Apple Explains Why iPad Multitasking Took So Long to Arrive

[MacRumors]

With iPadOS 26, Apple has introduced a new multitasking UI that allows for several open apps at the same time. You can change the size of ‌iPad‌ app windows, move them on top of each other, and rearrange them as desired, much like on the Mac. In a new interview with Ars Technica, Apple's software chief Craig Federighi has explained why the iPad took so long to gain proper windowed multitasking.

The delay apparently stemmed from early hardware limitations. According to Federighi, original iPads lacked the power for true multitasking, and the touch-first interface demanded perfect responsiveness.

"It is a foundational requirement that if you touch the screen and start to move something that it responds," Federighi told Ars. "Otherwise, the entire interaction model is broken – it's a psychic break with your contract with the device."

Early iPads "didn't have the capacity to run an unlimited number of windowed apps with perfect responsiveness," he added. Apps weren't designed for dynamic resizing either.

Stage Manager's troubled 2022 debut brought its own challenges. Apple restricted it to high-end models to ensure consistent eight-app performance, but that inevitably frustrated users with older iPads. However, as iPad Pro hardware became Mac-equivalent in power, technical barriers disappeared. "Over time the iPad's gotten more powerful, the screens have gotten larger, the user base has shifted into a mode where there is a little bit more trackpad and keyboard use in how many people use the device," Federighi told Ars.

"And so the stars kind of aligned to where many of the things that you traditionally do with a Mac were possible to do on an iPad for the first time and still meet iPad's basic contract."

For iPadOS 26, Apple changed its approach. "We decided this time: make everything we can make available, even if it has some nuances on older hardware, because we saw so much demand," Federighi said. While iPadOS 26 allows for multiple app windows, there are limitations on how many apps can be open at once. On older iPads, for example, you're limited to four apps. Newer iPads can have more open app windows.

‌iPad‌ app windows feature the Mac traffic-light controls, and these can be used for resizing and closing apps. ‌iPad‌ apps also have Mac-style menu bars for tweaking settings, and there's a feature for running system-intensive tasks in the background. While the new interface borrows familiar Mac design elements like window controls and colors, there are key differences. Background processing remains restricted to finite tasks like file transfers rather than continuous system agents, for example.

"We've looked and said, as [the iPad and Mac] come together, where on the iPad the Mac idiom for doing something, like where we put the window close controls and maximize controls, what color are they – we've said why not, where it makes sense, use a converged design for those things so it's familiar and comfortable," Federighi told Ars. "But where it doesn't make sense, iPad's gonna be iPad."

Stage Manager survives as an optional mode alongside the new windowed system, giving users multiple multitasking approaches. iPadOS 26 also preserves the traditional single-app interface for users who prefer the iPad's original simplicity.

The changes are Apple's biggest step yet toward treating the iPad as a legitimate laptop replacement, particularly for the base $349 model that stands to gain the most from enhanced multitasking capabilities. iPadOS 26 is currently in developer beta, with a public beta arriving next month and a general release expected in the fall. What do you think of the multitasking changes Apple has introduced? Lets us know in the comments.

Article Link: Apple Explains Why iPad Multitasking Took So Long to Arrive

 

[DMG35]

Better late than never.

 

[DHagan4755]

I heard his response to this in another interview & I understand Craig's answer — but it sounds like a typical politician.

 

[winxmac]

What was their reasoning to only introducing a Calculator app on the iPad 14 years later?

 

[thejadedmonkey]

I'm surprised they kept stage manager around. That's probably less used than Rosetta2, and they have no problems killing that.

 

[StuBeck]

I appreciate that the features are going to be here, but it seems a bit silly for a company whose constantly forcing tech on the newest device only to say that they had to wait for the older devices to be EOL to introduce a feature.

 

[cesar527]

I'm surprised they kept stage manager around. That's probably less used than Rosetta2, and they have no problems killing that.

they should really kill stage manager. I tried to use once and terrible experience.

 

[TundraKing]

With each passing iPad OS release it becomes more and more ridiculous to maintain the artificial wall between it and the Mac. Eventually they will be functionally identical. defeature the base A series iPad OS if you want but any M series iPad is perfectly capable of running most any standard Mac app....

 

[Jay-Jacob]

I never used stage manager since it not how I use my iPad. I do use slide over every day though like notes etc. I don't need split screen, just 1 app and slide over for quick adding notes or checking notes and swipe away. Shame they removed that and now need to think how I do that in future.

 

[Killerbob]

I'm surprised they kept stage manager around. That's probably less used than Rosetta2, and they have no problems killing that.

I disagree… I am on an iPad Pro M4, and I use Stage Manager. I tried Windowed Apps, but like SM substantially more. SM is more predictable and faster, and WA is a mess IMO.

 

[Jonas Danielsson]

Rossetta2 in iPad?

 

[sunapple]

What was their reasoning to only introducing a Calculator app on the iPad 14 years later?

According to Federighi previous iPads did not have the capacity for handling numbers above 100, so they decided not to do a calculator.

 

[Plerf]

With each passing iPad OS release it becomes more and more ridiculous to maintain the artificial wall between it and the Mac. Eventually they will be functionally identical. defeature the base A series iPad OS if you want but any M series iPad is perfectly capable of running most any standard Mac app....

Yes. Please.

Instead of spending dev resources on making iPadOS act like macOS, I’d say spend that blood and treasure on making macOS capable of being a touch-operable OS.

If the concern is keeping that lucrative App Store cut, recent court decisions indicate that slice of pie is going to suffer precipitous decline in revenue.

 

[DanVM]

Apple once said in a keynote about MS and the Surface that they were confused, by turning tablets into PCs and PCs into tablets. Is Apple confused now or Microsoft was right all along? 🤔

 

[eqquito]

I never used stage manager since it not how I use my iPad. I do use slide over every day though like notes etc. I don't need split screen, just 1 app and slide over for quick adding notes or checking notes and swipe away. Shame they removed that and now need to think how I do that in future.

I am on the same boat, while I have goodnotes app open I always have in slide-over: apple music, reminders, messages, calculator and added whatsapp recently.

 

[johnrlaporta]

If they were able to do this fifteen years ago, I probably would have kept my iPad 2 and not gotten rid of it, never to buy another iPad again.

 

[omenatarhuri]

If I could run macOS on an iPad Pro, that would be a great on-the-go machine. But I really need the whole thing, not just multitasking with iPad apps.

But it's a good effort and might be enough for a lot of people.

 

[starlabjump]

iPadOS 26 is definitely a welcome improvement.

Here are some additional features I hope to see in future updates:

1. Safe ejection of external SSDs or USB drives.
2. When connected to an external monitor without speakers, allow the iPad to play audio through its own speakers.
3. More improvements to the Files app — such as tabbed browsing and other enhancements. Essentially, a full Finder-like experience is needed.
4. Persistent on-screen menus when a keyboard is connected.

Now, with iPadOS 26 setting the stage, it's time for developers to bring their apps up to desktop-level functionality on the iPad.

 

[rizzo41999]

Oh, okay.

 

[patseguin]

Aside from looking cool, after the novelty wears off, I can't see the usefulness of this. Windows end up being fairly small and can't show much. It's almost easier just having full screen windows and switching the old way.

 

[neuropsychguy]

What was their reasoning to only introducing a Calculator app on the iPad 14 years later?

It was possibly a demand issue. There might not have been enough people asking for it, regardless what the impression might be about demand in the highly biased samples of a few online forums. It's also likely Apple also had metrics about total use of calculator apps on iPads and decided the demand wasn't worth their time to develop one.

I'm not saying that was the only factor or that not having one was a good decision. Apple is, however, highly metric-driven and doesn't just throw around resources willy-nilly.

 

[klasma]

Apple once said in a keynote about MS and the Surface that they were confused, by turning tablets into PCs and PCs into tablets. Is Apple confused now or Microsoft was right all along? 🤔

Looking at what each of them output, I think they're both confused.

 

[klasma]

It seems to me they still haven't figured out multitasking and multiwindowing for a touch UI. The new windowing is probably fine for use with a pointing device and larger external monitor, but it doesn’t strike me as particularly ergonomic for handheld use, compared to approaches like Slide Over and Split View.

 

[Unami]

Early iPads "didn't have the capacity to run an unlimited number of windowed apps with perfect responsiveness,"

What kind of explanation is: "We couldn't do it, because we made it impossible for ourselves?"

Obviously if you skimp on RAM, you can't do proper multitasking. The first iPad came with 512MB of RAM - in 2010, at a time when 16GB was becoming industry-standard.

 

[Leon Ze Professional]

"The delay apparently stemmed from early hardware limitations. According to Federighi, original iPads lacked the power for true multitasking"

If you're talking pre M silicon days, then yes I could understand that statement. But we are now up to M4 chips in ipads. So it cannot be a hardware limitation for the last 3 to 4 years then? To me it was more a software or operating system limitation.

Also unless I'm missing a point here. Is he really trying to tell us that ipadOS was not a multi threaded capable operating system in the first place?