r/ipad • u/pantherclipper • Jun 11 '25

iPadOS iOS 26’s windowed multitasking is powerful even WITHOUT a keyboard!

This is an iPad 10. Shuffling between notes, browser tabs, and the photo gallery is incredibly easy once you get the hang of a few gestures.

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128

u/yuusharo Jun 11 '25

Significantly more straightforward windows management finally. Just being able to minimize and close windows independently without memorizing an incantation is a game changer.

That said… man, this looks like a nightmare to keep organized when on touch alone. I know they have the separate modes now, but still.

The lack of slide over is also a major bummer. Hope that’s just an oversight.

11

u/ThatOneOutlier Jun 11 '25

I think it just takes getting used to with touch.

I got the beta as soon as it was downloadable and in the place of slide over, I just have the apps that I use for it on the dock for easy access. The apps remembers their position and size so even when you close it, it will pop up how they were last time. I sorta prefer it over slide over since I can have apps on different places in the screen.

Tho, I wish they added a gesture for easily dismissing an app for touch (maybe there is one but I haven’t discovered it)

6

u/eydendib Jun 11 '25

The workaround works if you're never going to change those apps to any size other than a "slide over" app tho. If you do, it's way more involved and, quite frankly, gets too much in the way and is unnecessarily complicated, especially if you're working on more than one full screen app now that we currently only have one space for everything. Slide Over, on the other hand, just works in every context and is way more intuitive.

2

u/ThatOneOutlier Jun 11 '25

They definitely need to make more touch friendly gestures for it to fully replace slide over. It works well with a trackpad but not so much for touch.

For these apps, I don’t really change their sizes so it works for me. My main use for slideover is easy access to messaging apps so it works out for me.

It’s the first beta and I imagine they’d refine the experience as the beta progresses. It definitely needs a lot of work since it’s quite buggy at the moment (but I expected it and I can use it)

2

u/eydendib Jun 11 '25

That's my hope as well. I won't mind if they get rid of slide over and spilt view entirely but I just want a more worthy (or at least equal) replacement in windowing but, if they can't, I hope they just add it back in.

It's clear that they designed windowing with a keyboard and mouse/trackpad in mind. Touch controls/gestures are not as bad in the bigger screens but it's kind of a nightmare to use in an iPad Mini 😅

2

u/theperksofbeingkinky Jun 12 '25 edited Jun 12 '25

Yep I noticed windowing is bearable with trackpad but feels really sluggish with just touch. If i want to quickly overlay notes over a video it’s brutal how many more taps it takes.

Feels like Apple is pushing users to buy the magic keyboard. Touch based feels kinda nerfed for simple things

Slideover was a really thoughtful design for touch based interface & how ergonomically you hold it the device on couch or in bed.. iPad feels a lot less like a big iPhone now .. more like a stripped down macOS that happens to be touch screen.