iPadOS 16

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<div style="font: bold 2em/1.2 -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'SF Pro Display', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; color: var(--wiki-color);">iPadOS 16</div>
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! class="ios-lab" | Developer
| class="ios-val" | [[Apple]]
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! class="ios-lab" | Announced
| class="ios-val" | June 6, 2022 (WWDC)
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! class="ios-lab" | Initial release
| class="ios-val" | October 24, 2022
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! class="ios-lab" | Final release
| class="ios-val" | 16.7.x security series
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! class="ios-lab" | iOS sibling
| class="ios-val" | [[iOS 16]]
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! class="ios-lab" | Preceded by
| class="ios-val" | [[iPadOS 15]]
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! class="ios-lab" | Succeeded by
| class="ios-val" | [[iPadOS 17]]
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{{iPadOS Version Navbox}}

iPadOS 16 is the fourth release of [[iPadOS]], released on October 24, 2022 — a month after [[iOS 16]], the first time the siblings' launches split, and the delay had one cause: Stage Manager. The overlapping-window multitasking system — resizable windows in freeform groups, with full external-display support at up to four apps a side — was iPadOS's most ambitious feature ever, and its most troubled, shipping after a beta cycle of crashes, redesigns, and an M1-only restriction that ignited the loudest device-gating argument in the platform's history (Apple relented partway, extending it minus external-display support to older Pros).

Around the drama, the release carried the desktop-class apps initiative: system apps gained find-and-replace, customizable toolbars, and document menus; Weather finally arrived on iPad; and collaboration features (Freeform in 16.2, shared Safari Tab Groups) rounded out the year.

= Features =

Stage Manager (M-series iPads; external display support in 16.2); desktop-class app toolbars and behaviors; the Weather app; Reference Mode on the 12.9-inch Pro's XDR display; virtual memory swap on M1; Freeform (16.2); plus the iOS 16 generation's shared features — editable Messages, iCloud Shared Photo Library, passkeys. The customizable Lock Screen notably did ''not'' come to iPad this year.

= Supported devices =

iPad (5th gen) and later, iPad mini 5 and later, iPad Air 3 and later, and iPad Pro (all except the original 9.7/12.9) — dropping the iPad Air 2, mini 4, and first-gen Pros.

= Legacy =

Stage Manager's rocky birth became the reference case for the iPad's central tension — pro hardware, cautious software — but the windowing direction it opened proved right: [[iPadOS 26]]'s acclaimed Mac-style system is its direct descendant, built on the lessons (and the criticism) this release absorbed.