Apple will release macOS Ventura and iPadOS 16 on October 24

The next versions of macOS and iPadOS will be released to the general public on October 24, Apple announced today. Both updates have been available as betas to developers and users since this summer, and a near-final version of each OS should be released to those testers sometime soon.

The iPadOS 16 update runs on all iPad Pros, the 5th-generation iPad and later, the fifth-generation iPad mini and later, and the 3rd-generation iPad Air and later, dropping support for the venerable iPad Air 2 and a handful of other models (it will also ship on all the new iPads Apple announced today). The macOS Ventura update generally requires a Mac released in 2017 or later, dropping support for various models released between 2013 and 2016.

Both updates will enable some iOS 16 features on iPads and Macs, including editing and deletion of iMessages, better search in Mail, passkey support in Safari, and a new large-screened Weather app and redesigned Home app, improved gamepad support, and more. Both also include a version of the Stage Manager window management feature, and Ventura includes a redesigned System Settings app.

The macOS update has had a fairly typical development cycle, with nearly a dozen steadily improving beta builds released between early June and early October. The iPadOS update has been a little rougher, almost exclusively because of the new Stage Manager multitasking features. The iPadOS 16 release was officially delayed from September to October, which is why it’s being released next week instead of alongside iOS 16 last month.

Stage Manager initially required an M1 iPad Air or Pro and true external display support, something the iPad has never had since its 2010 launch. In late September, Apple expanded Stage Manager compatibility to 2018 and 2020 iPad Pro models with the A12X and A12Z processors but delayed multi-monitor support to a later update. Some developers and Apple media personalities have indicated that Stage Manager in recent betas is still buggy and crash-prone.