iPadOS 26 is an Absolute Mess

[Andy_2341]

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.

This was part of what drove me to go to a MacBook instead of an iPad mini. I loved my mini a whole lot, but I ran the OS26 beta for a few weeks and ended up deciding that wasn't going to work out. I was estatic about the possible multitasking and hoping it could be as capable as a Mac on the go in most ways (screen size and overall power aside). I still needed more power though, and in my mind a 13" iPad Air with a Magic Keyboard and Mac-ish interface is just a wannabe MacBook Air for more money.

 

[TigerMSTR]

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.

This was part of what drove me to go to a MacBook instead of an iPad mini. I loved my mini a whole lot, but I ran the OS26 beta for a few weeks and ended up deciding that wasn't going to work out. I was estatic about the possible multitasking and hoping it could be as capable as a Mac on the go in most ways (screen size and overall power aside). I still needed more power though, and in my mind a 13" iPad Air with a Magic Keyboard and Mac-ish interface is just a wannabe MacBook Air for more money.

I’m in the same position now with my Mac mini and iPad Pro. My Mac already gives me the real Macintosh desktop experience, so I have no need for some gimped imitation of macOS on my iPad, with worse apps, worse multitasking, and worse keyboard/mouse experience. I absolutely would not have bought my iPad Pro if it shipped with OS 26, because I don’t need a Mac but worse. I bought my iPad to be a tablet, and OS 26 has totally destroyed that value proposition.

 

[Heat_Fan89]

It didn't run so well on my iPhone 13 so I reverted back to iOS 18. Hopefully it was because it's a beta. I also was kind of neutral with the glass look. It didn't look bad nor great, just a different coat of paint.

 

[turbineseaplane]

I don’t need a Mac but worse. I bought my iPad to be a tablet, and OS 26 has totally destroyed that value proposition.

Exactly my feelings about it, particularly on an iPad Mini

 

[muzzy996]

I have been trying out iPadOS beta on my mini 7 for a week now and I too dislike the multitasking interface. I can only surmise that they couldn't somehow support keeping the code for easy access to split screen and slide over within the OS along with all of the other features (as part of the fullscreen apps option).

I am a little surprised that some are insistent on the idea that the current implementation of windowed control (in the Windowed Apps mode) is as efficient to set apps up in a split screen orientation as it was before. Specifically in that mode setting up two windows side by side definitely requires more effort than it should or used to. A workflow exists to do it sure, but it is more convoluted than it should be. I am currently trying out Stage Manager mode with mixed results.

Not gonna lie, window management on my surface pro 9 is much easier than this is. Apple has a bit more work to do.

 

[Heat_Fan89]

I’m in the same position now with my Mac mini and iPad Pro. My Mac already gives me the real Macintosh desktop experience, so I have no need for some gimped imitation of macOS on my iPad, with worse apps, worse multitasking, and worse keyboard/mouse experience. I absolutely would not have bought my iPad Pro if it shipped with OS 26, because I don’t need a Mac but worse. I bought my iPad to be a tablet, and OS 26 has totally destroyed that value proposition.

I bought two high quality keyboard case with touchpad for my 11" M2 Air and the latest iPad Mini. The experience left a lot to be desired. It felt like I added a keyboard with a touchpad. The experience was pretty much the same without.

The experience was totally different on my Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 Plus. The combination of the keyboard/touchpad in DEX Mode, turned the tablet essentially into a Chromebook. I could rearrange and move and resize windows on the desktop. It offers a solid multitasking experience. It is now running 100% in Dex Mode.

 

[TigerMSTR]

I have been trying out iPadOS beta on my mini 7 for a week now and I too dislike the multitasking interface. I can only surmise that they couldn't somehow support keeping the code for easy access to split screen and slide over within the OS along with all of the other features (as part of the fullscreen apps option).

I am a little surprised that some are insistent on the idea that the current implementation of windowed control (in the Windowed Apps mode) is as efficient to set apps up in a split screen orientation as it was before. Specifically in that mode setting up two windows side by side definitely requires more effort than it should or used to. A workflow exists to do it sure, but it is more convoluted than it should be. I am currently trying out Stage Manager mode with mixed results.

Not gonna lie, window management on my surface pro 9 is much easier than this is. Apple has a bit more work to do.

I had same same thought as well. I used a Surface Pro back in the day, and while it never made a great tablet experience, its touchscreen multitasking was certainly better executed than iPadOS 26. I never got frustrated using multitasking on the Surface Pro touchscreen, whereas iPadOS 26 is a totally different story.

 

[muzzy996]

I had same same thought as well. I used a Surface Pro back in the day, and while it never made a great tablet experience, its touchscreen multitasking was certainly better executed than iPadOS 26. I never got frustrated using multitasking on the Surface Pro touchscreen, whereas iPadOS 26 is a totally different story.

Yup, I use my surface pro in tablet mode sparingly because of that but do not have any issues with window management on it. After years of waiting for the kind of flexibility we are seeing now in iPadOS 26 I am hopeful that things will improve.

 

[TigerMSTR]

I bought two high quality keyboard case with touchpad for my 11" M2 Air and the latest iPad Mini. The experience left a lot to be desired. It felt like I added a keyboard with a touchpad. The experience was pretty much the same without.

The experience was totally different on my Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 Plus. The combination of the keyboard/touchpad in DEX Mode, turned the tablet essentially into a Chromebook. I could rearrange and move and resize windows on the desktop. It offers a solid multitasking experience. It is now running 100% in Dex Mode.

I also agree that Dex is much better executed. You get an actual, real desktop windowing environment, and not some weird imitation of a windowing environment, such as in iPadOS 26.

Plugging my iPad into an external display, it really sets in how weird, and not-at-all-like-a-Mac (or PC) the iPadOS 26 windowing environment is. Like, it looks like a Mac, but it doesn’t work like one. It’s a weird, janky imitation of a desktop environment. Kind of like eating tofu and trying to pass it off as real meat.

I also appreciate Dex because it hasn’t destroyed the touch friendliness of the Samsung UI in some misguided attempt to turn it into a laptop OS.

Overall, if I were buying a tablet today, I’d probably go for a Samsung. And that pains me to say, since virtually everything else in my life is part of the Apple ecosystem.

 

[TigerMSTR]

I had same same thought as well. I used a Surface Pro back in the day, and while it never made a great tablet experience, its touchscreen multitasking was certainly better executed than iPadOS 26. I never got frustrated using multitasking on the Surface Pro touchscreen, whereas iPadOS 26 is a totally different story.

Yup, I use my surface pro in tablet mode sparingly because of that but do not have any issues with window management on it. After years of waiting for the kind of flexibility we are seeing now in iPadOS 26 I am hopeful that things will improve.

I think I’d be a lot more positive about iPadOS 26 if they had cannabalized the old touch-friendly UI to deliver a great windowing experience (eg, Windows 10). But iPadOS 26 is not a great windowing experience. iPadOS 26 is the worst windowing environment I’ve ever used on any platform. It’s worse than any version of OS X or Windows, worse than any Linux shell I’ve used. The only positive thing I can say about it is that it’s better than iPadOS 18’s Stage Manager (a very low bar).

I dare anyone who disagrees to name a worse windowing environment than iPadOS 26. I don’t expect you’ll be able to name any.

They’ve pretty much ruined the touch friendliness of this operating system to give us the worst windowing environment out there. It’s a real head scratcher.

 

[Bungaree.Chubbins]

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.

I don't know that I can agree with that. It's my observation that any change Apple makes will be greeted by thousands complaining that they made the change, they took too long to make the change, they should have taken more time to make the change, or that while the change is good, it doesn't go far enough.

You can find threads on this forum for every single version of iOS after 1.0 proclaiming it to be the worst version of iOS ever.

 

[actcyclist]

The latest beta update has made my iPad really sluggish. The other betas were OK.

Generally I’ve found iOS26 to be disappointing. Window resizing is fiddly and hard to use compared to the old split screen. Mail has been buggy and the Preview app is almost unusable.

The only positive is it’s forced me to put my iPad away more and pick up kindle so I’m wasting less time

 

[achappy]

I think I’d be a lot more positive about iPadOS 26 if they had cannabalized the old touch-friendly UI to deliver a great windowing experience (eg, Windows 10). But iPadOS 26 is not a great windowing experience. iPadOS 26 is the worst windowing environment I’ve ever used on any platform. It’s worse than any version of OS X or Windows, worse than any Linux shell I’ve used. The only positive thing I can say about it is that it’s better than iPadOS 18’s Stage Manager (a very low bar).

I dare anyone who disagrees to name a worse windowing environment than iPadOS 26. I don’t expect you’ll be able to name any.

They’ve pretty much ruined the touch friendliness of this operating system to give us the worst windowing environment out there. It’s a real head scratcher.

Well for starters iPadOS18 as it’s more restrictive and limited. Regarding others like Linux, then you haven’t used as many as you claim. MWM, X11, OLWM and FVW9M5 just to name a few. I developed on Linux for 10 years before switching to Windows and all of them were horrible so it was more efficient to just use an Xterm. Additionally, as a windowing environment and not OS, ipadOS26 is better than Windows 10/11 simply because it’s touch first regardless of what you may keep repeating about a keyboard.

But it’s ironic how you claim that iPadOS26 is the “windowing environment I’ve ever used on any platform” yet how you manage windows for multitasking is similar to Windows 11.

 

[turbineseaplane]

Well for starters iPadOS18 as it’s more restrictive and limited.

..and thus simpler and easier to work with (for some types of users and preferences).

I don't know if we all need to go round and round.

The reality is this feels like a downgrade for some of us, for how and why we've loved iPads in the past.

 

[achappy]

..and thus simpler and easier to work with (for some types of users and preferences).

That I agree with. I’m just refuting all the hyperbole littered elsewhere.

 

[polaris20]

I'm doing the opposite: picking up a magic keyboard in the next couple of weeks. It's looking like I will be able to do a lot of my work on my Pro now.

Have you checked out the Logitech ComboTouch? That’s what I’ve got for my A16, and I love it. Lots cheaper too.

 

[Macintosh101]

It will be fascinating to see how all this plays out once we get to general release. Your average, regular iPad user might have heard something about iPadOS 26, but how are the majority of users going to respond to it one they update, and in particular the removal of simple features (Split View, Slide Over)? Apple could have a real headache on their hands.

Personally I think this’s is one of those instances where Apple need to push back and delay the general release. IpadOS26 isn’t ready for primetime.

 

[GBstoic]

I put iPadOS 26 on my aged iPad Pro 12.9 3rd generation yesterday. I backed up to my MacBook first as I was expecting to find 26 sluggish and complicated. But it is brilliant. I don’t have a keyboard, mouse or pencil but windows are so easy to manage and move about the screen. Much more intuitive than slide over and Split View. Performance is at least as good as iPadOS 18 and I have no reason to go back.

 

[achappy]

I put iPadOS 26 on my aged iPad Pro 12.9 3rd generation yesterday. I backed up to my MacBook first as I was expecting to find 26 sluggish and complicated. But it is brilliant. I don’t have a keyboard, mouse or pencil but windows are so easy to manage and move about the screen. Much more intuitive than slide over and Split View. Performance is at least as good as iPadOS 18 and I have no reason to go back.

I think you posted in the wrong forum. iPadOS26 is sluggish, unintuitive and the worst OS ever developed where multitasking can only be done with a keyboard.

 

[01cowherd]

But it’s ironic how you claim that iPadOS26 is the “windowing environment I’ve ever used on any platform” yet how you manage windows for multitasking is similar to Windows 11.

Only superficially. As someone who grew up using Windows and later switched to using both Mac and Windows, I was baffled when I realized that you had to flick to get the window to snap to the side or fullscreen even when using the mouse. I don't know why Apple kept the same gestures from the touch-based UI in the pointer-based UI. And then if you fail to flick it correctly, then the window is just sitting there half off the screen. When a window is made full screen, the stoplight controls move to the center of the display at the menu bar instead of appearing on the left like they do in non-full screen (or on macOS). When an app opens in fullscreen, it kicks off other apps so if you minimize it you're left with an empty "desktop". Even double clicking the title bar to make it full screen wasn't 100% consistent for me, which I use daily on macOS with no issues. It's definitely the worst window environment I've used.

 

[TigerMSTR]

When a window is made full screen, the stoplight controls move to the center of the display at the menu bar instead of appearing on the left like they do in non-full screen (or on macOS)

When the app is perfectly fullscreen, the stoplight buttons move to the center

But if the window is even slightly smaller than fullscreen, or if the window is slightly misaligned relative to the size of the display, the traffic lights move to the left side of the screen.

And because iPadOS 26 is a whole cornucopia of conflicting gestures, you most assuredly will accidentally move or resize the window, such that the location of the traffic lights are totally unpredictable.

 

[GhostPepper]

Just enjoying what he can do now with the iPad and an external monitor.

Right, on an external monitor. These new features are aimed at that, as it’s pulled directly from MacOS.

And I’m not saying that’s necessarily bad. Where I think the criticism comes in is: why isn’t there a toggle to keep it as it were if you aren’t ever going to use an external monitor? They already provide 3 choices in the multitasking settings as it is. If you’re going to give me a choice anyway, why are none of them to keep it the way it’s been for 10 years!

And I’ll put it like this. I’ve owned a variety of tablets outside of my various iPads. Samsung, OnePlus, Google Pixel, Kindle Fire. They all use their own UI and ways to multitask, but Every single one of them has a very easy way of having a 2 app splitscreen. Most of them have an even easier way to do than Apple did. Here’s my point: it makes sense to have simple two window split screen on a tablet!!! Add whatever desktop mode you want! But don’t flat out remove simple splitscreen. It makes no sense whatsoever to sell a tablet that you have to put in a windowed environment to have a basic splitscreen.

And with all due respect, your son is an 18 year old young adult. Which congrats on him going to college! But your story makes it sound like a 7 year old was able to plug it and figure it out. I’d expect an 18 year old in 2025 to understand how to operate this.

 

[GhostPepper]

The iPad hasn’t had Split Screen that long

Split screen came out 10 years ago.

So two thirds of the iPads existence, it’s had split screen.

 

[achappy]

Right, on an external monitor. These new features are aimed at that, as it’s pulled directly from MacOS.

And I’m not saying that’s necessarily bad. Where I think the criticism comes in is: why isn’t there a toggle to keep it as it were if you aren’t ever going to use an external monitor? They already provide 3 choices in the multitasking settings as it is. If you’re going to give me a choice anyway, why are none of them to keep it the way it’s been for 10 years!

And I’ll put it like this. I’ve owned a variety of tablets outside of my various iPads. Samsung, OnePlus, Google Pixel, Kindle Fire. They all use their own UI and ways to multitask, but Every single one of them has a very easy way of having a 2 app splitscreen. Most of them have an even easier way to do than Apple did. Here’s my point: it makes sense to have simple two window split screen on a tablet!!! Add whatever desktop mode you want! But don’t flat out remove simple splitscreen. It makes no sense whatsoever to sell a tablet that you have to put in a windowed environment to have a basic splitscreen.

And with all due respect, your son is an 18 year old young adult. Which congrats on him going to college! But your story makes it sound like a 7 year old was able to plug it and figure it out. I’d expect an 18 year old in 2025 to understand how to operate this.

You missed the entire point of the post. He has been using an iPad for school since Middle School because he hated Chromebooks. So he had been using SplitView/SlideOver for at least 7 years so probably as long as many that complain. Teenagers complain, especially for changing something they are used to doing.

 

[achappy]

Split screen came out 10 years ago.

So two thirds of the iPads existence, it’s had split screen.

10 is less than 15.