iPadOS 15 Released for iPad, Download & Install Now

Apple has released iPadOS 15 for all compatible iPad models, including iPad Pro, iPad Mini, iPad, and iPad Air.

iPadOS 15 includes a revamped multitasking experience for iPad, the ability to place widgets anywhere on iPad home screen, along with all the features of iOS 15, including a new Safari tabs experience, Safari Extensions support, new Do Not Disturb features labeled as Focus, Grid View for group FaceTime chat, Facetime Portrait mode, Live Text for selecting text in images, Notifications redesign, and improvements to many built-in apps including Music, Maps, Photos, Spotlight, and more.

As long as your iPad is compatible with iPadOS 15 you’ll be able to run the new system software. All iPad Pro models support the release, along with iPad 5th gen and newer, iPad Air 2 and newer, and iPad Mini 4 and newer.

How to Download & Update to iPadOS 15 on iPad

Backup the iPad before installing ipadOS 15:

1. Open the “Settings” app on iPad
2. Go to “General”, then select “Software Update”
3. Choose to “Download and Install” iPadOS 15

The iPad must reboot to complete installation.

Users can also choose to install iPadOS 15 with a computer by using iTunes or Finder.

If you’re currently on iPadOS 15 beta, you can install the iPadOS 15 final release as directed above. Once finished, you may want to remove the beta profile from the device via Settings so that you stay on the final stable releases going forward.

iPadOS 15 ISPW Direct Download Links

iPadOS 15 firmware files are available directly from Apple for users interested in updating via the IPSW route as well:

• 12.9″ iPad Pro – 5th generation
• 12.9″ iPad Pro – 4th generation
• 12.9″ iPad Pro – 3rd generation
• 12.9″ iPad Pro – 2nd generation
• 12.9″ iPad Pro – 1st generation
• 11″ iPad Pro – 3rd generation
• 11″ iPad Pro – 2nd generation
• 11″ iPad Pro – 1st generation
• 10.5″ iPad Pro
• 9.7″ iPad Pro – original
• 10.2″ iPad – 9th generation
• 10.2″ iPad – 8th generation
• 10.2″ iPad – 7th generation
• iPad – 6th generation
• iPad – 5th generation
• iPad mini 6 – 6th generation
• iPad mini 5 – 5th generation
• iPad mini 4
• iPad Air 2
• iPad Air – 3rd generation
• iPad Air – 4th generation

iPadOS 15 Release Notes

Release notes for iPadOS 15 are as follows:

iPadOS 15 brings audio and video enhancements to FaceTime, including spatial audio and Portrait mode. Shared with You resurfaces the articles, photos, and other shared content from your Messages conversations in the corresponding app. Focus helps you reduce distractions by filtering out notifications based on what you are currently doing. Notifications have been redesigned and a new notification summary delivers a collection of notifications so you can catch up on your own time. Maps delivers a beautiful redesign with a new three-dimensional city experience and augmented reality walking directions. Live Text uses on-device intelligence to recognize text in photos across the entire system and on the web. New privacy controls in Siri, Mail, and more provide transparency and give you more control over your data.

For information on the security content of Apple software updates, please visit this website:
https://support.apple.com/kb/HT201222

Multitasking
• The multitasking menu at the top of apps lets you enter Split View, Slide Over, or go full screen
• A multiwindow shelf appears within apps giving you quick access to all the open windows
• App Switcher now includes Slide Over apps and allows you to create Split View spaces by dragging one app over another
• A new option to open a window centered on screen without leaving your current view in Mail, Messages, Notes, Files and supported third-party apps
• Keyboard shortcuts enable you to create a Split View or Slide Over using an external keyboard

Widgets
• Widgets can be placed among apps on your Home Screen
• Extra large widget size designed just for iPad
• New widgets include Find My, Contacts, App Store, Game Center, and Mail
• Suggested layouts include widgets for the apps you use most arranged on your Home Screen
• Intelligent widget suggestions automatically appear in your Smart Stack at the right time based on your activity

App Library
• App Library automatically organizes the apps on your iPad into an easy-to-navigate view
• App Library is available from an icon in the dock
• Home Screen pages can be reordered or hidden to fit your needs

Quick Note & Notes
• Quick Note lets you take a note from anywhere in iPadOS by swiping your finger or Apple Pencil
• Links from an app or web page can be added to your Quick Note to create context
• Tags let you easily categorize and organize your notes
• The Tag Browser in the sidebar lets you tap any tag or combination of tags to quickly view tagged notes
• Activity view gives a summary of updates since the last time you viewed the note, along with a day-to-day list of activity from each collaborator
• Mentions let you notify a person in a shared note

FaceTime
• Spatial audio makes people’s voices sound like they’re coming from the direction in which they’re positioned on the screen on Group FaceTime calls
• Voice Isolation blocks background noises so your voice is crystal clear
• Wide Spectrum brings all background noises into your call
• Portrait mode blurs your background and puts the focus on you
• Grid view displays up to six people at a time in Group FaceTime calls in the same-size tiles and highlights the current speaker
• FaceTime links allow you to invite your friends into a FaceTime call, even friends on Android or Windows devices can join from their browser

Messages and Memoji
• Shared with You shows content sent to you by friends in Messages conversations in a new section in Photos, Safari, Apple News, Apple Music, Apple Podcasts, or the Apple TV app
• Pinned content elevates the shared content you choose and makes it more prominent in Shared with You, Messages search, and the Details view of the conversation
• Multiple photos sent in Messages are displayed as a glanceable collage or a swipeable stack
• Over 40 Memoji outfit choices and up to three different colors to customize your Memoji stickers’s clothing and headwear

Focus
• Focus lets you automatically filter notifications based on what you’re currently doing, such as fitness, sleep, gaming, reading, driving, work, or personal time
• Focus uses on-device intelligence during set up to suggest apps and people you want to allow notifications from in a Focus
• Home Screen pages can be customized to match your apps and widgets to a specific Focus
• Contextual suggestions intelligently suggest a Focus based on your context, using signals like location or time of day
• Status appears to your contacts in Messages conversations, indicating your notifications are silenced with Focus

Notifications
• A new look displays contact photos for people and larger icons for apps
• Notification summary delivers a helpful collection of your notifications daily, based on a schedule you set
• Notifications can be muted from any app or messaging thread for the next hour or for the day

Maps
• Detailed city maps display elevation, trees, buildings, landmarks, crosswalks and turn lanes, and 3D views to navigate complex interchanges, and more in San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, New York, and London, with more cities coming in the future
• New driving features include a new map that highlights details like traffic and incidents, and a route planner that lets you view your upcoming journey by choosing a future departure or arrival time
• Immersive walking directions show step-by-step directions in augmented reality
• Updated transit experience provides one-tap access to departures near you, makes it easy to see and interact with your route using one hand, and notifies you when approaching your stop
• Interactive 3D globe shows enhanced details for mountain ranges, deserts, forests, oceans, and more
• Redesigned place cards make it easy to learn about and interact with places, and a new home for Guides editorially curates the best recommendations for places you’ll love

Safari
• Tab Groups help you save and organize your tabs and easily access them across devices
• Tab overview grid view displays your open tabs
• Start page can be customized with a background image and new sections like Privacy Report, Siri Suggestions, and Shared With You
• Web extensions on iPadOS help you personalize your browsing and can be downloaded through the App Store
• Voice search lets you search the web using your voice

Live Text
• Live Text makes text interactive in your photos so you can copy and paste, look up, and translate in Photos, Screenshot, Quick Look, Safari, and live previews with Camera
• Data detectors for Live Text recognize phone numbers, emails, dates, street addresses, and more in photos so you can take action on them
• Live Text is available from the keyboard letting you insert text directly from the camera viewfinder into any text field

Spotlight
• Rich results brings together all the information you’re looking for on contacts, actors, musicians, movies, and TV shows
• Photos can be searched from your photo library by locations, people, scenes, text in the photos or other things in the photos, like a dog or a car
• Web image search allows you to search for images of people, animals, monuments, and more

Photos
• New look for Memories with a new interactive interface, animated cards with smart, adaptive titles, new animation and transition styles, and multiple image collages
• Apple Music can be added to your Memories for Apple Music subscribers, and personalized song suggestions combine expert recommendations with your music tastes and what’s in your photos and videos
• Memory mixes let you set the mood by selecting from different songs and a Memory look to match
• New memory types include additional international holidays, child-focused memories, trends over time, and improved pet memories
• Info pane now displays rich information about the photo like which camera and lens, shutter speed, file size, and more
• Visual Look Up recognizes art, landmarks around the world, plants and flowers, books, and dog and cat breeds in your photos so you can learn more about them

Siri
• On-device processing means audio of your requests does not leave your device by default, and means Siri is able to process many requests while offline
• Share items with Siri lets you send on screen items like photos, web pages and Maps locations to any of your contacts
• Onscreen context can be used by Siri to refer to contacts on screen to send them a message or place a call
• On-device personalization allows Siri speech recognition and understanding to improve privately

Privacy
• Mail Privacy Protection protects your privacy by preventing email senders from learning about your Mail activity, your IP address or whether you’ve opened their email
• Safari Intelligent Tracking Prevention now also prevents known trackers from profiling you using your IP address

iCloud+
• iCloud+ is a cloud subscription service that gives you premium features and additional iCloud storage
• iCloud Private Relay (beta) sends your requests through two separate internet relays and encrypts the internet traffic leaving your device so you can browse Safari in a more secure and private way
• Hide My Email lets you create unique, random email addresses that forward to your personal inbox so you can send and receive email without having to share your real email address
• HomeKit Secure Video supports connecting more security cameras without using your iCloud storage quota
• Custom email domain personalizes your iCloud Mail address and allows you to invite family members to use the same domain

Accessibility
• Image exploration with VoiceOver allows you to get even more details about people and objects, and learn about text and table data in photos
• VoiceOver image descriptions in Markup let you add your own image descriptions that can be read by VoiceOver
• Per-app settings allow you to customize display and text size settings only for the apps you want
• Background sounds play balanced, bright, or dark noise, ocean, rain, and stream sounds continuously in the background to mask unwanted environmental or external noise
• Sound actions for Switch Control enable you to control your iPhone with simple mouth sounds
• Audiograms can be imported in Settings so you can customize Headphone Accommodations based on your hearing test results
• New Voice Control languages include Mandarin Chinese (China mainland), Cantonese (Hong Kong), French (France), and German (Germany)
• Memoji options including a cochlear implant, oxygen tubes, or a soft helmet

This release also includes other features and improvements:
• Tags in Notes and Reminders help you quickly categorize your items to make them easy to find, and you can use custom Smart Folders and Smart Lists to automatically collect your notes and reminders based on rules you can define
• Mentions in Notes enable you to notify others of important updates in shared notes, and an all-new Activity view displays all the recent changes in a note in a single list
• Spatial audio with dynamic head tracking in Apple Music brings an even more immersive experience to Dolby Atmos music with AirPods Pro and AirPods Max
• System-wide translation lets you select text throughout the system and translate it with a tap, even in photos
• New widgets include Find My, Contacts, App Store, Sleep, Game Center, and Mail
• Cross-app drag and drop function lets you pick up images, documents, and files from one app to another
• Keyboard magnification loupe magnifies the text when moving the cursor
• Apple ID Account Recovery Contacts lets you to choose one or more people you trust to help you reset your password and regain access to your account
• Temporary iCloud storage grants you as much iCloud storage as you need to create a temporary backup of your data, free of charge, for up to three weeks when you buy a new device
• Find My separation alerts notify you if you leave a supported device or item behind and Find My will give you directions to your item
• Game highlights of up to the last 15 seconds of gameplay can be saved using game controllers like the Xbox Series X|S Wireless Controller or Sony PS5 DualSense™ Wireless Controller
• App Store in-app events help you discover timely events within apps and games such as a game competition, a new movie premiere, or a livestreamed experience

This release includes even more features and improvements. For more information, please visit this website: https://www.apple.com/ipados/ipados-15/features/

For information on the security content of Apple software updates, please visit this website: https://support.apple.com/kb/HT201222

Separately, Apple has released iOS 15 for iPhone and iPod touch, watchOS 8 for Apple Watch, and tvOS 15 for Apple TV. MacOS Monterey for Mac is not yet available.

Did you install ipadOS 15 right away? Were you running the beta version? What are your thoughts of iPadOS 15? Share with us in the comments.