iPadOS 26 Multitasking Features Transform the iPad Experience
Apple’s latest iPadOS 26 update brings significant multitasking improvements, finally making the iPad a more capable productivity tool. For years, Apple has balanced the iPad’s identity between a simple tablet for media consumption and a potential laptop replacement. While powerful hardware like the iPad Pro has pushed the latter vision, software limitations often held it back. With iPadOS 26, Apple has refined multitasking in ways that make the iPad feel more like a Mac than ever before.
The biggest change is a revamped window management system. Users can now resize and move app windows freely, with familiar macOS-style controls. The new stoplight buttons—red to close, yellow to minimize, and green to maximize—replace the old three-dot interface, making window handling more intuitive. Apps can be tiled in quarters, thirds, or halves of the screen, and multiple windows stay exactly where you leave them, even after minimizing.
Stage Manager, introduced in iPadOS 16, was a step forward but often felt clunky. iPadOS 26 simplifies things by letting users work in a single space with multiple resizable windows, eliminating the confusion of app groups. Swiping up reveals all open apps in a grid, making navigation seamless. The addition of a menu bar at the top of the screen further enhances the Mac-like experience, providing quick access to app controls.
Unlike Stage Manager, which was limited to M-series iPads, these multitasking features work on any iPad running iPadOS 26, including the base model and iPad mini. This makes advanced window management accessible to more users.
Beyond multitasking, iPadOS 26 introduces Liquid Glass, a visual redesign with subtle transparency effects. Early concerns about excessive UI changes were overblown—the update retains Apple’s familiar design while adding refined touches. The Files app now resembles macOS Finder more closely, with resizable columns, customizable folders, and the ability to set default apps for file types.
A dedicated Phone app finally separates voice calls from FaceTime, streamlining communication. Messages gains spam filtering, automatically sorting unknown senders and suspected spam into separate folders. FaceTime also gets a cleaner layout with larger contact posters.
Other notable additions include the Preview app for handling PDFs and images, background task improvements, and Apple Intelligence features like Live Translation. The Journal app also makes its iPad debut.
While the public beta is stable, some third-party apps may crash, and minor UI inconsistencies remain. However, the final release this fall should iron out these issues.
iPadOS 26 is a major leap forward, particularly for power users. The multitasking overhaul alone makes the iPad feel like a true computer, without sacrificing its simplicity. For those who’ve waited years for a more flexible iPad experience, this update delivers.
