iPadOS 26 is an Absolute Mess

[I7guy]

So you agree that the static design of LG is very similar to the homemade skins that were around for over 16+ years?

I don’t agree to the above wording. I agree Apple didn’t invent the transparency effect.

The dynamic changes are cool… I guess… only really notice them when I slide the screen.

However, these dynamic changes alone are not “revolutionary” - perhaps they are from the software development perspective, but from the visual experience, I don’t see that as something significantly more interesting than, say, the flipping watch in that Sense skin from 2010. Or that dynamically changing beautiful weather widget from the first Sense screenshot I posted.

I also do not agree LG is equivalent to what was released in 2010.

And I thought the clear glass effect was cheesy then - that’s why I chose the skin that had the wallpaper color tint applied. And I still think it’s cheesy now. Of course this is just my personal subjective taste. At any rate, I wish Apple spent these resources on something more … tangibly beneficial.

LG is as polarizing today as the ”modern look” of iOS 7. LG we’ll have a shelf life of about a decade.

 

[I7guy]

Here’s another issue I forgot to list: on top of all that inconsistency with Preview, it only works when you tap on some file types (PDFs, images) but the old Quick View opens if yit select other files (e.g. Word documents or spreadsheets). So while browsing the contents of a folder, there’s now two completely different ways to perform the same action, with different and widely inconsistent user actions required to get back to the list you’re browsing.

This is… extremely amateurish.

Actually the preview app is very good.and nothing amateurish at all.

And I’m glad Apple give us options. Either people complain there is not enough options or too many.

 

[SnowCrocodile]

I might need to stay away from this thread. This is bunkers! I shouldn't have to tell you how drastically different it is than Liquid Glass... you only see "oh look it's transparent" so that means it's a borrowed idea that Apple took.

I was literally answering to your own post #1,468 above, where you pasted a static screenshot of a LG screen to prove that this is somehow a new thing.

When it's a completely different principle... if you watched the keynote it explains how they went about designing Liquid Glass.

So the customer needs to watch the sales pitch to understand why this is such a revolutionary step forward, otherwise they may dismiss it as just some visual fluff?

It's about how elements move when you interact with it... liquid moving across surface hence the word liquid.

So it's not about the glass effect after all, it's about how the transitions work when the screen is moving. At least we agree there.

Could they, perhaps, achieve these stunning transitional effects, that the users are only going to notice when swiping stuff around, and need a marketing explainer to realize the greatness of, without forcing onto every user the glass look that some people already considered cheesy and dated way back in 2010, and without degrading battery life? Making it optional would be a good start. As I understand, currently disabling LG effects does not actually disable the related computations.

At any rate - you like it, and it's great. I don't like it, and am trying to explain why. You may disagree with my tastes, and that's perfectly fine.

 

[SnowCrocodile]

I don’t agree to the above wording. I agree Apple didn’t invent the transparency effect.

I also do not agree LG is equivalent to what was released in 2010.

LG is as polarizing today as the ”modern look” of iOS 7. LG we’ll have a shelf life of about a decade.

I still think the "Android look" of iOS7 was a mistake. They could have made the icons appear more modern without making them plain, boring, and generic. But at least it looked like it was designed by professionals, and there was no impact on battery life.

The far bigger problem with iOS7 was dumbing down of some native apps.

 

[pdoherty]

I’ve turned off automatic updates on all my Apple devices. You’ve fooled me once, Cupertino, but you’ll never fool me again. And it’s sad, cuz I always used to update without even thinking twice. But nowadays, every software update Apple releases just makes all their products worse. My Watch, my iPhone, my iPad are all substantially worse than they were a year ago.

Make sure and disable the automatic download, too. If the download gets grabbed and is sitting there it's all too easy for you or someone you let use the iPad for a minute to see the popup and just absent-mindedly click go and the update gets applied.

 

[pdoherty]

View attachment 2619097

Improved version:

 

[Luftkopf]

I still think the "Android look" of iOS7 was a mistake. They could have made the icons appear more modern without making them plain, boring, and generic. But at least it looked like it was designed by professionals, and there was no impact on battery life.

The far bigger problem with iOS7 was dumbing down of some native apps.

It was very much time for a new look by iOS 7, the old 'skeuomorphic' design was starting to look a bit dated, but flattening everything down to squeeze the life out of it wasn't the right call, in my opinion. I had mixed feelings about it, gave Apple the benefit of the doubt, and got used to it. But it made me quite happy to hear that it was ending. And this leads to what I find disappointing about OS26. Liquid Glass is great, as it brings some life back into the OS, but it's too shallow. It's still a layer over the top of the same flat, blocky style that we've been putting up with for years. My hope is that Apple leans into it. Adds colour, adds more depth, bringing back even more life to our OS.

As an aside, I'm struggling to understand the complaints about battery life with OS26. I run iOS 26 on my iPhone 14, and battery life is no worse than it was on iOS 18. It's at 82% battery capacity, and I'm looking forward to getting a new battery in it, as it is starting to suffer, and I hope to use it for a few more years yet. I'm running Tahoe on my MacBook Pro, and have been since public beta. As always, things are a touch rough after updating while things re-index, but I used to be able to do a full work day in AutoCAD on an external display while streaming video on my MacBook, and ending the day on 20-30% battery. Now, with Tahoe, I still finish the day on 20-30%. No difference for me!

 

[It’s always something]

Here’s another issue I forgot to list: on top of all that inconsistency with Preview, it only works when you tap on some file types (PDFs, images) but the old Quick View opens if yit select other files (e.g. Word documents or spreadsheets). So while browsing the contents of a folder, there’s now two completely different ways to perform the same action, with different and widely inconsistent user actions required to get back to the list you’re browsing.

This is… extremely amateurish.

You do realize, don’t you, that you can switch back to using quick view for pdfs and images? You don’t have to use Preview at all? I don’t use it because I don’t like it either.

 

[SnowCrocodile]

You do realize, don’t you, that you can switch back to using quick view for pdfs and images? You don’t have to use Preview at all? I don’t use it because I don’t like it either.

Shame on me but no… I thought “preview with Quick Look” in the “Open With…” dialog was just for a one-time preview because it’s clearly separated from the rest of the list.

Thanks got pointing me to this.

 

[SnowCrocodile]

It was very much time for a new look by iOS 7, the old 'skeuomorphic' design was starting to look a bit dated, but flattening everything down to squeeze the life out of it wasn't the right call, in my opinion. I had mixed feelings about it, gave Apple the benefit of the doubt, and got used to it.

We are on the same page here. I just switched from an all-Android setup to Apple a few months before they dropped iOS7, and every time I used my iPad / iPhone I admired the visuals. Then one day both devices update and boom… back to Android look. Sans customization. It was a very rude awakening. Let alone the fact that my carefully planned task management system was killed overnight because Apple decided to drastically dumb down the Reminders in a single “upgrade”.

I still to this day believe that they could have retained much of what made the skeuomorphics a special and premium look, while modernizing the icons.

But it made me quite happy to hear that it was ending. And this leads to what I find disappointing about OS26. Liquid Glass is great, as it brings some life back into the OS, but it's too shallow. It's still a layer over the top of the same flat, blocky style that we've been putting up with for years. My hope is that Apple leans into it. Adds colour, adds more depth, bringing back even more life to our OS.

As an aside, I'm struggling to understand the complaints about battery life with OS26. I run iOS 26 on my iPhone 14, and battery life is no worse than it was on iOS 18.

Perhaps it was already so poor that it didn’t make much difference?

I am seeing at least 20-25% idle time degradation on both my M1 iPad Pro and my M2 MBA (MacOS 26). My 16PM with over 90% battery health experienced sudden degradation of battery life (not just idle) right after the upgrade and it did not improve much with subsequent updates.

It's at 82% battery capacity, and I'm looking forward to getting a new battery in it, as it is starting to suffer, and I hope to use it for a few more years yet. I'm running Tahoe on my MacBook Pro, and have been since public beta. As always, things are a touch rough after updating while things re-index, but I used to be able to do a full work day in AutoCAD on an external display while streaming video on my MacBook, and ending the day on 20-30% battery. Now, with Tahoe, I still finish the day on 20-30%. No difference for me!

 

[I7guy]

We are on the same page here. I just switched from an all-Android setup to Apple a few months before they dropped iOS7, and every time I used my iPad / iPhone I admired the visuals. Then one day both devices update and boom… back to Android look. Sans customization. It was a very rude awakening. Let alone the fact that my carefully planned task management system was killed overnight because Apple decided to drastically dumb down the Reminders in a single “upgrade”.

I still to this day believe that they could have retained much of what made the skeuomorphics a special and premium look, while modernizing the icons.


Perhaps it was already so poor that it didn’t make much difference?

I am seeing at least 20-25% idle time degradation on both my M1 iPad Pro and my M2 MBA (MacOS 26). My 16PM with over 90% battery health experienced sudden degradation of battery life (not just idle) right after the upgrade and it did not improve much with subsequent updates.

With respect to battery life: the five devices that were on iOS 18 - IPP M1, 14PM, 15PM and (2)AW S10 have the same performance and stand by on iOS 26 as iOS 18.

My IPP M5 has okay running time but to me standby time could be better.

 

[Luftkopf]

We are on the same page here. I just switched from an all-Android setup to Apple a few months before they dropped iOS7, and every time I used my iPad / iPhone I admired the visuals. Then one day both devices update and boom… back to Android look. Sans customization. It was a very rude awakening. Let alone the fact that my carefully planned task management system was killed overnight because Apple decided to drastically dumb down the Reminders in a single “upgrade”.

I still to this day believe that they could have retained much of what made the skeuomorphics a special and premium look, while modernizing the icons.

It would have been better than flat and lifeless!

Perhaps it was already so poor that it didn’t make much difference?

On my iPhone 14, yeah, quite possibly. Not on my MacBook Pro though. I’m still getting a full day of AutoCAD on battery, with the same percentages remaining when I knock off, on Tahoe as I did on Sequoia. Yesterday I spend the day in bed, ill, and I was using my MacBook for web browsing quite a lot. When I put it on charge in the evening, I still had well over 60% charge left!

So, I don’t know what the difference is, where the bugs are that cause poor battery life, because I’m getting quite good results.

I am seeing at least 20-25% idle time degradation on both my M1 iPad Pro and my M2 MBA (MacOS 26). My 16PM with over 90% battery health experienced sudden degradation of battery life (not just idle) right after the upgrade and it did not improve much with subsequent updates.

With respect to your MacBook Air, do you get the ‘Finder is using significant energy’ bug? I got that a few times (mostly in beta, but once or twice in 26.3), and it kills battery life quite a bit. Killing Finder brings back normal operation.

I’d be a bit annoyed if all my devices had significantly worse battery life too.

 

[SnowCrocodile]

It would have been better than flat and lifeless!

Right. They could have gotten rid of skeuomorphism (which is just a fancy word for retro design elements) and kept the complex, lush icons look.

When the first iPhone was released, pretty much every competing smart OS ran circles around it in features. There was no copy and paste, for Pete sake! And no customization to speak of. But it was very visually pretty, and easy to use, and Windows Mobile / WebOS were not (well, WM could be made extremely pretty but it required extensive customization). So, it killed the market.

On my iPhone 14, yeah, quite possibly. Not on my MacBook Pro though. I’m still getting a full day of AutoCAD on battery, with the same percentages remaining when I knock off, on Tahoe as I did on Sequoia. Yesterday I spend the day in bed, ill, and I was using my MacBook for web browsing quite a lot. When I put it on charge in the evening, I still had well over 60% charge left!

So, I don’t know what the difference is, where the bugs are that cause poor battery life, because I’m getting quite good results.

I am getting the same active use time (more or less). Idle is where the difference is. Both on MBA and iPad. There's no clear culprit either.

With respect to your MacBook Air, do you get the ‘Finder is using significant energy’ bug? I got that a few times (mostly in beta, but once or twice in 26.3), and it kills battery life quite a bit. Killing Finder brings back normal operation.

No. The biggest background use is the usual culprits like Mail. Nothing looks out of ordinary, it's just that the overall standby drain is more pronounced on both devices

I’d be a bit annoyed if all my devices had significantly worse battery life too.

 

[Steve Adams]

Improved version:


View attachment 2619699

This is true for ALL technology however. NOBODY has quality control teams anymore just leaving it to Artificial Untelligence.

 

[JTK Awesome]

iPad multitasking is intolerable on 26. 18 was the peak. And 26 doesn’t really make the iPP a Mac replacement - still too many quirks and bugs when using it as such.

This is so bad that for my next device refresh, I’m strongly considering trading in both my iPP and Mac Mini towards a MBP. It’ll be less convenient having to tether it to my iPhone for cellular but so be it - it’s one less cellular line to pay for, too.

 

[I7guy]

Not sure why some find ipados 26 multi tasking is intolerable. I’m constantly using it and find it pretty good once I learned and figured out the nuances. iPadOS 18 was not as featured in comparison.

 

[Steve Adams]

Not sure why some find ipados 26 multi tasking is intolerable. I’m constantly using it and find it pretty good once I learned and figured out the nuances. iPadOS 18 was not as featured in comparison.

Oh it is much better for productivity, however, the UI mistakes are visible throughout the OS.

 

[I7guy]

Oh it is much better for productivity, however, the UI mistakes are visible throughout the OS.

I don’t care about the UI mistakes. Those are subjective anyway like I guess all of this.

 

[Luftkopf]

Right. They could have gotten rid of skeuomorphism (which is just a fancy word for retro design elements) and kept the complex, lush icons look.

They really didn't need to dumb it down to the excessively flat look they went with, that's for sure!

When the first iPhone was released, pretty much every competing smart OS ran circles around it in features. There was no copy and paste, for Pete sake! And no customization to speak of. But it was very visually pretty, and easy to use, and Windows Mobile / WebOS were not (well, WM could be made extremely pretty but it required extensive customization). So, it killed the market.


I am getting the same active use time (more or less). Idle is where the difference is. Both on MBA and iPad. There's no clear culprit either.

No. The biggest background use is the usual culprits like Mail. Nothing looks out of ordinary, it's just that the overall standby drain is more pronounced on both devices

That's disappointing. I hope that whatever is causing it resolves, so you can get better performance out of your batteries again!

 

[Steve Adams]

I don’t care about the UI mistakes. Those are subjective anyway like I guess all of this.

Well covering up the back buttion on many apps and things like that is not that subjective. Looks yes. Function no.

 

[I7guy]

Well covering up the back buttion on many apps and things like that is not that subjective. Looks yes. Function no.

Haven’t noticed this /had that happen- not on my iPad at least.

 

[Kal Madda]

Well covering up the back buttion on many apps and things like that is not that subjective. Looks yes. Function no.

That’s not an issue with most apps… And it isn’t a problem with iPadOS, it’s a problem with some third-party app developers not updating for the new version, and not using Apple’s APIs and frameworks for these things in the first place.

In my experience, the prior top center position for the windowing controls button was more in the way on more apps, and more often covered toolbar controls then the current design… And even then, it wasn’t a problem for most apps, and was perfectly fine in most situations.

I am glad that Apple hasn’t just let some third-party app developer’s laziness hold iPadOS’s functionality hostage, and have given us proper multi-windowing, even if a handful of developers haven’t optimized for it yet…

 

[Steve Adams]

That’s not an issue with most apps… And it isn’t a problem with iPadOS, it’s a problem with some third-party app developers not updating for the new version, and not using Apple’s APIs and frameworks for these things in the first place.

In my experience, the prior top center position for the windowing controls button was more in the way on more apps, and more often covered toolbar controls then the current design… And even then, it wasn’t a problem for most apps, and was perfectly fine in most situations.

I am glad that Apple hasn’t just let some third-party app developer’s laziness hold iPadOS’s functionality hostage, and have given us proper multi-windowing, even if a handful of developers haven’t optimized for it yet…

Me too. I love the multi windowing. As I said, I love the new OS, just those few things make it a little harder to give a 100 percent to.

 

[Steve Adams]

I am going to keep an eye on what apps that cause this issue now. I am on my iPad typing this. It's a great device even though all YouTubers called it pointless and crap. ha ha. It's the 10th gen. I have the 256gb model with pen and keyboard and it works great.

 

[Kal Madda]

I am going to keep an eye on what apps that cause this issue now. I am on my iPad typing this. It's a great device even though all YouTubers called it pointless and crap. ha ha. It's the 10th gen. I have the 256gb model with pen and keyboard and it works great.

Yeah, I have an M4 iPad Pro 13” (my daily driver primary computer), and an iPad 11th Gen. The iPad 11th Gen is quite a great piece of hardware for the price, and I know the 10th Gen is basically the same. The base iPad’s are very underestimated and underrated. Great hardware for the price point, and iPadOS is great for many things, hence why I have used an iPad as my primary computer for the past 5 years. 🙂👍🏻. And the iPad is just so versatile, I really like that hardware versatility! I think it’s just that many content creators started with a Mac, and tend to have workflows that favor the Mac. But the iPad is far from useless as many of these people tried to claim. 👍🏻