Will iPadOS 18 work on iPad 6th Generation?

No the iPad 6th gen with not be support IOS 18 only iPad 7th gen or later will be supported

Sorry, no, your iPad 6 will not support iPadOS 18 when released later this year:

iPadOS 18 Preview - Apple

This is pretty bs Apple if the iPad 6th gen is still supported and almost has the same specs as the 7th gen it no being supported is bad because it’ll become much much more useless as devs are starting to use iPadOS 18 and won’t give any updates or apps to this version of iPadOS 17 so it would be nice if they release by the end of this year

Ipaddad13 wrote:

This is ridiculous. They just stopped sales of pro 6th March2024 and now it is already antique technology unable to be upgraded, but my wife's iPad pro 5th from 2 years earlier is still on the cusp of technological development and can be up graded to IOS 18

Claiming that a 6th-generation iPad Pro "is already antique technology unable to be upgraded" is quite ridiculous. Apple discontinued the 6th-generation iPad Pro in May 2024. That Pad can run iPadOS 18. It has a M2 chip with 8 or 16 GB of RAM, and is compatible with Apple Intelligence.

This thread is about the 6th-generation iPad, which dates from March 2018. Apple discontinued it in September 2019. It has an A10 Fusion chip and only 2 GB of RAM. That iPad originally ran iOS 11.3, and can run iPadOS 17 – but given its age, and small amount of RAM, it is not compatible with iPadOS 18 or with Apple Intelligence.

If you double-check which iPad you have, I suspect you will find that it is not the Pro.

suz179 wrote:

Ok I’ve finally updated 17.7 in my gen 6 iPad… Will it die as my iPad 1 did when I can not update past 17.7… ios18 is out now??

• Yes, iPadOS 18 is out now.
• No, your iPad (6th generation) cannot update to iPadOS 18.
• No, your iPad will not die overnight.
• Yes, as the years go on, there may come a time when you will want an iPad that can run something higher than iPadOS 17.

1. No.

2. Yes. Fewer application updates or websites will remain available for it over time.

(254047)

Ok I’ve finally updated 17.7 in my gen 6 iPad… Will it die as my iPad 1 did when I can not update past 17.7… ios18 is out now??

Why? iPad 6 gen has the same processor as IPad 7 gen.

Ralph6410 wrote:

Which kinda conflicts with other information:

Which devices can get it? All Apple smartphones from 2018's iPhone XS or newer can install iOS 18. All tablets from the 2018 iPad Pro, 2019 iPad Air (3rd gen), iPad mini (5th gen) or iPad (6th gen) and newer can install iPadOS 18. All Apple Watches from 2020's Series 6 or newer can install watchOS 11.

I would go by Apple's official compatibility statements. For iPads:

--------------------

iPadOS 18 is compatible with these devices:

• iPad Pro (M4)
• iPad Pro 12.9-inch (3rd generation and later)
• iPad Pro 11-inch (1st generation and later)
• iPad Air (M2)
• iPad Air (3rd generation and later)
• iPad (7th generation and later)
• iPad mini (5th generation and later)

--------------------

iPadOS 18 upgrades are temporarily "on hold" for the iPad Pro (M4), due to an issue that caused some of those iPads to become inoperable following the upgrade.

You can compare iPad models here:

iPad - Compare Models - Apple

Whichever iPad model you choose, you would be well advised to purchase as much internal storage as your budget might reasonably allow - as internal storage (and other hardware) cannot be changed, upgraded or extended. The available internal storage is fixed for the entire life of the device. If you run out of internal storage for your documents, photos and other data, you will forever struggle and become a source of frustration. It is far better to have more storage than you need, than to need more storage than you have.

A good rule of thumb is to quantify how much data storage you will need - add a healthy margin - then double it. If you are unable to quantify your data storage needs, it becomes more difficult. Whilst I and others cannot cannot make definitive recommendations for your personal needs, objectively I would council against purchase of any iPad with any less than 256GB storage.

Within the Apple Support Communities we see regular tales of woe and disappointment when storage requirements are exceeded, necessitating replacement of the device; by contrast, we never see complaint of having too much available storage. It is relatively easy to fill limited internal storage space; perhaps consider higher tiers of storage as providing room for growth as your needs develop or mature - potentially extending the useful usable life of the device. 

Consider also the functional differences between WiFi Only and WiFi+Cellular models of iPad. Only WiFi+Cellular models include GPS capabilities - which may impact any Apps or features that require accurate and consistent location data, such as Mapping - which may be important for travel. Purchase of a WiFi+Cellular model does not commit you to using Cellular connections, but provides this flexibility should it be needed.  WiFi Only models of iPad have no Cellular or GPS functions at all.

Ralph6410 wrote:

Which kinda conflicts with other information:

Which devices can get it? All Apple smartphones from 2018's iPhone XS or newer can install iOS 18. All tablets from the 2018 iPad Pro, 2019 iPad Air (3rd gen), iPad mini (5th gen) or iPad (6th gen) and newer can install iPadOS 18. All Apple Watches from 2020's Series 6 or newer can install watchOS 11.

These models of iPad support iPadOS 18 (17.7 optional):

• iPad Pro 13" (M4)*
• iPad Pro 12.9" (3rd generation and later)
• iPad Pro 11" (1st generation and later + M4*)
• iPad Air (3rd generation and later + M2)
• iPad (7th generation and later)
• iPad mini (5th generation and later)

(*) Rollout of the iPadOS 18 update for iPad Pro M4 has been temporarily suspended by Apple.

I am not sure but just giving a guess, I think it is to do with RAM as the 7th gen has 3 gigs compared to 2 gigs on 6th gen.

cx500d wrote:

Why? iPad 6 gen has the same processor as IPad 7 gen.

While the iPad6 and iPad7 have near identical technical specifications, the reasons why Apple has chosen to differentiate between the two models - and limit the iPad6 to iPadOS 16.x - is known only to Apple.

Contributors here are all end-users, just like you. Other than information published by Apple, nobody here has any insight into Apple’s product design or update support decisions.

Ipaddad13 wrote:

This is ridiculous. They just stopped sales of pro 6th March2024 and now it is already antique technology unable to be upgraded, but my wife's iPad pro 5th from 2 years earlier is still on the cusp of technological development and can be up graded to IOS 18

Age isn't the issue...

Your wife's fifth generation iPad Pro has an M1 CPU and has either 8GB or 16GB RAM. For iPad, iPadOS18 requires either a M-series or A17 Pro CPU and at least 8GB RAM.

Your iPad6 has an A10 Fusion CPU and only 2GB RAM - and for this reason, fundamentally does not support iPadOS18.

Zamna1122 wrote:

Pls ios 18 for me ioad 7

Did you read the thread?

The screen snapshot says that iPadOS will be compatible with "iPad (7th generation and later)." However, you will have to wait until iPadOS 18 comes out!