iPadOS 26.2 beta 3 arrived yesterday, bringing a surprise upgrade for Split View and Slide Over multitasking: drag and drop support. This iPadOS 26.2 change is the latest in an exciting new trend for iPad—especially for power users.
The iPad Pro is 10 years old. Yet only recently has iPadOS really started delivering on the product’s potential.
iPadOS 26 was easily the biggest productivity-focused update ever for the iPad. It introduced a brand new, Mac-like windowing system alongside key upgrades to the dock, a new menu bar, Files changes, and much more.
Apple delivered what many iPad power users have been wanting for years: a more powerful, Mac-like experience that retains the uniqueness of iPad, while feeling less restrained.
The update also added a great option for those who want iPad to remain a very simple, accessible tablet. Those users can choose the ‘Full Screen Apps’ mode in Settings, and get a classic iPad experience while power users enjoy ‘Windowed Apps.’
I’ve been using the iPad Pro as my primary computer since it first debuted. And during that decade, I’ve seen Apple ship big iPadOS updates then leave the software unchanged for a while.
Historically this has looked like major multitasking features one year, then minimal iPad-specific updates until two years later. If features needed refining, it often took a long time for that refining to happen.
But over the last few months, we’ve seen an exciting new trend start to emerge.
Apple is listening to iPad users and shipping new updates fast.
Frequent iPadOS upgrades are becoming the norm
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