Apple

5 Things to Know About the iPadOS 13.6 Update

Published

4 years ago

07/23/2020

Apple’s pushed the iPadOS 13.6 update to iPad, iPad Pro, iPad Air, and iPad mini users.

Originally dubbed iPadOS 13.5.5, iPadOS 13.6 is a milestone upgrade (x.x) for iPadOS and it brings a mix of new features, bug fixes, and under-the-hood improvements to Apple’s fleet of iOS 13-powered tablets.

With that in mind, we want to take you through everything there is to know about the latest update for the iPad and iPadOS 13. iPadOS 13.6 will likely serve as one of the last updates for iPadOS 13.

In this guide to iPadOS 13.6 we’ll take you through the update’s performance, the current list of iPadOS 13.6 problems, the best places to find feedback about bugs and performance issues, the iPadOS 13.6 jailbreak status, and more.

We’ll start with our impressions of iPadOS 13.6 update’s performance on iPad.

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iPadOS 13.6 Reviews

If your iPad is running iPadOS 13.5.1, you’re looking at pretty large download. The update is around 350MB for older iPad Pro models.

If your tablet is running an older version of iPadOS 13, your update could be larger. That’s because the features and fixes from the update(s) you skipped are baked into your upgrade.

If your iPad is running iPadOS 13.5.1, the installation should take around 10 minutes to complete. It took about seven minutes to install on one of our iPad Pros.

For more on the iPadOS 13.6 download and installation, take a look at our guide.

We’ve been using the iPadOS 13.6 update on the iPad Pro for several days now and here’s what we’ve learned thus far:

Connectivity

Battery life is stable.
Wi-Fi connectivity is fast and reliable.
Bluetooth is working fine.
GPS and cellular data are stable.

Apps

Third-party apps like Netflix, Dark Sky, Twitter, Slack, Asana, Gmail, Chrome, and Spotify are working just fine right now.
First party apps like Safari, Podcasts, and Calendar are also stable.

Speed

iPadOS 13.6 feels as fast as iPadOS 13.5.1.

If you’re dealing with problems on iPadOS 13.5.1 or an older version of iPadOS 13, you might want to install iPadOS 13.6 update right now.

If you need help making a decision, take a look at our list of reasons to, and not to, install iPadOS 13.6.

iPadOS 13.6 Problems

iPad users are running into problems on iPadOS 13.6.

The current list of iPadOS 13.6 problems includes installation issues, Exchange problems, weird battery drain, issues with first and third-party apps, issues with Face ID, UI lag, Wi-Fi issues, and Bluetooth issues.

If you encounter a problem on your tablet, take a look at our list of fixes for the most common software issues. We’ve also released tips that will help you improve performance and tips that should help you improve battery life.

If you can’t handle the iPadOS 13.6 update’s performance on your iPad note that you can no longer downgrade the software in an attempt to improve your tablet’s performance. Apple has stopped signing on iPadOS 13.5.1.

You can’t move back to anything older than iPadOS 13.5.1 either. So those of you jumping up from iPadOS 13.5 and below need to approach iPadOS 13.6 with caution.

Once you make the move, there’s no going back.

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iPadOS 13.6 Update: What’s New

Apple’s x.x updates always bring new features and under-the-hood improvements and that’s what you’ll get from iPadOS 13.6.

Here’s the full change log from Apple:

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Bug fixes and Improvements.

Adds a new setting to choose if updates automatically download to your device when on Wi-Fi
Addresses an issue that could cause apps to become unresponsive when syncing data from iCloud Drive
Resolves an issue that could cause the software keyboard to appear unexpectedly when connected to certain third-party hardware keyboards
Fixes an issue that could cause Japanese hardware keyboards to be incorrectly mapped as a U.S. keyboard
Addresses stability issues when accessing Control Center when Assistive Touch was enabled
Provides a mechanism for administrators to specify domains to exclude from traffic carried by always-on VPN connections

There’s also support for saved reading positions in the Apple News app.

On previous versions of iPadOS, including iPadOS 13.5.1, if you exited an article in Apple News and went back to it, you would start at the very beginning of the article. On iPadOS 13.6, if you exit an article and go back, the app will take you to your last position in the article.

The update also has more than 20 security patches on board. For more on those, head over to Apple’s security site.

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iPadOS 13.6 Jailbreak

If you still jailbreak, make sure you avoid the iPadOS 13.6 update for now. The only way you can jailbreak a device right now is if it’s running an older version of iPadOS 13 or iOS 12.

We’ll let you know if that changes.

What’s Next

iPadOS 13.6 was the last known update in Apple’s iPadOS 13 pipeline. And with a new operating system on the way, it will probably be the last major update to iPadOS 13.

Apple’s currently working on iPadOS 14, a new operating system that is headed to all iPadOS 13-powered iPad models later this year.

iPadOS 14 is currently in beta which means you can give it a try on your iPad right now if you really want to try new features or you really want to move your tablet off of iPadOS 13.

For more on iPadOS 14, please take a look at our guide.

4 Reasons Not to Install iPadOS 13.7 & 11 Reasons You Should

Install iPadOS 13.7 for Better Security

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If you value your security, you'll want to install iPadOS 13.7 in the near future.

iPadOS 13.7 doesn't have any known security patches on board. That said, if you skipped iPadOS 13.6 or an older version of iPadOS, you'll get security patches with your upgrade.

The iPadOS 13.6 update brought more than 20 security patches to the iPad line. That made it an important upgrade for most users. You'll get these patches if you skipped iPadOS 13.6.

If you skipped iPadOS 13.5.1, you get its security patch with your upgrade. It's baked in.

If you skipped iPadOS 13.5, iPadOS 13.7 includes iPadOS 13.5's 41 security patches which you can about on the company's security site.

The list includes patches for the company's Mail app, Wi-Fi, AirDrop, Bluetooth, FaceTime, Messages, and Notifications.

If you skipped Apple's iPadOS 13.4 release, you'll get the update's 28 security patches with your upgrade. You can read about all of them on Apple's website right here.

Reports have outlined a vulnerability in Wi-Fi chips made by Broadcom and Cypress Semiconductor that left billions of devices susceptible to attack.

Dubbed Kr00k, the vulnerability allows nearby attackers to decrypt sensitive information that's relayed over-the-air.

Fortunately, it looks like the issue was patched up with the release of iPadOS 13.2, an update that arrived all the way back in October.

If you're currently running a much older version of iPadOS 13 on your tablet, you'll probably want to update your iPad right now.

If you skipped iPadOS 13.3.1 you'll get its patches with your upgrade. The iPadOS 13.3.1 had 21 new security patches on board. If you want to dig into the specifics, you can do so right here.

If you skipped a previous version of iPadOS 13, you'll get additional security patches with your upgrade to iPadOS 13.7.

If you skipped iPadOS 13.3, you get its 12 security patches with your upgrade. You can read about each one over on Apple's security page.

The iPadOS 13.3 update also added support for NFC, USB, and Lightning FIDO2-compliant security keys in the Safari browser.

If you missed iPadOS 13.2, it had 16 new security patches on board. You can read about them on Apple's security website.

If you missed iPadOS 13.1.1, you get a security patch for a third-party keyboard issue. If you're interested in the particulars, you can read about the patch on Apple's website.

If you passed on installing iPadOS 13.1, you get another patch with your iPadOS 13.7 update. You can learn more about it right here.

If you skipped iOS 12.4.1 or any older versions of iOS 12, you'll get their security patches with your iPadOS 13.7 update.

iOS 12.4.1 only had one patch on board, but Apple's iOS 12.4 brought 19 security patches to the iPad line. If you're interested in the specifics, you can read about them on right here.

In addition to those patches, iPadOS 13 itself comes with some security and privacy upgrades including improved anti-tracking features in Safari and the ability to get rid of location metadata in your photos.

You also have the ability to block apps from using Bluetooth and the ability to allow apps to access your location just once.

The operating system will also send you reminders about applications that track your data.