Apple Aiming to Make iPad More Mac-Like With iPadOS 16 Multitasking Changes

[kingtj1971]

We all saw it coming. They were testing the water with resizable windows for notes. I bet it’s going to be quiet similar to that and not like mac.
I actually hope they just don’t copy the mac.

That's my thought too.... the part about hoping they don't try to just copy the Mac, at least.

iPadOS has a lot of potential to be something unique that turns the screen space of a tablet into a usable computer-like experience. (I never liked how iPads were essentially iPhones without the cellular voice component and just a bigger display. It made it easy for teaching someone how to use one, because if they used the iPhone before, they knew the iPad too. I'm sure that helped sell a lot of them. But it just doesn't take full advantage of the different form-factors.)

By the same token, it doesn't really make MacOS "better" in my opinion when it just tries to copy apps or features right out of iOS. Nor does it benefit an iPad to try to directly move over things from the Mac that were designed assuming you had a regular keyboard and mouse as your input devices.

 

[radus]

Did anybody write about proper monitor support ?

 

[pvinesy]

It already works pretty well when docked, what we need is the ability to have an external display that works properly when connected. Its not about making windowing Mac-ish but instead enabling us to fully use a larger(non-touch) display with keyboard and mouse connected. Allow us to drag windows over but still use the same multitasking paradigm from iPadOS as it exists today. I don't think people have really investigated the iPad OS multitasking recently, it has lots of cool tricks for replacing windows in place, dragging windows around, and finding windows using the app window shelf. There is lots of good stuff in there,

I think it all needs more discoverability, apple's insistence on a single swipe area at the bottom for 3 actions (home, multitasking, dock) makes things harder to find and use. I doubt most people know you can long press on an app icon to see all windows from the dock to see windows from another app and then drag one into your current split view to replace an app, its a really handy feature that is hard to find.

From your reply and the many other suggestions I think the predicament is that the ‘wanted’ functionality from the broader user is very wide. It’s like Apple asking everyone what they want and trying to implement it all.

I think we will see small incremental changes over multiple updates that’ll implement some of the changes. I don’t think the user would like to install iPadOS 16 and it look and perform totally different.

I admit my suggestion was a bit wild and probably not practical. It would suit me but probably not everyone.

 

[ekuLoN]

Don’t know why everyone wants a tablet to be a Mac so much. Steve Jobs said himself during the iPads introduction that the iPad is a “third category device between a laptop and a smartphone”.

Just buy a Mac if you want a Mac, otherwise you’ll never be satisfied because you’ll just want them to add something else to make it like a Mac, then another thing, then another… etc. You are forever chasing after something to be something that it was never intended to be.

but years passed, technology advanced and our perspective changed. Now we want to do all our work with a single device. If I can do that (which we have a near-perfect iOS experience with the iPad, all that remains is to add macos, the hardware needed for it is already there), then I would like to do it. moreover if you want more money for a tablet and keyboard than macbook air then you better add this feature because then you can offer a feature that macbook air doesn't have while charging more for this “pro” tablet and “magical” keyboard than a macbook.

 

[Tagbert]

The problem is that the touch experience would be terrible for most Mac apps, because they aren’t designed for touch, and while using those apps would be optional, Apple won’t allow creating such an ecosystem where a large number of existing apps aren’t suited to the primary UI.

Look at the UI disaster that Windows has become because Microsoft tried to dual-purpose it to touch UI since Windows 8. Most Windows apps aren’t suited to touch input although it has been almost a decade now, and they never will be. Apple doesn’t want such a future.

The iPad works quite well with a mouse or trackpad giving you pointer precision equivalent to a Mac.

 

[Populus]

I have the suspicion the new multitasking won't support the 10.5 Pro and other older models due to the "needing the power of the M1 chip" or something, which is silly because mine is still pretty much as fast as the day I got it Summer 2017 minus the battery going downhill a bit. Hopefully I'm wrong.

The 2018 iPad Pro and the 2020 iPad Pro don’t have the M1 chip. I honestly don’t expect those machines to be axed from the new features, because they are still very, very powerful machines.

 

[Realityck]

I hope we don't get macOS multitasking - and I hope its just more flexibility in the existing system but I'm worried given recent rumours.

If you look at the Bloomberg article and also this topic, it isn't mentioned anywhere that it mimics MacOS, just that it makes iPadOS act more like a laptop, which could easily relate to way earlier versions of multitasking years ago before MacOSX. (switcher, split screen)

 

[FreakinEurekan]

I’d like to see an override for apps that only display in “Portrait” mode, to display in a windowed-down Landscape mode (lookin’ at you Linksys). It’s a PITA if you use a Smart Keyboard.

 

[klasma]

The iPad works quite well with a mouse or trackpad giving you pointer precision equivalent to a Mac.

No argument here. But in touch mode, what most users use, using a Mac UI would be miserable. Apple won’t enable such an experience.

 

[seek3r]

I’d love an iPad that had a touch OS on the go and macOS as needed or when docked.

So much this! I'd add it'd be nice if it could switch to MacOS when connected to the magic keyboard if that isn't included in "docked"

 

[elptdbi3lYI]

I hope they give some of that treatment to macOS too, mission control, virtual desktops and fullscreen need some improvements both UI and UX wise

 

[Ethosik]

Terrible idea. More illusion. Even the largest iPad is still too small for a windowed experience, and everything smaller than the 12.9" is way too small for it.

I would actually love a 16” iPad! More surface to draw and larger viewing for movies/tv.

 

[seek3r]

Especially when people are spending more $$ on an iPad Pro with keyboard case than they would on a base model MBA.
Why use and iPad and wish it was a Mac? Just don’t buy an iPad.

I like having the convertibility option, popping it off the magic keyboard to use as a tablet, especially on the couch or in my patio hammock, and the magic keyboard as a light use laptop.

 

[ignatius345]

On the other hand, the Mac has some severe limitations because of it's tiny touch targets, which prevent it from going touch screen.

Those aren't limitations, those are features of a UI designed to be used specifically with a pointing device, where huge clumsy touch UI elements are not needed. Gimping MacOS to accomodate a touch screen would be the worst of both worlds. You may think you want to gorilla-arm your way through working on a Mac where the screen is roughly perpendicular to your body, but it's an ergonomic nightmare they've avoided for good reason.

The "severe limitations" have actually been on the relatively new iPadOS interface, which grew out of iOS and has yet to deliver on the promise of the amazing hardware it runs on. Looks like (if this rumor pans out) they're belatedly acknowledging that iPadOS users need a more robust multitasking interface and are going to give it to them.

 

[pdaholic]

I recently had to rename and move several hundred cloud-based files. Took so many more steps on my iPad that I gave up and used my MacBook. Hopefully the new update will help with such simple tasks.

 

[rafark]

What’s a computer?

 

[seek3r]

I don't understand how "multi-windowing" is supposed to make the iPad a "productivity" system or more Mac like... to me it's not about how many windows are open instead it's about how software on the iPad literally does not have the same functionality as their Mac counterparts. It's not about having every button but having 1:1 functionality parity.

For instance,

• there's no Smart Folders (essentially just a saved search) in Mail, Files, iPhoto, Music and so on.
• Many functions for file management just don't exist in the files app.
• No Terminal. Sure sandbox the snot out of it so we can't see the system file structure but still let us run ping, netstat, install utilities like rclone and so on.
• We didn't get the functionality to change the date on photos in the photos app while the rest of the metadata is out of reach.
• In Music on Mac I can add my own songs and edit their metadata. on iOS I can only add songs from the general library.
• How the USB port on the iPad is limited to specific functions. For instance connecting a printer or scanner over USB does nothing.

The Files app is super limited and it's frustrating, it takes forever to get simple things done

 

[jcshas]

I’ve been using the 12.9" iPad pro for the past couple of years so hoping for major changes here or I’ll probably go back to an 11" iPad Pro.

 

[bcortens]

If you look at the Bloomberg article and also this topic, it isn't mentioned anywhere that it mimics MacOS, just that it makes iPadOS act more like a laptop, which could easily relate to way earlier versions of multitasking years ago before MacOSX. (switcher, split screen)

I don't think we want this though.
The iPad multi-windowing UI is really good already, if you learn it as well as you've learned the macOS windowing UI then it is fast and easy to user.

Lets just think about the problems with some suggestions:

3 wide split screen on the iPad Screen - the screens are too small for 3-wide apps in portrait which means that 3-wide in landscape then rotate breaks the UI... so that doesn't work.

2x2 grids don't work without the external keyboard and the UI has to remap the windows when you tear away from the magic keyboard.

These are bad compromises that don't buy you much (you can only actually interact with one app at a time usually when working on a project you are using one or maybe two main apps plus some utility apps).

If you need a series of apps temporarily there is already a good way to work with that, slide-over, that is your floating window. I want enhanced slide-over (more width choices). Slide-over lets you have as many temporary utility apps as you want in a nice stack that you can keep visible while you work in your main 1-2 windows.

Flexible resizing doesn't get you much either, it gives you very little benefit over the existing 1/3+2/3 and 1/2+1/2 sizes. Live resizing would be nice though.
Multiple sizes for slide-over actually gets you something, if you could view apps in regular width for slide-over apps this might actually help.

 

[bcortens]

So much this! I'd add it'd be nice if it could switch to MacOS when connected to the magic keyboard if that isn't included in "docked"

No... please no... I don't want the UI to redraw whenever I put it into and take it out of my keyboard...

 

[Mr. Dee]

When this thing ends becoming confusing to use like a Mac, it’s gonna be a nightmare. I still don’t even know why people want Final Cut Pro on this thing.

 

[performa_6400]

Love the improvements Apple has been making to iPadOS.

 

[bcortens]

The Files app is super limited and it's frustrating, it takes forever to get simple things done

Yeah - I think the biggest problem with iPad OS is the app situation - most of them just aren't as good or full featured as their macOS counterparts. Apple's Microtransaction dollar chasing has ruined the App Store for app revenue which makes it hard to justify developing high end apps.

 

[bcortens]

When this thing ends becoming confusing to use like a Mac, it’s gonna be a nightmare. I still don’t even know why people want Final Cut Pro on this thing.

I think we want powerful apps like Final Cut, they will need to be modified for touch for sure, but more powerful apps should be brought to iPad OS.

 

[_Spinn_]

This would be nice. Right now the OS is really holding back the hardware.