Serious question: It's great that they are making these changes for iPad, but is macOS also seeing improvement as far as full screen apps go? As someone that has been using Macs since classic Mac OS (and modern Mac OS since Mac OS X Public Beta) I can't stand the way they've implemented full screen, and hate that I have to hold option down every time I'm going for the green button to try to replicate traditional "maximize." My big complaint with full screen is that it becomes the exclusive thing on the screen - can't temporarily bring up something like calculator or a text editor over top of the "full" window, instead you jarringly are thrown to another desktop "space."
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iPadOS 26 Multitasking Update Gets Rid of Split View and Slide Over
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Stage Manager is still necessary so that you can create more than one work space at a time and switch between them.
At the 30-minute mark of Tom's Guide's interview with Joz and Craig, Craig explains the different development goals and methods of the iPad/iPhone and the Mac. He goes into Split View and SlideOver as an starting step for iPad multitasking, which you may or may not buy.
Historically, even when the Mac was bound by a 512 x 342 screen, it supported windowing. Full screen mode came well into OS X and even now really only works with smaller screens like the MacBook Air. Personally I like full screen when used with a large external monitor where the MBA is the focus screen and the 27-incher has everything else. But that just plays into the Mac's multitasking tendencies and its ease of distraction. My only advice is: keyboard shortcuts.
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What about people who want to use the iPad as an iPad and not a Mac?
Having used it for a day I’m mixed. I definitely like the freedom now - but it’s certainly weird (landscape switching to portrait) and the benefits of slide over or quick notes, and so on are gone.
I actually loved this!!!
It was original and kinda iconic. I wish I still had it. I should. It would be a cool feature.
I had my 9.7-inch iPad Pro on iOS 9 until Apple forced it out by the release of iPadOS 13. I wish Apple hadn’t.
I agree that the iOS 11-iPadOS 18 way is better, but I like that screen. It would be something I’d have on my 9.7-inch iPad Pro that would be different from the rest of my iPads.
Sadly, the A9 activation issue on iOS 9 precluded me from running iOS 9 today.
I think there’s a tethered downgrade available without blobs for A9 devices, but I have stock iOS 12, I’m not going tethered, even if I’d love to run iOS 9 again.
I just hope they still let us turn off all the multitasking on a 10 inch screen
They’re not exactly hidden. There are three dots at the top of Safari, Files, Photos, etc.
You just need to click to see the options.
I can see it might not be something everyone would use, but I never viewed it as nerd-only.
With iPadOS 26, Apple is introducing major changes to the way that multitasking works, and part of that update will see the removal of Split View and Slide Over, two multitasking interface options that have long existed on the iPad.
iPadOS 26 allows for multiple app windows, each of which can be resized freely on the display. The feature works on all iPad models able to run iPadOS 26, though there are limitations on how many apps can be open at once. On older iPads, for example, you're limited to four apps. Newer iPads can have more open app windows.
You can change the size of iPad app windows, move them on top of each other, and rearrange them as desired, much like on the Mac. There are also tiling options so that you can see two to four apps side-by-side, a feature that's similar to Split View.
Windows retain their positions even when you shut off your iPad or close an app, and you can see all of your open apps with a swipe up gesture that activates an Exposé-style view.
iPad app windows feature the Mac traffic-light controls, and these can be used for resizing and closing apps. iPad apps also have Mac-style menu bars for tweaking settings, and there's a feature for running system-intensive tasks in the background.
The new multitasking feature that replaces Slide Over and Split View is much more robust, so it is unlikely that most iPad users are going to miss these options.
Article Link: iPadOS 26 Multitasking Update Gets Rid of Split View and Slide Over
If this is true Apple has none away with split view and slide over I will not be updating to 26 as I use this every day.
Windows have windowing but also snapping too!! Why is it big company like Apple does not know this? Why does Mac OS and iPadOS not have this?
WHY does Apple think you need windowing or snapping not both?
Exactly the report I was afraid of.
I truly may be keeping my Mini 5 and iPad 10 on iOS 18.
SlideOver is something I use every single day.
You can. Upon first boot after install of the new version (as well as in the settings), the behavior you describe can still be selected. Assuming you don't only define "use the iPad as an iPad" to be slide over. Full screen application behavior is still explicitly supported.
Actually, you are explicitly asked if you want to turn it on. And if you decide later you want to turn it off or on, you can easily do that in the setting.
From what I can tell, in this area Apple has given a great number of people who have been asking for something more robust a good answer . . . with it being supported on a wider range of iPads, too. All the while still leaving the options for full screen apps as well as leaving the option for the stage manager system. The only thing I can actually see that some people may miss is slide over. The decision to abandon that may simply be based on things like usage, or possibly code base maintainability.
They also did an interview with Joanna Stern of WSJ.
I can understand for SplitView as you can achieve something very similar with windowing. SlideOver though, I found so useful. That’s where Music lived for me (much more feature rich than the playback controls in Control Center), as well as my password manager and other apps that I usually want to quickly access and quickly dismiss.
I hope they walk that part back (and make it more intuitive to use… like I’ve always found it annoying I you couldn’t slide it out when on a Home Screen)
I hope they walk that part back (and make it more intuitive to use… like I’ve always found it annoying I you couldn’t slide it out when on a Home Screen)
There are keyboard shortcuts for the new split view arrangements, and those work quite smoothly.
Still, having a gesture for those without a keyboard attached would be good.
Still, having a gesture for those without a keyboard attached would be good.
I’ve been testing (including right now) my iPad Pro M1 with 16GB memory connected to an LG 4K display, Keychron keyboard and Logitech Mouse.
Overall I really feel like I can move around a lot better and it feels like this uncanny valley sort of Mac. It is close to the macOS Lite that I have been clamoring for the past several years in the forums. Windowing and multitasking feels real for the first time.
There are a few weird bugs with the mouse where it seems to have issues with not being able to click on certain UI elements. Some keyboard shortcuts refuse to work for me, like zooming in and out in Safari, despite using the keyboard shortcuts you would expect and that are outlined in the Menu itself. Speaking of the Menu, I wish there were a toggle for it to be always visible when you have a mouse connected. Or at the very least, when you have an external display connected. I don’t see why it has to hide away, or why it has to be centered all strangely. Just put the date and clock to the right of the battery icon like on the Mac.
Also I don’t understand why some things on the Mac have different keyboard shortcuts. Like CMD+TAB on the Mac to switch apps is inexplicably OPT+TAB. Why??
Hopefully some of these issues will be smoothed out. I didn’t really use the Stage Manager much after launch last year because I didn’t really like it. I can see using this when I’m traveling, using my Anker USB-C Hub to connect to a display. So far this is making me want to upgrade my M1 12.9” iPad Pro for the first time, but mostly because I want to get the 11” and then the Apple Keyboard/Trackpad case to go with it along with the OLED display, so I can have a great little lightweight Mac-like thing for travel, but also have a smaller iPad I can kick back with at home. Still not a replacement for the Mac but it doesn’t have to me. It just needs to let me reasonably do a fairly substantial subset of the things that a Mac can do, even if slightly slower, when I’m on the go. My hope is that this will get more companies to develop iPad versions of their apps. Especially Nova by Panic! I’ll probably pick up the M5 iPad Pro 11” next year when it comes out, providing the tariffs don’t make it prohibitively expensive.
Also I hope they can clean up this Liquid Glass crap. Especially in dark mode. I don’t like all the shine it puts on the darkness that I’m used to, especially on app icons. Need to figure out if there is a way to turn it off. Think it may be lagging my M1 but might just be the beta 1.
Overall I really feel like I can move around a lot better and it feels like this uncanny valley sort of Mac. It is close to the macOS Lite that I have been clamoring for the past several years in the forums. Windowing and multitasking feels real for the first time.
There are a few weird bugs with the mouse where it seems to have issues with not being able to click on certain UI elements. Some keyboard shortcuts refuse to work for me, like zooming in and out in Safari, despite using the keyboard shortcuts you would expect and that are outlined in the Menu itself. Speaking of the Menu, I wish there were a toggle for it to be always visible when you have a mouse connected. Or at the very least, when you have an external display connected. I don’t see why it has to hide away, or why it has to be centered all strangely. Just put the date and clock to the right of the battery icon like on the Mac.
Also I don’t understand why some things on the Mac have different keyboard shortcuts. Like CMD+TAB on the Mac to switch apps is inexplicably OPT+TAB. Why??
Hopefully some of these issues will be smoothed out. I didn’t really use the Stage Manager much after launch last year because I didn’t really like it. I can see using this when I’m traveling, using my Anker USB-C Hub to connect to a display. So far this is making me want to upgrade my M1 12.9” iPad Pro for the first time, but mostly because I want to get the 11” and then the Apple Keyboard/Trackpad case to go with it along with the OLED display, so I can have a great little lightweight Mac-like thing for travel, but also have a smaller iPad I can kick back with at home. Still not a replacement for the Mac but it doesn’t have to me. It just needs to let me reasonably do a fairly substantial subset of the things that a Mac can do, even if slightly slower, when I’m on the go. My hope is that this will get more companies to develop iPad versions of their apps. Especially Nova by Panic! I’ll probably pick up the M5 iPad Pro 11” next year when it comes out, providing the tariffs don’t make it prohibitively expensive.
Also I hope they can clean up this Liquid Glass crap. Especially in dark mode. I don’t like all the shine it puts on the darkness that I’m used to, especially on app icons. Need to figure out if there is a way to turn it off. Think it may be lagging my M1 but might just be the beta 1.