Top Five New Features in iPadOS 17 - MacRumorsOpen MenuShow RoundupsShow Forums menuVisit ForumsOpen Sidebar
Skip to Content

Top Five New Features in iPadOS 17

While iPadOS 17 has adopted almost all of the features that are available in iOS 17, there are also several additions designed specifically for the larger display of the iPad. In our latest video, we've highlighted the best new features available for the ‌iPad‌ in the iPadOS 17 update.

  1. Updated Lock Screen - In iPadOS 17, the ‌iPad‌ gets the Lock Screen customization features that came to the iPhone with iOS 16. iPadOS 17 users can choose the look of the date and time, select different iPad-optimized wallpaper options, and have multiple Lock Screens that are tied to Focus modes.
  2. Widgets and Live Activities - Live Activities are now supported on the ‌iPad‌'s Lock Screen, so you can follow along with timers, food orders, sports games, and more. Widgets on the Lock Screen and the Home Screen are interactive, allowing you to turn on the lights, play a song, mark a reminder as complete, and more, directly from the widget with no need to open an app.
  3. Health App - The Health app is available on the ‌iPad‌ in iPadOS 17, showing health data in detail. The app is optimized for the ‌iPad‌'s display with an updated Favorites view and interactive charts for categories like Trends and Highlights.
  4. PDF & Notes Additions - Enhanced Autofill allows the ‌iPad‌ to identify fields in a PDF or scanned document so names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, and other information can be added from contact cards. There's also a new feature for collaborating on PDFs with others directly through the Notes app. The Notes app has been enhanced for PDFs, and PDFs will show up in full width for quick annotations with Apple Pencil.
  5. Stage Manager Updates - When using Stage Manager, windows can be freely resized, repositioned, and placed anywhere on the display. ‌Stage Manager‌ also supports an external camera like the one on the Studio Display for FaceTime and conference calls.

For more on what's new in the iPadOS 17 update, we have a dedicated iPadOS 17 roundup.

Related Forums: iOS 17, iPadOS 17

Popular Stories

iOS 27 Next to iPhone

Here's When iOS 27 Rolls Out Today in Every Time Zone [Update: It's Out]

Sunday September 13, 2026 3:00 am PDT by
Update 10:04 a.m.: iOS 27 is rolling out now, though it may take a bit for all users to see it, so keep checking! Apple is about to release iOS 27, which will finally deliver more advanced Siri AI capabilities as well as a variety of other refinements, improvements, and new features to iPhones. It's Apple's biggest software update of the year, and Apple announced at Wednesday's iPhone event...
iOS 27 Icon iPhone

iOS 27 Available Now With These 8 New Features

Monday September 14, 2026 9:00 am PDT by
Update — 10 a.m. Pacific Time: Apple has released iOS 27. During its iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone Duo event last week, Apple announced that iOS 27 will be released widely on Monday, September 14. iOS 27 should be available around 10 a.m. Pacific Time / 1 p.m. Eastern Time today via the Settings app, under General → Software Update. Below, we have highlighted eight new features and...
Apple iCloud Plus expansion hero

iCloud+ Now Includes Apple TV, Apple Arcade, and Curated Apple Music Stations in Over 100 Countries

Tuesday September 15, 2026 1:43 am PDT by
Apple today announced a new subscription initiative that turns paid iCloud+ subscriptions into a broader services bundle in more than 100 countries. In select countries, Apple says every paid iCloud+ plan, including the cheapest 50GB tier, now includes Apple TV and Apple Arcade "at no additional cost," while family sharing extends the storage, TV and Arcade access to up to five people....

Top Rated Comments

TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️ Avatar
42 months ago
Can't believe it's 2023 and still no stock iPad Calculator App for iPadOS.



Attachment Image
Score: 42 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Mrkevinfinnerty Avatar
42 months ago
Tim Cook 2015: "the iPad is the clearest expression of our vision of the future of personal computing".

2023: A new lock screen
Score: 27 Votes (Like | Disagree)
42 months ago
Multiuser-Support?

This would be a key feature.
Score: 22 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Kylo83 Avatar
42 months ago
Funny how iPadOS is just the year before for iOS, they don’t really put any work into it, just last years iOS features
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Unami Avatar
42 months ago

Can't believe it's 2023 and still no stock iPad Calculator App for iPadOS.


I sometimes find my self typing "calc" into the search field and wondering why nothing happens before I remember.

Either there's some calculator-app-developer who's paying big money to Tim's retirement fond or they're just messing with us. How hard can it be to slap a more or less predefined GUI over some basic calculator functions already which are already defined in the programming language? That's something an intern who has never written a line of code before could do in a month. Do they think, people expect something like Mathematica as the standard calculator for an iPad?
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
1284814 Avatar
42 months ago
Seriously, that’s it?
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)