Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

iPadOS 26 is an Absolute Mess

says_stuff said:
I do get your reason. Thank you for answering.

I hastily skipped in my post (and then edited too late for your answer) that these people are posting here probably



I’m pointing out adding this, related to how you said you don’t understand the hate, maybe this helps clear things up.
Click to expand...
I appreciate your thoughtful questions.

I understand disappointment, frustration, annoyance, dislike, and irritation if the changes make things worse for someone, but the level of venom on this forum is unreal.

I guess this is just the era we live in now. People are angry.
 
  • Like
  • Love
Reactions: notabitail and says_stuff
iPadOS 26 has demonstrated to me why the iPad will never be a Mac. It’s a fundamentally different form factor than a Mac, with fundamentally different use cases. I use macOS and iPadOS nearly all day, and iPadOS 26 hasn’t changed how I use these devices in the least. The things I used to prefer doing on a Mac, I still prefer doing on a Mac. The things I used to prefer doing on an iPad, I still prefer doing on an iPad. Ultimately, I still “need” to own both devices.

I feel like these two operating systems have converged way too much. The Mac is the least “Mac” it has ever felt, and the result is poor. The iPad is the least “iPad” it has ever felt, and the results are similarly poor.

I really hope Apple takes this as a lesson to lean into the advantages of each respective platform.
 
  • Like
Reactions: eltoslightfoot, asleep, ScanTheNavian and 1 other person
TigerMSTR said:
iPadOS 26 has demonstrated to me why the iPad will never be a Mac. It’s a fundamentally different form factor than a Mac, with fundamentally different use cases. I use macOS and iPadOS nearly all day, and iPadOS 26 hasn’t changed how I use these devices in the least. The things I used to prefer doing on a Mac, I still prefer doing on a Mac. The things I used to prefer doing on an iPad, I still prefer doing on an iPad. Ultimately, I still “need” to own both devices.

I feel like these two operating systems have converged way too much. The Mac is the least “Mac” it has ever felt, and the result is poor. The iPad is the least “iPad” it has ever felt, and the results are similarly poor.

I really hope Apple takes this as a lesson to lean into the advantages of each respective platform.
Click to expand...
iPadOS 18 is not any better in any sense than iOS 26. Maybe iPadOS 26 did not move the needle toward the Mac, but it didn’t regress it either.
 
  • Haha
Reactions: rmadsen3
TigerMSTR said:
iPadOS 26 has demonstrated to me why the iPad will never be a Mac. It’s a fundamentally different form factor than a Mac, with fundamentally different use cases. I use macOS and iPadOS nearly all day, and iPadOS 26 hasn’t changed how I use these devices in the least. The things I used to prefer doing on a Mac, I still prefer doing on a Mac. The things I used to prefer doing on an iPad, I still prefer doing on an iPad. Ultimately, I still “need” to own both devices.

I feel like these two operating systems have converged way too much. The Mac is the least “Mac” it has ever felt, and the result is poor. The iPad is the least “iPad” it has ever felt, and the results are similarly poor.

I really hope Apple takes this as a lesson to lean into the advantages of each respective platform.
Click to expand...

💯

With my M5 iPP I gave it another shot as my 1-and-only computer. That lasted about a month. I’m back to using it via Sidecar / UC with my Mini.
 
  • Like
Reactions: TigerMSTR
TigerMSTR said:
I feel like these two operating systems have converged way too much. The Mac is the least “Mac” it has ever felt, and the result is poor. The iPad is the least “iPad” it has ever felt, and the results are similarly poor.
Click to expand...
A friend showed me the volume bar etc. on his Macbook a few years ago and we both pondered about why it looked like something that would have fit better in iPadOS. It made no sense to have it be that big when the tiny one sufficed in Snow Leopard(last MacOS I used).

1000022116.jpg


The writing has been on the wall for a long time that Apple wants to make MacOS touch capable. I feel like this is the wrong way to go about it, but I can also not see any alternative path for touchscreen Macbooks. Hopefully the convergence doesn't produce more Frankenstein designs than needed.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 01cowherd and TigerMSTR
ScanTheNavian said:
A friend showed me the volume bar etc. on his Macbook a few years ago and we both pondered about why it looked like something that would have fit better in iPadOS. It made no sense to have it be that big when the tiny one sufficed in Snow Leopard(last MacOS I used).

View attachment 2599721

The writing has been on the wall for a long time that Apple wants to make MacOS touch capable. I feel like this is the wrong way to go about it, but I can also not see any alternative path for touchscreen Macbooks. Hopefully the convergence doesn't produce more Frankenstein designs than needed.
Click to expand...
I think there was a path towards a touch friendly Mac which took a lot of cues from iPadOS, I think with liquid glass they have closed themselves off from that path and instead are heading towards a future that is a Frankenstein mess of bad design and poor usability.
 
  • Like
Reactions: TigerMSTR and ScanTheNavian
ScanTheNavian said:
A friend showed me the volume bar etc. on his Macbook a few years ago and we both pondered about why it looked like something that would have fit better in iPadOS. It made no sense to have it be that big when the tiny one sufficed in Snow Leopard(last MacOS I used).

View attachment 2599721

The writing has been on the wall for a long time that Apple wants to make MacOS touch capable. I feel like this is the wrong way to go about it, but I can also not see any alternative path for touchscreen Macbooks. Hopefully the convergence doesn't produce more Frankenstein designs than needed.
Click to expand...
I’m afraid you might be right. I’m of the Steve Jobs school of thinking about touchscreen laptops. They’re pointless, and now we’re getting a compromised interface because of them.

Now I’m a bit sad about the future of macOS.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
  • Like
Reactions: dimon2242, 01cowherd and ScanTheNavian
How is the address bar alignment issue on Safari when opening a new tab still not fixed. I can’t believe this error is still around.
 
I7guy said:
What address bar alignment? Do you have a screenshot?
Click to expand...
In landscape mode, clicking a link that opens in a new tab. The outlines around the address bar and navigation buttons will shift and be shown below where they are supposed to be. They snap back into the correct place after scrolling up or down. Taking a screenshot shows the correct alignment. Took a photo of my screen with my phone though. IMG_9534.jpeg
 
  • Like
  • Wow
Reactions: 01cowherd and I7guy
The sound on my iPad keeps muting, requiring a restart for me to hear,
The search feature in settings no longer works
Wifi is now flaky reconnecting after each restart

iOS 26 has turned my iPad into a cheap android as far as reliability goes
 
  • Like
Reactions: TigerMSTR
I7guy said:
To me, Apple criticism never dies, it just gets recycled on the internet. It’s true apple in the past, at times, has done things that could have been handled better and those things persisted for a long time; eg battery throttling.

However I discount a lot of the iOS 26 criticism and that is just my opinion. I think it’s pretty solid.
Click to expand...

Except it's not about the feeling that you get when you see criticism and think "Oh there's always criticism", but there is precise metrics to measure how satisfied people are with something, and guess what, iOS and iPadOS 26 have the lowest update volume ever of any OS. It's a land slide, statistically speaking. You're right that things are skewed with people not praising something but people complaining more. But when people are happy, they just don't talk about it. When they're unhappy, they do. So the difference is not praising vs. criticism, it's silence vs. criticism. And the criticism is massive. They're not getting this OS installed on many devices right now and it's been released for a good while. Most people don't want it, most people don't like it.
 
Silly John Fatty said:
Except it's not about the feeling that you get when you see criticism and think "Oh there's always criticism", but there is precise metrics to measure how satisfied people are with something,
Click to expand...
Sure “something’s” but not IOS 26 or the adoption rate.Things only apple really now’s.
Silly John Fatty said:
and guess what, iOS and iPadOS 26 have the lowest update volume ever of any OS.
Click to expand...
Yes according to misreported metrics.
Silly John Fatty said:
It's a land slide, statistically speaking. You're right that things are skewed with people not praising something but people complaining more. But when people are happy, they just don't talk about it. When they're unhappy, they do. So the difference is not praising vs. criticism, it's silence vs. criticism. And the criticism is massive. They're not getting this OS installed on many devices right now and it's been released for a good while. Most people don't want it, most people don't like it.
Click to expand...
Criticism isn’t as massive as you believe when you observe recycled criticism over and over again and people complaining about color tinting.
 
  • Haha
Reactions: Silly John Fatty
JTK Awesome said:
YES

I want back that iteration of Split View and Slideover.

26’s ham-fisted attempt at a more Mac-like OS makes the iPad almost unusable. I keep my iPP in single-window mode almost all the time.
Click to expand...

I agree that the new mode is very clumsy. The problem with single view is that you can't drag an application next to another now. You can't have split view anymore. So you have to switch to switch to stage manager or whatever to do that. But then you have the downside of having the windows not necessarily in full (half) screen anymore, but adjusted differently, so you need to re-set it all. So one more thing where Apple made it be more work than it was before.

They really are just playing with us all. It's a very famous strategy. It's like those tires that could last forever that were patented but never released. Of course they don't want to solve a problem. What would they do if they solved our problems? They would need to innovate, but the possibility for innovation isn't anywhere near now. The current technological knowledge doesn't make it possible. So they have to dance around, acting as if they were introducing anything knew, and win time. That's the case for anything these days - computers, cars, home appliances, personal care products. It's just innovation theatre and fake progress, no big changes since 2010-2015.
 
  • Like
  • Haha
Reactions: Basic75, TigerMSTR and Luftkopf
Silly John Fatty said:
I agree that the new mode is very clumsy. The problem with single view is that you can't drag an application next to another now. You can't have split view anymore. So you have to switch to switch to stage manager or whatever to do that. But then you have the downside of having the windows not necessarily in full (half) screen anymore, but adjusted differently, so you need to re-set it all. So one more thing where Apple made it be more work than it was before.
Click to expand...

I don't like single-view either but it's better than the windowing of iPadOS26.

Bring this back Apple - this was peak iPad multitasking.

czp8jhdurrxa1.jpg
 
  • Like
Reactions: FeliApple, eltoslightfoot, TigerMSTR and 1 other person
I think what they should do, is bring back the iPadOS 18 multitasking as an option. And adding it along the other multitasking options (single app, windowed and stage manager).

By the way, after a couple of hours playing for the first time with iPadOS 26.2, it’s not as bad as I thought, although the gesture to throw the window to the sides is a bit… cumbersome.

There’s no manual gesture for Slide Over, you have to do it from the menu. With the previous system it was much easier and intuitive.

Hopefully by iPadOS 27 they refine the windowed mode, and bring back the simpler multitasking from iPadOS 18 as an option.
 
  • Like
Reactions: It’s always something
Populus said:
I think what they should do, is bring back the iPadOS 18 multitasking as an option. And adding it along the other multitasking options (single app, windowed and stage manager).
Click to expand...
They have already incorporated most of the multitasking features that were in iPadOS 18.

There’s no manual gesture for Slide Over, you have to do it from the menu. With the previous system it was much easier and intuitive.
Click to expand...
It’s no longer a requirement to use the menu... drag the app over to the far left or right and it will be placed in SlideOver.
 
All the iPad needed to do was remain an iPad but allow me to run my Mac remotely when attached to a keyboard / mouse or when docked to a monitor. That also should allow me to run my iPad apps within that desktop in some sort of windowed mode. Thats all they needed to do.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Silly John Fatty
I’m so mad that they practically made a big range of things need one additional step than was previously needed. If I have a single open tab in Safari for example, I could previously close it by press "x" and return to my Safari home screen with all my bookmarks and so on. That was possible because the tab bar would be displayed even with just one tab open. That is no longer the case. Meaning I now have to click the two squares in the top right corner to get to the tab overview, and then I can close my tab. So one extra step.

This OS is so inefficient, it’s incredible. It’s plenty of small irrationalities like this one.
 
  • Love
  • Haha
  • Like
Reactions: TigerMSTR, notabitail, I7guy and 2 others
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back