iPadOS 26 more love for old iPads????

[L13145]

Hello I’m slightly confused if someone can help clear this up?

When stage manager was introduced, this would only work on iPad Air 5th gen and later.
iPad OS 26 brings window management to iPad Air 3rd gen and later and they made a big deal about how it works on all iPads getting the upgrade.

Why is this newer window management system able to support the older iPad Air 3 and 4, but stage manager was specifically 5th or later?

As someone with an iPad Air 4th gen this is great news, but makes me wonder if stage manager would’ve worked just fine.

 

[Le0M]

The fact that windows management is made available also for iPad 9th gen (and maybe older?) is a VERY surprising move on Apple's part, and also a very welcomed one!
Couldn't believe my eyes!

 

[anthdci]

To be honest I am surprised it is compatible with my 2018 11' iPad Pro, I've just installed it since it's a device I don't use all that much (hence not getting a newer one), and it's very choppy. If they don't improve that over the betas I think I'll downgrade it before they stop signing iPadOS 18, because it's not a good experience.

 

[Hyuga]

To be honest I am surprised it is compatible with my 2018 11' iPad Pro, I've just installed it since it's a device I don't use all that much (hence not getting a newer one), and it's very choppy. If they don't improve that over the betas I think I'll downgrade it before they stop signing iPadOS 18, because it's not a good experience.

Dont worry, its mess even with M4 iPad Pro.

Usually first betas have full telemetry and debug enabled what further increases battery usage and performance issues.

 

[LogicalApex]

Hello I’m slightly confused if someone can help clear this up?

When stage manager was introduced, this would only work on iPad Air 5th gen and later.
iPad OS 26 brings window management to iPad Air 3rd gen and later and they made a big deal about how it works on all iPads getting the upgrade.

Why is this newer window management system able to support the older iPad Air 3 and 4, but stage manager was specifically 5th or later?

As someone with an iPad Air 4th gen this is great news, but makes me wonder if stage manager would’ve worked just fine.

No one will ever know the true answer since Apple will keep those details close to the chest.

My speculative answer though.

They rightfully got a ton of pushback on their lame reasoning for artificially limiting Stage Manager that they had to expand support for it. They also probably have enough details that Stage Manager and windowing support on the iPad has not been well received by users or developers. I mean well received enough to drive meaningful sales increases for users.

Expanding it to all iPads is a strong attempt to get developers on board. They can design apps with the feature in mind as it is supported across the lineup. They then hope increased developer traction can help drive user adoption.

 

[eclipse01]

To be honest I am surprised it is compatible with my 2018 11' iPad Pro, I've just installed it since it's a device I don't use all that much (hence not getting a newer one), and it's very choppy. If they don't improve that over the betas I think I'll downgrade it before they stop signing iPadOS 18, because it's not a good experience.

interesting, another post says its running great on their IPP 2018

 

[Polaroid]

interesting, another post says its running great on their IPP 2018

Runs well on my IPP 2018, might have been my post you saw - I have bugs and such but multitasking is fluid and runs well for me

 

[rui no onna]

The fact that windows management is made available also for iPad 9th gen (and maybe older?) is a VERY surprising move on Apple's part, and also a very welcomed one!
Couldn't believe my eyes!

I just installed it on my 9th gen and Safari's a lot choppier and slower. Control Center is barely visible depending on background.

Glad I didn't use one of my nicer iPads as guinea pig. Performance is probably better on a faster iPad but the UI still needs tweaking.

 

[MagicHAM]

The fact that windows management is made available also for iPad 9th gen (and maybe older?) is a VERY surprising move on Apple's part, and also a very welcomed one!
Couldn't believe my eyes!

I was surprised by this as well, trying it out on my 3rd generation iPad 12.9inch.

And to those who have the Beta 1 installed and a re experiencing issues, this is a beta, what would you expecting from a first beta? Of course there would be some issues, it is a Beta.

 

[rui no onna]

I was surprised by this as well, trying it out on my 3rd generation iPad 12.9inch.

And to those who have the Beta 1 installed and a re experiencing issues, this is a beta, what would you expecting from a first beta? Of course there would be some issues, it is a Beta.

Betas can vary in quality.

I also used 16, 17 and 18 dev betas and apart from some performance glitches, I didn't experience any major usability issues. They were stable enough that I found them OK to use as daily drivers on the M1 iPad Air.

The UI changed a lot this time and there are visibility issues and other glitches. Hence, I'll keep beta testing limited to the iPad 9th gen until it improves.

P.S.
I thought Stage Manager was introduced 15. Apparently, that was 16 and that was pretty rough, too.

13 was probably the worst iOS beta I’ve used though. Even after stable, I think it took like 13.2 or 13.3 before I found it acceptable enough to install on my daily drivers.

 

[anthdci]

interesting, another post says its running great on their IPP 2018

Don't get me wrong, mine is hardly in the best condition, I wouldn't be surprised if it is throttling a bit due to battery degradation. It's been left unused for long periods and been flat during that time. Which is why I am ok to put the early beta on it. Just have to see how it goes over the next few betas.

 

[Atomic1977]

Truth is betas are just betas and  like any other company will kill off any old product not capable of running the Latest software. That’s how it’s always been.

 

[Le0M]

I just installed it on my 9th gen and Safari's a lot choppier and slower. Control Center is barely visible depending on background.

Glad I didn't use one of my nicer iPads as guinea pig. Performance is probably better on a faster iPad but the UI still needs tweaking.

Oh absolutely!
Still full of bugs and UI glitches.
I was just talking about the features!

 

[Devyn89]

My guess is whatever weird way they made stage manager work it was pretty resource intensive so they wanted it for the M powered iPads only. They new windowing system seems much less intensive on the system and so can come to more devices.

 

[It’s always something]

Betas can vary in quality.

I also used 16, 17 and 18 dev betas and apart from some performance glitches, I didn't experience any major usability issues. They were stable enough that I found them OK to use as daily drivers on the M1 iPad Air.

The UI changed a lot this time and there are visibility issues and other glitches. Hence, I'll keep beta testing limited to the iPad 9th gen until it improves.

P.S.
I thought Stage Manager was introduced 15. Apparently, that was 16 and that was pretty rough, too.

13 was probably the worst iOS beta I’ve used though. Even after stable, I think it took like 13.2 or 13.3 before I found it acceptable enough to install on my daily drivers.

Interesting post. Would you install the 26 dev betas on your daily drivers?

 

[rui no onna]

Interesting post. Would you install the 26 dev betas on your daily drivers?

I never install betas on my primary devices (mini 7 and M1 iPP). However, I do have a few devices that can be used for beta testing (iPad 7, iPad 9, mini 6, Air 5 and iPhone SE3).

The iPad 7 and 9 are the guinea pigs. I rarely use them so it's OK if they get messed up. If the betas are fairly stable and not too glitchy, then they get installed on the mini 6 and Air 5 which gets more regular use.

 

[Digitalguy]

Hello I’m slightly confused if someone can help clear this up?

When stage manager was introduced, this would only work on iPad Air 5th gen and later.
iPad OS 26 brings window management to iPad Air 3rd gen and later and they made a big deal about how it works on all iPads getting the upgrade.

Why is this newer window management system able to support the older iPad Air 3 and 4, but stage manager was specifically 5th or later?

As someone with an iPad Air 4th gen this is great news, but makes me wonder if stage manager would’ve worked just fine.

The confusion is due to the fact that stage manager was introduced to allow external display support (the tablet UI is not suitable for that), just like Dex, for instance, was used for the same reason by Samsung.
And not just as a standalone multitasking for iPad.

However, stage manager had 2 requirements, a RAM requirement (initially 1GB per app open) and a display resolution support requirement (6k, as the pro display XDR).
Apple tried to make things "simple" by excluding it from any iPad that could not support 6k (only M1 and M2 could).
They did the same with the Macbook air. Instead of letting it run 2 displays at a lower resolution (M1 could probably run 2 4k 6hz since it can run 1 6k + 1 4k without the display monitor (M1 Mac Mini), they decided that it should always run 6k, even if that means only 1 display forever.

After some backlash Apple allowed stage manager on A12X and A12Z and with a simple hack it was possible to allow it on any iPad running iPadOS 16 and 17 (I have it on my mini 5 and pro 2017)

So already then Apple started decoupling the external monitor and the multitasking (although without external monitor you could only run 4 apps). But people still do not decouple the external display support and the multitasking in Stage Manager, so now that it's finally separated with iPadOS 26, people are confused (and many ask why external display is not supported in some iPads).

Now, at least in theory, the RAM requirement is partially lifted, but:

• since then we no longer have 2GB RAM iPads
• the fact that up to 12 apps can run does not mean they cannot reload (they reload pretty heavily on M1 on the beta) and this is only on iPads with 8GB RAM, other iPads can only run 4apps
• external monitor support requirement has not changed
• it's much more likely that people open more apps with 2 monitors (and those iPads that can have at least 8GB) than with just a small iPad screen (and other than the mini 7 you can only open 4 apps anyway....).
  If you watch reviews of the new multitasking, reviewers stop around 5 apps on the iPad display, because then the screen is so cluttered that it makes little sense... (especially on the mini)

 

[Jimmie Geddes]

Apple got a ton of complaints when it limited Stage Manager to iPads with M-series chips. It feels like this move was designed to sell more lower-end iPads by adding this major pro feature and unifying the UI and feature set across all iPads capable of running iPadOS 26.

 

[Homme]

13 was probably the worst iOS beta I’ve used though. Even after stable, I think it took like 13.2 or 13.3 before I found it acceptable enough to install on my daily drivers.

yeah iOS 13 had its problems but don’t forget that it now required 2GB of RAM as the minimum

So already then Apple started decoupling the external monitor and the multitasking (although without external monitor you could only run 4 apps). But people still do not decouple the external display support and the multitasking in Stage Manager, so now that it's finally separated with iPadOS 26, people are confused (and many ask why external display is not supported in some iPads).

Now, at least in theory, the RAM requirement is lifted, but:

• since then we no longer have 2GB RAM iPads
• the fact that up to 12 apps can run does not mean they cannot reload (they reload pretty heavily on M1 on the beta)
• external monitor support requirement has not changed
• it's much more likely that people open more apps with 2 monitors (and those iPads that can have at least 8GB) than with just a small iPad screen (and have a bad experience because of costant reloads due to too many apps open on iPads with less RAM (3-4GB), which by now are mostly old and discontinued devices....).
  If you watch reviews of the new multitasking, reviewers stop around 5 apps on the iPad display, because then the screen is so cluttered that it makes little sense...

12 apps can run on the internal screen but that is for Apple Intelligence iPads. All other iPads can have up to 4 apps running ( I heard this from Zollotech himself)

Also to add besides 2GB RAM is the fact that Apple waited until the last 7th Gen iPad dropped support for iPadOS 26 in order to make it happen

Especially for the Mini that many apps running open will definitely clutter the screen lol

 

[Digitalguy]

yeah iOS 13 had its problems but don’t forget that it now required 2GB of RAM as the minimum


12 apps can run on the internal screen but that is for Apple Intelligence iPads. All other iPads can have up to 4 apps running ( I heard this from Zollotech himself)

Also to add besides 2GB RAM is the fact that Apple waited until the last 7th Gen iPad dropped support for iPadOS 26 in order to make it happen

Especially for the Mini that many apps running open will definitely clutter the screen lol

Yep, I watched Zollotech video after writing this comment and I now edited it. But it makes even more sense. So much for "the new multitasking is the same on all iPads"... I see people asking questions on reddit like, is it ok if I get the mini 6 instead of the mini 7 or even the pro, because the multitasking is the same?
Well it's not, mini 6 will only give you 4 apps, and mini 7 will give you 12 but no external monitor support (and good luck running more than 5-6 overlapping apps on mini 7 anyway...)

Didi the iPad 7 make any difference in Apple's decision? Personally I don't think so. I think they waiting because as Mark Gurmann said, last year the priority was to focus all resources on Vision OS, now they had more resources for iPadOS.