iPadOS 26 is an Absolute Mess

[xxray]

I’m someone who always upgrades to the latest software updates as soon as I can get them, and I think I’m going to stay on iPadOS 18 for a while. I’ve watched a handful of videos on iPadOS 26, and it honestly looks like a nightmare.

I understand the idea behind the multitasking changes, I really do. I sold my MacBook and went iPad only for a while. Having my iPad as my traditional computer and tablet all-in-one was my dream. But it was better in theory than reality. I realized I much preferred having separate devices that excel in their use case than compromised versions of each in one.

I bought a MacBook again to be my traditional laptop, and I went back to the classic 9.7/10.5/11” iPad size to use solely as a tablet (no big, unwieldy 13” size, no Magic Keyboard, no external displays, no mouse or keyboard), and I’ve been much happier this way. iPadOS 26 multitasking will ruin the way I use my iPad solely as a tablet. I don’t want to have to deal with constantly resizing windows, overlapping windows, and extra taps to do the same thing I could do before. And slide over functionality is missing completely. I don’t want to go just go back to full screen apps only either, essentially bringing the iPad functionality back to how it was before multitasking existed.

It’s so useful to just drag an app from the dock to use split screen with two apps open at once, and then use slide over to quickly respond to a text, check the weather, or look something up, and then slide the app back away out of sight. I don’t understand why Apple couldn’t have kept the old functionality in the “full screen apps” mode and then provided the new multitasking system as the other mode so that both camps could use their iPad the way they like. I’ve shared my feedback with Apple, and I hope they listen. I don’t like not upgrading my software because I don’t want to miss out on security updates or new features, but I’m dreading iPadOS 26 and will avoid it for now.

 

[achappy]

I’m someone who always upgrades to the latest software updates as soon as I can get them, and I think I’m going to stay on iPadOS 18 for a while. I’ve watched a handful of videos on iPadOS 26, and it honestly looks like a nightmare.

I understand the idea behind the multitasking changes, I really do. I sold my MacBook and went iPad only for a while. Having my iPad as my traditional computer and tablet all-in-one was my dream. But it was better in theory than reality. I realized I much preferred having separate devices that excel in their use case than compromised versions of each in one.

I bought a MacBook again to be my traditional laptop, and I went back to the classic 9.7/10.5/11” iPad size to use solely as a tablet (no big, unwieldy 13” size, no Magic Keyboard, no external displays, no mouse or keyboard), and I’ve been much happier this way. iPadOS 26 multitasking will ruin the way I use my iPad solely as a tablet. I don’t want to have to deal with constantly resizing windows, overlapping windows, and extra taps to do the same thing I could do before. And slide over functionality is missing completely. I don’t want to go just go back to full screen apps only either, essentially bringing the iPad functionality back to how it was before multitasking existed.

It’s so useful to just drag an app from the dock to use split screen with two apps open at once, and then use slide over to quickly respond to a text, check the weather, or look something up, and then slide the app back away out of sight. I don’t understand why Apple couldn’t have kept the old functionality in the “full screen apps” mode and then provided the new multitasking system as the other mode so that both camps could use their iPad the way they like. I’ve shared my feedback with Apple, and I hope they listen. I don’t like not upgrading my software because I don’t want to miss out on security updates or new features, but I’m dreading iPadOS 26 and will avoid it for now.

So you’ve shared your feedback…on software you haven’t actually used….based on videos of others…

 

[xxray]

So you’ve shared your feedback…on software you haven’t actually used….based on videos of others…

If it makes you feel better, I got the idea this morning after making that post to try iPadOS 26 while I still had time to downgrade to 18 since I won’t be able to do that much longer after the official release. It is just as bad as I expected. Very unintuitive and confusing. I’m trying to stay open minded and hope I just get used to it but it’s been a couple hours now, and I still find it very messy, complicated, and inefficient.

 

[martint235]

If it makes you feel better, I got the idea this morning after making that post to try iPadOS 26 while I still had time to downgrade to 18 since I won’t be able to do that much longer after the official release. It is just as bad as I expected. Very unintuitive and confusing. I’m trying to stay open minded and hope I just get used to it but it’s been a couple hours now, and I still find it very messy, complicated, and inefficient.

I can see that you might not like it and not be used to it but in and of itself I don’t think its unintuitive.

 

[says_stuff]

imagine paying for a car and one day finding a dealership mechanic in it removing a wheel the mirrors and installing a triangular steering wheel. When you complain, people come saying “well shutup, thats better for you”. Lol

So you’ve shared your feedback…on software you haven’t actually used….based on videos of others…

So from all the points the person is making, thats how you discard them altogether? Is he lamenting on something that is actually existing though? Is he wrong somehow?

Im constantly taking notes on slideover windows when reading, thats why i coughed up for a 13 inch, is this somewhere for me in the new windowing system to find? Do i need to install the beta to find out?

 

[xxray]

I can see that you might not like it and not be used to it but in and of itself I don’t think its unintuitive.

Do you have any tips for making it more intuitive? For example, to open split view, I used to be able to just drag an app from the dock. Now, unless I'm missing something, I have to either press the traffic lights three times to move an app to one side, then do the same with another app. Or I can use the flick gesture, but sometimes if an app has scrolling or sliding elements, they get in the way, or the menu bar gets in the way.

It's also unclear whether, if I open a new app, the app I had open will still be in the background. Sometimes it is, sometimes it's not. And then, if I start resizing apps, suddenly I have a bunch of floating windows I have to manage.

This is so much more complicated and unintuitive compared to being able to just drag and drop an app, or sliding the split view bar all the way to one side to go back to one app. I'm happy it's intuitive for you, but it's not for me.

imagine paying for a car and one day finding a dealership mechanic in it removing a wheel the mirrors and installing a triangular steering wheel. When you complain, people come saying “well shutup, thats better for you”. Lol



So from all the points the person is making, thats how you discard them altogether? Is he lamenting on something that is actually existing though? Is he wrong somehow?

Im constantly taking notes on slideover windows when reading, thats why i coughed up for a 13 inch, is this somewhere for me in the new windowing system to find? Do i need to install the beta to find out?

THANK YOU. Also, it's like that user completely ignored the part where I said I'm not asking for the new multitasking system to be removed, I just want my functionality restored in the "full screen apps" mode.

 

[martint235]

Do you have any tips for making it more intuitive? For example, to open split view, I used to be able to just drag an app from the dock. Now, unless I'm missing something, I have to either press the traffic lights three times to move an app to one side, then do the same with another app. Or I can use the flick gesture, but sometimes if an app has scrolling or sliding elements, they get in the way, or the menu bar gets in the way.

It's also unclear whether, if I open a new app, the app I had open will still be in the background. Sometimes it is, sometimes it's not. And then, if I start resizing apps, suddenly I have a bunch of floating windows I have to manage.

This is so much more complicated and unintuitive compared to being able to just drag and drop an app, or sliding the split view bar all the way to one side to go back to one app. I'm happy it's intuitive for you, but it's not for me.



THANK YOU. Also, it's like that user completely ignored the part where I said I'm not asking for the new multitasking system to be removed, I just want my functionality restored in the "full screen apps" mode.

You’re asking how to do something that you do now. To me that’s not intuition. Intuition is can someone who has never used an iPad pick it up and use it to which I think the answer is yes. Split View itself wasn’t intuitive, it was something you had to learn

 

[says_stuff]

You’re asking how to do something that you do now. To me that’s not intuition. Intuition is can someone who has never used an iPad pick it up and use it to which I think the answer is yes. Split View itself wasn’t intuitive, it was something you had to learn

Sure lets do definitions too

Intuitive:
easy to use or learn without any special knowledge:
“It has a stunning and intuitive user interface.”
“Despite the daunting scale of the rules, I found them quite intuitive and learnt them very quickly.”

 

[xxray]

You’re asking how to do something that you do now. To me that’s not intuition. Intuition is can someone who has never used an iPad pick it up and use it to which I think the answer is yes. Split View itself wasn’t intuitive, it was something you had to learn

adding more steps and more complication to accomplish the same end goal is inherently unintuitive. Those are extra steps a new user has to learn.

Also, when I am and always have an early adopter of technology, and I’m still struggling to manage windows the way I intend (outside of Split View), that means the software is unintuitive.

But I didn’t come on this forum to argue semantics. I came to share my experience and hear others experiences. Instead, I’m just having people argue with me about my own experience, and for what?

 

[turbineseaplane]

So now there’s a minimum age for complaining? The iPad hasn’t had Split Screen that long so what did you complain about before?

I was highlighting the age/youth as a sign of his adaptability and comfort with new ways of doing things (forced or otherwise), especially compared to us old sticks

 

[says_stuff]

adding more steps and more complication to accomplish the same end goal is inherently unintuitive. Those are extra steps a new user has to learn.

Also, when I am an and always have an early adopter of technology, and I’m still struggling to manage windows the way I intend (outside of Split View), that means the software is unintuitive.

But I didn’t come on this forum to argue semantics. I came to share my experience and hear others experiences. Instead, I’m just hacing people argue with me about my own experience, and for what?

Thats my honest question too, its my opinion that it was working fine and that’s why I put money towards it. I want it the way it was and to be upkept for some years as expected. Noone said the other guys shouldn’t get their option too and it’s clearly doable to have all available options at our disposal, so why would people argue for other people to not get what they want? Are they paying for ipad os development team’s salaries, are they stockholders, seriously what is up? I don’t get the outrage about the outrage.

 

[JCCL]

I'll say for me, I really love it. I finally got a Magic Keyboard and iPad Pro 13 BECAUSE of it (well also because I was able to get sweet discounts on both). I find it much better, I am able to finally rely on my iPad for longer periods for works away from my Mac / PC. Understand if you want a pure classical tablet then it might now be convenient. What I don't get, is why do they remove functionality? Slide over definitely had its use, so why not keep the option.

 

[turbineseaplane]

What I don't get, is why do they remove functionality? Slide over definitely had its use, so why not keep the option.

Exactly!
I'm not against things being added, but nuking things like SlideOver ... really just sucks

 

[TigerMSTR]

I'll say for me, I really love it. I finally got a Magic Keyboard and iPad Pro 13 BECAUSE of it (well also because I was able to get sweet discounts on both). I find it much better, I am able to finally rely on my iPad for longer periods for works away from my Mac / PC. Understand if you want a pure classical tablet then it might now be convenient. What I don't get, is why do they remove functionality? Slide over definitely had its use, so why not keep the option.

I’m not trying to be a hater, but I find it so concerning that, for the most part, the people who say they love this update are the ones with Magic Keyboards — an accessory that probably 90% of iPads users do not use.

I also love using iPadOS 26 with my Magic Keyboard, but the moment I remove the keyboard, the operating system becomes an unusable mess of convoluted and conflicting gestures. On iPadOS 26, I’m using my Magic Keyboard a lot more now, but mainly because the touchscreen experience is so immensely frustrating to use.

I would have been so ecstatic about iPadOS 26 if I could switch back to Split View + Slide Over whenever the keyboard is removed. But instead it feels like they’ve sacrificed a best-in-class touchscreen experience to give us a mediocre (not great) desktop experience.

I really feel bad for the people out there who don’t have Magic Keyboards. It feels like Apple has totally thrown them under the bus. And who knows, maybe this degradation in touchscreen UX is intentional on Apple’s part, so that they can sell more keyboards. It’s a classic “create the problem, sell the solution” move by Apple.

 

[achappy]

I'll say for me, I really love it. I finally got a Magic Keyboard and iPad Pro 13 BECAUSE of it (well also because I was able to get sweet discounts on both). I find it much better, I am able to finally rely on my iPad for longer periods for works away from my Mac / PC. Understand if you want a pure classical tablet then it might now be convenient. What I don't get, is why do they remove functionality? Slide over definitely had its use, so why not keep the option.

I don’t think it’s needed as an option because you can get almost the same functionality with the existing modes and for me it’s more efficient. The one use case that is completely removed is when you want to have an app in Slide Over but still interact with the full screen app. Doesn’t apply to how I used slide over but to get around that just resize the full screen app and then double tap it as needed to revert back. Each iPad “mode” is just an extension of the other and Slide Over doesn’t fit and trying to maintain a mode for a very niche case isn’t worth it.

Regarding Slide Over efficiency, if I have 6 apps in Slide Over and I’m in the 1st in the stack but need the 6th, that’s additional steps/swipes to get to that app. With Window/SM, it’s the same number of steps. Swipe up, select app. Initial may take a step or two more but after that it’s more or as efficient. And if I want one of those apps full screen? Just double tap top of app and then to put back in “slide over” double tap again. Same case for apps that may be Split Screen. Multiple ways to get them into Split Screen. Then if you want to get out, double tap the bar. And the great thing is if you don’t change the size, you can have as many apps you want that can go into and out of split screen with a double tap. It’s really simple and straight forward. I’ve gone from 99% MK usage in iPad18 to probably at least 60/40 towards MK.

Given all that, I don’t see a need to keep what was there before.

 

[turbineseaplane]

Regarding Slide Over efficiency, if I have 6 apps in Slide Over and I’m in the 1st in the stack but need the 6th, that’s additional steps/swipes to get to that app. With Window/SM, it’s the same number of steps. Swipe up, select app. Initial may take a step or two more but after that it’s more or as efficient. And if I want one of those apps full screen? Just double tap top of app and then to put back in “slide over” double tap again. Same case for apps that may be Split Screen. Multiple ways to get them into Split Screen. Then if you want to get out, double tap the bar. And the great thing is if you don’t change the size, you can have as many apps you want that can go into and out of split screen with a double tap. It’s really simple and straight forward. I’ve gone from 99% MK usage in iPad18 to probably at least 60/40 towards MK.

I guess I'll have to see what I think once it releases.

Honestly, it doesn't sound "really simple and straight forward" (compared to what I do now with SlideOver).

 

[TigerMSTR]

I guess I'll have to see what I think once it releases.

Honestly, it doesn't sound "really simple and straight forward" (compared to what I do now with SlideOver).

If it was simple and straightforward, there wouldn’t be thousands of social media posts about how not simple and not straightforward it is. Simplicity is self evident.

 

[achappy]

I guess I'll have to see what I think once it releases.

Honestly, it doesn't sound "really simple and straight forward" (compared to what I do now with SlideOver).

I think you (and probably others) are looking at it with the constraints of SlideOver. Realistically, SlideOver was simply a way to have floating windows on top of another window without having to switch out of full screen which paused apps. I would argue most used it as a form of quick task, Sliding an app over, doing something like a Message, and sliding back. It then had gestures and ways to move into and out of that mode. We all had to learn what they were and they were definitely not intuitive when it was first introduced but since it’s been around for many years it’s second nature for everyone. It was a limited implementation of multitasking.

I look at ipadOS26 simply an OS that now has free floating windows that can be resized and some gestures, controls and movements that allow me to move them around and access as needed. I then figured out what’s the best way to get a floating Window in front of another that I could quickly access and then go back to full screen like SlideOver. Doing that was simple and straightforward as i just used the new gestures and controls without trying to do what I did before. Those controls are actually straightforward as it’s closer to most any OS that allows multiple resized windows. You control what the window does and not the OS.

 

[turbineseaplane]

If it was simple and straightforward, there wouldn’t be thousands of social media posts about how not simple and not straightforward it is. Simplicity is self evident.

That’s definitely where my intuition leads me as well.

This is an area the iPad really used to excel in so it’s disappointing to me to see it going so far away from that.

 

[achappy]

If it was simple and straightforward, there wouldn’t be thousands of social media posts about how not simple and not straightforward it is. Simplicity is self evident.

Using social media as a gauge is using a low bar.

 

[turbineseaplane]

Those controls are actually straightforward as it’s closer to most any OS that allows multiple resized windows. You control what the window does and not the OS.

But important context is that it’s further away from what we were used to on the iPad.

 

[turbineseaplane]

Using social media as a gauge is using a low bar.

Why?

An enormous amount of the population is using social media in various forms, particularly ones that use technology.

 

[achappy]

But important context is that it’s further away from what we were used to on the iPad.

Exactly. Its ease of use or intuitiveness is being judged on what was there before. Instead, it should be if you took a person who never used an iPad and had them use iPadOS18 and learn multi tasking and then had the ability to wipe their memory and use iPadOS26 which would be more intuitive.

I would argue the latter if this person has any computer experience (Windows, macOS, Linux).

 

[TigerMSTR]

If it was simple and straightforward, there wouldn’t be thousands of social media posts about how not simple and not straightforward it is. Simplicity is self evident.

Using social media as a gauge is using a low bar.

Why?

I’ll draw an analogy. Samsung’s smartphones are very touch friendly. Nowhere on social media will you find complaints that it’s hard to use the touchscreen on Samsung smartphones. Because as I said above, simplicity is self-evident. When something is simple, when something works well, you need not even discuss how it works.

On the other hand, with iPadOS 26, whether it be on Mac Rumours, Reddit, Twitter and TikTok, you just see thousands upon thousands of posts of users complaining that the touch multitasking experience is very poor. And they consistently bring up the same pain points: it’s too many taps, too convoluted, too many conflicting gestures.

When you have that many people independent having the exact same user experience problems, something has gone seriously wrong.

 

[achappy]

Why?

An enormous amount of the population is using social media in various forms, particularly ones that use technology.

It’s in peoples nature to complain. It’s in people nature to be lazy (how may times will you see someone ask a question in a thread that’s been answered 10 times before). It’s in people nature to want to spew information they have no direct knowledge about because they read it or saw a video of it (like posting feedback without using the software). It’s social media’s nature to encourage all three because of the rapid nature of posts.