A First Look at iPadOS 14, iOS 14, and macOS 11

I am very close to deciding whether or not I will be launching a new tech site focusing on the iPad and iPhone and other future-facing computing paradigms. Apple has announced and released the next iteration of the software powering these platforms. If you like this article, let me know and you can probably expect a lot more like this.

iPadOS 14, a surprising disappointment

I love the iPad as a platform. I have had one since the first day it was released 10 years ago. It heralded the post-PC era. Nothing was going to be the same again. Imitators rose and fell. Shocking sales records were set and broken. The iPad was all Apple could talk about. It was the next big thing.

Somewhere along the way, it crashed back to earth with more realistic and sustainable numbers. Apple turned its collective attention to other projects. And the iPad took a backseat. While the hardware steadily improved, the software got more and more stagnant. These days, software features dribble in a little at a time. We just have to be grateful for any attention at all.

That is not to say that we haven’t seen big changes. They are just big enough to keep us hanging on, but small enough so that it feels Apple is still holding back. Earlier this year, we got full mouse and trackpad support. But that support is still lacking important features. WWDC gave us a glimpse at what was possible. But strangely, the iPad was left out of the feature party thrown for the iPhone.

You can no longer assume that everything iOS gets will be delivered to iPadOS. iOS received a major home screen and app-handling overhaul. iPadOS received none of those changes. You cannot drag widgets to the home screen. The only place you can see widgets is on the first page of your home screen, and that, only in a small section of the home screen. You can also forget about the App Library in iOS. For some reason, that did not make the trip to iPadOS.

The real question is why. iOS and iPadOS are the same code base. There is no issue with porting. Hardware is also not an issue. There are no hard computer science problems to solve. This is just a choice to leave the iPad out. Who made that choice and why? We will probably never know. There is a chance Apple will reverse course and include the new home screen at a later time. But right now, it shows the iPad much disrespect.

That said, the iPad did get a new feature in the form of more Apple Pencil support. For once, Apple provided people other than artists a reason to use the Apple Pencil. They are tentatively embracing handwriting recognition. You can just start writing any place where you would normally type. This sentence was written by hand and translated in real time into text. I am writing this in an unmodified version of Drafts that has no support for drawing or handwriting. This is all done at the system level. And it works flawlessly.

I will point out that drafts is made of sterner stuff than Ulysses which crashed when using the stylus for writing. That is the only app I have that seems to need an update for the Pencil to work. There are also things that need to be worked out with regard to handwriting support. There is no way to make bullet points or headings. You just have to write, then add those formatting options in later. There are apps that can do handwritten bullet points and headers. The Apple team just hasn’t gotten around to adding that polish.

All in all, there isn’t much to talk about with regard to my favorite platform. We can only hope that whoever is holding back the home screen improvements has a change of heart.

iOS for the win

I love what Apple has done with the iPhone. It is a combination of things we have been asking for and things we didn’t know we wanted. We power users have been asking for an updated and more capable home screen for a long time. Now, we have it.

There will be real widgets in iOS 14. That said, they will still have some limitations. They will not be interactive. There will be no calculator widgets that allow you to put in numbers and get a result. That renders some of the widgets they have somewhat useless. For instance, the podcast widget does not allow you to start and stop a podcast. It is little more than a launcher for the app. That is a useless waste of space.

The most useful widgets will be those that can show you information you want without requiring interaction from you. The calendar is the best example. Reminders is also a useful widget if you regularly use that sort of thing. The news widget will show you current headlines. Think of the widgets as large Apple Watch complications. That is not exactly what I was asking for. But it is a good start. I suspect Apple is afraid of active widgets creating a power management problem. Even so, they have done a pretty good job of implementing them so far.

The biggest problem with the home screen is that it becomes much like the table you set up in your house, it started out as a place to set your keys and charge your phone. But it quickly became a catch-all, hopelessly cluttered with junk. That’s the iPhone home screen.

Apple has added a page at the end of the home screens called the App Library. It consists of two elements: The first is a search box where you can just search for an app. When you activate search by pulling down or tapping into the text field, you also get a list of apps in alphabetical order. The other component is a series of folders showing four squares. Three of them are the most used apps in that category. The fourth is a representation of all the other apps in that category. Tap either of the three and they take you to the app. Tap the other and it shows all the apps in the folder.

Additionally, iOS 14 allows you to hide all those pages of apps that you don’t use but don’t want to get rid of. A special jiggle mode allows you to select 1 or all of your pages of apps and turn ten pages of apps into two. All of those apps are still accessible from search or the App Library. You can return the pages to active duty anytime you like. Nothing is lost in the process.

The biggest new feature may just be one that Apple didn’t announce. It has the unfortunate name, Back Tap. Forget about the name. It allows you to set up various actions or launch apps just by double or triple-tapping the back of the phone. I set up mine so the double-tap launches my magnifier. A triple-tap launches system-wide search. It works flawlessly.

iOS 14 on the iPhone feels like a basket of rich gifts that enhance your experience with your device. iPadOS feels like a half-empty basket that someone gave you because they had to give you something. But they clearly cheaped out. Then, there’s the Mac...

It goes to 11

While the iPad is my favorite computing platform, the Mac is my most used and most important platform. I want to see exciting things happen for the Mac. Apple, however, is very cautious about making big changes to macOS. People are very sensitive to big changes in systems they rely on for mission-critical work. So small changes are not necessarily a complaint, just an observation.

There is a new look to the icons and interface elements. It is a subtle difference that brings the look of the system more in line with the iPad. Another change is the new Control Center menu bar item. It is a very convenient one-click access to functions such as brightness and audio settings. It is a welcome element brought directly from iOS.

My favorite new feature is found in accessibility. Tune the right settings and you can just click anywhere on the screen and have the Mac start reading aloud from that point. Transport controls will appear at the bottom of the screen enabling you to pause, rewind, and fast-forward. There are also controls allowing you to speed up the reading or slow it down to your liking.

Be aware that at this time, that feature does not work reliably or at all in browsers other than Safari. Chrome and Firefox are coded in such a way that they defeat most accessibility affordances built into the system.They are not good Mac accessibility citizens.

Sometimes, I think Apple is a bit too cautious with their Mac update strategy. With so few changes to the system, it is hard to be excited about the Mac. That said, it doesn’t matter if I am excited about the Mac. It just has to keep working as that is the system I use for most things. I’m guessing the transition to Apple Silicon is about all the excitement they can handle in the Mac division in Cupertino.

Hearing is believing

I’m stoked about the new features coming to AirPods Pro and the Beats line of headphones. Unfortunately, none of them are working in the current betas. There is no telling when, or even if they will be activated. Apple has a history of making exciting announcements about something that just never materializes. The AirPods features feel like they could be in that category.

The most important feature is automatic switching. You might start out by having your AirPods paired to your iPhone. Later, you pick up your iPad to do something and the connection automatically switches to the iPad. The same is true for the Mac. It sounds like magic and I will believe it when I see it.

That sounds like a hard computer science problem that has yet to be solved. Remember, if you have multiple devices in your home with Siri, it is supposed to be able to sort out which device your query is directed. That system is terrible. Automatic audio switching had better be a vast improvement over the Siri recognition.

Another hard computer science problem Apple is tackling involves giving AirPods Pro special audio without upgrading the hardware. Imagine getting a full home theater, Dolby Atmos experience through your AirPods Pro. Again, hearing is believing. And there is nothing to hear, yet. Apple has not chosen to include the feature in the first beta. That should give you some idea of their confidence level. It is a nice idea that simply isn’t ready yet, and may never be ready Here’s to hoping.

Conclusion: A harbinger of things to come

Apple is making a lot of big changes to how people use their devices. Just pick up the Pencil and start inking. That is a major change to how we presently think about using the iPad. For the first time, the iPhone home screen will look radically different. The new Back Tap feature will be a revelation to many people. The Mac is changing architecture. It will soon be able to ran iOS apps natively.

Let's not forget the AirPods Pro. In 2 months, they are going to feel like new Those features will seem like magic if Apple can pull them off. All of these updates are huge. It is nice to see Apple swinging for the fences again.

I can't wait to see what the nest round of betas have to offer. By the way, I wrote this entire section with the Apple Pencil.

David Johnson