it keeps things nice and orderly where my 11 year old isn't annoyed at having to sift through dozens of "kids apps" (her name for her 3 year old brothers' apps) to find what she wants. And, yes, we have tablets for each kid, so the profiles did not reduce the number of devices we bought

        • And, yes, we have tablets for each kid, so the profiles did not reduce the number of devices we bought and own.

          Interesting points and no, I don't have to deal with that many in my household.....but a question, if you actually DO have enough tablets in the house, for everyone one (kid) to have one, why don't they just stick with using the one they have, why grab someone else's to log onto, etc?

          Just curious.

          Don't most kids like to have their own things that are "theirs"...that they don't have to share w

          • In my house, 5 kids, 7 people we have 5 iPads currently. The kids absolutely do not have their own device. They are all 'family' tools, because I don't like when kid #3 freaks out that iPad #2 is in use by kid #4.

            I really want multi-user iPads. (a 2 year old madly swiping can wreak havoc on one's calendar). I also want better consumer tools for managing them as commodity devices, which is what they are to me. I would love a server based tool to lock all the iPads I choose to. or to install gameY

    • Android has had multiple users since KitKat, back in 2013. I'm honestly surprised that iOS doesn't support that, seems pretty logical.
    • The worst part is that it actually has exactly what you're looking for built-in to the code, they just restrict it to only managed iPads in an educational institution. https://help.apple.com/deploym... [apple.com]
      It's also a massive headache to get set up and requires each student to have an apple ID so for privacy reasons we can't actually use it. But get creative enough and tell apple you home school your kids you might be able to get somewhere :P

    • What the iPad needs more than anything, IMO is user profiles. At least the ability to have an admin profile and a few restricted user profiles, so it can finally be a shareable device.

      While I completely agree, I have little hope for this as they still have not done this for the APPLE TV!

      Like you said, it is clear that they think everyone in the house having their own iPad is a perfectly normal thing.
      Maybe it is for a lot of people.

      However, how many people have a home theater room for EACH family member?
      Now that the viewing history is all supposed to be inside the TV app, it will never be a portable and seamless experience until they do this.

      Bonus points if they link it to phone / watch b

    • Today they announced adding user profiles to Apple TV so hopefully it'll eventually make it into iPadOS as well.
    • Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by antdude ( 79039 )

      That bugs me too. I don't want to mess up the shared iPads with my stuff. Argh. I'll stick with computers then.

  • It works, but only if I move use it directly on the screen.

  • Fragmentation! (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    You will need to redesign your apps for the various platforms! Apple fans won't be outraged about it, tho, because the memo says not to be.

  • You had ONE platform to target. One resolution. Simple, clean. Now there are lots of different screen sizes, resolutions, and now different OS platforms altogether. So much for simple...

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Dog-Cow ( 21281 )

      There's been different screen sizes and resolutions since the first iPad was released. Since literally the first version to called iOS. Are you an ignorant moron, or just a bigoted liar?

    • The promise was never 1 resolution for ever. That’s ridiculous. So after 11 years they split off iPad. Wow that’s some blazing change.

  • "You'll also be able to fit more app icons on each screen."

    My goodness, such groundbreaking, must-have features. I mean, fitting more apps per screen, that's almost unbelievable! How could they do such a thing? It sounds impossible!

    "You'll be able to bring up multiple windows of the same app"

    Already have that on Android with multiple apps in split-screen mode. Yawn.

    "Apple Pencil latency is dropping from 20ms to 9ms"

    So the Apple Pencil doesn't suck as bad as it used to. Definitely some innovation right there

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by jay age ( 757446 )

      For artists Apple Pencil is better than anything else out there, there isn't any perceptible lag. This is not true for other platforms.

    • I hate defending Apple but hear goes.

      Already have that on Android with multiple apps in split-screen mode. Yawn.

      No you can't. You can only run multiple different apps in split-screen mode. Android does not allow you to run the same app twice.

      So the Apple Pencil doesn't suck as bad as it used to. Definitely some innovation right there, baby.

      By not sucking as bad as it used to you mean going from the industry leading position on stylus input devices that aren't tethered to a multi thousand dollar widget and then accelerating away leaving even a bigger gap between them and their competitor?

      As much as I hate Apple devices I do with their competitor's styluses performed as well as th

  • Usb drives! (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Camembert ( 2891457 ) on Monday June 03, 2019 @04:58PM (#58703580)
    Finally, grabbing a file from a usb drive. That lack was always irritating me in an otherwise nice device.

    • For me, this removes one of the last reasons not to use the ipad. I have tons of media files, and they were such a pain to transfer into iPads, specially for video. First, you had to go through iTunes, which totally pissed me off, and files had to be in very specific format. So need to have itunes and spend hours converting the files in Handbrake. This was such an annoyance that I simply mostly used Android tablets for this.

  • All i was hearing the last years was - Apple is going to merge MacOS and iOS together, why have two different OS's, the line between the two is blurring etc etc.
    Well, i guess they surprised everybody by releasing ANOTHER OS, instead of bringing them together, there is now even more fragmentation.

  • Comment removed based on user account deletion

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