iPadOS 17 Offers Customizable Lock Screen, Interactive Widgets and Apple Health Integration

Apple is once again introducing a significant range of updates for iPadOS, with the latest version being iPadOS 17. As anticipated, it includes numerous modifications that have already been demonstrated for iOS 17 on the iPhone, as well as some enhancements tailored specifically for the tablet.

First, the widgets are now interactive, meaning you can update them and take action without going directly into the app. You can start playing music through the music widget, check reminders, update smart home features and so on.

Unsurprisingly, iPadOS 17 also brings the lock screen redesign that Apple released on the iPhone last year with iOS 16. This allows you to add widgets to the home screen, set different focus modes for specific wallpapers, change the clock and text fonts, and more. There’s also a cool Live Photo feature that animates your wallpaper when you wake up your iPad. Finally, Live Activities comes to your iPad, allowing apps to show you real-time updates on the lock screen — like seeing updated sports scores or where your food order is.

Apple also brings the Health app to the iPad for the first time. Naturally, it syncs data from your phone’s Health app and Apple Watch, but it looks like you can also use it standalone if you don’t have that other device. Of course, the app has been completely redesigned to work on the iPad’s larger screen, and includes new health features like the mental health trackers that Apple discussed when introducing the watchOS 10 update.

PDF support is available in the Notes app, which might not seem like the most exciting thing ever. But Notes is a very powerful application and can be very useful for hosting PDF files for annotation. There’s even a live collaboration feature that lets two people work on a shared PDF at the same time, with changes visible while you’re both working. So far, I’ve only really been able to work with PDFs in the iPad’s Files app, and using them in the Notes app seems like a better experience than our brief preview.

The stage manager is also getting some improvements, giving you more flexibility in window placement. This feature was a big part of iPadOS 16, and it’s good to see that Apple is responding to some of the requests people have been making over the year. And if you connect your iPad to an external display with a camera, iPadOS lets you use the camera for video calls.

Naturally, there will be many updates to iOS 17 as well. These include an improved messaging experience, customizable contact stickers, and an all-new Journal app.

As usual, iPadOS 17 will reach consumers this fall, but the developer beta is available today. The public beta should be available sometime in July.