Apple's Decision to Delay iPadOS 16 Release Could Cause Problems for Some Users, Developers: Mark Gurman

Apple has reportedly delayed the release of iPadOS 16, the next major iPad software update, by about a month. While this postponement makes sense for the Cupertino company, it might become a problem for those who own both an iPhone and iPad. Customers with iOS 16 on their iPhone and iPadOS 15 on iPad are expected to face discrepancies in the functioning of some features which are poised to work seamlessly between iOS 16 and iPadOS 16. There could also be problems for developers who are making apps for both the devices.

Following up from his previous revelation that Apple was considering postponing the release of iPadOS 16 by a month, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman says that although the move might prove to be sensible for the Cupertino-based company, customers who are using both an iPhone and an iPad may have to deal with problems with the seamless working of apps.

“For instance, new iMessage features like message retraction and editing won't work seamlessly between iOS 16 and iPadOS 15 devices. Other new features—such as the iCloud Shared Photo Library, more advanced collaboration tools and the ability to transfer FaceTime calls between the devices—likely won't work for those users either,” Gurman noted.

As far as the problems for developers are concerned, citing developer James Thompson Gurman says that those working for universal apps on both iPhone and iPad may have to ship something early that's potentially broken on iPadOS. “It will be a case of not shipping anything until iPadOS ships,” he states.

Gurman says Apple might benefit from this change due to the company's “quest to make the iPad more Mac-like.” Both the iPad and Mac are getting Stage Manager, which allows users to handle several tasks at the same time, resize windows and quickly bounce between different clusters of apps. Furthermore, Apple may also launch new iPad models in October and launching software as well as hardware in the same event makes more sense.