The iPad Just Got a Lot More Like a Mac Thanks to These 20+ New Features

[MacRumors]

With iPadOS 26, Apple is moving the iPad closer to the Mac than ever before with a host of productivity and multitasking improvements.

Here's everything Apple today announced for the iPad that's set to make the device more Mac-like:

• App windows on iPad can now be freely resized.
• Multiple windows can be open at once, including multiple instances of the same app.
• Windows can be snapped into halves, thirds, or quarters using new tiling gestures.
• Each window has red, yellow, and green traffic-light controls for closing, minimizing, and maximizing.
• Apps remember their window size and position when reopened.
• On external displays, app windows remember their layout.
• A swipe-up Exposé gesture reveals all open windows, similar to Mission Control on Mac.
• A new menu bar appears on swipe or cursor hover, giving access to app commands like on Mac.
• Third-party apps can implement their own menu bar options.
• Users can search for commands in the menu bar.
• The cursor is now a true pointer, rather than a morphing circle.
• Cursor interactions on iPad now match the behavior and precision found on macOS.
• The Files app now features resizable columns and collapsible folders.
• Folders in the Files app can be customized with colors, icons, and emoji.
• Users can assign a default app for opening each file type.
• Folders can be dragged into the Dock for quick access, like Finder stacks in the macOS Dock.
• The Preview app, long a macOS staple, is now available on iPad for PDF and image editing.
• Background Tasks allow long-running operations to continue while using other apps.
• Users can choose different microphones for each app or website, reflecting macOS input/output controls.
• Audio and video from video calls can be captured locally in high quality.
• Notes can now be exported as Markdown files.

The line between the iPad and the Mac is now more blurred than ever. Do you think these new features are enough to enhance the iPad? Let us know in the comments.

Article Link: The iPad Just Got a Lot More Like a Mac Thanks to These 20+ New Features

 

[Think|Different]

Redmond, start your photocopiers.

 

[CalMin]

Q: So then why not simply add a MacOS mode to it?

A: App Store revenue.....

 

[mectojic]

Hmmm... it's not really MacOS though, is it? It's Mac-like.

 

[The Doctor11]

What iPads will they be compatible with?

 

[natnorth]

What iPads will they be compatible with?

Apple Says iPadOS 26 is Compatible With These iPad Models

Apple today announced that iPadOS 26 will be compatible with the iPad models listed below. iPadOS 26 features a new Liquid Glass design, a menu...

www.macrumors.com

iPadOS 26 supports the following iPad models:

• iPad Pro (M4)
• iPad Pro 12.9-inch (3rd generation and later)
• iPad Pro 11-inch (1st generation and later)
• iPad Air (M2 and later)
• iPad Air (3rd generation and later)
• iPad (A16)
• iPad (8th generation and later)
• iPad mini (A17 Pro)
• iPad mini (5th generation and later)

 

[MakeAppleAwesomeAgain]

Q: So then why not simply add a MacOS mode to it?

A: App Store revenue.....

macOS was built for keyboard + mouse, you need to rethink things for touch.

 

[Mike MA]

As long as the new features improve the day to day work with the iPad, I welcome them and don’t care about those old comments an iPad is not supposed to be a Mac. And from my pov they sound like a milestone.

 

[hoodafoo]

They should've named this new version iPadOS RT

 

[jz0309]

I know a lot of folks wanted this (the iPad becoming more Mac like) and I like some of those features, but not sure how relevant they will be to me and my usage of my iPad

 

[KPOM]

Q: So then why not simply add a MacOS mode to it?

A: App Store revenue.....

macOS apps aren’t designed for the 11” screen of the standard iPad, or for iPadOS’s more limited memory management. macOS would burn through the battery pretty quickly.

I won’t say that Apple will never put macOS on an iPad, but it’s been 15 years since iPad was first released, and 4+ since they gave it an M-series chip, so I’m not holding my breath.

 

[xxFoxtail]

Is it possible to always show the menu bar with a keyboard/mouse connected?

 

[t0rqx]

Copying Android UX was such a bad choice. Apple could have boosted the iPad sales if they really innovated here. Now it just becomes a chaotic cluttered mess.

Save time and money just give us MacOS.

Now it feels like a netbook.

 

[scrapesleon]

It’s a decent update to the iPad hopefully it’ll get some more macOS features

 

[LazyMonkIE]

I feel like this is still completely pointless waste of hardware until I'm allowed to use it like a Mac for Parallels and development environments. I'm not using anywhere near the capability of the hardware on this half-baked iPadOS. I'm pleased it's getting better but for the love of everything holy - just give us macOS already!

 

[anshuvorty]

they finally freakin did it!!! Just look at my comments from past years about this - and I was proven correct!!! About damn time!!

Still no macOS dual boot option....makes no sense to have the keyboard accessory without the use of macOS!!!

I have been saying time and time again, that the iPad that have the M-series chips should allow dual booting into macOS and it seems that based on MG's latest newsletter, Apple may finally acquiesce to this sometime soon...

Thank god...

I would be surprised if there isn't an engineer who has tried to voice their opinion on this dual boot feature (for the iPad) in that highly fortified bubble that is the UFO campus...

Again, I feel like they are just duplicating their efforts and wasting unnecessary time, money, and energy achieving this, if this future were to come to pass. Why duplicate 20+ years of work, when you can easily just allow dual booting and have those same macOS capabilities for a fraction of the cost? Makes no sense to me if this is the path that Apple eventually settles on, with the iPad....

Man, I strongly believe that all of these issues related to trackpads, mouse-support, multi-window support, multi-tasking, etc, all go away if you allow the iPad to dual boot between iPadOS and macOS.

You can even differentiate the iPad product line based on the ability to dual boot between iPadOS and macOS:
- iPad Pros: allows for dual boot between macOS and iPadOS. For pros, or prosumers, wanting to do more with their iPads and for the "power users"
- iPad, iPad Air, and iPad Mini: no dual boot option, just plain 'ol iPadOS, that's it. For consumers that just want to do the basics with the iPad.

This way, you won't have the confusion where some iPads have the M-series chips, and some have the A-series chips. If the iPad has a M-series chip, it is an iPad Pro, and allows you to dual boot between macoS and iPadOS. If the iPad has an A-series chip, it is an iPad, iPad Air, or an iPad mini, and has iPadOS on it.

 

[Escape Velocity]

This looks lovely... but give me clamshell mode to pair with this! Please!

 

[racerhomie]

iPadOS 26 is the clear winner of WWDC 2025. It got way better than before!

 

[211]

I find it funny that ever since the iPad came out, everyone has been screaming for these features. Now that they are here, it's just nothing but negative comments about it.

I love what Apple has done here. My iPad has now become incredibly more useful. I can use it for personal use as before, and now for work use. As I have a Mac Studio, these new features now mean I soon can ditch my work computer in the office

 

[kiensoy]

Multitasking got some nice updates but it's just Stage Manager mixed with full-screen and split-view. Nice improvements for sure but not sure how people think this is now a laptop replacement. It's pretty much the way it was before.

 

[NervousFish2]

I think this looks so great. I am REALLY excited about Preview. This has been a mysterious thing for Apple to ignore for so long, given what an iPad is and how it is a natural interface for reading PDFs (if you're an academic like me, you read a lot of PDFs). I use a number of third party PDF apps, and they're fine. But I think the features and interoperability shown here make sense, and may lure me back to using Preview.

 

[Andy_2341]

I find it funny that ever since the iPad came out, everyone has been screaming for these features. Now that they are here, it's just nothing but negative comments about it.

This is just MacRumors in a nutshell lol.

 

[AriaAmaris]

Can the user open multiple instances of the same app?

 

[Love-hate 🍏 relationship]

biggest ipad update ever

 

[anshuvorty]

Multitasking got some nice updates but it's just Stage Manager mixed with full-screen and split-view. Nice improvements for sure but not sure how people think this is now a laptop replacement. It's pretty much the way it was before.

It has background app support + sound input/output controls....in addition, the files app has become more like the finder, as well as the addition of the preview app...

c'mon, you can't really argue that iPadOS isn't almost synonomous with macOS at this point....a couple more iterations and iPadOS = macOS.