TextEdit app spotted on iPad during WWDC demo

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TextEdit-iPad
TextEdit installed on an iPad.
Photo: Apple

The TextEdit app that ships with every Mac could soon be making its way to iOS. Its icon was spotted on an iPad during a recent demonstration at WWDC, but Apple has made no mention of the app’s release.

TextEdit is Apple’s super simple word processor. It’s baked into OS X (soon to be macOS) so it comes pre-installed by default, and it’s useful for all kinds of things like taking notes, drafting letters, and other things that don’t require fancier programs.

Now it looks like Apple could be planning to bring a mobile version of TextEdit to iOS. During the company’s “Whats New in Metal, Part 1” session at WWDC (17:58) — which you can watch on the Apple website — the TextEdit icon can be seen on an iPad.

TextEdit has actually been spotted on iOS before in a pre-release screenshot from iOS 8 — alongside a Preview app. Back then, it was thought both titles would make it into Apple’s final iOS 8 release, but neither did.

This leak doesn’t confirm TextEdit will come to iOS, then. The app is likely used for testing purposes inside Apple, but the company probably feels consumers just don’t need it what with the Pages app, and lots of other word processors, being free to download.

TextEdit isn’t available inside the iOS 10 beta, and we didn’t see it during any of Apple’s iOS 10 demos, either.

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