JuTou | iPadOS 18: The epic update “Calculator” is here, and these changes are also worth a try

JuTou | iPadOS 18: The epic update “Calculator” is here, and these changes are also worth a try

In the early hours of Tuesday morning Beijing time, Apple released a series of new software platforms at WWDC 2024, as well as Apple Intelligence, a product that Apple finally made efforts in the field of artificial intelligence. iPadOS was naturally not absent. iPadOS 18 finally brought the official calculator to the iPad platform, has the same home screen customization function as iOS 18, and some Apple Pencil exclusive functions… We also installed the first beta version of iPadOS 18 as soon as possible. After some experience, let's talk about what new changes are in the first beta version.

Design interaction upgrade

When I wrote the article last year, I was still lamenting why iPadOS always lags behind iOS in design and interaction, especially in home screen and lock screen related functions. However, this year iPadOS 18 is finally “unreserved”. Like iOS 18, it has a new way to customize home screen icons and widgets, as well as a newly designed control center. In addition, iPadOS has made two other optimizations for the large screen of iPad devices: the tab bar that appears at the top of the app, and the new file browser that appears in some Apple apps.

The main screen can freely place icons and hide apps

iPadOS 18 is consistent with iOS 18, and you can place elements on the home screen arbitrarily, including app icons and widgets. The grid on the iPad has not changed: it still uses the 4×6 design in iPadOS 17. Each app icon takes up 1 square (1×1); and widgets are available in four sizes: small (1×1), medium (1×2), large (2×2), and extra large (4×2). It’s just that it’s much easier to change the size of a widget now. Just press and hold and drag the lower right corner of the resizable widget. In addition, iPadOS has two home screen settings for landscape and portrait, which are independent of each other.

In addition, consistent with iOS 18, the icons and components on the home screen in iPadOS 18 can also be customized to dark and light colors, or the icon recoloring function can be turned on to color the icons. It must be pointed out that in iPadOS 18 Beta 1, the effect of this color is still a bit difficult to evaluate – for example, the App Store icon, which has a color change in Apple's press release, has not changed in Beta 1; if a darker color is chosen to color the icon, it may cause the original app icon to be unclear, etc. However, if a better-looking color scheme is adjusted, the icon looks harmonious overall.

In addition, any app in the app library now supports system-level Face ID unlocking and hiding. You can long-press the app icon and select “Require Face ID to open”, and then further select “Require Face ID and hide”. The hidden app will disappear from most places in the system (such as the home screen, lock screen, Siri suggestions, etc.) (but it can still be seen in the settings), and it will not send any notifications. At the same time, you can see a locked “Hidden” folder in the app library. Clicking on this locked folder also requires verifying Face ID to see the contents inside.

The new control center is really a kaleidoscope

In iPadOS 18, the Control Center has indeed received the biggest change since iOS 11. We can:

• See the circular control component in the control center
• Add or delete components of the control center directly in the control center interface
• All components can be moved and placed in the control center
• You can shut down the device in the control center
• This is also the first time that the control center is open to third-party apps.

Most components, like desktop widgets, support resizing, and can be easily resized as needed. The most obvious example is the app that controls music playback, which can be resized from a small square to an entire page.

The functions that can be controlled by the control center have also been greatly increased. They are now classified by app or function category. For example, the control items related to accessibility are placed together and can be placed in the control center by simply dragging. The control center now also supports paging, and different control components can be placed on different pages.

Unfortunately, the new control center still does not provide convenient controls for switching between 4G and 5G. It seems that we have to use shortcut commands to run it for the time being.

App tab bar with unified visual style

The App tab bar separates different views in the app, using a design similar to the visual style of tvOS and visionOS. For example, in the App Store, “Today”, “Games”, “Apps” and “Arcade” are separated, which is paginated with bottom tabs in iPadOS 17. Apps such as Books, Podcasts, Fitness, App Store, Home, Files, etc. all use the new App tab bar design in iPadOS 18 Beta 1.

However, it seems that the development progress of each app is different at present, and the relevant designs are not completely unified. What's more, the Apple TV app demonstrated at the press conference still does not adopt this new design at all in iPadOS 18 Beta 1, and currently still uses a sidebar design for page navigation.

However, for large screens, placing the tab bar at the top will be relatively clearer at a glance and more friendly to pointing devices such as touchpads; especially when the bottom tab bar often conflicts with the program dock, home screen indicator, etc.

If necessary, it can be transformed into a sidebar for more complex navigation. In some apps (such as podcasts), you can also put the pages you watch most often in the tab bar. I believe other apps will follow suit in later versions.

The long-awaited calculator

It is probably the most appropriate to describe the arrival of the calculator on iPad as “long-awaited”, and it is indeed worthy of the cool animation at WWDC. The calculator on iPadOS 18 (and iOS 18) has the following three main update features worth mentioning: First, the scientific calculator can be called up at any time without horizontal screen activation, and supports history records; second, it supports unit conversion; third, it supports the math note function, which can judge mathematical equations and functions in handwriting (or typing), and supports drawing curves.

Switch calculator view

The calculator in iPadOS 18 provides a total of 3 modes, which can be switched through the calculator button in the lower left corner, including basic calculator, scientific calculator, and math memo. You can also turn on the conversion button to convert units.

The button in the upper left corner opens the list of historical calculation results, and you can swipe right on any item to copy the result or delete the entry. After entering the formula in the calculator and pressing the equal sign, we can see the calculation in the list of historical calculation results, including unit conversion.

Unit conversion: supports 15 types of units including common currencies

This time, Apple has finally moved the unit conversion function from Spotlight search to the calculator, and supports direct input of formulas in the line for conversion.

For example, a meal for five people costs 236 US dollars. After including a 15% tip, the average amount converted directly into RMB is 393.04 yuan. We do not need to calculate the results of each step. We can directly enter (236+15%) ÷ 5 in the scientific mode of the calculator, set the currency unit, and the conversion result can be automatically obtained.

In addition, the currency conversion history will also provide the conversion date. The currency exchange rate is from Yahoo Finance and will be automatically updated when connected to the Internet.

Math Memo: Automatically calculate results, substitute variables, and draw function graphs

The calculator in iPadOS 18 also supports the math memo function, which can recognize the user's handwritten formulas on the screen and calculate the formulas to give the results. It supports four arithmetic operations and some scientific operations currently supported by the iOS calculator, such as trigonometric functions, logarithmic functions, etc. More complex operations such as derivatives are not supported yet.

Currently, handwriting support for Arabic numerals (such as 0, 1, 2) is provided. If there are unknown numbers in the formula, you can also calculate by assigning values ​​to the unknown numbers. As the value of the unknown number changes, the calculation result will automatically change. The calculation result will automatically match the user's handwriting style. However, currently only unknown numbers created with Latin letters (such as x, y, z) are supported. It seems that Greek letters (such as α, β) have not been taken into account in this wave of updates.

In addition, if the user writes a univariate function (including exponential function, power function, trigonometric function, logarithmic function, etc., or a combination function), then Math Memo can also draw the corresponding graph. Click on the constant in the function to see a slider that can adjust the size of the number. At the same time, the already drawn graph will also be adjusted accordingly.

In addition to being available in the Calculator app, Math Memo is also available in the Memo and Edgenote apps. These two apps can also automatically display the calculation results of the formula in handwritten (or typed) format, and can also draw function graphs.

Notes and Apple Pencil updates

In addition to the math memo function mentioned above, there are several updates to the memo and Apple Pencil related functions in iPadOS 18 that are worth mentioning.

First, the memo supports shrinking and folding the content under each subheading; it also supports text highlighting; secondly, the memo also supports the function of transcribing recordings into text (and can be searched), but currently this function only works in English. I tried the transcription function, but I don’t know if it’s because of my network or this function has not been launched in Beta 1, I haven’t been able to get the transcribed text yet.

For Apple Pencil, iPadOS 18 now supports the handwriting optimization function of Apple Pencil. Machine learning will recognize your notes and convert them into neater and more readable handwriting fonts. You can directly convert the copied text into handwriting fonts for pasting, and you can also detect spelling errors in your handwritten notes and correct them. However, this feature is not currently supported in Chinese. You can see the comparison of the results of copying a paragraph of English and optimizing the handwriting below.

Boundless Record adds “Scene” and flowchart modes

For the iPad infinite canvas app “Borderless Notes”, iPadOS 18 mainly updates two functions – one is “Scene”, which can create a specific part of the canvas as a scene, and you can switch between different scenes at any time to facilitate demonstration and export; the other is the flowchart mode. In the flowchart mode, the elements in the screen will have built-in connection points. Click the connection point to select the shape of the next graphic, and the two graphics can be automatically connected. In addition, you can also choose the form of the connection between the graphics, such as curves, polylines, straight lines, etc.

Apple Intelligence has not yet appeared

Apple Intelligence, which took up nearly half of the press conference, did not appear in iPadOS 18 Beta 1 – Siri is still the same Siri, without a marquee or smart contextual understanding. According to Apple's information, Apple Intelligence may not launch a preview version until later this summer, supporting iPhones, iPads, and Macs with 8GB of memory and above. Apple Intelligence mainly includes three aspects of intelligent functions, which realize Apple's vision of AI through integration with the system – natural language processing, helping users write and summarize, and analyzing notification information to achieve priority sorting, etc.; creation and generation of graphics, including generation using natural language, generation using sketches, and generation of new emojis, etc.; integration of voice assistant Siri, through Siri and App intentions, combined with the user's personal context to realize the operation of the entire OS system and app, truly helping users work and achieve “speaking and doing”.

Apple Intelligence is undoubtedly the protagonist of WWDC. Although I don't see it in Beta 1, I feel very sorry, but I am still looking forward to the future. Personally, I think what Apple wants to solve is how AI shapes the core experience of users using iOS, iPadOS and macOS: the current LLM model can understand and output language, but it seems that it has not been well integrated with the system and apps.

It can tell users through a rich knowledge baseHow to dobut to a large extent cannot be directlyHelp users doand Apple Intelligence hopes to solve this problem of “directly helping users” with the help of LLM. This is actually consistent with the concept of the so-called AI hardware such as Humane AI Pin and Rabbit R1, which were very popular in the early stage. It can also be said to be the key to turning Apple devices into real AI smart hardware.

Other updates worth mentioning

In addition to the iPadOS 18 updates directly related to iPad features detailed above, the following iPadOS 18 features are worth paying attention to.

Game Mode comes to iPad

The game mode that was previously launched in macOS Sonoma has also come to iPhone and iPad. After testing, Beta 1 is available. According to Apple's official statement, the game mode can optimize the gaming experience and stabilize the frame rate by reducing the background activity of the device, while also increasing the sampling frequency of Bluetooth devices and reducing latency.

SharePlay screen sharing supports annotation and remote control

When using SharePlay for screen sharing in iPadOS 18, you can display clicks or annotations on the other party's screen; you can also directly control the other party's screen for remote assistance.

Settings app design improvements

In iPadOS 18, the Settings app has received a redesign similar to iOS, further optimizing the classification of settings items and placing independent settings for all apps (including system apps except the camera) in Apps.

In addition, the Settings app has also optimized search, and now it will present search suggestions. However, in Beta 1, both the overall design and functionality are still lacking, and it is obvious that it needs to be optimized later. For example, some settings have a brief introduction at the top of the page, while others do not; the color of the menu icon under the “General” settings is extremely inconsistent; the search function is not particularly easy to use at present, etc.

Redesigned Photos app

The redesigned Photos app in iOS 18 also appears in iPadOS 18. The Photos app completely adopts a new way to browse and organize photos. I personally think it is more interesting that the Photos app now automatically categorizes some functional photos in the album – in the past there were screenshots and screen recordings, but now there are receipts, handwritten content, illustrations, QR codes, documents, maps and other categories.

Files app can choose to save and download files in iCloud Drive

Previously, whether in iPadOS or iOS, the Files app would download files when “users needed them” and would delete them later to save hard drive space.

It is very inconvenient for some larger documents. Even for small files, it is not economical to download them from iCloud every time for daily reading. iPadOS 18 solves this problem. Files in iCloud can be saved locally all the time. Just long press (or right click) a file or folder and select the “Keep Download” option.

Final Thoughts

The above are the relatively important updates in the first beta of iPadOS 18. In fact, what makes me most regretful is not the absence of Apple Intelligence (after all, it will always come), but the fact that the multitasking system of iPadOS has not changed in iPadOS 18 – the front-end scheduling has not received any updates, the window arrangement restrictions remain, and the experience of external monitors is still unsatisfactory. Perhaps in the frequent actions in recent years, Apple has also reflected on this – what kind of device is the iPad? Does it need the same multitasking capabilities as the Mac? The answer to this question is very subjective.

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