iOS 14 update’s home screen changes were very iPhone centric, as it brought new home screen layout only on the iPhone. To the dismay of most iPad users, the same feature did not make it to the iPadOS. Although iPadOS featured the new widget design, the ability to place the widgets anywhere on the home screen was missing on the tablet.
Looks like Apple is going to change that with iPadOS 15, as according to a new report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, the company will introduce a redesigned home screen for the iPad. The update will also bring a new way to handle notifications on both iOS and iPadOS, an updated lock screen as well as new privacy features.
Apple is expected to announce the new iOS 15, which is codenamed ‘Sky’ at WWDC 2021 scheduled to take place on June 7.
Place widgets anywhere on iPad’s home screen
On iPadOS 15 users will be able to finally place widgets anywhere on the home screen, a feature that was noticeably missing from iPadOS 14. In addition to placing widgets anywhere users will also get to create home screen pages that can contain only widgets by removing all the icons and limiting certain pages to widgets only.
For notifications Apple is said to introduce different notification preferences. One example of these new preferences is users will be able to choose whether their device should make a sound or not depending on the current status. Users will be able to choose their status with each status carrying different set of settings.
New notification profiles
iPhone could include different profiles for driving, sleeping, working and even allow users to create custom categories based on their needs. A new menu will be added to the updated lock screen and Control Center for quick access to these various profiles.
Users will also be able to set up automatic replies to messages that can differ for each of the profile. So a sender of the message might receive a different automatic reply when your iPhone is on ‘sleep’ profile than driving or while you are working.
Other changes
iMessage is also said to receive new features to make it better compete with WhatsApp and other competing messaging services. Details about iMessage’s new features were not shared in the report.
Apple’s focus on privacy continues with iOS 15, as the company is adding a new menu that will let users know which apps are silently collecting data about them. This will detect trackers and other methods apps collect data and let users know about them.
Updates to macOS, watchOS and tvOS are also expected in this year’s software releases however details about them are scarce at this moment.
