Which mode do you use? - Standard app / Windowed app / Stage manager / Combination in iPadOS 26?

[warrior30]

Which mode do you use? - Standard app / Windowed app / Stage manager / Combination in iPadOS 26?

Intrigued as to see what most people use. I was using Windowed app as my default, but I'm wondering whether I have any benefit from it and may go back to using the Standard app mode.

 

[achappy]

Solely Stage Manager for me. For me it works similar to Desktops when I used MacOS. So I have different stages with apps setup in a way and then I have iMessage in SlideOver to access in any stage.

 

[BigBlur]

I use Windowed Apps, but have my apps full screen most of the time anyway...so it's not much different than the standard mode. It's nice to be able to resize windows when I do want to, and to be able to access the menu bar.

 

[It’s always something]

I use full screen app mode, because I use corner swipes for Quick Notes and screenshots, and you lose those with the other modes. I also don’t care for the extra screen consumption of the other modes. If I could still occasionally use the old Split Screen I would be happy.

 

[Simacca]

Windowed apps for me. It’s converted me to using my iPad in landscape mode on my m5. In portrait mode I was always covering the camera with my hand.

 

[muzzy996]

iPad Mini 7 user here. While I appreciate the ability to resize windows in iOS 26 on the Mini, I just don't find myself needing to display more than one window in the screen very often so I primarily stay in fullscreen app mode. I'll occasionally toggle over to windowed mode when I need it. When I do, I keep the drop down menu off since I find it intrusive to pulldown gestures for notificaiton and control center shade access.

 

[warrior30]

iPad Mini 7 user here. While I appreciate the ability to resize windows in iOS 26 on the Mini, I just don't find myself needing to display more than one window in the screen very often so I primarily stay in fullscreen app mode. I'll occasionally toggle over to windowed mode when I need it. When I do, I keep the drop down menu off since I find it intrusive to pulldown gestures for notificaiton and control center shade access.

That's something I don't understand why they implemented. Whilst its always good to have options, I just can't see a reason why an iPad Mini user would find it useful (from a practicality of size point of view) to have resizeable windows. Not that I'm complaining, always been an advocate of more choice the better as long as it doesn't come as a compromise of something else that is more useful.

 

[achappy]

That's something I don't understand why they implemented. Whilst its always good to have options, I just can't see a reason why an iPad Mini user would find it useful (from a practicality of size point of view) to have resizeable windows. Not that I'm complaining, always been an advocate of more choice the better as long as it doesn't come as a compromise of something else that is more useful.

I think this is something that many don't seem to understand about the improvements in the 26 multitasking. Pre iPadOS26, only certain models got certain features like Stage Manager. With 26, ALL supported iPads get the same functionality. It's up to the user to decide if they want to use it but they now have the choice.

It's a much better solution long term for code uniformity and maintenance.

 

[warrior30]

I think this is something that many don't seem to understand about the improvements in the 26 multitasking. Pre iPadOS26, only certain models got certain features like Stage Manager. With 26, ALL supported iPads get the same functionality. It's up to the user to decide if they want to use it but they now have the choice.

It's a much better solution long term for code uniformity and maintenance.

Just to stress, my last sentence does agree with you:

Not that I'm complaining, always been an advocate of more choice the better as long as it doesn't come as a compromise of something else that is more useful.

My caveat is that it doesn't come as a compromise of something else that is more useful. In an ideal world, having the same code base for all devices sounds optimal - efficient use of code, not having to manage multiple versions of code, all devices get same functionality etc. In reality different devices have different hardware, so to keep the same features on different devices with differing hardware will have different costs to it. This cost could be disk space, CPU usage, battery life, memory usage etc.

Just want to point out that I'm not disagreeing with you with the option of more choice to the user.

 

[papbot]

I’ve used the big iPad Pros for a long time now, and full-screen apps suit my needs the most. Occasionally, I may make use of windowed mode, but those needs were always met with Split View or Slide Over. So the options in 26 add nothing useful for me that I didn’t already have and took away options that I can only access by enabling windowed mode and then having to revert back to use the functions I use most often. So it’s a very mixed bag for me; overall, I’m not a fan. One thing that aggravates me the most is the loss of the cmd and globe key combo menus. I used those all the time to find key combos that I needed; fortunately, I remember many of them, but new ones were added frequently, and without those menus, I’ll never be aware of them. Going to windowed mode and pulling down the menu bar to search through all the tabs (and their tiny fonts) is not an acceptable alternative. Why that function could not have been retained makes no sense. Visually, 26 appeals to me, even though there are so many visual glitches still remaining, but functionally, nothing was added to make my usage more efficient. So for me, it’s full screen 95+% of the time and windowed when I have to.

 

[richpjr]

I have been waiting for windowed mode for years and find my iPad infinitely more useful for my needs now that it is out.

 

[SteveOm]

Full screen goes well with my work style and I use my iPad for work a lot.

 

[zhenya]

Surprised to see so many people using Windowed Mode but not Stage Manager.

Stage Manager is just Windowed Mode plus the ability to group a couple of those windows together to act as a single ‘full-screen’. Under this new system there are no downsides to using Stage Manager, only benefits IMO.

 

[Ludatyk]

Surprised to see so many people using Windowed Mode but not Stage Manager.

Stage Manager is just Windowed Mode plus the ability to group a couple of those windows together to act as a single ‘full-screen’. Under this new system there are no downsides to using Stage Manager, only benefits IMO.

Yeah, I’ve been a Stage Manager user since the beginning… prefer the controlled environment.

I think Windowed Mode has the potential to put the user in a messy situation… Windows overlapping and trying to organize everything, but some people prefer that kind of thing.

 

[revs]

I use Windowed - but I'd like to use Stage Manager. I just can't quite get it to work how I'd like. I'd prefer it be just like Spaces on a Mac. I guess with Stage Manager I'm never sure where apps are ending up 😀

 

[zhenya]

Stage Manager is best for grouping apps together logically. On the Mac, Spaces are my overarching logical workspace (for me that’s general work, specific project, and personal). Stage Manager supplements spaces by grouping apps within that workspace.

On the iPad it’s a bit different as we don’t (yet?) have Spaces. It allows you to group 2 or more apps together, yet flip between them as a ‘single’ app, retaining their sizing and organization. Like I say, on iPadOS 26, I don’t see any downside to turning on Stage Manager. It’s just Windowed mode with some extra capabilities - capabilities people seem to really want given their comments regarding split view.

 

[It’s always something]

I’m trying Windowed mode for the first time now. It’s not as bad as I expected, even on my mini A17 Pro. Things are pretty narrow in portrait orientation but for limited specific purposes it’s pretty manageable.

These are first impressions after only a little usage, but I am hopeful.

 

[manu chao]

I’m trying Windowed mode for the first time now. It’s not as bad as I expected, even on my mini A17 Pro. Things are pretty narrow in portrait orientation but for limited specific purposes it’s pretty manageable.

These are first impressions after only a little usage, but I am hopeful.

Maybe 90% of the time I use a single full screen app, 9% of the time I am in Split View, and 1% of the time I add Slide Over. And maybe 0.1% of the time I might use three tiled windows. I mostly value the ability to resize and reposition the Slide Over window (I will probably also value, going forward, the ability to adjust the split ratio in Split View more freely).

So, the question is how much extra friction does the windowing system add during the 99% of the time I only use full screen and Split View, and does the extra flexibility of Slide Over (minus the ability to quickly switch between multiple Slide Over windows) compensate for this?

— —

My current position is that what would work best is a system with a base layer of full screen or tiled apps that always together fill the screen (to never have to do extra work to ensure that you are not wasting screen space or have windows hidden behind other windows, to not accidentally resize or move these windows). And to have a second layer of multiple, freely resizeable and positionable Slide Over windows that always float above this base layer.

Of course, once you use an external screen, a pointing devices and a physical keyboard, you would want a normal windowed system, because you are using the iPad as a desktop computer and it thus should operate like one.

 

[It’s always something]

So, the question is how much extra friction does the windowing system add during the 99% of the time I only use full screen and Split View, and does the extra flexibility of Slide Over (minus the ability to quickly switch between multiple Slide Over windows) compensate for this?

I still haven’t done a lot of this but the extra friction seems to me to be tolerable for as infrequently as I might use Split View. There are more taps…and at least a couple swipes…compared to iPadOS 18.

I notice that after leaving Split View the system retains the window size and positioning of the app I didn’t maximize; this will cut down on the time required to return to Split View.

I fiddled with trying to figure out Slide Over and it is non-obvious; I still don’t know how to do it.

 

[manu chao]

I still haven’t done a lot of this but the extra friction seems to me to be tolerable for as infrequently as I might use Split View. There are more taps…and at least a couple swipes…compared to iPadOS 18.

I notice that after leaving Split View the system retains the window size and positioning of the app I didn’t maximize; this will cut down on the time required to return to Split View.

I fiddled with trying to figure out Slide Over and it is non-obvious; I still don’t know how to do it.

On your second point, that is a problem for me, because it means I’ll be opening half-windows, which are useless on their own. I either want the app in a full screen window or paired with another half-window. So a single half-window is always the wrong solution. With iPadOS 18 (and prior), Split View pairings always stayed together until one actively closed one half.

When you pair two apps together in Split View in iPadOS 26.2, they don’t show up as paired in Exposé (ie, swiping up from the bottom), just as two individual half windows, and tapping on one only opens that half.

There are plenty of elements of friction for me. Overlapping windows sound cool until you realise that a lot of your windows might either be half-screen or full screen windows. It is far too easy to end up with two windows on top of each other because they have the same size with no ability to know that there is another window belong.

I’ve built up a muscle memory of double tapping at the top to scroll to the top (as two taps are necessary for this in Safari on default settings). But a double tap at the top in iPadOS 26 means something else (move between full screen window size and a non-full screen window size).

When you are in Split View, you can longer switch the positions of the two windows by dragging one to the other side (no, dragging with a snap to a size only works in one context, when adding an app to a full screen app). You have to go to the traffic lights menu in the window on the right, long press, select the second icon under Fill & Arrange (that moves this window to the right and the one on the left to the right).

All the promised easy ways to arrange windows work via the menu behind the long press on the traffic lights and generally have to be repeated for multiple windows until you have things arranged.

——

Slide Over is actually the only thing that is genuinely useful and easy to use. You enter it by dragging from the dock onto the middle of the left or right edge of the screen where a handle will appear onto which you drop it. You can then freely move this window around as well as resize it. It will always stay on top of all other window, so it cannot get hidden behind other windows. And because it has a special border, you will not mistake it for another full screen window.

The only downside is that you cannot convert a Slide Over window into a normal window by dragging it to the edge or the top (as it possible under iPadOS 18), and neither can you do the reverse with a normal window. If you accidentally create the wrong kind, it is probably the easiest to close it and try again.