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iPadOS 26 Multitasking Update Gets Rid of Split View and Slide Over
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I'm shocked. I can't believe you cannot use 2 apps side-by-side in full screen. I use both split-screen and slide over all the time, and having windows is not a true replacement. Why I have to see my dock all the time when I have 2 apps side by side? People thinking that windowing and other Mac features are the way to make the iPad a "true computer" have led Apple to take these nonsense decisions. The iPad experience is almost officially ruined. Meanwhile, it still won't replace your Mac because it doesn't have the Mac app ecosystem. The iPad has an app problem, not a multitasking problem.
It’s not. Not in this beta at any rate. It takes more steps, which is frustrating.
So I’m I, the amount of times I activate it by mistake 🤬 I can’t understand why Apple couldn’t just have an off button for it 🤦🏻♂️.
I think you just hate everything.
Seriously, I haven’t seen one. single slightly. positive. post from you.
Every single day you post on here, not a single positive post. Not one.
Apple could literally knock the prices of all of their products down to a single dollar and you’d be like “but they should be free, Tim Crook yatayata”…
You can still have 2 apps side by side in the beta, without seeing the dock, but it takes more steps to recreate in windowed mode, than Split View did. In my view, they should keep Split View and Skide Over as options for the non-windowed mode.
probably I’m in the minority who would prefer iPadOS to be minimal and simple. For me splitview is very handy, we will see if the new system is also simple. I have Mac for more complex things
To this day I have never been able to figure out how to consistently use any iPad multitasking features. Sometimes I accidentally trigger them and can never get back out, sometimes I want to trigger them and can never get it to work.
Slideover has been invaluable for quick access to apps like messages or calculator. I don’t want it in its own window. I want it right there in slideover for quick access to an app and then get rid of it.
Slide over was the ONE multitasking feature they got right from the start and now they are ditching it.
Bad move Apple, bad move.
Slide over was the ONE multitasking feature they got right from the start and now they are ditching it.
Bad move Apple, bad move.
For what it’s worth you might be able to do that with a Quick Note; unless they have changed it for iPadOS 26 it lets you slide a note to the edge of the screen, and drag it back out for updating as needed. I do this a lot. 🤷♂️
I like slide over because it lets you pin a PDF that you can bring up for reference and then make it go out of the way. Lets say I'm working on a bunch of stuff and there's one super important document that I keep referencing throughout the day. It's always there and I can just slide it out, cross a few things off, then slide it out of the way.
But getting an app into slide over mode is annoying though. The gesture is unreliable, and if you tap the 3 dots then you still have use a menu. After that you can still somehow end up opening the slide-overed app in full screen for some reason. And don't get me started on the half baked "app windows" that show up when you open an app with multiple windows, including the app that's in slide-over. It's hard to see which window the small thumbnails represent and the whole thing makes no sense compared to how it is on a Mac.
But getting an app into slide over mode is annoying though. The gesture is unreliable, and if you tap the 3 dots then you still have use a menu. After that you can still somehow end up opening the slide-overed app in full screen for some reason. And don't get me started on the half baked "app windows" that show up when you open an app with multiple windows, including the app that's in slide-over. It's hard to see which window the small thumbnails represent and the whole thing makes no sense compared to how it is on a Mac.
The removal of Slide Over makes me never want to upgrade.
It's going to be interesting to see how well external displays work with the new windowing.
If it's functionality is as good as I'm hoping, this could really position the iPad as a true laptop replacement for quite a few users who aren't reliant on the power, internal storage, and flexibility that a laptop offers.
If it's functionality is as good as I'm hoping, this could really position the iPad as a true laptop replacement for quite a few users who aren't reliant on the power, internal storage, and flexibility that a laptop offers.
Power and internal storage are both given on the iPad though. M4 chip plus up to 2TB.
I’m really not a fan of this decision. They need to at least keep these features around for the more basic multitasking mode.
On a Mac, even with its complex multitasking features, I can drag two apps on top of each other to quickly evenly split them. I can also swipe between full-screen apps with one gesture. Both of these things I could do on an iPad before but can’t anymore… they need to add some of this stuff back in.
On a Mac, even with its complex multitasking features, I can drag two apps on top of each other to quickly evenly split them. I can also swipe between full-screen apps with one gesture. Both of these things I could do on an iPad before but can’t anymore… they need to add some of this stuff back in.
I was really hoping for a clamshell-like mode with this update. It would be great to be able to use it as a permanently docked Mac replacement with the internal screen turned off.
I don't really understand this, but to me it seems apple is a bit confused. previously they moved macOS into the iPadOS direction (full screen apps, I hated them so much as I want to have zillions of different windows arranged as I like. and I also hate window-snapping too). now macOS started to be windowed.
what did actually change? is somehow the touchscreen now able to things that it could not a year ago? I still see the issue with touch controls being less accurate compared to a mouse pointer, and it is one's fat fingers that prevents the pointer to be seen in the first place. no way the "title bar menu" will work properly with the touch interface.
so if this is some sort of luring the community into a MacBook Air <-> iPad merger? the CPU is the same - storage and RAM not so much. with the keyboard cover it is almost like the 12" MacBook was about a decade ago, but no key travel, less ports, sort of cumbersome to use it as a laptop.
I am still doing fine without being able to touch the screen of my MacBook or iMac, so I am absolutely unsure whether this merge would make any sense. but apple clearly has something in mind with the iPad (pro/air). this whole windowing thing looks nice, but IMO worths not much unless your iPad has the keyboard case/cover, and at that point you might just buy a MacBook air, and save some cash while doing so.
what did actually change? is somehow the touchscreen now able to things that it could not a year ago? I still see the issue with touch controls being less accurate compared to a mouse pointer, and it is one's fat fingers that prevents the pointer to be seen in the first place. no way the "title bar menu" will work properly with the touch interface.
so if this is some sort of luring the community into a MacBook Air <-> iPad merger? the CPU is the same - storage and RAM not so much. with the keyboard cover it is almost like the 12" MacBook was about a decade ago, but no key travel, less ports, sort of cumbersome to use it as a laptop.
I am still doing fine without being able to touch the screen of my MacBook or iMac, so I am absolutely unsure whether this merge would make any sense. but apple clearly has something in mind with the iPad (pro/air). this whole windowing thing looks nice, but IMO worths not much unless your iPad has the keyboard case/cover, and at that point you might just buy a MacBook air, and save some cash while doing so.
And still, there are people who feel the need to hate on this vast improvement.
I mean, you can still achieve the same thing (only its easier) or something better, or more flexible, and people are in this very thread saying making this change is a bad idea.
So does Stage Manager still exist? Or does this replace it entirely, as it makes it kind of pointless.
Also do we know which iPad models support more or less apps? Considering getting a refurb to try this (mine is an old 10.5 Pro) but how old is too old?
Also do we know which iPad models support more or less apps? Considering getting a refurb to try this (mine is an old 10.5 Pro) but how old is too old?
I’m in this same position…except I upgraded too quickly. 😢
One reason I prefer the iPad over a Mac is the lack of windows. Windows (to me (I get that not everyone feels this way)) are fiddly. On my Mac, I’m constantly moving them, resizing them, looking for them. I love watching people with many monitors look for where they left their window. The iPad was much more limited, but that limitation made it more simple. Organization was simpler precisely because there were fewer options. There were just enough to make my day-to-day workflows work well, but still keeping it simple. (I’m a product manager for a SW company and I use my iPad exclusively.)
Granted, this might be me just complaining because someone moved my cheese and now I have to learn a new way to get work done. And yeah, I’m willing to accept that I’m in the minority here (Apple probably has lots of data to back this up.)
Did it ever occur to you that people use their devices in different ways? What you see as a “vast improvement” others see very differently.
Because it’s most definitely a massive downgrade to me. Slideover is quite possibly the single most useful feature of the iPad, so much so that I’ve often wished it would come to the iPhone.
And now it’s gone. Multitasking is useful, but it’s now far, far, clunkier to access than Slideover ever was, and thus makes the iPad far less suitable for multitasking than ever for a lot of users.
Slide Over and Split View were core essential functions for me, that I used every time I opened my iPad. The very quick, easy way you can pull an app from the home bar and open it at the side made the iPad very versatile in its usage with the Magic Keyboard. If these new features require me to sit and mess about with window sizing, it’s going to absolutely break the way I use the iPad.
So Apple is turning iPad OS into macOS yet chained to the App Store.
Apart from touch and pen support everything else it has a long, long way to go.
Apart from touch and pen support everything else it has a long, long way to go.
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