Category: News

The latest news with an iPad focus.

iPadOS 16.2 brings Stage Manager to the big screen

Apple has released iPadOS 16.2, and with that, Stage Manager support for external monitors. At least if you use an M1 or M2 equipped iPad, older iPads are stuck with screen mirroring, as before.

So, is it any good, Stage Manager on an external monitor?

No, not really. Everything I’ve written about it still stands, it’s buggy and confusing. It does make more sense on larger screens, and definitely on my XDR Display, but it’s also so very limited in the way you can arrange app windows. Not to mention that it crashes from time to time, still. It’s more stable than before, though, so there’s that. More on this at a later date, as well as the new Freeform app, which I’ve been using for some time. I’m looking forward to seeing how well it works for collaborations, now that it’s available for all.

Sunsetting Switch to iPad 🌅

Hi!

I hope this message finds you well. I’m afraid I have bad news: Switch to iPad will cease to get regular updates about a month from now, mid-December. The site will remain online for the foreseeable future, but don’t expect any updates beyond this point. There are some member features that’ll go online after this, though, but no regular updates.

I don’t take this lightly, and this decision wasn’t my first course of action, either. Discussions and variations hasn’t yielded any sustainable way for me to carry on with Switch to iPad. I just don’t have the time anymore, with a book coming out next year and writing the sequel. That’s the gist of it, something had to give, and since I still need to, you know, pay bills and buy food, that means Switch to iPad has to go.

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iPadOS 16.1.1 released

Apple has released iPadOS 16.1.1, which is a security release fixing, well, it’s not entirely clear to me. Either way, you should install this one as soon as possible. You’ll find the update in the Settings app as usual.

No news on iPadOS 16.2 yet. The rumormill says we’ll see a December release, and since we’re just on beta 2, that seems reasonable.

Affinity V2 brings Publisher to iPad

It’s been a long time coming, but finally, we can get Affinity Publisher, the desktop publishing app, on our iPads. The rumor’s been going around for quite some time, and Apple leaked it, as previously reported. Well, Affinity Publisher is finally here, alongside a big V2 update to all Affinity apps. That means that Affinity Photo and Designer also got some serious updates, with a revamped interface across the board.

This is a paid update, but still without any subscriptions. You can get all apps, including desktop (macOS and/or Windows), for a universal price. It’s 40% off currently, so $100 will net you all three V2 apps (soon to be $170). If you prefer to pay-per-app, it’s $11/each for the iPad versions (and $41/each for desktop). Personally, I paid for the full package right away, and will get back to you with a closer look at Affinity Publisher 2 in particular.

Read more about all the new features on Affinity’s site.

External monitor support is back in iPadOS 16.2 beta

While, unreliable at best, I must admit that I missed the external monitor support for Stage Manager when Apple pulled it from iPadOS 16.1. It was the right call, no doubt, but screen mirroring on an external monitor after having used Stage Manager just won’t cut it.

Well, the iPadOS 16.2 beta brings back external monitor support for Stage Manager, which looks pretty swanky on my Studio Display.

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New iPads announced, iPadOS 16.1 due on Monday

As rumored, Apple announced new iPad models on Tuesday. There was no event, just a website update, and new videos, of course. Looking at what got announced, it’s easy to see why: Apart from the new default iPad, it’s an underwhelming incremental upgrade, at best.

These are the models Apple announced, shipping on October 26th, but ready to pre-order now.

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New iPad Pros imminent?

It seems we might be getting new iPad Pros any day now because Apple has removed the old promo videos from its Youtube channel (thanks Steve, for pointing this out). This is common, Apple doesn’t keep promos for old models around, so this should mean that new iPad Pro models are imminent. Since there hasn’t been any event invites, these new models will likely be announced via press release, as has been rumored. I’d expect that to happen no later than tomorrow, Tuesday, so if you’re in the market for an iPad Pro, I’d hold off another day or so.

The new iPad Pros will likely use the new M2 chip. Here’s hoping the 11” model will get that glorious screen from the 12.9” model, although I wouldn’t bet on it. I don’t expect any major changes to the hardware, surely that would warrant an event, so this’ll most likely be another incremental update.

iPadOS 16 Beta Watch: Stage Manager will be available for more devices than previously announced

In a surprising, but welcome, a bit of news, Apple has enabled Stage Manager for more than just the M1 iPad models. Specifically, it’s the A12X and 12Z models, which means iPad Pros from 2018 and 2020 that will get Stage Manager when iPadOS 16.1 is released. They won’t, however, support Stage Manager on an external monitor.

Speaking of external monitor support, it appears that Apple is delaying this to actually get iPadOS 16.1 out the door. They’ll be enabling external display support for Stage Manager on M1 iPads in a software update later this year, per a statement to Engadget. This, paired with the just released developer beta of iPadOS 16.1 and the fact that it feels pretty stable even where Stage Manager is concerned, points to an upcoming release pretty soon. I’d expect this to coincide with new iPad Pro models, which may or may not get an actual Apple event, as previously reported.

It seems like Apple came to the same conclusion as I did: Just release iPadOS 16 already. The fact that they got Stage Manager (seemingly) stable, albeit without external monitor support, is just gravy.

No October Apple event after all?

Bloomberg’s Apple analyst Mark Gurman speculates that there might not be another Apple event this year after all. The rumor-mill, to which Gurman frequently contributes, has been pretty adamant that there’d be an October event to announce new Macs and, more importantly for Switch to iPad readers, iPad Pros. With the delay of iPadOS 16, an event seemed even more likely.

That said, Gurman might be on to something here, assuming the iPad Pro upgrades are M2 chips with the current generation’s design. The M2 chips got enough stage-time in Apple’s MacBook Air announcement, so there’s no real news value talking extensively about them. Looking at the state of iPadOS 16.1, it seems unlikely that Apple would want to bang the drum too hard, most likely launching 16.1 with the key feature Stage Manager under a beta moniker.

It’s been a rough couple of months for Apple when it comes to iPad. I hope I’m wrong, and that we’ll get at least a shorter Apple event highlighting iPad (and new Macs, of course), but I wouldn’t be surprised if Gurman is correct on this one.