iPadOS 26 is an Absolute Mess

[muzzy996]

@achappy Yeah on the mini with the small display having two windows in a split mode is more effective for me in portrait orientation. My mini is just a consumption device primarily so it works, and in portrait orientation at least there is a little bit of space for the on screen keyboard to do two thumb typing (I personally dislike the tiny floating keyboard). It's all perspective and preferred workflows. I do agree that some people get a bit overdramatic about the issues that they see for themselves but I can accept that they have their own perspective and agree that in general there is always some room for improvement.

Personally I don't care for the amount of tapping and grabbing edges of windows to get things the way that I want. Adding target zones on screen to drag open windows or app icons from the dock to in order to aid in orienting things would be helpful even though the the traffic lights controls exist. Both workflows can coexist.

Love your mom's comment about not noticing much difference. At least from a normal user's perspective things aren't borked eh? I feel the same way about 26 on my iPhone Pro Max 13. On my mini I am getting used to the windowed mode and finding some utility in it, as limited as that might be given the size and no external keyboard. I appreciate that Apple didn't prohibit the features on it.

 

[Mrbiggestman]

So, you not only have to have windowed apps enabled, you also have to pull up the onscreen keyboard while using an external keyboard, and then use search to find a key combo that might be useful to you. Really?!! All of that rigmarole to replace a one key press (cmd) on the keyboard you’re using. Ridiculous, and unacceptable for those who bought an ipad and paid an exorbitant amount for a Magic Keyboard. I can hear the wails now!

Sorry for the confusion but no. If you don't have a hardware connected keyboard,You have to pull the the digital keyboard up to access the help shortcuts. If you have a hardware keyboard connected then you have to press on the browser search bar to then access the menu bar help shortcuts.

 

[GhostPepper]

So I spent the day at my mom’s, who’s 79 but still pretty good tech wise for her age. I told her that there was a new update for her iPad Mini and if I could install it. I put the Public Beta on it and then let her use it on an off. Her first reaction was “ooh, I like the look”. But then she used the iPad throughout the day and she said “I didn’t really notice much difference”. That’s because she uses apps full screen. I played around with it for a while and the touch issues are way overblown. Since you can turn off the menu bar gesture, I quickly put two apps side by side and then made a small window for Messages like SlideOver. I used the Mini for about a year and ipadOS26 multitasking was just as effective for how I used to use the Mini which was hardly ever split screen (screen too small) and a few apps for SlideOver. Swiping up for Exposé and tapping iMessage is just as easy.

And here’s a perfect example of why I’m loving iPadOS26. My wife wanted to finish up a show and I wanted to finish watching some golf. So I switched to Portrait mode, used the traffic lights to split vertically, utilizing the full iPad screen. This wasn’t possible with 18 because of those stupid “borders” around the screen. The icing is ipadOS26 remembers the size and location in each orientation. After I finished, I switched to landscape and double tapped the status bar and back to full screen. Later that day I switched back to portrait and just double tapping the top quickly put the apps back in split screen. And if you had two apps that you had split screen in landscape and put them in split in portrait, it will keep the split screen when switching, similar to iPadOS18.

Again, this was all without a keyboard. However, this post was typed on a Magic Keyboard.



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Awesome.

None of this means they should have removed the option to have split screen and slide over.

 

[GDF]

Awesome.

None of this means they should have removed the option to have split screen and slide over.

Totally agree. Awesome that some people like the new iOS and features, but many of us miss Split Screen and Slide Over and should still be an option, as is the quickest and easiest way to do those two things by far. No comparison.