iPadOS

Initial Thoughts on iPadOS 26

Chris Hannah

Chris Hannah

— 3 min read

Okay, so it’s probably best for the first real post. Here are some of my initial thoughts and feelings regarding iPadOS 26. Since it was the primary reason behind the creation of this blog, and why I wanted to get back into using my iPad more.

Liquid Glass

The thing that seems to be getting the most attention, quite reasonably, is the new design language, Liquid Glass. It’s a new unified design for all Apple platforms, but I’ll only speak here about the iPad specifically.

In general, I’m a fan of the new design. Maybe part of that is because the previous design felt a bit stale, having not changed that much in previous years. Nevertheless, I still believe it’s an improvement in many areas. If I could pull out just a few small improvements, they would be the new toggle switch, alert dialogs, and the new floating tab bar that appears at the bottom of apps.

Having said that, there are definitely ways in which it could be improved. Many of those could just be down to the fact that we’ve only just got the very first Developer Beta version. So we should expect some lack of polish. One main area I’ve seen people dunk on is the blur effect that is applied to the UI underneath other UI elements such as Control Center. Right now, it can seem a bit busy in places, but I’m sure that will be adjusted.

There are two more thoughts I have right now on the new direction. First, to allow myself to be a tad pessimistic, with a focus on unified UI feel across all platforms, and keeping the UI “out of the way” as much as possible, will this create a generation of apps with less personality than before?

My other thought was more about if this could provide any indication of future devices? Is Apple preparing us for something? I’ve seen people suggest that the idea of Glass being used as a UI metaphor is preparing us for more AR/VR. I’m not thinking this, but if iPadOS is becoming more serious, does this allow for bigger iPads? Does it somehow2 build a foundation for a foldable iPhone? I guess we’d only ever know in retrospect.

Window Management

Probably my favourite new feature, iPadOS 26 brings a new way to manage windows. I say new because essentially, it’s the window management that most people are already used to on platforms like macOS and Windows. You can now resize windows to any size, and you can move them anywhere you like. It’s hardly groundbreaking, but I think it’s far to say, compared to what we had before, it’s a substantial upgrade. This alone changes the whole feel of the OS for me.

It wouldn’t surprise me (or disappoint me that much) if that’s all window management was. But adding keyboard shortcuts and gestures to align a window to one half of the display, is so useful. I use tools on my Mac to do this exact thing. So it just feels right to me.

And now we have better window management, the next step I would like to see in the future is some kind of workspace feature. Where you could have defined workspaces (Spaces on macOS) you can switch between.

Miscellaneous

A few extra observations about the new update:

  • This may seem silly, but the new cursor is a massive improvement for me. Simply having a “pointy” end makes it much easier to use.
  • I think I’m ready for a bigger iPad.
  • I like how the Menu Bar is supported automatically in apps based on the existing keyboard shortcuts. That’s a clever solution, and also will make it easier for developers to go even further.
  • It’s early days, and iPadOS 26 is still new and shiny, but my iPad is feeling more like a computer now.
  • I’m very much looking forward to seeing how background tasks work now.
  • Folders in the Dock, another reason why this feels more like a computer to me.

It’s not all perfect, sometimes it can feel a bit laggy, the contrast of the UI needs to be changed in places, and the battery life isn’t great. But I’m feeling very positive about the changes.

Read more