Apple usually treats us to a yearly major software for all its devices, from the iPhone and Apple Watch, to the iPad and Mac.
For iPhone, the software update is expected to be iOS 17, while for Apple Watch, it’s thought to be watchOS 10 that will be announced. When it comes to the new features coming to iPad though, it looks like those will be arriving in the form of iPadOS 17. This is everything we have heard so far about iPadOS 17 and what features could be coming to iPad this year.
iPadOS 17 release date
- 5 June 2023: iPadOS 17 expected to be announced at WWDC
- July 2023: Public betas of iPadOS 17 could appear
- Mid-September 2023: Final version of iPadOS 17 expected
Apple has announced it will hold its Worldwide Developer Conference – also known as WWDC – between 5 June and 9 June. The company typically holds a Day One keynote where the majority of new announcements are made, including new software for iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Mac and Apple TV.
It’s therefore expected that iPadOS 17 will be announced on 5 June. If previous patterns are followed, we could then see developer and public betas released around July 2023, followed by the final public release sometime in September 2023.
iPadOS 17 features and what we want to see
Rumours surrounding what features iPadOS 17 could bring are still a little thin on the ground at the moment, with specific rumours few and far between.
It’s been suggested that third-party app stores could be introduced, and it’s also possible we might see the re-designed Lock Screen that was introduced to iPhone with last year’s iOS 16 but didn’t transfer across to iPad.
Other features will likely include support for the long-rumoured Reality Pro headset, and it wouldn’t be too surprising to see improvements to some of Apple’s native apps, like Calendar and Mail too.
We’d really love to see multi-user support with iPadOS 17 so those who have an iPad shared with multiple family members can all use it on their own profile – as you can with Mac. It would also be great to see the Lock Screen feature from iPhone that we mentioned above and we wouldn’t say no to Dynamic Island either, though that might be pushing it.
Which iPads will be compatible with iPadOS 17?
While rumours surrounding iPadOS 17’s features have been infrequent, there have been some reports surrounding what iPad models will be compatible with the new software. For iPadOS 16, Apple dropped support for just two iPads – the iPad Air (2nd gen) from 2014 and the iPad mini (4th gen) from 2015.
It’s been claimed there could be three models on the chopping block for iPadOS 17 though with reports of the iPad (fifth generation), iPad Pro 9.7-inch (first generation) and iPad Pro 12.9-inch (first generation) all claimed to be losing support.
That would still leave 20 iPads supporting the software though, six of which are in our best iPads round up.
If the reports are true, the following iPad models are expected to be compatible with iPadOS 17:
- iPad Pro (2nd generation and later)
- iPad Air (3rd generation and later)
- iPad (6th generation and later)
- iPad mini (5th generation and later)
iPadOS 17 rumours: What’s happened so far?
This is everything we have heard so far about iPadOS 17.
25 April 2023: These iPads could be left behind by iPadOS 17
A report from iPhoneSoft claimed the fifth-gen iPad, along with the 1st-gen iPad Pro in both 9.7-inch and 12.9-inch configurations won’t support iPadOS 17.
13 December 2022: Third party App Stores to be allowed
Mark Gurman of Bloomberg reported that Apple was preparing to allow alternative app stores on its iPad and iPhones in order to comply with European Union requirements that will come into effect in 2024.