The newest version of Apple’s iPadOS has been announced – but can your existing iPad run it?
iPadOS 16 includes a bunch of enhancements around multitasking and external display support (with Stage Manager) in addition to a few enhancements in apps like Messages and Safari. There’s also a new Freeform canvas-style brainstorming app, too. There’s no support for the new customisable lock screen we’ve got in the new iOS 16, though.
This time around, the new version of iPadOS dumps support for the iPad Air 2 and iPad Mini 4, but everything else can install it. That means iPadOS 16 goes back to the earliest 2015 iPad Pro, the 2017 versions of the standard iPad, and 2019 version of the iPad Mini and iPad Air.
The full list of supported iPads is as follows:
iPadOS 16 supported devices: full list
- iPad mini (5th generation or later)
- iPad (5th generation or later)
- iPad Air (3rd generation or later)
- iPad Pro (all versions)
iPadOS 16 public beta and developer beta
While the developer preview of iPadOS 16 is available to developers now (reportedly in quite a buggy version), a public beta isn’t available as yet.
It will be more generally available to iPad users next month at beta.apple.com but remember the mantra for pre-release software; back up first – and do not install it on your main iPad, especially if you rely on it.
