I’m not going to beat across the bush: iPadOS 26 and its new multitasking options are a game-changer for Apple’s tablets. Just about ever since Steve Jobs launched the iPad 15 years in the past (!), Apple has tried to straddle two worlds. In a single, the iPad is a super-simple, easy-to-use pill with a beautiful show and tons of fine apps from the App Retailer for gaming, leisure and light-weight work. The opposite world is one the place the iPad replaces your conventional laptop, letting individuals do the intense work that’s been sometimes reserved for a Mac or Home windows PC. iPadOS has too usually served as a hindrance to the latter objective over time, significantly because the iPad Professional has gotten extra highly effective.
The Stage Supervisor multitasking expertise Apple launched with iPadOS 16 in 2022 was a significant step in the direction of making the iPad’s software program appropriate for energy customers — but it surely was moderately buggy at launch and never as versatile as iPad energy customers have been hoping for. The calls to only put macOS on the iPad grew louder. However this 12 months, Apple took a distinct strategy: it introduced essential macOS options just like the acquainted “stoplight” window controls, the menu bar on the high of the display and vastly improved window administration instruments to iPadOS 26. The result’s an iPad expertise the place you may simply soar between a number of windowed apps arrange simply how you want and one the place you go full display to focus in your content material. It’s a large refinement over the previous Stage Supervisor expertise and one which I feel will lastly fulfill iPad die-hards who wish to push their tablets to the restrict.
Earlier than diving into the main points, a fast phrase on betas and stability. As normal, Apple’s public betas really feel fairly secure and succesful, however that doesn’t imply you received’t run into weirdness right here and there. App crashes, significantly with third-party apps, occurred much more on this beta than with iPadOS 18. I’m assured these issues can be ironed out as extra builders replace their apps for the brand new OS, however you’ll additionally run into issues like UI inconsistencies and occasional stutters and jerkiness when leaping between apps. As we at all times say, suppose exhausting about what you’re prepared to place up with to strive a beta, even the comparatively secure public beta. In spite of everything, the ultimate model of iPadOS 26 can be out in just some months.
(Ed. observe: Apple just released the public betas for iOS 26, iPadOS 26, macOS 26 and watchOS 26. This implies, as Nate said above, you may run the preview for your self, in case you are prepared to danger doubtlessly buggy software program. As normal, we extremely advocate backing up all of your date earlier than operating any beta, and you may comply with our guide on how to install Apple's public betas to take action.)
Multitasking
Time for the nitty-gritty. While you replace to iPadOS 26, you’ll be requested if you wish to allow multitasking or have apps run in full display mode solely. When Apple says full display solely, they imply it. Previous variations of iPadOS supplied both Stage Supervisor or a primary, two-app break up display view with a 3rd app out there in a Slide Over window. The latter possibility is gone now, although you may nonetheless simply arrange two or three apps aspect by aspect with iPadOS 26’s window tiling options. You need to use multitasking mode or full display solely, with no in between. I feel that’s a wise transfer, as loads of individuals who use an iPad in all probability by no means use these multi-app options, and having a “multitasking on or off” toggle retains issues easy.
While you activate multitasking mode, apps nonetheless open in full display first — however you may seize any nook of the window to resize it or contact the highest of the app and drag it across the display. You could possibly already do that with Stage Supervisor, so what actually units this new mode aside is the way it interacts with different home windows. Swiping up from the underside of the show reveals the same old Residence Display view, however along with your apps tucked to the aspect as a visible cue that you would be able to add one other app to that group. And, as earlier than, you may transfer, resize and stack that app window wherever you need.
As I’m penning this, I’ve 9 separate app home windows open on my iPad, and getting round them feels extra Mac-like than ever earlier than. I can swipe up and maintain from the underside of the Residence Display and see each open app in a smaller window, which makes discovering the particular factor I need loads simpler; I also can simply command-tab by way of them. Apps will be minimized right down to the dock and once I need the app again, it’ll pop open in the identical measurement window and similar placement as earlier than. Swiping up from the underside of the display twice minimizes all the pieces I’ve open to begin recent — however once more, if I reopen these apps, they’ll return to precisely the place I had them arrange earlier than.
I understand it sounds form of foolish to make a giant deal of this, but it surely’s exhausting to overstate how a lot this improves the iPad multitasking expertise. With Stage Supervisor, I used to be by no means fairly positive the place an app would open or if it could be full display or windowed. It may be helpful for organising a number of teams of apps, however including and eradicating apps from that view was not terribly intuitive. Simply opening all the pieces in a single house is much more intuitive. And if you wish to have varied completely different areas with particular apps, you may nonetheless activate Stage Supervisor. It’s loads simpler so as to add and take away apps from varied completely different teams than it was; minimizing a window places it into its personal house that you would be able to add extra apps to (or simply apply it to its personal).
There are a number of different new elements that make multitasking work in addition to it does. These ought to be fairly acquainted to Mac customers: The three-button “stoplight” controls and the menu bar. The stoplight buttons substitute an identical three-dot window administration system from older variations of iPadOS however are much more intuitive. The pink one closes an app window totally, the inexperienced one makes a window full display after which yellow one minimizes it to the dock. These controls are essential to creating iPadOS 26 really feel extra versatile and fluid than ever earlier than, significantly if you wish to have multiple window of a single app open. I’ve additionally discovered them to be essential when working with a number of apps on a smaller show, like on the 11-inch iPad Professional. Stage Supervisor normally felt like extra bother than it was price on something however a 13-inch iPad, however these new multitasking options make it simple to flip by way of a bunch of apps and pop into full display if I would like more room.
The expanded window tiling controls right here additionally make that simpler. In case you press and maintain the stoplight buttons, you’ll get extra choices to resize apps to take up 1 / 4, third or half the display; you may also seize drag bars to additional alter how a lot house every app takes up. I actually preferred a mode the place three iPhone-sized apps fill the display, and when there was one thing I wished to dedicate extra focus to, I simply hit its inexperienced button and went full display.
The menu bar, in the meantime, is fairly simple to elucidate. In case you swipe down from the highest of the display (or transfer your trackpad cursor as much as the highest) you’ll see acquainted menus like File, Edit, Window and so forth. It’s a helpful approach to discover extra superior controls for an app, and it additionally retains the varied toolbars in apps from getting too overloaded with choices.
Lengthy story brief, this all provides as much as a wildly improved iPad expertise. It doesn’t compromise the single-screen, centered mode that the iPad has at all times been recognized for, and it significantly improves working throughout a number of home windows and apps. And in contrast to Stage Supervisor, which was restricted to M-series iPads, these new multitasking options will work on any iPad that may run iPadOS 26, together with the bottom A16 iPad and the iPad mini.
All the things else
If this was the one change to iPadOS Apple made this 12 months, it could already be a worthwhile improve, however there are a bunch of different enhancements coming this fall. These embody an improved Information app, the Preview app that has lengthy been a core a part of macOS, the brand new Liquid Glass design, some doubtlessly helpful Apple Intelligence options, a pleasant set of updates to the Messaging app and a brand new Telephone app.
A lot has been mentioned about Liquid Glass, with tons of prognostication about how Apple was ruining usability and throwing its UI again to 2006 in a blatant Home windows Aero ripoff. As normal, the reality is far more nuanced. Nobody acquainted with Apple’s software program can be thrown off by this replace — all the pieces works because it did earlier than, and whilst you’ll undoubtedly discover some refractive visible components, it’s not the wholesale change that aggrieved social media posters would have you ever imagine. You can make issues look very completely different for those who, say, go for the brand new clear glass icon look, however you may also depart the usual colourful iOS icons in place.
Over the course of the developer betas Apple has launched since WWDC, the corporate has responded to suggestions and lowered a few of the transparency results that have been current within the first model of Liquid Glass — because it seems, submitting suggestions throughout a beta works! (Curiously, they bumped a few of the transparency again up within the fourth developer beta, proper after turning it down in beta 3. That is nonetheless a piece in progress.) In all probability the largest purposeful change is that app controls, toolbars and sidebars float over apps in a brand new, distinct layer moderately than being wholly separate from an app’s content material — however once more, it’s not the form of factor that’ll faze anybody who has been utilizing an iPad or every other Apple machine.
Preview isn’t precisely a thriller, but it surely’s a a lot better approach to work with PDFs and pictures than the previous interface that launched them in a separate Information window. You’ll be able to nonetheless discover PDFs in Information simply sufficient, however really coping with the doc in a separate app is best than making Information pull double obligation.
Talking of Information, it has much more in frequent with the Mac Finder than earlier than. Now you can put particular folders within the dock for sooner entry to no matter you’re engaged on, and the app record view has resizable columns and collapsible folders, similar to on the Mac. You too can add emoji and colours to folders for extra visible differentiation (and, let’s be trustworthy, a little bit extra enjoyable). And for the primary time, you may choose particular apps to open completely different file varieties by default — so for those who’d moderately have PNG photos open in Photomator than Preview, go nuts.
There are additionally main updates to the communication expertise throughout the board in iPadOS 26. The FaceTime app obtained a pleasant redesign with massive contact posters of your latest calls. However what’s most helpful right here is that the FaceTime app now not tries to do double-duty with voice calls. A devoted Telephone app handles that now. Assuming you even have an iPhone, you’ll see all of your latest voice calls and voicemails right here and you may rapidly place a brand new name by way of your contact record or utilizing a conventional dialer. I’ve at all times preferred the concept of with the ability to place calls on gadgets I’m utilizing throughout the work day like my Mac or iPad, and this makes it far simpler.
Messages is getting some enjoyable visible enhancements like backgrounds to your conversations, however the factor I’m most involved in is message filtering. The app now identifies unknown senders and places these messages in a separate folder, and there’s additionally a brand new spam folder the place it drops messages that Apple strongly believes are spam.
If a message will get filtered into unknown senders or spam, you may mark it as recognized even when the contact isn’t in your tackle guide and people messages will find yourself in your primary view by default. The system additionally makes an attempt to acknowledge when a message from an unknown sender is well timed and must be delivered to your primary inbox — one thing like a supply particular person saying they’re close by or different pressing content material like a two-factor authentication code. This feels primarily like a phone-first function; I get messages on my iPad, however haven’t seen a lot get filtered on to spam or unknown callers but. As soon as all my gadgets are operating Apple’s newest software program, we’ll see how that goes, however I’m nonetheless very enthusiastic about any function that’ll assist fight the deluge of spam messages that plague my inbox.
For extra particulars on the up to date communications expertise and different new options just like the Apple Intelligence-powered Stay Translation, I’ll level you to my colleague Mat Smith’s iOS 26 overview. As is normally the case, almost each function coming to the iPhone this 12 months can also be coming to the iPad, which means Stay Translation will arrive on the pill too.
There’s much more right here that I haven’t been capable of get to, like improved background duties that allow you to export a video with out conserving the app in focus, updates to Genmoji and Picture Playground, the Journal app lastly coming to iPad, Apple Intelligence-powered Shortcuts updates and far more. I’ll be persevering with to take a look at how issues change between now and the ultimate launch this fall, however even based mostly on my expertise with the latest beta, I’m fairly happy with the place iPadOS 26 is at. The updates to multitasking are so important that I can’t think about going again to an iPad with out them.
This text initially appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cell/tablets/ipados-26-preview-a-long-awaited-multi-tasking-update-pays-off-so-far-172522054.html?src=rss