GoKawiiliPadOS 26 was unveiled one year ago with major upgrades for iPad productivity. I’ve been using the update on my iPad Pro since that first beta arrived, here’s where Apple’s major update has worked for me, and where it still comes up short.
What’s working for me in iPadOS 26
It took 15 years, but Apple finally brought proper app windowing to iPadOS—and for the most part it’s been a success.
I love being able to freely resize app windows to fit my needs. I generally have certain apps that I keep in a mostly fullscreen view, while others stay more compact on either the left or right side of my screen as popovers.
iPadOS 26’s windowing system has also enabled one of my favorite new capabilities: keeping the dock on-screen at all times like in macOS.
As long as windows stay away from the bottom of the screen, you can turn on a setting that keeps the dock visible. This has been one of my favorite overall changes—especially since you can now add more apps to the dock than ever, and file folders too.
The Files app in iPadOS 26, combined with the new Preview app, has been another highlight. File management on iPad now feels largely up to par with the Mac.
I’m also a fan of the menu bar, though I’d love Apple to take it a step further and make it more Mac-like. But as it stands, the iPad menu bar is a useful hub for exposing an app’s features and controls. Finally, though it’s unrelated to productivity, I’ve been loving having Apple Journal on my iPad too.
For the first time, iPadOS feels like it’s a match for the iPad’s powerful hardware, and that’s exciting.
Where iPadOS still feels like a work in progress
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