Apple today seeded the first beta of iPadOS 16.2 to developers. The beta comes after the final version of iPadOS 16.1 was recently released to the public. The beta includes the long-awaited Freeform app and external display support for Stage Manager. Support for the latter was removed from iPadOS 16.1 beta. Hopefully, iPadOS 16.2 will finally see the release of external display support for Stage Manager.
Apple’s productivity app Freeform to arrive as a part of iPadOS 16.2
iPadOS 16.2 beta adds a new collaboration app, Freeform, to the iPad. As per Apple, it “gives users the ability to see, share, and collaborate all in one place without worrying about layouts and page sizes, and with full support for Apple Pencil.” Users can view contributions made by others and it allows collaborators to start a session on FaceTime to discuss a project.
Freeform will also allow collaborators to add any kind of file – images, video, audio, PDFs, documents, and web links – to the canvas and preview it inline, without leaving the board, helping to enrich and streamline the collaboration process.
There are some bugs in the Freeform app since it is currently in beta. Apple warns:
- Can’t delete boards while offline, or if iCloud data is disabled for Freeform.
- Adding or removing collaborators can fail while attempting to change share settings.
iPadOS 16.1 included external display support for Stage Manager, a power multitasking feature. However, Apple removed support for the feature before releasing iPadOS 16.1 to the general public. The functionality, which is exclusive to the iPad Pro and iPad Air models with the M1 and M2 chips, allows users to take advantage of full external display support with resolutions of up to 6K.
Apple also offers a warning for using an external display with Stage Manager since the functionality is not stable.
- While using Stage Manager with an External Display, dragging a second window to the workspace incorrectly hides the Recent Apps list—shifting all windows in the workspace to the right.
The first beta of iPadOS 16.2 is available for developers to test right now. A public beta will likely follow in the coming weeks. Other iPadOS 16 features that have yet to be released include a new Apple Music Classical app and SharePlay support for Game Center.
