I've been writing about iPads for years here at Tom's Guide, and I think I'm more excited for iPadOS 26 than any iPad update in recent memory.
That's partly because I've found the last few iterations of iPadOS to be pretty uninspiring. But even if Apple's slate was on a hot streak, I think iPadOS 26 would still be significant because it's likely to make the iPad a lot more useful as a productivity device.
When iPadOS 26 arrives this fall it will bring a host of changes to your tablet, but for my money the most exciting one is the new windowing system.
New windowing features may not sound as exciting as AI improvements or a screen upgrade, but for those of us who work on tablets regularly this could be a game-changer that allows the iPad to replace even the best MacBook on your next work trip.
Opening a window to a better iPad experience
While you can multitask well enough on iPads right now by using Stage Manager, Split View and the Slide Over feature, it isn't very flexible or intuitive.
Many people don't even know how to use split screen features on iPad, and even when you master them iPadOS is quite rigid about how many apps you can have open and what size they are.
But with iPadOS 26 we get a new way of interfacing with the iPad that allows you to tap and drag a new arrow at the lower-right corner of an app to resize it. Flick an app to the edge of your screen and it will fly there and stick, allowing you to have two, three or four apps on-screen simultaneously.
Plus, apps are gaining a new menu bar that you can summon by simply dragging down from the top of the screen. These menus will look an awful lot like the menu bar on your Mac, so expect to see submenus like File, Edit, Image and more.
Apps will also gain the traditional red, yellow and green buttons in the top corner, just like on a Mac. When you minimize an app and then open it again it will pop back up in exactly the same shape and place you left it, too, making iPads just a bit more Mac-like.
This has the potential to be a huge game-changer for me personally because I've been lugging laptops to press events around the world for almost two decades, and I'm sick of it.
On more than one occasion I've tried to ditch my laptop and get by with just an iPad, but I'm frustrated every time by the rigid limitations of iPadOS. Apple's tablets are as capable as MacBooks now that they all ship with Apple silicon inside, yet for some reason the company needlessly handcuffs iPads with a more simplified app store and interface. And even when you find iPad apps to let you get your work done on the go, you can only use them one or two at a time.
That's better than nothing, but it just hasn't been good enough for me to ditch my laptop and work from an iPad. Sometimes I need to reference multiple sources or types of files while writing an article, then compose and edit images to go in said article, and I find that kind of multi-tasking to be a nightmare on the iPad.
Back in 2022 it seemed like things were going to get easier when Apple introduced Stage Manager in iPadOS 16, allowing you to quickly flip between up to four apps at once. But after using it for a month or two I switched Stage Manager off and never thought about it again, because it was too cumbersome and inelegant to actually help me get anything done.
Apple isn't getting rid of Stage Manager, but I doubt I'll be using it much once iPadOS 26 ships in September. I've already been trying out early versions of the windowing features in the iPadOS 26 developer beta, and while it's not complete yet I already love using it.
Of course, you can disable it if you end up hating the new window controls in iPadOS 26. Apple is revamping the iPad Control Center and adding a new button you can hit to enable or disable the windowing controls, so the old way of using your iPad is just a tap away.
But personally, now that I've had a taste of windows on iPad I can't ever imagine going back to the old ways.
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