The 8 Best Features of iPadOS 15 You’ll Actually Use

The iPad has gained some interesting new refinements, features, and capabilities with iPadOS 15. From placing widgets anywhere on the Home Screen, to Quick Notes, Low Power Mode, and new multitasking functionalities, you’ll have some unique iPad specific features to check out.

We’re going to focus on some iPadOS 15 features that you’re most likely to use and appreciate.

And of course, iPad users of iPadOS 15 also have basically all of the features for iOS 15 available to them as well, since iPadOS is essentially iOS rebranded for iPad with a few alterations.

1: Widgets Anywhere on the Home Screen

You can now put widgets anywhere on the Home Screen of iPadOS 15.

Simply long press on the Home Screen of iPad, then click the “+” button that appears in the upper left corner.

Browse through the widgets, and then tap on “Add Widget” to bring it to the Home Screen.

You can move widgets around icons to arrange your Home Screen however you’d like.

2: Quick Notes from Anywhere

Quick Notes are a great iPad feature that allow you to quickly jot down notes from anywhere, whether it’s an app or the iPad Home Screen.

Using Quick Notes is simple, just drag a finger or Apple Pencil from the bottom right corner inward on the screen to summon a Quick Note right away.

Smart Keyboard and Magic Keyboard iPad users can also access Quick Notes by keystroke, by hitting Globe+Q keys concurrently.

3: Multitasking Easier Than Ever

The top of the iPad screen now has three dots “…” and if you tap on that you can access the new multitasking features right away to quickly enter into split view for apps, or Slide Over view for apps.

Now it’s much easier to put apps side-by-side on iPad, and you don’t need to memorize any complex gestures. Just click on those three dots, choose your multitasking mode, and you’ll instantly be in split screen mode or slide over mode for apps on iPad.

4: Live Text for Photos

You can now select text in photos. This is pretty convenient for obvious reasons, and it works pretty well.

Open a picture in the Photos app that contains text, and then tap on the little box in the corner that looks like a bracket around lines, kind of like this “[=]”, then simply tap and hold on the text to select it, copy it, translate, speech, all the normal text tools you have available.

This feature is limited to newer model iPad (and iPhone for that matter) so if you don’t see it available, assume either the iPad is too old, or the text is not readable for whatever reason.

5: App Library

App Library has come to iPad, allowing you to instantly see all of your apps from a single sorted screen.

You can access App Library from the Dock by clicking it in the bottom right corner, or from the Home Screen by swiping to the left past your last screen of icons, just like iPhone.

6: Safari Tab Groups

Safari now allows you to easily group tabs, which can be helpful if you want to organize your browser tabs a bit.

From Safari, simply tap the sidebar button (top left corner, it looks like a square with some lines in it), then tap on the two overlapping [+] buttons and choose the New Tab Group option that is right for your needs.

You can then return to open that tab group at anytime by choosing it from the Safari Sidebar as well.

7: FaceTime Anyone, Including Windows & Android Users

FaceTime used to be limited to only other Apple devices, but now you can FaceTime with anyone who has a web browser. Yes that includes FaceTiming with Windows, Android, and Linux users.

Open FaceTime and then choose “Create FaceTime Link”, then email, message, or copy the link for a FaceTime call with anyone. As long as they have a web browser they can participate in the FaceTime chat.

8: Low Power Mode on iPad

Low Power Mode is a great feature on iPhone that has finally come to the iPad. When enabled, some features of iPadOS will be disabled, and performance will be slightly reduced, but the end result is prolonged battery life.

Go to Settings > Battery > Low Power Mode to enable this feature on iPad.

This is particularly useful if the device is running low on battery, but also if you simply want to prolong the battery life while you’re using a device that has a fair amount of battery charge remaining.

You can also add Low Power Mode to Control Center for quicker access.
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iPadOS 15 for iPad also shares many features with iOS 15 for iPhone, including the new Focus Mode, FaceTime for Windows/Android users, and much more, so don’t miss the best iOS 15 features roundup too, since many of those will apply to iPad as well, including things like Focus Mode.

Do you have a favorite iPadOS 15 feature? Share what you think in the comments.