The traces between iPad and Mac have by no means been blurrier – and with iPadOS 26, at the moment in beta and coming this fall, Apple is leaning additional into that overlap than ever earlier than. The most recent 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 below are eight methods iPadOS 26 makes the iPad really feel extra like a Mac than ever.
Bar menu
Inside any energetic app, swipe down from the highest of the display and you will notice a brand new, totally functioning macOS-style menu bar. With the foremost dropdown menu being the app’s title (the place app settings are usually accessed), different commonplace menus can embody 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, for example.
Windowed Apps
In Settings ➝ Multitasking & Gestures, there is a new Windowed Apps mode that basically allows you to organize and resize a number of home windows in a single house, similar to on a Mac. The brand new mode may also be invoked from Management Middle, due to a brand new button that with an extended press allows you to swap between Windowed Apps and Stage Supervisor.
You possibly can transfer a number of app home windows and stack them on high of one another by dragging every window from the highest, and you may individually resize them by dragging the bottom-right nook. And in the event you rapidly drag an app window to a nook of the display, it would routinely develop to fill that half of the display. Tapping an area on the Dwelling Display will even scatter all open home windows to the perimeters of the display, supplying you with house to open different apps.
Site 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 pink, 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 & Prepare choices, in addition to an choice to park the app off-screen to Add a New Window (if the app helps it).
Uncovered app
Within the new Windowed Apps mode, iPadOS 26 additionally consists of an App Exposé-style view that is much like the App Switcher. Swipe up from the underside of the display to invoke the view, which exhibits all of the open apps within the present house. 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 Information interface, the place you may browse your recordsdata and take a look at latest and shared gadgets. You too can scan paperwork from proper throughout the app.
Trackpad Pointer
In case you have a Magic Keyboard trackpad or a Bluetooth mouse related to your iPad, the cursor is now a Mac-like pointer reasonably than a circle. And in the event you shake it, the pointer will get greater in an effort to simply find it on the display.
Superior File Administration
In iPadOS 26, the iPad’s Information app is enhanced with a brand new Record 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 gadgets.
In Information, iPadOS 26 additionally lets you set a default app for opening particular recordsdata or file sorts, due to 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 Information 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 the event 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 Robotically Present and Cover the Dock, similar to in macOS.
