iPadOS 26 is an Absolute Mess

[Ludatyk]

you on the other hand don’t seem to understand and avoid to acknowledge the difficulties this change has caused. Instead, you respond with chosen points and technicalities, which ends up overwhelming the conversation and feels like an attempt to silence criticism.

Help me out here... when I have I avoided anything? Or attempted to silence criticism? I'm confused here.

So please don’t act as if we’re not welcoming, when at the same time you dismiss every opposing opinion and ignore the facts. That has not been a good-faith discussion in any sense by your side.

And what opinion have I dismissed or facts I ignored?

 

[says_stuff]

Help me out here... when I have I avoided anything? Or attempted to silence criticism? I'm confused here.


And what opinion have I dismissed or facts I ignored?

there you go

Post in thread 'iPadOS 26 is an Absolute Mess'
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/ipados-26-is-an-absolute-mess.2462173/post-34259434

i was talking about a wider group of users though. Maybe we can all move on, after people show mutual respect at the very least

 

[Beanoir]

If this was an argument in the street, you’d all be embarrassed about it and had gone home by now. 😂

 

[says_stuff]

You're right, it is a screen size problem, and iPads only come in very specific screen sizes: 8.3" to 13". Nobody would expect an iPhone to use the same windowing system as iPadOS, that would be silly and unusable. My contention is that the 26's windowing is less useful than 18's on a mini and 11". I haven't used a 13" so I cannot possibly comment but I know it's worse on an 11" so I really feel for those people that have a mini.

while working with two and occasionally three windows is totally plausible on 11 and 13 inches as seen in my first screenshot, it would be.. unconventional to think the second screenshot is an improvement in any capacity if that's how i'm expected to work now (my guess on how that would look, drafted lazily in ps)

 

[Mrbiggestman]

while working with two and occasionally three windows is totally plausible in ipados18 on 11 and 13 inches as seen in my first screenshot, it would be.. unconventional to think the second screenshot is an improvement in any capacity if that's how i'm expected to work in ipados26 (my guess on how that would look, drafted lazily in ps)

I mean idk why your windows are so ungodly extended across the whole screen like the pdf documents and the spotify page (unless you were on a playlist) and it being in splitview doesn’t help the situation either as your just blocking content unneccessarily. Honestly a more useable multi-window experience would look like this: This is on an 11 inch ipad btw.

 

[says_stuff]

I mean idk why your windows are so ungodly extended across the whole screen like the pdf documents and the spotify page (unless you were on a playlist) and it being in splitview doesn’t help the situation either as your just blocking content unneccessarily. Honestly a more useable multi-window experience would look like this: This is on an 11 inch ipad btw.

the extension is because i used the slideover window to replicate the multiple windows. my screenshots are from ipados 18 , i tried to create a mockup as i was just trying to figure out how working with pdfs (set size a4) for a research article would be kinda undoable for me.

if you have nothing better to do, would you care to show a screenshot of like 3 open a4 pdfs a webpage and a word processor? please show the pdfs in a reasonable size where you can read at the very least a whole sentence. you can get some pdfs from here https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=shoulder if you have none available.

Multiple open windows and pdf’s and pages application and it all ran smoothly.

There is also absolutely no way you could fit multiple (more than three?) windows and pdfs in that screen in a readable usable size to write a research article.

 

[Mrbiggestman]

the extension is because i used the slideover window to replicate the multiple windows. my screenshots are from ipados 18 , i tried to create a mockup as i was just trying to figure out how working with pdfs (set size a4) for a research article would be kinda undoable for me.

if you have nothing better to do, would you care to show a screenshot of like 3 open a4 pdfs a webpage and a word processor? please show the pdfs in a reasonable size where you can read at the very least a whole sentence. you can get some pdfs from here https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=shoulder if you have none available.

how about this.

The current tab I’ve got open, a research link to website that you provided, 3 pdfs open and the gemini app. All can be readable on an 11 inch screen. you can tap on the window to bring it to the front and it can adapt to the window size that it is currently in and you can zoom in.

 

[says_stuff]

this is readable yeah, but the pdfs arent from the link though as i asked you, as i'm only trying to see how ipados 26 could benefit me in research. those pdfs tend to have double columns and have stupid font sizes and tables

sorry for putting you in trouble, could you get like the first three from the links? they are free to download, they have a pdf download button you can use on the right!

SHOULDER ULTRASOUND IMAGING IN THE POST-STROKE POPULATION: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW AND META-ANALYSIS - PMC

Post-stroke shoulder pain is a serious challenge for stroke survivors. The aim of this meta-analysis was to review the literature to confirm information on structural changes in post-stroke shoulders detected by ultrasound examination. PubMed, ...

pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

The effect of various therapeutic exercises on forward head posture, rounded shoulder, and hyperkyphosis among people with upper crossed syndrome: a systematic review and meta-analysis - PMC

This review study aimed to evaluate the impact of therapeutic exercises on Upper-Crossed Syndrome (UCS). The study utilized a systematic review and meta-analysis approach to investigate the effects of various therapeutic exercises on forward head ...

pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Effects of elastic kinesiology taping on shoulder proprioception: a systematic review - PMC

Elastic kinesiology tape (KT) has a mixed effect on active joint position sense (AJPS) of healthy shoulders (low certainty). Elastic KT improves active or passive JPS among pathological shoulders (very low certainty). Elastic KT has no effect on ...

pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

 

[achappy]

this is readable yeah, but the pdfs arent from the link though as i asked you, as i'm only trying to see how ipados 26 could benefit me in research. those pdfs tend to have double columns and have stupid font sizes and tables

sorry for putting you in trouble, could you get like the first three from the links? they are free to download, they have a pdf download button you can use on the right!

SHOULDER ULTRASOUND IMAGING IN THE POST-STROKE POPULATION: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW AND META-ANALYSIS - PMC

Post-stroke shoulder pain is a serious challenge for stroke survivors. The aim of this meta-analysis was to review the literature to confirm information on structural changes in post-stroke shoulders detected by ultrasound examination. PubMed, ...

pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

The effect of various therapeutic exercises on forward head posture, rounded shoulder, and hyperkyphosis among people with upper crossed syndrome: a systematic review and meta-analysis - PMC

This review study aimed to evaluate the impact of therapeutic exercises on Upper-Crossed Syndrome (UCS). The study utilized a systematic review and meta-analysis approach to investigate the effects of various therapeutic exercises on forward head ...

pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Effects of elastic kinesiology taping on shoulder proprioception: a systematic review - PMC

Elastic kinesiology tape (KT) has a mixed effect on active joint position sense (AJPS) of healthy shoulders (low certainty). Elastic KT improves active or passive JPS among pathological shoulders (very low certainty). Elastic KT has no effect on ...

pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

You've been complaining for so long that you could have easily tried out iPadOS26 before 18 stopped being signed. Either beta releases or even the official release for a short time. Instead you repeatedly push back any comments from people that have actually used it.

At this point why not just visit an Apple store or some electronic store and try out for yourself because no matter what window configuration people post it won't be good enough. It also prevents people wasting their own time.

 

[zhenya]

Could have tried it themselves, or simply come to the entirely obvious conclusion that multi-tasking in 26 is now just like any other regular operating system ever. Nobody ever complains that MacOS, Windows or Linux can’t handle several windows at once. You now have free rein to organize windows exactly like you want. If you want to keep your old way, congrats - you can do that. If you want to do something different - congrats - now you can do that as well (when you most certainly could not in previous versions).

 

[says_stuff]

no matter what window configuration people post it won't be good enough. It also prevents people wasting their own time.

please show the pdfs in a reasonable size where you can read at the very least a whole sentence. you can get some pdfs from here https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=shoulder if you have none available.

You've been complaining for so long that you could have easily tried out iPadOS26 before 18 stopped being signed. Either beta releases or even the official release for a short time. Instead you repeatedly push back any comments from people that have actually used it.

At this point why not just visit an Apple store or some electronic store and try out for yourself because

Could have tried it themselves, or simply come to the entirely obvious conclusion that multi-tasking in 26 is now just like any other regular operating system ever. Nobody ever complains that MacOS, Windows or Linux can’t handle several windows at once. You now have free rein to organize windows exactly like you want. If you want to keep your old way, congrats - you can do that. If you want to do something different - congrats - now you can do that as well (when you most certainly could not in previous versions).

Oh, you both forgot to call me a liar this time. Yeah, why not spend gas and time instead of asking a willing user to provide a screenshot. Why oh why wont i just let strangers on the internet decide how i spend my time?

So please don’t act as if we’re not welcoming, when at the same time you dismiss every opposing opinion and ignore the facts. That has not been a good-faith discussion in any sense by your side.

thank you for proving my point guys im not sure how im wasting your time though, are you somehow obligated to reply to these posts?



p.s.

Anyone with any software design experience would know that Apple adding some of the features (I haven't tried 26.2 Beta) doesn't mean it wasn't originally in the long term plan.

nor am I an OS developer.

 

[Mrbiggestman]

this is readable yeah, but the pdfs arent from the link though as i asked you, as i'm only trying to see how ipados 26 could benefit me in research. those pdfs tend to have double columns and have stupid font sizes and tables

sorry for putting you in trouble, could you get like the first three from the links? they are free to download, they have a pdf download button you can use on the right!

SHOULDER ULTRASOUND IMAGING IN THE POST-STROKE POPULATION: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW AND META-ANALYSIS - PMC

Post-stroke shoulder pain is a serious challenge for stroke survivors. The aim of this meta-analysis was to review the literature to confirm information on structural changes in post-stroke shoulders detected by ultrasound examination. PubMed, ...

pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

The effect of various therapeutic exercises on forward head posture, rounded shoulder, and hyperkyphosis among people with upper crossed syndrome: a systematic review and meta-analysis - PMC

This review study aimed to evaluate the impact of therapeutic exercises on Upper-Crossed Syndrome (UCS). The study utilized a systematic review and meta-analysis approach to investigate the effects of various therapeutic exercises on forward head ...

pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Effects of elastic kinesiology taping on shoulder proprioception: a systematic review - PMC

Elastic kinesiology tape (KT) has a mixed effect on active joint position sense (AJPS) of healthy shoulders (low certainty). Elastic KT improves active or passive JPS among pathological shoulders (very low certainty). Elastic KT has no effect on ...

pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

The exact 3 studies you linked. The website (left) and the PDF (right)

 

[says_stuff]

Would you please provide a screenshot of some pdf and safari windows open and maybe pages app as described? I use ipad mostly for research so I would love to know what’s in store. Two windows side by side has always been my limit to actually read and copy/write stuff, at most i would also use the additional slideover.

if you have nothing better to do, would you care to show a screenshot of like 3 open a4 pdfs a webpage and a word processor? please show the pdfs in a reasonable size where you can read at the very least a whole sentence. you can get some pdfs from here https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=shoulder if you have none available.

The exact 3 studies you linked. The website (left) and the PDF (right)

thanks for the second screenshot, i was insisting cause the websites are able to shrink font and change wrapping so showing pdfs would be more useful to me, sorry for the trouble.

yeah this could indeed prove useful. thank you for making them as clear as possible. in full view, judging from this image, three pdfs seem to be indeed readable on my 13 inch. would pages fit there in a small window too alongside those? does it resize to such size?

 

[Mrbiggestman]

thanks for the second screenshot, i was insisting cause the websites are able to shrink font and change wrapping so showing pdfs would be more useful to me, sorry for the trouble.

yeah this could indeed prove useful. thank you for making them as clear as possible. in full view, judging from this image, three pdfs seem to be indeed readable on my 13 inch. would pages fit there in a small window too alongside those? does it resize to such size?

yeah it would definitely fit as a small window, you would just have to resize the half screen window so it would be in quarters like the image below.

 

[says_stuff]

yeah it would definitely fit as a small window, you would just have to resize the half screen window so it would be in quarters like the image below.

very cool, thank you for this and thank you for your time

 

[Mrbiggestman]

At this point why not just visit an Apple store or some electronic store and try out for yourself because no matter what window configuration people post it won't be good enough. It also prevents people wasting their own time.

Tbh trying to change a perspective from a person who has a couple months experience to another person who might have a totally different POV is better than trying to spend one hour cramming in as much time into learning every new feature of an OS that you are relatively new or have a different perspective on.

 

[TigerMSTR]

Mark German claims OS 27 is going to be a “Snow Leopard-style” update focused on quality.

I pray he’s right. I can’t see myself buying anther iPad or Mac unless Apple fixes the mistakes they’ve made. Never again.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1992598223534579787

 

[TigerMSTR]

Mark German claims OS 27 is going to be a “Snow Leopard-style” update focused on quality.

I pray he’s right. I can’t see myself buying anther iPad or Mac unless Apple fixes the mistakes they’ve made. Never again.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1992598223534579787

Apple’s products are barely usable anymore. I am so enormously irritated with them.

 

[It’s always something]

In the Music app: drill down to an album and tap play. Notice the Back button in the top left of the screen. Switch apps. Return. Switch again. The Back button is gone.


After switching apps a couple times:

 

[TigerMSTR]

In the Photos app, if you resize the window to certain sizes, the tab bar completely disappears 🤦‍♂️

 

[hovscorpion12]

Anyone else have this bug in 26.1.

With the Magic Keyboard, when using CMD+Tab to close out apps with CMD+Q, it does nothing. I’ve restarted my iPad and it did not fix it. [running on M5 iPP.] I do also have an M4 iPad Pro also running 26.1, but have not yet tried it.

Hoping 26.2 fixes it.

 

[TigerMSTR]

Anyone else have this bug in 26.1.

With the Magic Keyboard, when using CMD+Tab to close out apps with CMD+Q, it does nothing. I’ve restarted my iPad and it did not fix it. [running on M5 iPP.] I do also have an M4 iPad Pro also running 26.1, but have not yet tried it.

Hoping 26.2 fixes it.

Haven't had this particular bug, but keyboard shortcuts worked inconsistently, even in iPadOS 18.

 

[TigerMSTR]

Whoever is pushing the direction of iPadOS at Apple, whether it be the Product Managers or executives, haven’t got the slightest idea what they’re doing with iPadOS.

They started off my removing a perfectly fine multitasking system, seemingly under the impression that it would be a hit with the public. Turns out they were wrong, and now they’re slowly rebuilding the old multitasking system (but worse) feature-by-feature.

There is zero indication of long term planning at Apple regarding iPadOS. Just throwing caution to the wind, and throwing sh*t to the wall.

I don’t know anything about Apple’s internal politics, but the iPadOS platform cannot sustain one or two more release cycles of destruction. It only takes a handful of bad releases to ruin a platform. The person/people responsible for pushing these features need to be removed from their position of influence, lest they do any more damage to the iPadOS platform.

Good news everyone! Alan Dye, Apple’s top user interface designer, is departing Apple for Meta, where he will presumably use his talents to destroy their products. Our long nightmare may soon be over!

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-12-03/apple-design-executive-alan-dye-poached-by-meta-in-major-coup

 

[SalisburySam]

Good news everyone! Alan Dye, Apple’s top user interface designer, is departing Apple for Meta, where he will presumably use his talents to destroy their products. Our long nightmare may soon be over!

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-12-03/apple-design-executive-alan-dye-poached-by-meta-in-major-coup

One can hope, but hope can be bashed. I wish Apple would take to heart the many, many complaints about this OS to actually address them. But that’s just a wish…from one person…who contributes 0.0000000001% to Apple’s bottom line.