Apple Explains Why iPad Multitasking Took So Long to Arrive

[LazyMonkIE]

I must stress that I'm actually really happy with this update at last - but this is utter clap-trap! Microsoft have been doing this for years and it ain't something they had to invent! There's no "psychic break" between the user and the interface. Drag the window isn't a new concept; blimey; they were doing it in Windows 3.1!

This is marketing trash at its best. I'm a lifelong Apple fan who is still very much in the eco-system and not going anywhere but I'm also not accepting this bluster and guff. Grow a pair Apple and explain to us properly why it's taken you his long to almost give us macOS on the iPad (where you've been able to drag a window since 1984!).

You've got the same M4 processor, the same memory, same SDD. We pay over the odds because we support the privacy first ethos and I'm not happy with this level of agricultural-waste coming from a senior C suite!

 

[meDANOcine]

Can’t wait for the mental gymnastics they use when virtualization and sideloading Mac apps is finally introduced in iPadOS 31

 

[MacsRgr8]

TBH, I think they completely ran out of ideas on what to do with iPadOS 19 26... and implemented the "most heard iPad-request on MacRumors: make iPadOS more like macOS". And see what will come of it.

Will it cannabalise MacBook sales? Will iPad sales increase? Na, I think it will do nothing to both...

 

[Darth Tulhu]

What is the point of this? I work in the IT space, and I can't stand full OS on small screens. Surface style Windows is stupid. Mac OS on the 13" Air isn't bad, but still isn't good, imo. That is why people who do serious work on them, use a dock/adapter with a larger monitor, external keyboard, and mouse. Same for any laptop, really. It doesn't make sense. You can technically do the work, but people don't normally enjoy having to only use that screen 24/7. Why change everything to try to act like people want to use it that way? They may think they do, but once they try, it sucks (looking at you stage manager).

Why do you want to clutter up your screen with small windows all over? You have to position them just right to be able to touch them and activate them to be on top. I just don't see the benefit in efficiency. Maybe once it is docked, like a modified stage manager (which I don't care for either). For my use, I love side by side. I use it all the time because I only need to move data between two apps, usually, and they resize fine. I'm in a niche situation, I assume. Most people use an iPad for casual use. One app needed at a time, and easily swipe to switch. MacBooks are far better for serious work with a physically stable design. None of the iPad keyboard accessories (I've used all styles) are as good as my MacBook Air or Windows laptop when it comes to just being good to type on and easy to put on my lap. If I am using my iPad, and I need to get some serious work done (VMs, Remote support, heavy multitasking, etc) I swap to my desktop or laptop/MacBook connected to an external display.

Please stop trying to make the iPad a MacBook. You will make it so complicated and involving to use people will turn from it. People think they want this, but they will realize it doesn't make sense and just go back to a full size system to do "normal" work. In the meantime, it will ruin why the iPad is so loved.

These are just my opinions. I work for a very large corporation. I see this stuff all the time.

While I agree with a lot of this, I feel that the intent is not to break the iPad, but to add to it.

Perhaps someone using the beta can expand, but I think it'll be optional just like it is on the Mac (full screen windows).

It seems like Apple is still keeping iPadOS touch-first, and the Mac mouse-first, as it should be.

Whether or not the new windowing becomes cumbersome remains to be seen.

 

[svish]

Good article. Happy to see the new iPadOS and that it is available on older iPads. Eagerly waiting to try it out.

 

[shyam09]

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

The market for psychos that use their iPad as calculators grew exponentially so they had to add it then.

 

[segfaultdotorg]

I come here because we ask the difficult questions... So glad to hear Apple explain why iPad manufacturing took so long to arrive in the US!

 

[asdfjkl;]

About friggin' time.

 

[falainber]

BS. Samsung tablets (and even phones) gained proper multitasking with the release of DeX in 2017. Are Samsung SOCs that much more powerful?

 

[Rock_Artist]

Same poor claim similar to stage manager not available on old iPads.

I’ve installed the beta on my iPad m1. Currently it’s sluggish.

But come one. The origin of iOS/iPadOS was macOS. It was performant more than Android thanks to truly compiled code and Apples frameworks approach even on iPhone 4.

In that time Apple crafted performant chips that were claimed to be rivaling Intel chips years before Apple silicon transition.

Windows XP was also just fine for multitasking or even the 2007 MacBook.

So, comeon. Even software those days is last optimized. This is another claim that has no base. Just as stage manager availability that was eventually enabled to more devices.

Also, they add the new multitasking to iPads without stage manager. So.. be honest.

 

[CrysisDeu]

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....

Yeah.. like if you are trying to rebuild macOS in iPadOS.. just merge the devices and the OS.

It’s such a dumb argument when people say iPadOS was built for touch and macOS was for trackpads…
NO! Because Apple is essentially building iPad OS to be used with trackpads and keyboards. iPadOS need to support both touch and mouse/keyboard. If iPadOS can do that, MacOS can as well.

If you think touch interface should be different from mouse centric interface. The ideal state is to have an OS that has a touch only mode and a keyboard/mouse only mode. iPadOS is not that.

This separation is purely due to Apple wanting to earn more money from you (and internal politics).

 

[CrysisDeu]

Yes. I really don't think their problem has been lack of windows. Most people on computers full screen every app all the time, and those that don't are often preferring auto-tiling window managers these days. The problem with the iPad multitasking is usability. It is quite fiddly to set up something as simple as a sliding panel app overlaid to your main one (e.g. a dictionary or translator app on a browser), and then there's no "memory" of it once you kill one of the apps or set up another configuration. There's never been a concept of "Spaces" for the iPad, for example, which would help with this – despite them already having something similar with the home icon screens. The one thing they did that actually improved something was adding the "Dock" feature.

Also there's far too much overuse of the same areas of the screen, like putting the three dots for multitasking at the top where many apps have a control bar, or doing so much with swipe up from the bottom when the keyboard is there. I seriously wonder if they've ever just filmed users interacting with their UIs and tried to learn anything from it.

While I'm at it the Files interface could use some serious improvement as well. While they solved the conceptual problem of making files available across apps, the way they explicitly represent every source (iCloud, Dropbox, Google, "this iPad", etc.) introduces friction and management headaches at every turn. I get that sometimes you need this kind of control, but for the 95% case they should just automatically mirror local files to your preferred cloud storage and then provide a single virtual filesystem view over everything, only asking questions / dropping down to direct management mode if there are duplicate files.

And don't get me started about the software keyboard. I get that it will never replace a hardware one but a lot of basics could be added, especially on large-screened Pros, that would change a lot from impossible to somewhat efficient. Think alt-tab app switching for example, or cursor up/down for history, or ctrl-a/e line and page up/down navigation. The keyboard in my sig offers everything iOS even supports in this direction and it's not very much at all.

i agree, the usability and intuitiveness of it was really bad. Apple needed to invent new gestures to make the experience feel magical. When they went into the thought process of adding buttons, it’s essentially treating iPad as a mouse input device

 

[haemolysis]

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.

This is half-baked. Antique iPads - sure, maybe.

But he is talking about an era "post-stage manager". In this period they already determined that this is not a limitation. They already had allowed windowed apps.

It wasn't about allowing windowed apps or not. It was about crippling the UX.

 

[HowardL168]

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.
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.
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.
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

Looking forward to it!

 

[aevan]

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.

Largest iPad is basically has the same screen size as smaller MacBooks, but even smaller ones could make use of this…. And, you can attach an external monitor to iPad.

 

[aevan]

This is half-baked. Antique iPads - sure, maybe.

But he is talking about an era "post-stage manager". In this period they already determined that this is not a limitation. They already had allowed windowed apps.

It wasn't about allowing windowed apps or not. It was about crippling the UX.

An expert cynic, I see.

 

[thealkimist]

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....

No they won't and there is no artificial wall between the two. They are two different OSes with two entirely different architectures (on top of the XNU Kernel and Core Frameworks) designed for different goals.

 

[throAU]

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.

There was no iPad competitor in 2010, and certainly no machine with a touchscreen, decent speakers, camera, etc. with 10+ hour battery life existed in 2010.

16 GB was HIGH END in 2010 (even for a desktop - yes some desktops had a heap more, most did not - and 4 GB was laptop standard), I remember looking to buy 16 GB of DDR3 laptop RAM in mid 2011, and it was $1600 Australian. MacBook Pros shipped with 4GB in 2011 as standard IIRC (that's what mine shipped with, I upgraded it myself to 8GB, because at the time 16 was too expensive).

So basically, your post is full of it. You either do not remember correctly or are misrepresenting the facts.

 

[turbineseaplane]

Yeah.. like if you are trying to rebuild macOS in iPadOS.. just merge the devices and the OS.

It’s such a dumb argument when people say iPadOS was built for touch and macOS was for trackpads…
NO! Because Apple is essentially building iPad OS to be used with trackpads and keyboards. iPadOS need to support both touch and mouse/keyboard. If iPadOS can do that, MacOS can as well.

If you think touch interface should be different from mouse centric interface. The ideal state is to have an OS that has a touch only mode and a keyboard/mouse only mode. iPadOS is not that.

This separation is purely due to Apple wanting to earn more money from you (and internal politics).

Perfectly articulated -- all of it.

This whole thing has become a waste of resources.

They should just have a classic iPadOS and get macOS up to spec for touch and put that on iPad Pros (or any number of possible ways to go here).

"Rebuilding macOS from iPadOS" is totally ridiculous.

 

[tobybrut]

Same poor claim similar to stage manager not available on old iPads.

I’ve installed the beta on my iPad m1. Currently it’s sluggish.

But come one. The origin of iOS/iPadOS was macOS. It was performant more than Android thanks to truly compiled code and Apples frameworks approach even on iPhone 4.

In that time Apple crafted performant chips that were claimed to be rivaling Intel chips years before Apple silicon transition.

Windows XP was also just fine for multitasking or even the 2007 MacBook.

So, comeon. Even software those days is last optimized. This is another claim that has no base. Just as stage manager availability that was eventually enabled to more devices.

Also, they add the new multitasking to iPads without stage manager. So.. be honest.

I love it when non-engineers think they understand computers and how they work under the hood outside of superficial knowledge. It’s absolutely ludicrous to compare time frames, so the statement about the 2007 MacBooks and Windows XP is just silly. That’s because desktop OS’es have been requiring virtual memory for decades while few phones need it. Naturally CPU’s designed for desktop operating systems will have built-in virtual memory controllers.

Android chips supported virtual memory right out of the gate. That’s why they could do such a thing, though note that Samsung is the only one that bothers to do so. That should tell you the feature isn’t exactly having people busting down doors to demand it. Apple used their A-series chips designed for iPhones in their iPads all the way up until 2021 when they introduced their M-series chips designed specifically for Macs. Apple’s tendency was to put only what they needed into their chips because they controlled the hardware and software. Qualcomm didn’t have that luxury so they built a more general purpose processor that could be used by unlimited vendors. The iPhone had a single tasking operating system, so virtual memory was totally unnecessary, nor was sufficient RAM put in those devices to run multiple apps without it. Apple naturally didn’t build such a controller into their A-series since it would be a waste of transistors, but because virtual memory was necessary for a desktop operating system, they built it into their M-series chips. This is the main reason they could not introduce significant multitasking into their iPads. They had only RAM to work with, typically limited to 3GB up to 6GB on most iPads. M-series chips started at 8GB.

When Apple made moves to put M-series into their iPads, that opened up the possibility of launching multiple apps, so they introduced Stage Manager into M-series iPads. The lack of hardware-driven virtual memory controller meant the 2018 iPad Pro was left out in the cold because it ran an A12X chip as well as the 2020 iPad Pro running an A12Z chip. Apple said they came up with a workaround to bring it to those two iPads. Likely, as any software engineer would logically conclude, Apple probably came up with a software-based virtual memory controller. Anything built into hardware would run far faster than a software solution, so they had two criteria. The chip had to be fast enough to run the controller software acceptably and it had to have fast enough SSD’s to swap memory without losing the iPad’s ability to respond to input instantaneously. Older chips could not do that and neither could the A12 chips either. But they were powerful enough to handle 4 apps simultaneously instead of 8 that the M-series could handle.

Another consideration no one seems to understand except the engineers is battery. Batteries on iPads are considerably smaller than even the smallest Mac batteries. That’s why even the M4 iPad Pro cannot run more than 12 apps simultaneously. This is not because the SoC can’t handle it. It’s because the entire package would drain the battery too fast and probably overheat and throttle. The lesser iPads that don’t have hardware virtual memory controllers are even more limited. The lowest iPad is said to be able to run only four apps at a time, something I can’t confirm because I don’t have one. That number goes up depending on the power of the chip. Apple has had several years to optimize its software virtual memory controller, hence why they were able to bring it to weaker iPads.

I know someone’s going to bring up the A12Z built into the developer Mac mini used to allow developers to write macOS apps before the M1 came out. I would remind people that the developer Mac mini was never intended to be sold, so Apple just collected a ton of miscellaneous processors to get it to run macOS. Even then, it ran it poorly with many limitations. Because the A12Z did not support virtual memory, they collected supporting chips that could. Note that in the Intel world, they use Northbridge and Southbridge chipsets to run many functions that the Intel CPU’s could not do since those Intel did not put everything into the CPU. M-series chips don’t need those support chips since everything needed is built in.

 

[tobybrut]

BS. Samsung tablets (and even phones) gained proper multitasking with the release of DeX in 2017. Are Samsung SOCs that much more powerful?

No, they just had a feature A-series chips didn’t have built in. Apple chips are overall more powerful, but it’s missing a feature, not power. That feature is virtual memory. They said all this three years ago, but some people didn’t believe them back then. Say you have an all-powerful chip but it was missing a drive controller. That chip may be able to run CPU benchmarks like crazy but it can’t help with storing stuff on your drive. Without a drive controller, you can’t read or write to a drive. A similar thing applies to A-series chips. They don’t have a built-in virtual memory controller, which handicaps its ability to run multiple apps unless you have oodles of RAM. Most iPads don’t have more than 4GB. Does that make sense?

 

[tobybrut]

Yeah.. like if you are trying to rebuild macOS in iPadOS.. just merge the devices and the OS.

It’s such a dumb argument when people say iPadOS was built for touch and macOS was for trackpads…
NO! Because Apple is essentially building iPad OS to be used with trackpads and keyboards. iPadOS need to support both touch and mouse/keyboard. If iPadOS can do that, MacOS can as well.

If you think touch interface should be different from mouse centric interface. The ideal state is to have an OS that has a touch only mode and a keyboard/mouse only mode. iPadOS is not that.

This separation is purely due to Apple wanting to earn more money from you (and internal politics).

Utter nonsense. I’m guessing you’ve never done UI design before, which I have. Touch-first is Apple’s motto for the iPad, which does not exclude using a pointer device. Fingers are a lot bigger and wider than any mouse, so controls have to be spaced out far enough and large enough to easily touch without tearing your hair out in frustration as you keep hitting the wrong control. I have this problem with my Vision Pro. The controls are larger, but not large enough. Perhaps it’s my vision issues since I have glaucoma and have had two eye surgeries, but I cannot consistently hit the right control by staring at it. It routinely hits the wrong one, which drives me crazy sometimes.

Now try to ship a Mac with touch. You’d run into the same problem. Yes, you can use it, but not without significant frustration. Microsoft didn’t care and never has cared much for user friendliness, so they shipped their Surface Pro line. Nobody wants to use a Surface Pro as a tablet. It’s basically a weaker laptop where it’s mouse first. This is the main reason iPads far outsell Surface Pro tablets and dominate sales of all tablets. iPads are fantastic touch devices and are therefore fantastic tablets. Surface Pros run desktop software totally unoptimized for touch. It’s also the reason Microsoft broke their promise that Windows 10 would be the last OS they’d ever make. Because Windows 10 sucked royally at touch, they had to create Windows 11. But that doesn’t mean applications are optimized for touch. That’s why Surface Pros are absolutely terrible tablets.

Mice have very precise pointers, which can be used on touch devices, because you don’t have the reverse problem of controls that are too big or too small. Controls can be either widely separated or close together and it won’t matter. That’s why you can use a mouse and keyboard with an iPad. However iPads are touch first, and Apple insists on it. If Apple sold iPads with macOS, sales would suffer enormously.

 

[Beautyspin]

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

Same. Not enough power. It needed M2 chip.

 

[MonkeyT]

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.

Use Mission Control on MacOS with the trackpad. You'll figure it out.

 

[TracesOfArsenic]

That's great and all but what was your excuse for releasing Stage Manager? That shouldn't have got past PoC stage.