iPadOS 26 one year on: strengths, flaws and what’s next for iPad Pro

iPadOS 26, released a year ago, introduced major productivity features such as resizable app windows and a persistent dock, but real‑world use on the iPad Pro reveals both notable gains and recurring bugs [2].

Key takeaways

• Windowed multitasking and a always‑visible dock give iPadOS 26 a more macOS‑like workflow [2]
• The Files and new Preview apps bring file handling closer to the Mac experience [2][3]
• Frequent app crashes reset window sizes, undermining “persistent size and placement” [2]
• Slide Over no longer supports multiple simultaneous apps, a step back from iPadOS 18 [2]
• Minor issues like laggy right‑clicks and Safari keyboard bugs persist [2]

Major productivity wins

Apple’s 26.5 beta rollout highlighted incremental updates, but the core iPadOS 26 release focused on bridging the gap between tablet and desktop [3]. Users can now keep the dock on‑screen at all times, add folders, and store up to 23 icons, mirroring macOS dock behavior [2][3]. The new menu bar, accessed by swiping down, provides familiar File, Edit, and View menus within apps, further aligning iPad interactions with the Mac [3].

File management also saw a boost: the Files app now offers a List view with resizable columns, folder colors, and an “Open With…” default‑app selector, while the Preview app—now supporting Apple Pencil—lets users annotate and scan documents directly on the iPad [3]. Together, these tools make the iPad feel more like a full‑featured computer, especially for users who rely on Apple’s own productivity suite [2].

Persistent pain points

Despite the advances, the author of a 2026 9to5Mac review notes that the promised “persistent size and placement” often fails when an app crashes, forcing users to re‑size windows repeatedly [2]. The issue occurs even on the top‑spec M5 iPad Pro with 16 GB RAM, suggesting the problem is software‑related rather than hardware‑limited.

Slide Over, reintroduced in iPadOS 26.1, now permits only a single app at a time, a regression from iPadOS 18’s ability to host multiple Slide Over windows [2]. Additional annoyances include sluggish right‑click responses, cursor‑dragging conflicts when resizing, and Safari keyboard bugs that erase characters due to auto‑suggestions [2]. These quirks mean that, while iPadOS 26 is a “major leap forward,” it still falls short of a seamless Mac replacement for power users [2].

Why it matters

iPadOS 26 demonstrates Apple’s commitment to turning the iPad Pro into a true productivity device, with macOS‑style multitasking, dock customization, and enhanced file tools [3][2]. However, the stability issues highlighted by long‑time iPad users signal that the platform is still a work in progress. As Apple prepares for iOS 27 and iPadOS 27 announcements at WWDC 2026, the feedback from full‑time iPad Pro users will likely shape refinements—particularly around window persistence, Slide Over capabilities, and input responsiveness. The next OS iteration will need to address these pain points to fulfill the promise of a tablet that can reliably replace a laptop for professional workflows.