it doesn’t feel cramped on a 13” when using it, really. That said the world is full of 13” laptops which use similar windowing systems of course, and they don’t feel that cramped either. That said - I would love a bigger sized iPad in the lineup.
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See iPadOS 26 Multitasking in Action
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A slider where I can adjust the size of the red, yellow, green dots to make them stay full size? I'm not seeing it.
That's what I was complaining about, not the window size. Window size is working fine.
13" laptops feel cramped to me. I'd love to see the 17" MBP make a comeback.
You can use a monitor as an extended display which makes the windowing experience better. Thats the good thing though, you can just choose to use the traditional iPad mode if you want to.
Probably most of these features are not compatible with the Mini 7 due to its screen size. macRumors has ben silent on the Mini so this would be why.
iPadOS 26 is going to change the way that you use your iPad, and it turns working on the iPad into a much more Mac-like experience. Apple introduced a whole new multitasking system, which you can get a first look at in our video.
Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos.
Windows on the iPad now work like Windows on the Mac. You can have multiple app windows open at once, and arrange them in any way that's convenient for you. Split View and Slide Over are gone, but the new window options work with Stage Manager.
iPad apps have menu bars where you can access settings for each app, and there are also the iconic "traffic light" buttons that you can use for adjusting and resizing open windows. Apple added multiple convenient tiling options for showing two, three, or four apps on your display in an organized way. You can view all of your open apps with an Exposé interface.
The windowing system extends to connected displays, giving you even more space for viewing your iPad apps. Note that on some older iPads, you'll be limited to four app windows, but this is a feature that is compatible with every iPad that runs iPadOS 26. Newer iPads can have far more app windows open.
To further the Mac-like experience, folders are now customizable with colors and emoji, and in the Files app, there's a new list view that's like working with the Mac files app. Apple even added collapsible folders, so you don't need to tap into a folder on iPad to see what's inside in a tiled view.
Files can be set to open with a default app of your choosing, and you can store your folders in the Dock for quicker access. Finally, the iPad supports background tasks, so if you're doing a large file transfer, you'll see a Live Activity to keep an eye on progress while you do other things on your iPad.
Keep in mind that we're only on the first beta of iPadOS 26, and there's more testing and refining to go before launch. Right now, iPadOS 26 is only available for developers, but Apple is going to make a public beta available in July. iPadOS 26 will launch in September.
Article Link: See iPadOS 26 Multitasking in Action
Actually no! My iPad Mini 6 has all the features, blew me away when I installed the beta. Menu bar, cursor, full ability to resize windows, the works. I tried opening a few different apps and they worked - I can imagine it’ll start choking if too many are open but I don’t have enough installed to test it out. I’m surprised because my iPad Mini didn’t even get Stage Manager! The screen real estate is cramped, but it works, and probably even smoother in the 7th gen!
does it have extended display support? i can't seem to find much information on this online.
I don’t believe the Mini does, no, or at least, not my 6th gen.
EDIT: just tested - no, it only allows display mirroring over USB C, whereas my Pro allows extended display. The mini does allow me to enable HDR support on my external monitor though, I don’t know if that’s new or not.
Am I correct in inferring that Quick Notes are still a thing? Oh, I hope so.
You already can with Stage Manager, unless the other thing you’re doing is playing music or video. Of courses YouTube sometimes switches to PIP mode, but keeping YT in a browser may solve that.
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Just tested on my Mini 6, YouTube in Safari works while using other apps! I had four windows open, even completely covering the YouTube window. It kept playing in the background just fine. It even pauses the video stream and goes audio only if Safari is completely obscured. I can even “fullscreen” the video and it’ll stay continued in the smaller Safari window, and continues to play like normal.
One of the two ads paused on me but the other kept playing just fine in the background and automatically switched the video without interaction or being in the foreground.
Now, I imagine YouTube could find a way to break this, but I sort of doubt it!
This is an excellent video. Thanks!!
iPadOS 26 is going to change the way that you use your iPad, and it turns working on the iPad into a much more Mac-like experience. Apple introduced a whole new multitasking system, which you can get a first look at in our video.
Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos.
Windows on the iPad now work like Windows on the Mac. You can have multiple app windows open at once, and arrange them in any way that's convenient for you. Split View and Slide Over are gone, but the new window options work with Stage Manager.
iPad apps have menu bars where you can access settings for each app, and there are also the iconic "traffic light" buttons that you can use for adjusting and resizing open windows. Apple added multiple convenient tiling options for showing two, three, or four apps on your display in an organized way. You can view all of your open apps with an Exposé interface.
The windowing system extends to connected displays, giving you even more space for viewing your iPad apps. Note that on some older iPads, you'll be limited to four app windows, but this is a feature that is compatible with every iPad that runs iPadOS 26. Newer iPads can have far more app windows open.
To further the Mac-like experience, folders are now customizable with colors and emoji, and in the Files app, there's a new list view that's like working with the Mac files app. Apple even added collapsible folders, so you don't need to tap into a folder on iPad to see what's inside in a tiled view.
Files can be set to open with a default app of your choosing, and you can store your folders in the Dock for quicker access. Finally, the iPad supports background tasks, so if you're doing a large file transfer, you'll see a Live Activity to keep an eye on progress while you do other things on your iPad.
Keep in mind that we're only on the first beta of iPadOS 26, and there's more testing and refining to go before launch. Right now, iPadOS 26 is only available for developers, but Apple is going to make a public beta available in July. iPadOS 26 will launch in September.
Article Link: See iPadOS 26 Multitasking in Action
Wow. It turns out the answers to window management and multitasking have been there the whole time…inside macOS.
Just hiding there in plain sight! Rascally windows.
They now have better background multitasking. I think for now it still requires the task to be something specific (the example i read was converting a video) to stay live instead of just hanging around waiting, but I suspect something more general is coming.
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I know I am getting old, but after playing around with these multitasking options on my M1 iPad Pro 11”, it simply tells me how much better my Mac is at this….
I feel like it needs touch gesture window snapping, and the close acting like quit rather than close window is odd, but overall this is a huge step forward.
I’m suddenly weirdly interested in a 15” iPad
I’m suddenly weirdly interested in a 15” iPad