{"id":49345,"date":"2025-09-07T15:10:19","date_gmt":"2025-09-07T15:10:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/49345\/"},"modified":"2025-09-07T15:10:19","modified_gmt":"2025-09-07T15:10:19","slug":"a-love-letter-to-ipados-26","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/49345\/","title":{"rendered":"A love letter to iPadOS 26"},"content":{"rendered":"

The most exciting piece of news for me out of WWDC 2025<\/a> was iPadOS 26<\/a>, because Apple is finally including features that many users have been asking for: proper window multi-tasking. They also added the menubar and improved the Files app, which is just icing on the cake. In other words, it\u2019s making iPadOS more like macOS and closer to the dream device that I wrote about years back<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This matters to me because I have always regarded the iPad to be the most impressive device that Apple makes<\/b>. The latest iPad Pro<\/a> is a stunning piece of hardware. It\u2019s just 5.1 mm thick, and yet it\u2019s powered by the desktop-class M4 chip. And then there\u2019s its gorgeous Ultra Retina XDR display. A strong case can be made that the iPad Pro is the most advanced device that Apple makes, which is a real pity because it\u2019s hampered by iPadOS\u2019s various limitations and quirks.<\/p>\n

\"iPadOS<\/p>\n

The best thing about iPadOS 26 is a windowing system that mimics the one in macOS. <\/p>\n

HWZ<\/p>\n

iPadOS 26 changes that, mostly. The good thing is we now have proper windows multi-tasking<\/b>, which means apps can be opened in resizable windows like in macOS. Then, you can position them anywhere you want. Click on any app, and it comes to the foreground; click on another, and the one you were on earlier goes into the background. Anyone who has used a Mac or even a PC will find this behaviour entirely predictable and intuitive \u2013 words I never expect I\u2019d use to describe multitasking in an iPad.<\/p>\n

And then there\u2019s the menubar, which is such an elegant way to display additional app functions and commands that you wonder why Apple has resisted it for so long. It isn\u2019t always visible, which means one can easily forget it exists, but it can be invoked simply by swiping down on the top of any app. <\/p>\n

\"iPadOS<\/p>\n

iPadOS 26 made me wish I had an iPad with a larger screen. My next iPad will probably be a 13-inch model.<\/p>\n

HWZ<\/p>\n

As for the Files app, it received a total revamp that makes it look and behave more like Finder on Mac<\/b>. To start, you now have multiple columns in list view, which lets you see a file\u2019s important details at a glance. The columns can also be resized, and folders are now collapsible, making it a lot easier to find and organise files. <\/p>\n

These seemingly minor changes have had a profound impact on how I use my iPad. Not only do I use it a lot more often now, but I also wish I had the 13-inch version instead<\/b>. The extra pixels would be useful now that there\u2019s proper multi-window multitasking. But most tellingly, I took it along with me on a recent holiday \u2013 in the past, I would have taken my MacBook Air. <\/p>\n

\"iPadOS<\/p>\n

The Files app is a lot more useful now.<\/p>\n

HWZ<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no question iPadOS 26 is one of the best updates to iPadOS to date<\/b>, but there\u2019s certainly room for improvement, and it will be interesting to see where Apple goes from here. Many users are still clamouring for multiple user profiles on iPadOS, and as strong as the app ecosystem is, some apps are still missing on the iPad. I could go on, but I think that most users will be delighted with the updates that iPadOS 26 brings. <\/p>\n

What\u2019s just as important to note is that iPadOS 26 shows Apple\u2019s commitment to the platform and also its willingness to listen to its customers and perhaps walk back on some of its words. A case could be made for it taking longer than it should, but being a glass-half-full kind of person, I think it\u2019s better to be late to a party than to never arrive.<\/p>\n

That said, my iPad is not going to replace my Mac as my primary computing device. The Mac is still more complete and competent, but it\u2019s definitely replacing the MacBook Air as the one computing device I bring along when I travel. And I never thought the day would come when I would do that.<\/p>\n

Note:<\/b> iPadOS 26 is currently available as a public beta<\/a>. The full version is expected to be available later this month.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The most exciting piece of news for me out of WWDC 2025 was iPadOS 26, because Apple is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":49346,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[257],"tags":[311,18,19,2840,36472,6344,36114,17,279,21075,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-49345","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mobile","8":"tag-apple","9":"tag-eire","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ipad","12":"tag-ipad-pro","13":"tag-ipados","14":"tag-ipados-26","15":"tag-ireland","16":"tag-mobile","17":"tag-tablet","18":"tag-technology"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49345","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49345"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49345\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49346"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49345"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49345"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}