Author: Thord Hedengren

Here’s a nice surprise in the third developer beta of iPadOS 16: There’s a global keyboard shortcut to close windows. This made less sense before, whereas apps could have multiple instances (or windows, if you will) open, but they had no real relation to anything apart from that they existed, and could be jumped between. Now, with Stage Manager, it makes more sense, whereas multiple windows exist beside, over, and under each other.

Mac users will recognize the keyboard shortcut: cmd+w. Some apps already have support for this, with its own behavior, which will take precedence, or at least that’s how I understand it after having read discussions about this new feature. If there’s nothing assigned to cmd+w in the app, it’ll revert to default, which is to close the current window. A nice addition, if you ask me.

Apple released the third developer beta of iPadOS 16, which could be what the upcoming public beta will be based on. While there are fixes all-around, one thing really stood out to me, and that’s a new setting for the Reminders app. You might remember that I’m enjoying the new Today view in Reminders, but also that the way badges are being used, for due and overdue tasks, are less-intuitive than they should be.

Well, I’m pleased to report that this a thing of the past, as of the third iPadOS 16 beta.

New iPadOS versions usually mean that the default apps get some (sometimes much-needed) TLC. That’s the case with iPadOS 16 too, although most of the coverage has been related to Mail, which, in all fairness, is getting the most updates.

The additions to Reminders is more subtle, but much appreciated. I’m actually using Reminders for my task management, thanks to its wonderful integration with both Siri, and other apps, like Readdle’s Calendars, for example. There are plenty of trade-offs, and Reminders isn’t without its quirks, as I’ve talked about several times before, but here we are.

I’m pleased to say that Reminders are getting a little nicer in iPadOS 16.

Mail is the default app in iPadOS 16 that’s got the most updates, and arguably also the app that’s in most dire need. I’m reluctant to talk about the snooze feature just yet. In fact, I debated whether I’d write a post about Send Later at all because I don’t think that the Mail app is particularly stable, especially not in Stage Manager. There’s something wonky going on, and since communication is important to so many things I’m doing, I’ve put in limited use.

That said, I’ve used the Send Later feature a couple of times now, and I must say, it’s worked without a hitch.

I wrote a full newsletter on Stage Manager, the new multitasking environment in iPadOS (and the upcoming macOS Ventura). You basically get windowing support, although your windows aren’t fully resizable, you’re still stuck with a couple of pre-determined sizes. Personally, I have yet to fully commit to this, the verdict’s still out, but I must say, the Stage Manager feature is growing on me.