After months of beta testing, Apple is finally ready to release iPadOS 16 and macOS Ventura to the public. Both OSes will release on October 24.
Apple confirmed the iPadOS 16 release date alongside the M2 iPad Pro announcement.
iPadOS 16 will launch with Stage Manager
Apple delayed the release of iPadOS 16 this year due to bugs with Stage Manager. The company typically launches major new iOS and iPadOS releases in September. It unveiled both iOS 16 and iPadOS 16 at WWDC22. However, the latter received negative feedback from beta testers due to poor Stage Manager implementation and the feature being exclusive to M1 iPads.
Despite several changes, Apple eventually decided to push back the iPadOS 16 release to October as it worked on improving Stage Manager. Since then, Apple has made numerous changes to the feature and expanded it to older non-M1 iPads. External monitor support in Stage Manager is slated to arrive later this year.
Notably, Apple will seed iPadOS 16.1 directly to the public, not iPadOS 16.
Besides Stage Manager, iPadOS 16 will enable Reference Mode on the 12.9-inch iPad Pro with Liquid Retina XDR display. This will allow pro users to use their iPad as a reference monitor in their workflow. Other significant iPadOS 16 changes include the ability to undo and edit sent messages in the Messages and Mail app, video support in Live Text, and an improved Photos app.
macOS Ventura also launches next week
Alongside iPadOS 16.1, Apple will launch macOS Ventura for all compatible Macs. It features a new Clock and Weather app, a new System Settings menu and plenty of other usability improvements. Like iPadOS 16, macOS Ventura will also bring Stage Manager, Live Text for Video, and Messages and Mail app improvements to Macs.
You can find a list of all compatible iPads and Macs getting iPadOS 16 and macOS Ventura here.
