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Apple is one of the largest tech companies in the world. When they announce new products, it is a two-hour production and the world takes notice, because everything you know about Apple can change in those two hours. Apple unveiled a new version of its iOS operating system in June, and the future of iOS just got better.

Alongside the update to iOS 13, they are also giving iPad its own operating system, iPadOS. That’s right; the future iPad will no longer be iOS. This new operating system is exclusively designed for the iPad tablet. Proving that not only does Apple set trends, but it also chases them. iOS 13 is a huge overhaul to iOS, and it is packed with features making it faster and more efficient than ever before. These new features will make it more convenient to do business.

When the new iOS 13 and iPadOS are released this fall, what will that mean for your business practices?

Key Performance Features for Your Business

iOS 13 and iPadOS have much to offer businesses. These features – detailed below – are the key performance features for your business.

Privacy and Security Features

Most apps and services today require users to create a profile or log in with a social ID. Apple’s new privacy and security features protect user’s data and connectivity usage. These include background tracking notification, weak password warnings, and a new sign-in feature that protects your employee’s personal information in a convenient and data safe way.

The privacy feature called “Sign-In With Apple” allows you to sign in to apps and websites with your Apple ID or a unique random ID via the click of a button. Your Apple ID will confirm your identity via Touch or Face ID and quickly log you in. When apps require your name, any personal information or an email address, Apple won’t provide it unless you give it permission. It then takes this security measure one step further. You will have the option of how you want your email address shared with an app, site, or service developer. Apple can now generate a unique, randomized email address which will forward messages to your real email address. 

What makes this feature even more attractive to your business is that companies can create and manage employee’s Apple IDs separately from their personal IDs. This is especially useful for companies with BYOD (bring your own device) policies. This helps to separate personal and business data, eliminating data privacy issues when it comes to mobile device management concerns.

Improve Workflow and Hands-Free Operations with Siri

Siri gets improvements across the board. Siri shortcuts are now built into the device and will suggest personalized shortcuts for simple tasks, instead of having to download them in a separate app. This same feature will also make it easier to set up custom routines and interact with third-party apps.

The new voice system smoothes out complex words and sounds more natural. Also, new to Apple AirPods, Siri can now read messages as soon as they come in and you can reply immediately without having to stop what you’re doing.

This will help improve business workflow. These new Siri improvements make it easier to communicate via your devices with clients and staff. 

Better Battery Life

Apple is finally bringing its popular Dark Mode to Apple’s iOS mobile devices. Not only will this give you new dark backgrounds and notifications across all your Apple apps, but this feature will increase battery life and offers battery management options – your apps will download faster than ever before. It is a definite plus if you have remote and field-service employees.

Faster App Updates

iOS’ performance boost features 30-percent faster unlocking with Face ID, a 50-percent smaller app download, and a 60-percent smaller app update – all working to remove the hassle of keeping business devices up-to-date.

iPadOS Features Increase Productivity

The iPad gets all the same changes you will have on iOS 13, plus additional features just for the iPad. Surprise, iOS 13 turns your iPad into a laptop replacement. By pinning a few widgets to your home screen, you get some pretty helpful new additions to your iPad.

iPadOS will give you better file management capabilities by using external hard drives. Your business will get SMB support. Not only will you be able to share iCloud folders, but you can also share files, folders, and printers used by other systems besides Apple. 

You will have the capability to zip files into a folder, making it easier to send them via email. Uncompressing the content of zip files into an expanding folder with access to the files just got easier too. These file management features will make remote working on an iPad a breeze.

Using Mac apps in side-by-side views gets a huge improvement, with Slide Over and Split View features. Now your iPad is performing like a desktop. Need to see multiple screens? No problem. You can also drag content from one app into another and still easily slide between apps. These iPadOS features are another plus for multitasking.

Along with the major features we’ve listed, here is a list of other features that will exponentially improve your business practices:

• Safari now shows desktop browser views.
• The Apple Pencil latency has been cut in half.
• You can download fonts directly from the App Store onto your mobile device.
• There are new gestures for navigating and manipulating text. 
• When calling a business that offers business chat, your device will offer to start a business chat so you can interact from a text message instead of through a phone call.
• You can add attachments, like documents, to events you have scheduled in the calendar app.
• Apple’s Smart Lists will group your reminders in a schedule so they are ready when you need them.

Supported Devices 

Not sure if these iOS updates will work on your device? Here is the full list of supported devices for iOS 13 and iPadOS.

Apple did not announce an exact release date for iOS 13 or iPadOS. But a mid-September release, just ahead of the year’s new iPhone is predicted. There may also be additional features as Apple is known to hold out on releasing the details of some key features until the next iPhone launches. 

As always, Apple is focused on performance improvements and enhancements of its products for consumers, alongside improving productivity and workflow for businesses.

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