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.

 

[thadoggfather]

Should I hold off on updating my iPad mini 7 when the final version comes out in a week or so?

 

[Ludatyk]

Does anyone know how to get the onscreen keyboard to appear when you have the magic keyboard attached - I often use the iPad in portrait mode without removing the magic keyboard and in iPadOS 18 when typing search terms into Google etc. the onscreen keyboard would pop up, but now in iPadOS 26 there is nothing.

What I found about using the onscreen keyboard when the Magic Keyboard is attached… Stage Manager/Windowed Apps have to be disabled. You’ll need to use FullScreen mode in order for the keyboard icon/glyph to show up.

 

[GBstoic]

Should I hold off on updating my iPad mini 7 when the final version comes out in a week or so?

Absolutely not. You will gain the option to have apps in windows. Slide over and side by side don’t currently exist on our Minis so you lose nothing.

 

[mvdw84]

deleted

 

[Otago Lad]

What I found about using the onscreen keyboard when the Magic Keyboard is attached… Stage Manager/Windowed Apps have to be disabled. You’ll need to use FullScreen mode in order for the keyboard icon/glyph to show up.

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Thanks although limiting it in that way is pretty stupid - I’m sure there are plenty of people who use their iPad in the way I do. Oh well, I guess I’ll just have to disconnect and reconnect as needs be.

 

[It’s always something]

Absolutely not. You will gain the option to have apps in windows. Slide over and side by side don’t currently exist on our Minis so you lose nothing.

Split View and Slide Over certainly exist on the iPad mini 7 which runs iPadOS 18, so they will certainly lose something with iPadOS 26.

 

[SoYoung]

Should I hold off on updating my iPad mini 7 when the final version comes out in a week or so?

Absolutely. I have no plans to update my M4 11' iPad pro to iPadOS 26 until I'm forced to. I run the beta on my old M1 one and I don't like it at all. I love my iPad as a tablet, not as a "wannabe" computer. The loss of slide over is objectively a big omission if you use your iPad as it should (a tablet). The forced windows mode is a waste of space and just give you the impression you have a true multitasking device when its basically as limited as before.

 

[GDF]

Absolutely. I have no plans to update my M4 11' iPad pro to iPadOS 26 until I'm forced to. I run the beta on my old M1 one and I don't like it at all. I love my iPad as a tablet, not as a "wannabe" computer. The loss of slide over is objectively a big omission if you use your iPad as it should (a tablet). The forced windows mode is a waste of space and just give you the impression you have a true multitasking device when its basically as limited as before.

Smart move, I honestly can’t think of one thing that is improved in iPadOS26. It is a step backwards if you want to use your iPad as it should be, a tablet.

 

[achappy]

at the people that somehow think SlideOver is what makes a tablet.

 

[xxray]

delete

 

[It’s always something]

🙄 at the people that somehow think losing Slide-Over shouldn’t matter to anyone because it doesn’t matter to them.

 

[says_stuff]

at the people that somehow think SlideOver is what makes a tablet.

its the not-having-to-fiddle-with-stupid-little-resizers, using broad gestures and quickviews kinda thing, for people that have been using them for the last decade. Still not sure where you're taking this conversation. Why are you piling on people's opinions and preferences?

 

[achappy]

its the not-having-to-fiddle-with-stupid-little-resizers, using broad gestures and quickviews kinda thing, for people that have been using them for the last decade. Still not sure where you're taking this conversation. Why are you piling on people's opinions and preferences?

Being upset to SlideOver being removed or preferring SlideOver is completely different than stating that the removal of it now makes it no longer or a tablet or it's now the worst windowing system ever. That implies that before SlideOver it wasn't a tablet. For some, SlideOver removal does hurt their flow. Those are the ones that actually use the slide over App not as a quick app transition, but as a "floating" window that they pull information from while using the full screen app. You could easily just make two windows but I agree that's more work.

It's the over-the-top opinions that I was commenting on.

 

[says_stuff]

I can certainly understand a person’s view that the definition of a tablet should be, a device that would only require a few preset mindless gestures, using quick broad movements, foregoing the need for actually stoping in your tracks, pointing, targeting, resizing and moving windows. You know, exactly what ipad did (defining the category) before ipados26. And maybe just maybe the definition (and workflow) of a device for a person that bought it shouldn’t change just like that. Apple should have done better to not mess with established patterns of use. Its an over the top action that warranted over the top opinions (if they can even be characterized as over the top).

Edit: I didnt buy a heavy 13 inch device to use it single app only, neither for playing whack-a-mole with new selectors, it sucks that someone else changed it for me and that my purchase got devalued so soon (devalued for me). I bought Apple to make sure i got fully supported devices for years for my planned use, not this. What’s next, an update that makes the screen monochrome? “Its better for your eyesight, a definition of tablet doesnt include screens with colours” lol

 

[SoYoung]

Without exaggerating its safe to say that if someone use their iPad only in "fullscreen" mode, iPadOS 26 is a regression over what the iPad used to be purely as a tablet. The only real update is if someone really want to use their iPad as an hybrid between a tablet and computer. But I'm sure the vast majority of average people use their iPad as a tablet only and will continue to use it in fullscreen mode and they'll immediately feel the regression when they'll update to iPadOS 26.

This update seems to only please iPad pro users who use their iPad with a physical keyboard and/or an external monitor.

 

[xxray]

One thing I don’t understand is why sometimes when you resize an app in 26, why the Home Screen doesn’t appear behind it.

 

[richpjr]

The loss of slide over is objectively a big omission if you use your iPad as it should (a tablet).

Your narrow definition of how an iPad should be used and what a tablet is in general is not shared by everyone.

 

[Mrbiggestman]

Smart move, I honestly can’t think of one thing that is improved in iPadOS26. It is a step backwards if you want to use your iPad as it should be, a tablet.

How is it ‘a step backwards’ when slideover is just inferior. Restrictive on what apps you could open in split screen or slideover. the slideover also block your view of the other half of the split view and the worse part is that you couldn’t place it anywhere on the screen or resize it so it unblocks on what your looking at. as soon as you tried to get more apps on the screen, it ends up replacing THE WHOLE SCREEN with the one app or replaces one half of the split view. best part about ipadOS 26 is that you can recreate the whole split view through the traffic light system or through shortcuts and best part about it is that the compromises are minimal.

 

[Mrbiggestman]

One thing I don’t understand is why sometimes when you resize an app in 26, why the Home Screen doesn’t appear behind it.

I think its to stop people from mispressing on there homescreen but you can always use spotlight search or put the app library in your dock to make things easier.

 

[pdoherty]

Without exaggerating its safe to say that if someone use their iPad only in "fullscreen" mode, iPadOS 26 is a regression over what the iPad used to be purely as a tablet. The only real update is if someone really want to use their iPad as an hybrid between a tablet and computer. But I'm sure the vast majority of average people use their iPad as a tablet only and will continue to use it in fullscreen mode and they'll immediately feel the regression when they'll update to iPadOS 26.

This update seems to only please iPad pro users who use their iPad with a physical keyboard and/or an external monitor.

I don't know about you guys but I use a physical keyboard (case) on my iPads and am always in landscape.

If you don't like that 26 caters to us can't you just turn Stage Manager off?

 

[says_stuff]

I don't know about you guys but I use a physical keyboard (case) on my iPads and am always in landscape.

If you don't like that 26 caters to us can't you just turn Stage Manager off?

Nobody hates that it caters to you and i would appreciate the extra mode (for when i connect to a monitor for example), the main gripe is they flipped the rest of us off by removing split view and slideover, dumbing down the use of our machines with the only other option now being single app mode. The boot logo really could be a middle finger right now for all i care. Even if 1% of the users use it, why remove it? Are they in need of the money to upkeep the feature, for development of other features? It was already there, they could add a switch to disable it for youtube kids or whatever. Such a low blow move. Why not let the features stay and leave it up to the developers to choose to support them ESPECIALLY while ironing out the kinks of the new system.

I can’t even begin to imagine working, writing something like an essay, in single app mode.