For the iPad troaster, Apple’s WWDC 2025 Keynote was the day when faith was rewarded. Like countless others, I’ve been waiting for a major upgrade to iPados, and the Cupertino-based tech giant provided.
Yes, iPados 26 brings liquid glass, but more importantly for all iPads that support it, you actually get windowed multitasking, the ability to drop folders in the dock, a menu bar up top, one of the most addictive gestures I have used and the opportunity for tasks to run in the background.
It was easy the prominent moment from the head and I had to go convenient with iPados 26 running on a 13-inch iPad Pro with M4 attached to a magic keyboard with an Apple Pencil Pro.
Now let’s address the elephant in the room – to allow the milestone features I have listed above make the iPad seem like a Mac, but does not call this a Mac. Yes, Apple took some features from Mac instead of reinventing the entire concept – say, to the close, minimize or expand buttons in the upper left or menu bar – but it is all well thought out to the iPad and benefits from one of the best parts of an iPad.
Multitouch.
With iPad’s approach, it’s a kind of choice-your-only adventure, while on Mac, it’s keyboard and pointed field. I used it and saw a demo of fingers that checked the windows as well as used the apple pencil to move objects around and even the cursor. It’s about control as you see it and want to use it, you can do it to get more out of your iPad. Let’s talk about why.
Let’s start with the most exciting part – from any app, you can pull from the bottom corner – it is set with an effect, a slightly darker edge in the bottom right – to easy to change the size of the window by pulling it back and forth. So from full screen you just pull it against the other side to make it smaller, with width or height, and then you can grab the top of the window to place it wherever you want.
Using the dock, you can then pull and release another app or make an iron up to PEEK mode to access your home screen and place any app in this layout. It’s really smooth and finally lets you have your ultimate iPad layout. Maybe it’s a safari window that is open to a Google meeting in the corner, the Ammindows app for your checklist and your E email when you start your day.
You can also divide the screen with an image and then open an app like creating so you can see your starting point while drawing something amazing. It really allows you to tailor the experience of how to find it appropriate.
Now this new window setup replaces splitview and slide over, and although it didn’t excite me when I first heard, I like the different preset settings you can choose from a long press in the upper left corner of any window and the new gesture.
With a flick on the left or right, you can effortlessly divide your screen and then adjust it further by moving the slider in the middle as needed. This feels like an easier way to achieve a similar result as a splitview and is honestly fun to do.
You can also press the top of iPads screen to access a menu bar for things like more accurate settings or easy exports – it’s the most similar part of the MAC experience. Given that it is hidden until you need it, I think iPad Power users are likely to make the most of this.
It feels really natural in this implementation, and not a cookie-cutter copy and insert from Mac, considering the updated elements and the ability to control with both touch and a pointing field.
Supplementing the new multitasking approach is a significantly improved file app and a dock that can now display a live folder. The app feels familiar, but a new list view with the ability to customize moder essences, also known as the columns you see, will really let you tailor this to your specific needs.
For example, I could see myself sorting by last modified and then dragging the folder containing images to the dock to edit an app like Pixelmator, export and then upload it to a content management system for a history structure. Changes you make in folders or to these layouts can also be synchronized across devices and updated in iCloud. If you are a fan of colored folders and eager to name with emojier, you will get this too.
The larger exports, perhaps a batch photo editor or video export from Final Cut Pro, can now run in the background. I got a demo of this and it lives either at the top of your device with a status bar or in a small icon near your time where you can track more exports or tasks.
The really exciting part, even from these demos and some use, is the fact that this is not just limited to the iPad Pro with M4 or iPad Air with M3 or even a Step-up model. This new multitasking experience is the result of a new ‘Window Riorionation Model’ that works with the benefit and the resource manager. It has been completely archived to run on any iPad that supports iPados 26.
This means that the 9th Gen iPad – one of the best values Apple ever released – gets this new multitasking experience, the same for the 10th, 11th or 13th gen, iPad Air, iPad Mini and Pro. You may not be able to open a dozen there at once, but it allows you to push the chip inside further.
Currently, iPados 26 is in a developer -beta, which means it is not for your main unit as errors and problems can be expected, but a public beta arrives in July, and this will be released to anyone with an eligible unit in the fall. I am super excited to spend time with it and eventually give it a full review treatment, but so far it is the upgrade we have been waiting for that feels clear as an iPad.
Sure Mac has long been the ultimate productivity, but it lacks touch and is really designed for keyboard and pointing field. The iPad is first multitouch and Apple really sets time to design an experience that feels targeted for multiple inputs where Touch is first.
Just fair warning, I use many, many windows.
