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what is Apple lacking in iPadOS?

I'd love FaceID on cheaper models. The price of the Pros is pretty ridiculous for such a restricted device. So I end up buying five year old iPad Pros.
 
I wrote out my list in another similar thread here.

I'd add that there is some frustrating inconsistency in the share sheet (in iOS too), some apps not being available to share to--but that's probably on 3rd party developers.
 
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Bubble99 said:
The iPad is very easy and user friendly more so than Windows, Linux or MacOS it simple and really lightweight OS. But what is not user friendly is Apple keeps changing things, look at the multitasking on iPad what a mess it is, one way than later on the three dots and later on the traffic lights and bringing back Split View and slide over in worried way.

That is not user friendly. Apple gives you a feature and you learn how to use it than Apple changes how to use the feature and you are confused and have to learn how to use it again than in year or two Apple changes the feature again and you are confused and have to learn how to use it again than Apple removes the feature and later on bring it back in a worried way. This is a big mess on Apple part.

Are we using the three dots or the traffic lights and why is Split View and slide over back in worried way.

By the time I learn how to use the traffic lights Apple will remove it and bring some thing else out and change Split View and slide over again.

Honestly I think time to switch to Android as I’m sick of Apple that keeps removing and changing and bringing back and modify it, just leave Split View and slide over the way it first came out as Apple got it right the first time.

Strange manger and floating apps only make sense on a 14 inch plus iPad screens or more not on 10 or 11 inch screen.

And changing the wallpaper on the Home Screen and Lock Screen use to be more user friendly before. Apple changes how to use it and made it more complex on how to use it because Apple was too lazy to add other sub category for changing the Lock Screen text.
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iPadOS 18 was peak iPadOS multitasking for me--pretty much perfect balance of simplicity/ease of use and function/versatility. Over the years they tweaked it bit by bit until it got there. But with 26, it was a total revamp (likely in response to the vocal techies who wanted their iPad to be a Mac) and I think Apple overdid it. With the only two toggle options of "complicated multitasking" or "no multitasking", there is no option that I like now. I wouldn't mind "complicated multitasking" when I connect to a big monitor and basically want a Mac stand-in, but for the chiller (yet plenty functional enough for its purpose) iPad UX, iPadOS 18 multitasking was where it was at.
 
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Does iPadOS still duplicate files when you share them between apps because each app lives in its own dedicated sandbox and can't look outside?
 
cSalmon said:
I really want / need the ability to have two different identities like you can in Mac OS.
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This is especially egregious as iPadOS is just a reskinned macOS, it's fullly multi-user capable. Apple must have determined that it can make more money by not exposing this feature. Perhaps they are keeping this as reserve for when they run out of other ideas.
 
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With Safari on iPad OS, sometimes certain forms don't work correctly or not at all. If you try the same thing with Chrome or another web browser you will get the same issue because of Webkit.
 
snipr125 said:
With Safari on iPad OS, sometimes certain forms don't work correctly or not at all. If you try the same thing with Chrome or another web browser you will get the same issue because of Webkit.
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I wonder why these web developers don’t make sure their sites work on all browsers?
 
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Actually, one thing comes to mind that makes productivity on iPad super frustrating--when apps don't stay in the same state as when I switched away from them. Full on refreshes are more rare these days, but a document I'm looking at may be scrolled to a different part of the document when I switch away and come back. It's a huge productivity killer when this keeps happening and I'm going back and forth between multiple apps/documents. This happens all the time in Notes.

I don't know if this is a bug or feature, or a lack of ram (using an M2 iPad Air), or what, but it severely limits my ability to be productive on iPad.
 
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subjonas said:
Actually, one thing comes to mind that makes productivity on iPad super frustrating--when apps don't stay in the same state as when I switched away from them.
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You mean you are somewhere half-way through a 200 page PDF in Preview on an iPad, do something in a couple of other apps, and when you switch back you're right at the beginning again? I hate it when that happens.
 
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mrochester said:
I wonder why these web developers don’t make sure their sites work on all browsers?
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There are hundreds of web browsers. In iOS, for example, there are 19 active browsers available.

Apple mandates that all third-party browsers must use the same underlying web engine, WebKit, which helps ensure apps work. Since all browsers in iOS share the same engine, web developers do not have to create specialised versions of their sites for different browsers.

Across various platforms, 209 different browsers utilise a range of web rendering engines. This therefore makes it very time consuming and often not worth it for developers I imagine to test web based applications across web browsers, just main ones.
 
JD2015 said:
There are hundreds of web browsers. In iOS, for example, there are 19 active browsers available.

Apple mandates that all third-party browsers must use the same underlying web engine, WebKit, which helps ensure apps work. Since all browsers in iOS share the same engine, web developers do not have to create specialised versions of their sites for different browsers.

Across various platforms, 209 different browsers utilise a range of web rendering engines. This therefore makes it very time consuming and often not worth it for developers I imagine to test web based applications across web browsers, just main ones.
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I’d call safari on iOS one of the major browsers everyone should be testing on!
 
iPad Pros are priced at the point where users should be able to expect a Pro experience. To me this means functionality above and beyond what I can get with another tablet, not just some artificial delineation of usual features like screen quality or the quantity / quality of speakers.

What I, personally want to see is better multitasking, better support for docking to external peripherals and using the iPad as a standalone computing device, and a better filesystem.

Apple did a few things to get them in the right direction - the windowed mode, or even something as small as getting rid of the stupid round mouse cursor.

But they also introduced some other changes that actually made iPad harder to use (the way Preview interferes with Files workflow, for example).

I don't expect the iPad to be a direct Mac replacement, but I do thing that a "pro" model that costs as much or more as a Mac should be a functional replacement.

My M1 Pro is likely the last Pro iPad I am going to buy, unless there are some additional functionality improvements. I would do just as fine width an Air or even a base model, if I still have to keep a separate laptop.
 
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snipr125 said:
With Safari on iPad OS, sometimes certain forms don't work correctly or not at all. If you try the same thing with Chrome or another web browser you will get the same issue because of Webkit.
Click to expand...

Do you get this in Desktop mode or mobile mode? Have you tried non Chromium
browser? It may be old website that was built when chrome engine was not de facto browser like today.
 
mrochester said:
I’d call safari on iOS one of the major browsers everyone should be testing on!
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Well lot of younger people today don’t even own computer and just use mobile this singles to web developers to code their website for mobile friendly over deskop.
 
SnowCrocodile said:
[…]

I don't expect the iPad to be a direct Mac replacement, but I do thing that a "pro" model that costs as much or more as a Mac should be a functional replacement.

My M1 Pro is likely the last Pro iPad I am going to buy, unless there are some additional functionality improvements. I would do just as fine width an Air or even a base model, if I still have to keep a separate laptop.
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My wife loves her IPP M1 with the Magic Keyboard on iPadOS 26. She’s on it for hours a day. It’s always YMMV when it comes to such things.
 
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