iPadOS 17 likely bringing the iPhone’s Lock Screen, always-on display to the big screen

When iPadOS 16 arrived last year, it was missing one of the key features of iOS 16: the revamped Lock Screen. But it now looks like this may arrive on the iPad this year, always-on display and all.

According to Mark Gurman, iPadOS 17 will “lay the software groundwork for revamped iPad Pro models coming next year with OLED displays.” While he doesn’t share any details about what features could be coming with the update, the first one that springs to mind is the iPhone 14 Pro’s always-on display, which takes advantage of the low-temperature polycrystalline oxide (LTPO) OLED display.

This also likely means iPadOS 17 will bring the personalized Lock Screen to the iPad. When Apple unveiled the new Lock Screen as the marquee feature of iOS 16, it neglected to bring it to iPadOS 16. However, as we learned when the iPhone 14 Pro arrived later that year, the Lock Screen is tied to the always-on display, so the Lock Screen will likely arrive in iOS 17 before the new OLED iPads introduce the always-on display.

Apple pulled a similar move with Home screen widgets and the App Library in iOS 14, waiting a year before bringing it to iPadOS. We haven’t heard much about the features coming to iPadOS 17, but iOS and macOS have been rumored to be more focused on maintenance and stability than new features. iOS 17 will reportedly contain some of users’ “most requested features,” however. 

The iPad Pro has been rumored to get an OLED screen for a while, but the timing has been unclear. Gurman’s report indicates that it will arrive next year, which likely means a spring release, about 18 months after the M2 model arrived.