At long last, the full and final version of iPadOS 16.1 is now available to download for iPad Pro, iPad Air, iPad mini, and iPad.
iPadOS 16.1 Final Version Now Available for iPad Users with Stage Manager for Pro Models, Handful of New Features, and More
Apple managed to disappoint a lot of people when it announced that iPadOS 16 won't be released alongside iOS 16. The reason? Some features just weren't ready, and one of those is Stage Manager. Fast forward to this day, everyone with a compatible iPad can go ahead and download iPadOS 16.1 onto their tablet and experience what Apple has baked in its oven.
The list of compatible iPadOS 16.1 devices is as follows:
- iPad Pro (all models)
- iPad Air (3rd generation and later)
- iPad (5th generation and later)
- iPad mini (5th generation and later)
iPadOS 16.1 Features and Changes
iCloud Shared Photo Library
- Separate library for seamlessly sharing photos and videos with up to five other people
- Setup rules allow you to easily contribute past photos based on a start date or people in the photos when you set up or join a library
- Library filters for quickly switching between viewing the Shared Library, your Personal Library, or both libraries together
- Shared edits and permissions let everyone add, edit, favorite, caption, and delete photos
- Sharing toggle in Camera lets you choose to send photos you take straight to the Shared Library or enable a setting to share automatically when other participants are detected nearby using Bluetooth
Messages
- Edit a message for up to 15 minutes after sending it, and recipients see a record of edits
- Undo send allows you to recall any message up to 2 minutes after sending it
- Mark as unread makes it easy to come back to a conversation later
- SharePlay in Messages lets you enjoy activities like watching movies, listening to music, playing games, and more with friends while messaging
- Collaboration provides a simple way to invite others to collaborate on a file via Messages and get activity updates in the thread when someone makes an edit to a shared project
- Improved search delivers more accurate, complete results and provides suggestions as soon as you begin to type
- Undo send allows you to cancel delivery of a message within 10 seconds of hitting send
- Scheduled send for sending an email at a specific day and time
- Follow‑up surfaces sent emails that have not been replied to, to the top of your inbox so you can quickly follow‑up
- Remind me lets you schedule a date and time to be reminded about an email
Safari and Passkeys
- Shared Tab Groups let you share a set of tabs with others and see the Tab Group update instantly as you work together
- Tab Group start pages can be customized with different background images and favorites for each Tab Group
- Pinned tabs in Tab Groups enable you to pin frequently visited websites for each Tab Group
- Safari web page translation adds translation for web pages in Turkish, Thai, Vietnamese, Polish, Indonesian, and Dutch
- Passkeys offer support for an easier and safer sign‑in method to replace passwords
- Passkey syncing through iCloud Keychain makes your passkeys available across all your Apple devices while keeping them end-to-end encrypted
Stage Manager
- A new way to multitask on iPad Pro 12.9-inch (3rd generation and later), iPad Pro 11-inch (1st generation and later), and iPad Air (5th generation)
- Overlapping and resizable windows allow you to adjust the size of your apps and arrange your ideal workspace
- Recent Apps arranged on the left of the screen allow you to quickly switch between apps
- App groups allow you to create sets of apps that you can quickly get back to
New Display Modes
- Reference Mode delivers reference color for popular color standards and video formats on the 12.9-inch iPad Pro with Liquid Retina XDR display and with Sidecar, use it as a reference display for your Apple silicon Mac
- New display scaling setting that increases the pixel density so you can view more in your apps on iPad Pro 11-inch (1st generation and later), iPad Pro 12.9-inch (5th generation and later), and iPad Air (5th generation)
Weather
- Weather app on iPad is optimized for the larger display, including immersive animations, detailed maps, and tappable forecast modules
- Weather maps show precipitation, air quality, and temperature alongside the location view or in full screen
- Tappable modules reveal more detail, such as hourly temperature or precipitation forecasts for the next 10 days
- Air quality displays a color-coded scale for air quality, level, and category, and you can view air quality on a map to see related health recommendations, pollutant breakdown, and more
- Animated backgrounds represent the sun position, clouds, and precipitation, with thousands of variations
- Severe weather notifications let you know when a severe weather alert has been issued near you
Game Center
- In-Game Dashboard Activity shows you what your friends are accomplishing in this game, and what they are playing and achieving across all games in one place
- Game Center Profiles highlight your achievement and leaderboard activity across all of the games you play
- Contacts integration shows your friends’ Game Center profiles and lets you see what they are playing and accomplishing in games
Live Text
- Live Text video support allows you to interact with text in a paused video frame so you can copy, translate, lookup, share, and more available on iPad (8th generation and later), iPad mini (5th generation and later), iPad Air (3rd generation and later), iPad Pro 12.9-inch (3rd generation and later) and iPad Pro 11-inch all models
- Quick actions let you take action on data detected in photos and videos with a single tap, so you can track flights or shipments, translate foreign languages, convert currencies, and more, available on iPad (8th generation and later), iPad mini (5th generation and later), iPad Air (3rd generation and later), iPad Pro 12.9-inch (3rd generation and later) and iPad Pro 11-inch all models
Visual Look Up
- Lift subject from the background isolates the subject of an image so you can copy and paste it into apps like Mail and Messages, available on iPad (8th generation and later), iPad mini (5th generation and later), iPad Air (3rd generation and later), iPad Pro 12.9-inch (3rd generation and later), and iPad Pro 11-inch all models
- Visual Look Up adds recognition of birds, insects, spiders, and statues in your photos, available on iPad (8th generation and later), iPad mini (5th generation and later), iPad Air (3rd generation and later), iPad Pro 12.9-inch (3rd generation and later), and iPad Pro 11-inch all models
Siri
- Easy Shortcuts setup makes it possible to run shortcuts with Siri as soon as you download an app with no upfront setup
- A new setting allows you to send messages without Siri asking you to confirm before sending
- “Hey Siri, what can I do here?” helps you discover Siri capabilities in iPadOS and apps just by asking, available on iPad (8th generation and later), iPad mini (5th generation and later), iPad Air (3rd generation and later), iPad Pro 12.9-inch (3rd generation and later), and iPad Pro 11-inch all models
- Call hang-up option for ending Phone and FaceTime calls with Siri by saying “Hey Siri, hang up”, available on iPad (8th generation and later), iPad mini (5th generation and later), iPad Air (3rd generation and later), iPad Pro 12.9-inch (3rd generation and later), and iPad Pro 11-inch all models
- Emoji support lets you insert emoji using your voice when sending messages on iPad (8th generation and later), iPad mini (5th generation and later), iPad Air (3rd generation and later), iPad Pro 12.9-inch (3rd generation and later), and iPad Pro 11-inch all models
Dictation
- All-new Dictation experience supports using your voice along with a keyboard or Apple Pencil to enter and edit text, available on iPad (8th generation and later), iPad mini (5th generation and later), iPad Air (3rd generation and later), iPad Pro 12.9-inch (3rd generation and later), and iPad Pro 11-inch all models
- Automatic punctuation inserts commas, periods, and question marks as you dictate
- Emoji support lets you insert emoji using your voice, available on iPad (8th generation and later), iPad mini (5th generation and later), iPad Air (3rd generation and later), iPad Pro 12.9-inch (3rd generation and later), and iPad Pro 11-inch all models
Maps
- Multi-stop routing supports adding up to fifteen stops along your driving route in Maps
- Transit fares show you how much your journey will cost in the San Francisco Bay Area, London, New York, and more
Home
- Redesigned Home app makes it easier to navigate, organize, view, and control your smart home accessories
- Home tab now integrates all your accessories, rooms, and scenes into a single tab for a whole-house view, allowing you to see your entire home at a glance
- Categories for lights, climate, security, speakers and TVs, and water let you quickly access all the relevant accessories organized by room and displays more detailed status information
- New camera view displays up to four cameras front and center in the Home tab, scroll to see any additional camera views in your home
- Redesigned accessory tiles feature more visually recognizable icons that are color-matched to their category and new behaviors for more precise accessory controls
- Matter, the new smart home connectivity standard, is supported, enabling a wide variety of smart home accessories to work together across ecosystems
News
- My Sports enables you to easily follow your favorite teams and leagues and watch highlights right in the News app
- Favorites give you easy access to the channels and topics you read the most in a consistent place near the top of your Today feed
- New homepages deliver visually updated and easier-to-navigate topic feeds for local news locales, sports teams and leagues, and more
Family Sharing
- Improved child account setup makes it easier to create an account for a child with the right parental controls, including age‑appropriate media restrictions
- Device setup for a child lets you use Quick Start to easily set up a new iOS or iPadOS device for your child with your selected parental controls in place
- Screen Time requests in Messages make it even easier to approve or decline requests from your child
- Family Checklist gives you tips and suggestions like updating a child’s parental control settings, turning on location sharing, or just reminding you to share your iCloud+ subscription with everyone
Desktop-Class Apps
- Customizable toolbars allow you to add the features you use most often in your apps
- Menus provide additional context for actions such as close, save, and duplicate, making it easier to edit documents and files in apps like Pages and Numbers
- Find and Replace is available in apps across the system, including Mail, Messages, Reminders, and Swift Playgrounds
- Availability view in Calendar shows the availability of invited participants when you create meetings in the Calendar
Safety Check
- Safety Check is a new section in Settings to help people in domestic or intimate partner violence situations quickly reset the access they’ve granted to others
- Emergency reset lets you quickly take action to reset access across all people and apps, including disabling location sharing via Find My, resetting privacy permissions for apps, and more
- Manage sharing and access helps you review and customize which apps and people can access your information
Accessibility
- Door detection in Magnifier locates a door, reads signs and symbols around it, and gives you instructions for how to open the door
- Live Captions (beta) automatically converts audio into text for users who are Deaf or hard of hearing to follow along more easily with calls and media content
- Buddy controller helps users with cognitive disabilities get support from a caregiver or friend while playing a game, by combining inputs from multiple game controllers into one
- VoiceOver is now available in over 20 new languages and locales, including Bangla (India), Bulgarian, Catalan, Ukrainian, and Vietnamese
- Voice Control spelling mode gives you the option to dictate names, addresses, or other custom spellings letter by letter
This release also includes other features and improvements:
- New Watercolor, Monoline, and Fountain pens in Notes
- AirPods Pro (2nd generation) support, including Findy My and Precision Finding for the MagSafe Charging Case as well as Personalized Spatial Audio for a more precise and immersive listening experience, also available on AirPods (3rd generation), AirPods Pro (1st generation), and AirPods Max
- Handoff in FaceTime allows you to move FaceTime calls seamlessly from your iPad to your iPhone or Mac, and vice versa
- Memoji updates include more sticker poses, hairstyles, headwear, noses, and lip colors
- Translate camera lets you translate the text around you using the camera in the Translate app
- Duplicate detection in Photos identifies duplicate photos so you can quickly clean up your library
- Pinned lists in Reminders helps you quickly navigate to your favorite lists
- Search on the Home Screen enables Spotlight to be accessed directly from the bottom of the Home Screen, making it easy to open apps, find contacts, or get information from the web
- Rapid Security Response gets important security improvements to your devices even faster, as they can be applied automatically between standard software updates
This release includes even more features and improvements. For more information, please visit this website: https://www.apple.com/ipados/ipados-16/features/
Some features may not be available for all regions or on all iPad models. For information on the security content of Apple software updates, please visit this website: https://support.apple.com/kb/HT201222
Download iPadOS 16.1 Final Over the Air (Without Losing Files or Settings)
Just like iOS 16.1, you can download and install iPadOS 16.1 over the air immediately as long as you have a compatible iPad model. Just go to Settings > General > Software Update after making sure you have more than 50% or more battery remaining and are connected to Wi-Fi.
Clean Install iPadOS 16.1 Final on iPad
Clean installation is definitely an option if you want to take that route. And yes, it will wipe the data off your iPad once you are done with it therefore make sure you've backed up everything to Finder, iTunes, or iCloud.
Download iPadOS 16.1 IPSW Files
Although not needed since Finder and iTunes will download the IPSW file for you, but if you still want to download the IPSW for any reason at all, including clean installation, you can grab it from below:
- 12.9-inch iPad Pro (6th-gen, 5th-gen, 4th-gen, 3rd-gen, 2nd-gen, 1st-gen)
- 11-inch iPad Pro (4th-gen, 3rd-gen, 2nd-gen, 1st-gen)
- 10.5-inch iPad Pro
- 9.7-inch iPad Pro
- iPad (5th-gen, 6th-gen, 7th-gen, 8th-gen, 9th-gen, 10th-gen)
- iPad Air (3rd-gen, 4th-gen, 5th-gen)
- iPad mini (5th-gen, 6th-gen)
Restore iPad Using iTunes or Finder
Connect your iPad to your PC or Mac using a Lightning or USB-C cable, launch Finder or iTunes and wait for your device to be detected. Once detected, it will show up as a tiny iPad-like icon, click on it to reveal more options. Now click on the Restore iPad button and follow the on-screen prompts and warnings for a clean installation of iPadOS 16.1. Or, you can click on the Restore iPad button while holding down the left Shift key (Windows) or the left Shift key (Mac), and a brand new window will pop open. Select the iPadOS 16.1 IPSW file and the installation will begin.
