Apple Updating Schoolwork and Classroom Apps With New Distance-Learning Features and More

Apple is bringing some significant updates to several of its education apps, led by a new Schoolwork 2.0 for iPad and Mac, reports CNET.

schoolwork classroom apps
Schoolwork is Apple's app that allows teachers to distribute class materials known as Handouts to students, assign activities within compatible apps, collaborate with students, and view student progress. CNET says Schoolwork 2.0 will bring new feature like Files integration, speed improvements, and more.

Apple designed Schoolwork 2.0 to include features found in other iPad OS apps, like Files, and to speed up navigation around the software. There's a new Handout library with a source list on the left side that makes it easier to navigate to different classes or the student's library with drafts and favorites. On the right are cards with things like reminders for a field trip or a math assignment.

Other new features include a redesigned Handout detail view and new communication integration to let teachers FaceTime or message students at a tap.

In addition to Schoolwork, Apple is also updating its Classroom app for ‌iPad‌ that functions as a teaching assistant within a classroom to launch apps and websites across all devices in a classroom, share a student's screen to the teacher's ‌iPad‌ or a classroom Apple TV, share documents, and more.

The updated Classroom app includes pinch-to-zoom functionality, automatic syncing of Apple School Manager classes to the teacher's Apple ID, and new temporary sessions for shared iPads.

The updated versions of Schoolwork and Classroom are coming "soon," according to CNET, with no specific launch dates given.

Popular Stories

Generic iOS 19 Feature Mock Light

iOS 19 Leak Reveals All-New Design

Friday January 17, 2025 2:42 pm PST by
iOS 19 is still around six months away from being announced, but a new leak has allegedly revealed a completely redesigned Camera app. Based on footage it obtained, YouTube channel Front Page Tech shared a video showing what the new Camera app will apparently look like, with the key change being translucent menus for camera controls. Overall, the design of these menus looks similar to...
2024 App Store Awards

Apple Explains Why It Removed TikTok From the App Store in the U.S.

Sunday January 19, 2025 6:58 am PST by
Apple on late Saturday removed TikTok from the App Store in the U.S., and it has now explained why it was required to take this action. Last year, the U.S. passed a law that required Chinese company ByteDance to divest its ownership of TikTok due to potential national security risks, or else the platform would be banned. That law went into effect today, and companies like Apple and Google...
2024 iPhone Boxes Feature

Apple Changes Trade-In Values for iPhones, iPads, Macs, and More

Thursday January 16, 2025 6:45 am PST by
Apple today adjusted estimated trade-in values for select iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch models in the U.S., according to its website. Some values increased, while others decreased. The changes were not too significant, with most values rising or dropping by $5 to $50. We have outlined some examples below: Device New Value Old Value iPhone 15 Pro Max Up to $630 U ...
Generic iOS 18

Everything New in iOS 18.3 Beta 3

Thursday January 16, 2025 12:39 pm PST by
Apple provided the third beta of iOS 18.3 to developers today, and while the betas have so far been light on new features, the third beta makes some major changes to Notification Summaries and also tweaks a few other features. Notification Summary Changes Apple made multiple changes to Notification Summaries in response to complaints about inaccurate summaries of news headlines. For...
iOS 19 Roundup Feature

iOS 19 Rumored to Be Compatible With These iPhones

Saturday January 18, 2025 10:28 am PST by
iOS 19 will not drop support for any iPhone models, according to French website iPhoneSoft.fr. The report cited a source who said iOS 19 will be compatible with any iPhone that can run iOS 18, which would mean the following models: iPhone 16 iPhone 16 Plus iPhone 16 Pro iPhone 16 Pro Max iPhone 15 iPhone 15 Plus iPhone 15 Pro iPhone 15 Pro Max iPhone 14 iPhon...
airtag 4 pack blue

AirTag 2 Launching This Year With These 3 New Features

Sunday January 19, 2025 8:11 am PST by
After a four-year wait, a new AirTag is finally expected to launch in 2025. Below, we recap rumored upgrades for the accessory. A few months ago, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said Apple was aiming to release the AirTag 2 around the middle of 2025. While he did not offer a more specific timeframe, that means the AirTag 2 could be announced by the end of June. The original AirTag was announced...
iPad Pro vs iPhone 17 Air Feature

Here's How Thin the iPhone 17 Air Might Be

Friday January 17, 2025 3:38 pm PST by
For the last several months, we've been hearing rumors about a redesigned version of the iPhone 17 that Apple might call the iPhone 17 "Air," or something along those lines. It's going to replace the iPhone 17 Plus as Apple's fourth iPhone option, and it will be offered alongside the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max. We know the iPhone 17 Air is going to be super slim, but...
apple power beats pro 2

Powerbeats Pro 2 Coming Soon: Apple to Announce Them 'Imminently'

Sunday January 19, 2025 8:25 am PST by
In September, Apple said that it would be launching Powerbeats Pro 2 in 2025, and it appears the wireless earbuds are coming very soon. Powerbeats Pro 2 images found in iOS 18 code In his Power On newsletter today, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said the Powerbeats Pro 2 are "due imminently." In addition to Apple filing the Powerbeats Pro 2 in regulatory databases last month, Gurman said Apple is...

Top Rated Comments

Expos of 1969 Avatar
61 months ago
It is a shame they have lost the education market. Devices are too expensive in most cases. They had the market and then really lost the plot.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Blackstick Avatar
61 months ago
Probably a good time to have an answer for Hangouts/Zoom/Teams that's more robust than FaceTime, honestly.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
oldmacs Avatar
61 months ago
If Apple wants the education market, it needs software that is Multiplatform... That's why Google has succeeded imho.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
cateye Avatar
61 months ago

It is a shame they have lost the education market. ... They had the market and then really lost the plot.
I don't know that it was just expense—I live in, and send my daughter to, a school district that is lucky to be very well funded, and generously supported by organizations like the PTO. Yet despite this surplus, iPads are few and far between, and are slowly being phased out in favor of the dominant Chromebooks using technologies like Google Classroom and Schoology.

Apple has an enormous amount of hubris about how they want education to work, versus how it actually works, and that's why their solutions are largely being cast aside regardless of financial resources. Apple wants to sell hardware—for Apple, it's about moving iPads as an end goal in itself; education wants a service, less-so the hardware, so they can be more self-deterministic on how to physically provide that service. Their competitors have no such preconceptions and focus on creating solutions that are self-sustaining and relatively easy for educators to administer. Until that idea sinks in at the executive level in Cupertino, Education is a lost cause for Apple.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
bag99001 Avatar
61 months ago
Apple won’t admit the bottom line for schools is price. It’s a shame because what kids are doing on chrome books is pathetic. It’s essentially the same word processing that was happening on Apple IIs in the 90s rather than the creative work you can do on an iPad or full featured computer. Districts don’t care though...at least no one on top making the decisions. Apple has got to do more to highlight the creative and learning potential of their products and how poor the alternatives are. Most people don’t know any better and simply see x number of devices needed and the cost per device.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
DJLC Avatar
61 months ago
Former K-12 CTO here... Schoolwork was DOA in my opinion, and Classroom is only cool because it brings ARD functionality to iPadOS. Outside of that, it's duplicative of an LMS that most schools are already paying for. I couldn't justify supporting and training YET ANOTHER platform just because Apple wants to play EdTech company.

Other posters here have it spot-on: Apple devices are not cost effective for 1:1 student deployments. Last time I got new devices for my kids, I talked to our Apple Edu rep and all but BEGGED him: help me help you win this bid. Couldn't do it. We went Chromebook for the kids and MacBook Air for the staff. For less than the cost of naked iPads with no cases, no warranty, and no management, I got Chromebooks with a 3-year accidental damage warranty, 6 years of management, and white glove service so they were already labeled, inventoried, and enrolled when they arrived. I handed them out to kids new-in-box. Yes, kids can make more multimedia on an iPad than a Chromebook, but here's the thing: they weren't doing that when they had MacBooks; they weren't doing it when I switched them to iPads; so how can I justify the premium for an Apple device when none of the benefits are actually benefits? How about instead I get them Chromebooks and have a mobile lab of 5 MacBook Pros for the occasional multimedia projects? Way more cost effective, and even the Apple Edu rep couldn't argue that point.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)