The traces between iPad and Mac have by no means been blurrier – and with iPadOS 26, presently in beta and anticipated later this month, Apple is leaning additional into that overlap than ever earlier than. The replace brings a set of highly effective new options that elevate the iPad’s utility, bridging the hole between touch-first pill and full-fledged desktop machine.
From enhanced multitasking to superior file administration, iPadOS 26 pushes Apple’s pill deeper into Mac territory, with out sacrificing the distinctive strengths that make the iPad so versatile. Listed here are simply a number of the methods iPadOS 26 makes the iPad really feel extra like a Mac than ever – coming quickly to a tool close to you.
Menu Bar
Inside any lively app, swipe down from the highest of the display screen and you will notice a brand new, totally functioning macOS-style menu bar. With the foremost dropdown menu being the app’s identify (the place app settings are usually accessed), different customary menus can embrace File, Edit, Format, View, Window, and Assist. As you’d anticipate, the menu bar is dynamic, and can show menus particular to the app. In Safari you get Bookmarks and Historical past, as an illustration.
Windowed Apps
In Settings ➝ Multitasking & Gestures, there is a new Windowed Apps mode that basically permits you to organize and resize a number of home windows in a single area, identical to on a Mac. The brand new mode may also be invoked from Management Heart, because of a brand new button that with a protracted press permits you to change between Windowed Apps and Stage Supervisor.
You possibly can transfer a number of app home windows and stack them on prime of one another by dragging every window from the highest, and you’ll individually resize them by dragging the bottom-right nook. And in case you shortly drag an app window to a nook of the display screen, it’s going to routinely develop to fill that half of the display screen. Tapping an area on the Dwelling Display may also scatter all open home windows to the edges of the display screen, supplying you with area to open different apps.
Visitors Lights
Within the top-left nook of each window you may now see three acquainted site visitors lights, straight out of macOS. Tapping the image expands it into purple, amber, and inexperienced buttons for closing, minimizing, and increasing the window to fullscreen.
Lengthy-pressing the buttons additionally reveals the Mac-style Transfer & Resize and Fill & Organize choices, in addition to an choice to park the app off-screen to Add a New Window (if the app helps it).
App Exposé
Within the new Windowed Apps mode, iPadOS 26 additionally consists of an App Exposé-style view that is just like the App Switcher. Swipe up from the underside of the display screen to invoke the view, which reveals all of the open apps within the present area. You too can scroll the brand new interface to see your different open apps, whether or not they’re sharing areas or open in full-screen mode.
Preview
The iPad lastly consists of the Mac’s long-standing Preview app, solely now with Apple Pencil help, enabling you to simply open, edit, and mark up a variety of photographs, paperwork, and file sorts. The Preview app’s shopping menu is loads just like the Recordsdata interface, the place you’ll be able to browse your recordsdata and take a look at current and shared objects. You too can scan paperwork from proper inside the app.
Trackpad Pointer
You probably have a Magic Keyboard trackpad or a Bluetooth mouse linked to your iPad, the cursor is now a Mac-like pointer fairly than a circle. And in case you shake it, the pointer will get greater as a way to simply find it on the display screen.
Superior File Administration
In iPadOS 26, the iPad’s Recordsdata app is enhanced with a brand new Listing view that options resizable columns and collapsible folders, and new filters, permitting customers to see extra doc particulars at a look and arrange their recordsdata. That can assist you determine folders extra simply, the app now helps folder customization with customized colours, icons, and emoji, all of which sync throughout units.
In Recordsdata, iPadOS 26 additionally means that you can set a default app for opening particular recordsdata or file sorts, because of a brand new Open With… possibility within the contextual dropdown menu. You too can change the default app within the new Get Data panel.
Folders in Dock
Within the Recordsdata app, lengthy press on a folder and you will see a brand new Add to Dock possibility within the contextual dropdown menu. So now you can park any folder in your Dock, and in case you lengthy press on its icon, you may see Mac-style show choices to view the content material as a Grid or a Fan, in addition to the standard sorting preferences.
In iPadOS 26, now you can match as much as 23 icons within the Dock, so there’s nothing stopping you from including a number of folders. In Settings ➝ Multitasking & Gestures, there’s additionally a brand new choice to Mechanically Present and Disguise the Dock, identical to in macOS.