Apple Announces iPadOS 17 With Custom Lock Screens and Interactive Widgets

Apple today at WWDC announced iPadOS 17, bringing several new features to iPads, including updates to widgets and the Lock Screen that bring more parity with iPhones.

ipados 17 lock screen
For the first time, iPads will support customized Lock Screens, while Home Screen widgets will be interactive. There's also now support for Live Activities, and the Health app is now available on iPad and takes advantage of the device's larger display sizes.

iPadOS 17 includes improvements across the Notes, Messages, FaceTime, and Safari apps. In the Messages app, for example, there is a new consolidated sticker drawer that brings all of a user's stickers into one place, including Live Stickers, emoji stickers, and third-party sticker packs. ‌iPad‌ users can also create their own stickers from photos.

Starting with iPadOS 17, PDFs appear full width on the screen. Apple has also introduced machine learning that can identify fields in a PDF so that users can quickly add details, such as names, addresses, and emails from the Contacts app.

iPadOS 17 is available in beta starting today, and will be publicly released later this year. The update is compatible with the second-generation iPad Pro, third-generation iPad Air, sixth-generation ‌iPad‌, and fifth-generation iPad mini and newer.

Related Forums: iOS 17, iPadOS 17

Popular Stories

iphone 16 display

iPhone 17's Scratch Resistant Anti-Reflective Display Coating Canceled

Monday April 28, 2025 12:48 pm PDT by
Apple may have canceled the super scratch resistant anti-reflective display coating that it planned to use for the iPhone 17 Pro models, according to a source with reliable information that spoke to MacRumors. Last spring, Weibo leaker Instant Digital suggested Apple was working on a new anti-reflective display layer that was more scratch resistant than the Ceramic Shield. We haven't heard...
iPhone 17 Air Pastel Feature

iPhone 17 Reaches Key Milestone Ahead of Mass Production

Monday April 28, 2025 8:44 am PDT by
Apple has completed Engineering Validation Testing (EVT) for at least one iPhone 17 model, according to a paywalled preview of an upcoming DigiTimes report. iPhone 17 Air mockup based on rumored design The EVT stage involves Apple testing iPhone 17 prototypes to ensure the hardware works as expected. There are still DVT (Design Validation Test) and PVT (Production Validation Test) stages to...
Beyond iPhone 13 Better Blue

20th Anniversary iPhone Likely to Be Made in China Due to 'Extraordinarily Complex' Design

Monday April 28, 2025 4:29 am PDT by
Apple will likely manufacture its 20th anniversary iPhone models in China, despite broader efforts to shift production to India, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. In 2027, Apple is planning a "major shake-up" for the iPhone lineup to mark two decades since the original model launched. Gurman's previous reporting indicates the company will introduce a foldable iPhone alongside a "bold"...
apple watch ultra yellow

What's Next for the Apple Watch Ultra 3 and Apple Watch SE 3

Friday April 25, 2025 2:44 pm PDT by
This week marks the 10th anniversary of the Apple Watch, which launched on April 24, 2015. Yesterday, we recapped features rumored for the Apple Watch Series 11, but since 2015, the Apple Watch has also branched out into the Apple Watch Ultra and the Apple Watch SE, so we thought we'd take a look at what's next for those product lines, too. 2025 Apple Watch Ultra 3 Apple didn't update the...
iphone 17 air iphone 16 pro

iPhone 17 Air USB-C Port May Have This Unusual Design Quirk

Wednesday April 30, 2025 3:59 am PDT by
Apple is preparing to launch a dramatically thinner iPhone this September, and if recent leaks are anything to go by, the so-called iPhone 17 Air could boast one of the most radical design shifts in recent years. iPhone 17 Air dummy model alongside iPhone 16 Pro (credit: AppleTrack) At just 5.5mm thick (excluding a slightly raised camera bump), the 6.6-inch iPhone 17 Air is expected to become ...
iPhone 17 Pro Blue Feature Tighter Crop

iPhone 17 Pro Launching Later This Year With These 13 New Features

Wednesday April 23, 2025 8:31 am PDT by
While the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of April 2025: Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone ...
iPhone 17 Pro on Desk Feature

All iPhone 17 Models Again Rumored to Feature 12GB of RAM

Tuesday April 29, 2025 3:36 am PDT by
All upcoming iPhone 17 models will come equipped with 12GB of RAM to support Apple Intelligence, according to the Weibo-based leaker Digital Chat Station. The claim from the Chinese leaker, who has sources within Apple's supply chain, comes a few days after industry analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said that the iPhone 17 Air, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max will all be equipped with 12GB of RAM. ...
AirPods Pro 3 Mock Feature

AirPods Pro 3 Just Months Away – Here's What We Know

Tuesday April 29, 2025 1:30 am PDT by
Despite being more than two years old, Apple's AirPods Pro 2 still dominate the premium wireless‑earbud space, thanks to a potent mix of top‑tier audio, class‑leading noise cancellation, and Apple's habit of delivering major new features through software updates. With AirPods Pro 3 widely expected to arrive in 2025, prospective buyers now face a familiar dilemma: snap up the proven...

Top Rated Comments

McJobs Avatar
25 months ago
Deleted.
Score: 22 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Johnny907 Avatar
25 months ago
Lol still no MacOS for iPad, multi-user support or a functional file manager that won’t dismount external drives halfway through a multi-gig file transfer.

“What’s a computer?” Not this thing.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
saucykash Avatar
25 months ago
Dont know what the craze is with widgets on the home screen. Just reminds me of old windows software when I had 6 clocks and 2 calculators on the home screen.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
t0rqx Avatar
25 months ago
All these new features but the calculator is nowhere to be seen. Oh wait...it probably needs the M3 to make all those advanced calculations...
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
and 4096 others like this Avatar
25 months ago
This shouldn’t be consider as whole generation update…

I mean, they created so powerful devices and they’re show wallpapers change?

It’s like putting F1 engine to road car and show people how nice cup holder car have :/
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
eicca Avatar
25 months ago
Talk about underwhelming. My decrepit MacBook Pro from 2011 with a fraction of the computing power is still better at just getting basic things done than Apple’s “Most Versatile Device.”
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)