TextEdit Icon Spotted on iOS 10 During WWDC 2016 Demo

During its What's New in Metal, Part 1 session at WWDC 2016, Apple used an iPad to demo the graphics API's new adaptive tessellation capabilities on iOS 10. At the 17:58 mark of the video, a TextEdit icon can be seen on the iPad's home screen from the multitasking app switcher screen.

TextEdit-iOS-10-WWDC-2016-demo
TextEdit is Apple's basic word processor preinstalled on macOS Sierra and previous OS X versions, but the company has not released a mobile version for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch as it has done for some of its other first-party Mac apps. There are also no third-party apps that fully match the app shown in the screenshot.

TextEdit and Preview icons were previously spotted in a pre-release iOS 8 screenshot, but neither of the apps were included in the public version of the software update. An early 2014 report had said both apps would debut on iOS 8 as read-only document viewers for Preview and TextEdit files stored in iCloud from a Mac.

While there is an outside chance that Apple plans to release a basic text editor on iOS to complement Notes and Pages, the most likely explanation is that TextEdit serves as a simple "Hello World" testing app for internal developers. Apple is known to have several internal apps for use by software engineers and employees only.

Game Center is also shown, despite being removed as a standalone app on iOS 10.

Apple previewed iOS 10 at its WWDC 2016 keynote on June 13 and has seeded the first beta to developers. A public beta will be available in July ahead of an official launch in the fall. iOS 10 is compatible with most devices that can run iOS 9, excluding the iPhone 4s, iPad 2 and 3, original iPad mini, and fifth-generation iPod touch.

(Thanks, Ahmad!)

Popular Stories

AirPods Pro 3 Heart Rate Tracking Feature

AirPods Pro 3 Expected to Launch This Year With Key New Feature

Sunday August 24, 2025 7:16 am PDT by
Bloomberg's Mark Gurman expects Apple to release new AirPods Pro this year, and he said the earbuds will have a key new feature: heart rate monitoring. From his Power On newsletter today, with emphasis added:As for Apple's other devices, there's a lot in the fall pipeline — though many of the new products are only incremental upgrades. There will be Apple Watch updates, faster Vision...
iPhone 17 Pro on Desk Centered 1

iPhone 17 Pro Coming Soon With These 12 New Features

Sunday August 24, 2025 6:00 am PDT by
Apple's iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max should be unveiled in a few more weeks, and there are plenty of rumors about the devices. In his Power On newsletter today, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman corroborated a rumor that iPhone 17 Pro models will be "available in an orange color." Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models: Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are...
Alleged iPhone 17 Pro Antenna Design

Two All-New iPhone 17 Colors Seemingly Confirmed

Monday August 25, 2025 4:22 am PDT by
Apple will offer the upcoming iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max in a new orange color, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Gurman made the claim in the latest edition of his Power On newsletter, adding that the new iPhone 17 Air – replacing the iPhone 16 Plus – will come in a new light blue color. We've heard multiple rumors about a new iPhone 17 Pro color being a shade of orange. The ...
iPhone 17 Air Thumb 2 Blue Electric Boogaloo

Apple Has Reportedly Considered Releasing iPhone 17 Air Bumper Case

Sunday August 24, 2025 12:40 pm PDT by
Apple has "considered" releasing a bumper case for the upcoming iPhone 17 Air, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Similar to the bumper case that Apple introduced for the iPhone 4 in 2010, Gurman said the iPhone 17 Air version of the case would cover the edges of the device, but not the back of it. Those bumper cases were made of rubber. Given that the iPhone 17 Air is expected to have ...
Apple Watch Ultra 2 Complications

Apple Watch Ultra 3 Just Weeks Away: Eight Reasons to Upgrade

Wednesday August 20, 2025 6:44 am PDT by
We're only weeks away from Apple's annual iPhone event – rumored to take place on September 9 – and along with the new iPhone 17 series, we're going to get a new version of the Apple Watch Ultra for the first time since 2023. By the time the Ultra 3 is unveiled, it will have been two years since the previous model arrived. The intervening period has left plenty of room for enhancements,...
maxresdefault

The MacRumors Show: Apple Watch Series 11 and Ultra 3 or Wait for Next Year?

Friday August 22, 2025 9:15 am PDT by
On this week's episode of The MacRumors Show, we talk through what to expect from the Apple Watch SE 3, Series 11, and Ultra 3, and whether it's worth holding off on an upgrade until next year. Subscribe to The MacRumors Show YouTube channel for more videos The third-generation Apple Watch SE is rumored to feature a larger display (perhaps like the Apple Watch Series 7), the S11 chip, and...

Top Rated Comments

ike1707 Avatar
120 months ago
Is it sad that this intrigues me way more than anything in their presentation?
[doublepost=1466401143][/doublepost]
Love the commitment of :apple: fanatics combing through the WWDC video. Well done.
Love the avatar.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
APlotdevice Avatar
120 months ago
If we already have Pages and Notes (free) AND they're pushing 365 (paid), can someone explain why we'd need TextEdit as well? Not intended to be snide, could just be something I'm overlooking lol.
Neither Pages nor Notes are designed to handle plaintext documents. Textedit is.

I suppose it is something thats more useful to web designers and programmers than your average user. But then again it would let you open more files from your desktop now that we have access to that through continuity.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
garirry Avatar
120 months ago
I'm kinda curious how did it take a week to get spotted. Regardless, if implemented, I think it would be nice (but to be fair, I don't see if that's very important when we have Notes for small notes and Pages for actual text).
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Apple Knowledge Navigator Avatar
120 months ago
I think that if Apple put TextEdit on the App Store, then it would serve a purpose for those who have files on a Mac that are of some use.

But for the majority of users, including it as a stock app would only confuse them as Notes and Pages are useful enough. One upside however is that the app is bound to be very small in size, compared to Pages 500+mb.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TurboPGT! Avatar
120 months ago
I would be happy with this. I still use Text Edit on the Mac all the time. All of those documents are stored in iCloud these days. To have those available on iOS, like almost everything else, would be great.

I don't use Pages. Too much overhead. Hard to explain. There's a difference, and TextEdit is what I want.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
BrianM Avatar
120 months ago
With TextEdit having iCloud storage of documents, I'm surprised they either haven't released an iOS version, or added a link to Pages on iOS to access these TextEdit documents stored in iCloud.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)