iPadOS 26 announced with macOS-style multi-tasking
Apple today announced iPadOS 26 at WWDC 25, which brings with it significant improvements in multitasking abilities, visual design, and AI capabilities.
Let’s start with the multitasking abilities, which have received a significant boost with this release. iPadOS 26 greatly revamps app window management, when you open multiple apps at the same time. Apps can be minimized, resized, and tiled and the OS can arrange them with a single flick.
iPadOS 26 borrows Expose from macOS, so you can quickly see all your open windows spread out on a single screen. And with Stage Manager, you can group windows into separate stages, which can also be split into internal and external displays.
Another major macOS feature being borrowed is the menu bar. Apps can now have a menu bar at the top, which can be enabled with a simple swipe down or by moving the mouse pointer to the top. This shows a full-fledged menu bar, much like you’d see on a Mac, and developers can also customize it to suit their apps. You might also notice macOS-style close, minimize, and resize controls in the corner.
The Preview app from the Mac also makes an appearance on the iPad with iPadOS 26. Now you can open all your images within this app while also being able to open and edit PDF files. It can even be used to draw and write on using the Apple Pencil.
Further complementing the multitasking capabilities are updates to Background Tasks. Now, apps that produce a long-running process, such as exporting a video or uploading a large file, can appear in Live Activities, allowing you to keep track of them while performing other tasks. Developers will have access to the updated Background Tasks API to let their apps take advantage of this feature.
The Files app also gets an overhaul on iPadOS 26. It has a new UI with an updated List view that shows more files on screen at once with additional information. Folders can be customized with custom colors, icons, and emojis to make them more identifiable. Also, folders can be dragged out onto the dock for easier access.
Other new features include being able to choose different microphones for each app or even individual websites. Voice Isolation removes ambient noise from recorded audio and those with select AirPods models will also get ‘studio-quality’ recording. Local capture lets you capture a high-quality recording of audio and video from any video conferencing app, so you can save or share these recordings afterward.
Finally, much like Apple’s other platforms, iPadOS 26 is getting a fresh new coat of paint with Liquid Glass. This redesigns many UI elements with a new translucent material layer that responds to the content underneath it. iPadOS 26 also gets improved AI capabilities with new Apple Intelligence features, such as Live Translation in Phone, FaceTime, and Messages. You also get updated Shortcuts features with more powerful options that let you summarize text and create images.
iPadOS 26 will be available as a developer beta today and as a public beta next month. Final release will be out later this year for iPad Pro (M4), iPad Pro 12.9-inch (3rd generation and later), iPad Pro 11-inch (1st generation and later), iPad Air (M2 and later), iPad Air (3rd generation and later), iPad (A16), iPad (8th generation and later), iPad mini (A17 Pro), and iPad mini (5th generation and later).