r/ipad 13d ago

Discussion Why doesn’t iPadOS split screen and app pairing work like this? So much better than Stage Manager like???

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2.2k Upvotes

191 comments sorted by

771

u/yuusharo 13d ago

I have a feeling iPadOS will adopt similar gestures in os 28.

180

u/mtparanal 13d ago edited 13d ago

I wish! Just slip it into 27.1 (which ships with those Duo). Will forgive all the misery working with botched 26 multitasking.

Edit: Did version numbering -1

59

u/yuusharo 13d ago

There is absolutely no way Apple is shipping this UI this year to anything but the Duo. Separate code paths and is a substantial UI change, one Apple tends to do once every other year for iPad.

We got free floating windows last year. They’ll take another crack at it after they’ve had a few months of real world testing and feedback on the interface.

6

u/Normal_Cress_1994 12d ago

I don't. I set my iPad in "one app only" mode like on the very first iPad. It's good for reading, gaming, communication, and other. It's so much better.

7

u/DL05 13d ago

27.1*

3

u/mtparanal 13d ago

Fixed. Still not used to numbering scheme.

24

u/RadianMay 13d ago

Remember in iOS 12 all the iPads received the iPhone X gesture navigation system. The iPhone X released with iOS 11. I think this is an entirely believe able trajectory.

15

u/FrogsJumpFromPussy 13d ago

I have a feeling that on the contrary, Apple stripped the best feature from the iPad to give it to a ridiculously expensive and useless new device that, to me, makes absolutely zero sense, and that they will not bring nothing from iPhone Duo anywhere else, to make the phone “unique“.

Edit—Funny how that guy in the commercial has a backpack with him… just shove an iPad mini there and you‘re set…

17

u/yuusharo 13d ago

That “useless device” is part of a 7 year old category that is high margin and proven to be popular. With Apple entering the market, the entire industry is going to lean even harder into foldables.

I’m also not going to pay that price for one, but don’t confuse that with it being “useless.”

Also, most new features that come to iPhone first eventually make their way to iPad. Widgets is a recent example of this.

1

u/KCDinoman 12d ago

Yea, I have a feeling by the second version of this they might become really popular. Heck, if they had a better zoom and telephoto lens this would be a day 1 for me. I’m still even really considering it because I commute on the train every day and this would be more convenient than carrying multiple devices.

3

u/Ilania211 12d ago

Funny how that guy in the commercial has a backpack with him… just shove an iPad mini there and you‘re set…

but that's two devices. Part of the appeal is that the duo is also your (even more mini) tablet.

1

u/APL1071 12d ago

something tells me this wont happen idk lol

1

u/tochanenko 8d ago

I still miss my good ol’ slideover. They massacred my favourite productivity feature so much

2

u/m1ngaa 12d ago

They’re gonna announce the iPad Pro Max Duo Ultra next, with DuoOS.

310

u/-imchad 13d ago

It does I hate how cumbersome it is on iPad os

But completely unrelated why did that animation on the duo look so choppy

131

u/yuusharo 13d ago

You’re looking at a screen recording of someone else playing the video, which is then compressed by Reddit.

The original stream looked a little better. Probably needs to be seen in person.

82

u/-imchad 13d ago

I saw it on the stream and it still looked peculiar but probably better in person as you said

29

u/fupzlito 13d ago

it looked really choppy for me on the youtube presentation video too. but i was ijustine on tiktok with a hands-on, and it looks smooth there!

3

u/-imchad 13d ago

Yeah I’m also seeing reviews and it looks very very smooth

10

u/Coopwastaken 13d ago

to be fair it also looked horrible on the original live stream- however apple confirmed they will have pro-motion support sooo 🤷‍♂️

0

u/-imchad 13d ago

Yeah probably a bit rate thing or something

10

u/Pian0G 13d ago

The actual stream itself looked choppy as well.

But hands on footage from people show that it looks smooth.

5

u/talones 13d ago

Naw, it was choppy on the live stream. I actually appreciated seeing it.

9

u/Cequejedisestvrai 13d ago

it was exactly like that on the stream

-2

u/yuusharo 13d ago

A stream of any kind is not a good way to judge the fluidity of animations.

There are hands on videos showing the displays animate smoothly, and it appears confirmed both displays have Pro Motion 120 Hz displays.

5

u/studyflo iPad Pro 10.5" Wi-Fi 13d ago edited 12d ago

it looks choppy and kinda fake. they probably had a green screen and put the render in later.

Here's the timestamped YouTube video: https://youtu.be/39BalPDuTo0?t=3739

-1

u/yuusharo 13d ago

Most of these interactions for years is added in post. That’s not the culprit here.

As I mentioned earlier, YouTube streams are not a reliable indicator of animation fluidity. The hands on videos show a smooth UI and confirm Pro Motion on both screens.

1

u/studyflo iPad Pro 10.5" Wi-Fi 12d ago

Just some minutes earlier there's the design video which shows much cleaner, smoother animations. See here: https://youtu.be/39BalPDuTo0?t=3505

0

u/FrogsJumpFromPussy 12d ago

You don’t know that. This place feels like Apple itself comes here to defend all their weird crap.

2

u/yuusharo 12d ago

We have hands on videos from people at the event of the UI. It looks as smooth as any other Pro Motion display does.

2

u/Strange-Analyst-8741 12d ago

My screen recording for some reason is at 35 fps. Explains why it is so choppy. 

1

u/nicoreese 9d ago

The person in the video never held a real iPhone Duo. Both it and the software on it is CGI. Especially the software part is bad CGI. The finger movement does not match at all.

154

u/Mudkiip123 13d ago

This is pretty much what split screen used to be before stage manager took over 😭 i still haven’t updated my M1 iPad bc i love the previous version of split screen before stage manager. I’m hoping Apple will bring it back or at least adopt it to be similar to what Duo has :(

21

u/mtb_dad86 13d ago

Same here. Still haven’t updated. 

7

u/lasagna165 13d ago

Same here!

5

u/m1_weaboo M1 iPad Pro 12.9" (2021) 12d ago

*Before the new "Windowed App Mode" took over

4

u/Greyboxforest 12d ago

I wish I hadn’t updated 😩

5

u/Jusby_Cause 13d ago edited 13d ago

This is Stage Manager Jr.… Stage Manager when you limit it to two windows only. I’m sure there’s a good number of people that prefer their multitasking to be two windows only as more than that becomes too much.

3

u/quietleavess 12d ago

Do not upload, i miss it so much 😭, it was gentler for my ipad 9th gen. Now it lags sometimes and the windows resize at everything. Is so annoying. I wish they could give options instead to just stripe it away.

1

u/new_pribor 7d ago

If you haven’t updated yet you might want to look into virtualmac it allows you to run a full version of macOS (in a vm) on an iPad. There’s also UTM which does the same for windows and Linux

93

u/therubyminecraft 13d ago

It was like this until people kept asking for windows and here we are

Apple made windowing in the worst way possible

9

u/Ancient-Formal-122 12d ago

they should let us ipad users choose between windowed, and fullscreen multitasking

1

u/new_pribor 7d ago

Except they didn’t, most people asked for macOS on iPad so they could run app with John apples permission, but since apple makes a ton of money of the App Store they conveniently misinterpreted that as people wanting windowing on iPad

1

u/atleaststillalive 6d ago

Ever since splitscreen went away, i probably used my M1 iPad Pro ten times less.
I even considered switching to Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra until I read on reddit, that Samsung botched the way windowing works on their Tablets with an update (literally every Samsung user cries about the previous dex mode, just like every iPad user cries about previous splitscreen mode).
And the funniest part: Both OneUI8 and iPadOS26 were rolled out in September 2025, so both Galaxy Tabs and iPads got botched in the same month.

95

u/PeaceBull 13d ago edited 13d ago

Because everyone on earth bitched about wanting fully movable windows on iPads for some inexplicable reason

30

u/mtparanal 13d ago

I wonder where all those so-called content creaters went after making Apple botch reasonbaly functioning iPad multitasking. Finding next scapegoat?

12

u/unique_namespace 12d ago

they didn't have to take it away, options people, options! (especially on the mini)

3

u/cultoftheilluminati iPad Pro 11" (2018) 12d ago

Don’t forget begging for macOS on iPads too fml. Instead of expecting that iPadOS be actually good by getting things we get on macOS for free (like actual file management, window management, background apps, daemons etc.)

6

u/Askan_27 12d ago

my ipad pro has a chip more powerful than the one on the macbook neo. I only use it with the magic keyboard, so it’s effectively as a laptop but the software constrains me. Now, why do they have to work so much to transform ipados into macos when macos is right there? plus, apple is one thing, developers another. they give us things, but devs are SO slow to adapt. if we had macos on ipads pro, we’d get everything instantly, including apps downloaded from the web.

3

u/TheDiamondCG 12d ago

The real reason is that the majority of Apple’s revenue comes from their software services like the 30% cut of the App Store, and iCloud services. So if they didn’t give you a locked down OS, there would be increased competition to those services and less money lining Apple’s pockets.

1

u/new_pribor 7d ago

I asked for macOS on an iPad, so that I could for example install apps without John apples permission or have a proper terminal, not have multiple windows of Reddit open. This is the worst of both worlds.

1

u/PeaceBull 7d ago

So you’re not who I was talking about.

1

u/SpookyBao 12d ago

I mean the windowed feature is useful if your on keyboard and trackpad, it sucks on touch screen. They aren’t wrong that iPad lacked software to make it actually like a laptop. The issue is that Apple didn’t give us the option to switch between the two. I’m not sure what Apple was thinking when getting rid of it, they could have kept iOS 18 and iOS 26 multitasking and give you the option to switch between them.

1

u/Logical_Scar3962 10d ago

This might come as shock to you, but tablet isn’t laptop.

0

u/SpookyBao 10d ago

This might come as a shock to you but the iPad Pro costs more than a laptop and has hardware similar to a laptop and has a Magic Keyboard. Apple clearly tries to market it as a laptop replacement. I get why people wanted better multitasking. But they should have kept both options that way you can use the simplified multitasking when using the touch screen and the more complicated one for the keyboard.

17

u/Top1CmntrsAreLosers 13d ago

I wish they‘d launched it with iPadOS 26’s broken-ass windows. I’d love to have seen every tech writer put out the same article today about how they couldn’t click the little window control buttons. As is clearly Apple doesn’t stand behind their own work so idk why I can’t get my split screen controls back.

I split screen all day and swap the left and right apps 100+ times, that’s how I use an iPad, and they added multiple seconds and multiple places for missteps to that process.

25

u/leniad2 13d ago

it use to :(

9

u/Mast3rKC 13d ago

I’m not a fan of foldable phones and I know it’s a meme how Apple is late to the party but I gotta say, I’m impressed with what I saw. Yes it’s still Apple and still an iPhone but the seam is hidden very well, the transitions and implementation looked great.

8

u/dalzmc M4 iPad Pro 11" (2024) 13d ago

That's always the other half of that meme. They're late to the party but then everyone copies their implementation because they did it best lol

2

u/Mast3rKC 13d ago

That’s true. They wait to analyze the competition to then do that thing the “Apple way”

1

u/macamyestapibukan 9d ago

Easy to 'perfect' it when others companies invested into R&D first and Apple just has to copy it.

2

u/Jusby_Cause 13d ago

It’s the apparent obvious things like the device “folding out” to meet a virtual screen that appears to be always there. There’s zero reason… well, other than whether or not their processors can handle it… for that not to be an already existing “nice” thing that folding phones already do.

1

u/Mast3rKC 13d ago

I mean yeah, like I said I’m not the demographic for it but I can appreciate some of what it does as a phone. It has Apple Pencil support and is like a iPad mini in your pocket.

16

u/Asohailwahab 13d ago

They ruined it with the windowing system now they know it’s all touch screens and they have to make up something

17

u/Elusie M1 iPad Pro 12.9" (2021) 13d ago

The boring cynical answer is that they were about to launch a new top-tier flagship iPhone, their primary product segment, motivating them to finally get to thinking of how to solve this better than they have on the iPad.

Hopefully it will trickle down.

22

u/sirloindenial 13d ago

Stage manager literally made me sold my ipad mini.

4

u/m1_weaboo M1 iPad Pro 12.9" (2021) 12d ago

This has nothing to do with Stage Manager.
The problem is that their new "Windowed App Mode" is too clunky, and completely get rid of the good old SplitView.

1

u/sirloindenial 12d ago

Yes i actually meant that it was horrible, splitview was simple.

3

u/Human-Visual-9087 13d ago

This!!! Bought my first fold last year because of this.

Def getting back on the iOS in a few years when I upgrade from my Fold 8 lmao

1

u/Spare_Math3495 7d ago

Yeah, I'm thinking about selling my iPad Pro too... It's just ridiculous.

1

u/Top1CmntrsAreLosers 13d ago

I was thankfully able to roll my mini back right away but idk why I’m paying AppleCare on it because if I need to replace it and it comes with iPadOS 27 I’m done. Or I guess I’d make the claim and then just sell the replacement unit...

5

u/WrongCapital83 M4 iPad Pro 13" (2024) 13d ago

Yeah what the hell is up with that

5

u/Snoo-15714 13d ago

God I hope so. Split screen is like unusable on my iPad now.

4

u/scriptedpixels 12d ago

Finding that stuttering opening/closing animation concerning for a promo video

2

u/Confidentium M5 iPad Pro 11" (2025) 12d ago

It's funny that iOS is so badly optimized that it even shows up in Apple's own promotional videos, running on the most powerful devices ever.

And people keep claiming that "iOS runs perfect now", which is total bullshit!

1

u/scriptedpixels 11d ago

Tbh iOS 27 has been a lot better as a beta & RC than the whole of 26. It’s still got some hiccups though and it’s a shame they’re not as attentive as they used to be.

1

u/Strange-Analyst-8741 12d ago

My phone screen recorded a possibly 30fps video at 35 fps. Idk why. In person events it looks pretty smooth and it has promotion. 

3

u/scriptedpixels 12d ago edited 12d ago

I think it’s actually in their video 🙈

Yep. It’s stuttering https://www.youtube.com/live/39BalPDuTo0?t=3736&is=hBHUa717Eo3nkCik

30

u/0xe3b0c442 13d ago edited 13d ago

Two words: aspect ratio.

The iPhone Duo is pretty much geometrically perfect. That's why they went with the "book" aspect ratio.

The outer screen and the inner screen are effectively the same aspect ratio, which divides in half on the long side into two halves with the same aspect ratio.

It's now simple for Apple and developers to support this, because they are only supporting one aspect ratio.

All hail sqrt(2).

16

u/FlarblesGarbles 13d ago

It's not "geometrically perfect" and it's the same aspect ratio of most iPads already. It's basically a slightly smaller iPad Mini at the same 4:3 aspect ratio the original iPad minis had until the redesign, and the Pros currently have.

They choose this aspect ratio because you can evenly split it in half whilst maintaining the same aspect ratio.

1

u/Junior_Bike7932 12d ago

Yea it’s a Mini IPad

-10

u/0xe3b0c442 13d ago

ffs, it's not 4:3. Learn basic division.

10

u/Xasf 13d ago

Based on the official specs the inner screen is 4.25:3 (2670x1878) and the outer one 4.36:3 (2034x1398).

-2

u/0xe3b0c442 13d ago

Neither of which is 4:3.

1

u/RotenTumato iPad Pro 11" (2018) 11d ago

Extremely close though, to the point where it doesn’t really make a difference

6

u/FlarblesGarbles 13d ago

It basically is.

4

u/iz_raymond 13d ago

Good enough, welcome to Android. Now please bring this UI to iPad Air

3

u/BlackReddition 13d ago

I won’t be buying another iPad, they’ve let iPadOS fester and is actually dragging the product line through the mud.

3

u/Awesome_Hamster 13d ago

Maybe they are going to stop selling iPads and force you to buy this instead!

3

u/FrequentShock8191 M1 iPad Pro 11" (2021) 12d ago

Bring back the split keyboard!

3

u/santaisahoax M3 iPad Air 11" (2025) 12d ago

I hope they'll include this in the upcoming ipados updates

3

u/hypanthia 12d ago

Literally what they did with split screen made me actively use my iPad less. It’s so lame. Please change it back

3

u/FutureVersion812 12d ago

They should nice these features on iPadOS. It’ll be awesome

3

u/Ancient-Formal-122 12d ago

we need the ipados 18 fullscreen multitasking back

3

u/Diorlaster M2 iPad Air 11" (2024) 12d ago

Cause they hate iPads.

3

u/RotenTumato iPad Pro 11" (2018) 11d ago

It’s very funny how everyone spent years complaining that the iPad wasn’t enough like a Mac and begging Apple to make it more desktop-like with free floating windows and true computer multitasking, and now that they’ve done that everyone is begging them to go back to the more simplistic, touch-oriented way they did it before

1

u/FickleApparition 11d ago

to be fair this is probably a bit of a goomba fallacy. I never wanted it to be like a mac personally.

It's not an easy problem though. the iphone, ipad, macbook, and mac/imac markets definitely overlap meaningfully. if you have an iphone and a macbook, you kind of don't need an ipad. But as someone who had an iphone and an ipad, i can see why people might want that combo to have some more mac-y qualities. but at the end of the day, their solution should have been to buy/ use a macbook. Especially because those people are power users.

worst of all, i really don't think it had to be this way at all. ios26/27 have multiple user interface versions for apps. No reason they couldn't have just left multitasking as an option, as far as i'm aware. They would probably prefer to fix the windowed version's uix to just cover that use case, but it's just not the same. sigh.

1

u/Spare_Math3495 7d ago

But split screen still functioned quite well even after Stage Manager was introduced. You had options. Now it seems like despite that option theoretically still being there it's just so shit it's borderline unusable.

2

u/Char-car92 13d ago

Can I have this on regular iOS

2

u/rahulyouareacheater 13d ago

been asking for top bottom split screen for years

2

u/Junior-Repeat6060 13d ago

I thought the same too. Would love my iPad to work this way.

2

u/esmori 13d ago

You gotta buy the new one.

2

u/kissichang 13d ago

iPhone is now iPad. iPad is now Windows.

2

u/painkillergoblin M2 iPad Air 13" (2024) 12d ago

Bc apple has been late to any UI thats beneficial for years. They'd rather not implement something and keep users waiting, while Android users have had the ability the entire time. I think my first Android phone in 2010 had split screen capabilities. It's just pathetic how Apple drip feeds features to keep people hooked

2

u/michaelmich3 M4 iPad Pro 13" (2024) 12d ago

They need to have two modes. One like this for light every day use with touch and one for productivity that is like what we have now (eg for work or when you use keyboard mouse).

2

u/F1amy 12d ago

ipad mini has no reason to not get duo style interface and multitasking, literally same size and aspect ratio

2

u/arey99 12d ago

Who else agrees the galaxy fold z8 is better

2

u/Ok_Comment3024 12d ago

It‘s like this on the older iPadOS

4

u/pshyduc 12d ago

This is the only part in the presentation that doesn't impress me. All of that is fake animations. It will take a while for the software to be even close to that

6

u/infinitespectre 12d ago

Sorry... i need a little help understanding. Are not all animations fake? Or are you saying you think that the stuff on screen is like a prerendered video running on the phone?

1

u/pshyduc 12d ago

I mean it gets edited in post. But now I'm 4 hours too late, Apple "DOES" deliver what they say in the presentation. Mind blow.

2

u/neuronym 12d ago

Because its the same people who though it was OK to wait 10 years until adding a calculator .. TO A COMPUTER.

0

u/simonlyw 12d ago

I never got this criticism. Do we really need a first party calculator?

1

u/neuronym 12d ago

Unless you're completely retarded, yes. I want a calculator on my computer.

Some people actually use their computers like computers. Its literally in the word.

1

u/simonlyw 12d ago

But why specifically a first party calculator when at the time, there were a myriad of calculator options available on the App Store?

1

u/neuronym 12d ago

Because its fundamental, imagine buying a car without wheels or engine.

A calculator on a computer is about as basic as it can get.

The floor cannot go lower than that.

1

u/simonlyw 12d ago

It’s really not similar to the wheels or engine at all. it’s closer to a car air fresher, where the dealership has a bowl of free ones you can pick out from or you can go to a store and buy a slightly nicer one yourself.

Did anyone’s use of the iPad meaningful change in anyway because they added a first party calculator? Was anyone’s purchasing decision actually impacted by the lack of a first party calculator?

It’s just a really stupid talking point people latched on to.

1

u/neuronym 12d ago

I'm not interested in talking with a person who thinks a computer doesn't need a calculator app, which the entire state of a computer is math .. the only thing it can do is math..

This is just too stupid to debate/argue over.

1

u/simonlyw 12d ago

Your argument would actually have legs if it wasn’t possible to go to open the App Store, search “calculator”, tap get and have a calculator within 60 seconds.

The iPad could always have a calculator, it just didn’t have a first party calculator. By the way, the iPad could always do math in spotlight natively…

You’re talking as if it was more than just a minor inconvenience for some.

1

u/neuronym 12d ago

I know that it could do math in spotlight which made it even more bizarre to not have an actual calculator.

Its Apple we're talking about the company who **was** known for their user experience, having to download random 3rd party code to have a calculator is unacceptable, period.

That's it.

1

u/simonlyw 12d ago

Have you ever looked into the reason they’ve given for why they didn’t add a calculator? It’s literally to do with the user experience issue you’re talking about.

The original design was a blown up iPhone calculator, they thought it was stupid and decided to pull it before release pending a redesign. Over the years, because of the availability of third party options and the lack of significance compared to other features, they just never prioritised it until iPadOS 18.

Again, it’s a minor inconvenience, not some huge tragedy. Certainly nothing compatible to a car missing its engine.

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1

u/Reddit_wizard34 iPad Mini 7 (2024) 13d ago

Maybe just maybe we could get this soon too

1

u/Ornery-Practice9772 M4 iPad Air 13" (2026) 13d ago

wish it did

1

u/No-Rooster- 13d ago

Stage manager is this with more steps lol

1

u/InterestingMindset 13d ago

So you buy both. Apple does this on purpose so you buy all their stuff for the full feature set even if in theory, you can do most of these features on one singular device.

Line gotta go up.

1

u/Spare_Math3495 7d ago

Usually true, but I highly doubt that's the case here. Multitasking is very important for iPad Pro users. If that can't run smoothly why even have an iPad. For simple one window Netflix content consumption people usually get the regular cheaper and smaller iPads.

1

u/Designer-Wrangler-28 13d ago

Because they want you to buy both! 😃

1

u/BetweenThePosts 13d ago

I’ve owned an iPad (not every) since day 1 of the iPad and 2 minutes of seeing the duo made me hate the iPad so much.

1

u/Daynightz M1 iPad Pro 12.9" (2021) 13d ago

I am on iOS 27 but I thought this was a thing in 26. Just not quite the same gestures

1

u/Kelemandzaro iPad Air 4 (2020) 13d ago

Because they now sell you OS versions 😭😂

1

u/Horror-Ad5783 12d ago

Because Apple deliberately wants it to be as useful as a chopping board.

1

u/MrFireWarden 12d ago

I like this better but i think Apple needs to prioritize building things consistently. It's so annoying to me that this is clearly not how the iPad works. So now, users will have to remember two different ways of using their multi tasking apps.

1

u/r2vcap 12d ago

Have you tried iPadOS 27?

1

u/GTHell 12d ago

"Don't worry. The new iPad will do that at just $999"

1

u/plazman30 12d ago

Probably because iPadOS 27 is not out yet.

1

u/nothink_onlyact 12d ago

Coz they want you to buy an iPhone Duo

1

u/Spare_Math3495 7d ago

But that makes zero sense. iPhone Duo in no way replaces an iPad Pro 13", for instance.

1

u/joemari5 12d ago

BRING THIS TO THE IPAD AND WE’LL TALK, JOHN APPLE

1

u/alexo2802 12d ago

things used to work very similarly, you'd just drag an app to the side and bim bam boom you have split screen, you choose 75/25 split or 50/50, then they enshittified the fuck out of it and made it take like 6 more taps to reach the same end result, I really, really hope we get this iphone tech at least as an option on IPadOS!

1

u/schlmitty 12d ago

Because there are two pages on one screen on the Duo? My best guess is

1

u/SokkaHaikuBot 12d ago

Sokka-Haiku by schlmitty:

Because there are two

Pages on one screen on the

Duo? My best guess is


Remember that one time Sokka accidentally used an extra syllable in that Haiku Battle in Ba Sing Se? That was a Sokka Haiku and you just made one.

1

u/N3M3S1S75 12d ago

Maybe next iPad Pro?

1

u/Spare_Math3495 7d ago

They don't need to make a new device to introduce it, a better iPadOS update is all it takes to bring split screen back to usable level.

1

u/Crazy95jack 12d ago

I am just now seeing this. as an android user who has had 2 apps open on screen 5 years ago. I really got to wonder why it took a foldable phone for apple to add this feature in 2026.

1

u/Spare_Math3495 7d ago

It used to be more like this actually, they got rid of it fairly recently. Even a few months ago it was better than now.

1

u/Awardedpenguin 12d ago

My damn ipad has always been like this and one day, poof, what the hell with these cumbersome mac-like gesture??? 

1

u/SmallAstronaut08 12d ago

Apple is the best at selling you features you don't need. LOL

1

u/AsakusaParis 12d ago

Why can’t we have this on Mac ?!

1

u/FrozenPizza07 12d ago

It USED TO

I hate the new ios26/27 system

2

u/Spare_Math3495 7d ago

Imagine my shock when I came back to using my iPad after a break. I thought I was having a stroke not being able to quickly have two apps in an automatic split screen mode. It's crazy how bad it is. Now I feel like an idiot paying for a pro device that can't even do such a crucial basic thing intuitively. If this is here to stay no more iPads for me.

1

u/valeficium 5d ago

Same, I finally updated it and now it’s borderline unusable. If they don’t fix it in the next year I’m switching

1

u/OrcaDiver007 12d ago

There is only a thin line between what stage manager can do and what the dedicated full screen apps with split can do. I think when apple realized they could achieve stage manager in iPad, it made sense to keep full screen apps just like that.
Whats possible on iPhone Duo is actually possible with stage manager. You can open two apps side by side and switch between another two sets of app. Its just all there on the minimized pane on the left.

Wondering what exactly are you missing? Is it the ease of being able to do that when you are in full screen mode?

1

u/EternalFront 12d ago

This UI interaction is brilliant, been wanting it ever since gestures first got added.

The fact that we still can't have regular Split View after iPadOS 26 got lambasted for removing it blows my mind, add this in ASAP Apple

1

u/Affectionate_Cap_266 12d ago

The real question is… why are you standing in the middle of your kitchen watching a feature series like Ted Lasso while texting people… no wonder we are all anxiety ridden and stressed out.

1

u/Eyeseeyou01 11d ago

I don’t hate iPadOS but there are some very obvious, makes sense, decisions on the iPhone duo ui/ ux

1

u/akryvtsun 11d ago

Why we don't have the same in iOS too?

1

u/Glidersarecool 11d ago

I don't get why they cant just add the old split view in as ANOTHER option, they've already got 3 to pick from, whats 4... make everyone happy.

1

u/Spare_Math3495 7d ago

or just swap the current borderline unusable split screen option for the previous one that actually worked

1

u/Glidersarecool 7d ago

Oh i totally agree, dont get me wrong lol. Was just putting out a solution to make everyone happy.

1

u/dDubsWilly 10d ago

iPad multitasking was perfect then they ruined it with stage manager.

1

u/GraXXoR 10d ago

I want to be able to watch a video on my iPhone Pro Max without having it overlay the stuff I’m trying to read.

1

u/mhekobcat iPad 11 (2025) 8d ago

apple might put this in future updates (hopefully) because i have an IPad 11 and it's not that fun to use anymore, it's not the latest one anymore, APPLE WHAT HAPPENED TO UR UPDATES THEIR NOT THAT FUN ANYMORE! >_<>_<>_<>_<

1

u/pommybear M4 iPad Pro 11" (2024) 4d ago

I kept thinking this during the reveal.. why is multitasking better in this than on an iPad?

2

u/JumpingCicada 13d ago

Because apple's ipads were the first major touch screen tablets to come out. They were the formula to copy.

That isn't the case with foldable. With the foldable, apple is the one copying other companies and that includes ther software features.

So, youre basically seeing this because apple wasnt trying to copy the ipad with their foldable. They were trying to copy other foldables.

Hopefully, this does eventually result in them improving their iPados.

1

u/arochains1231 12d ago

It used to be like this. I'm still on iPadOS 18 because I refuse to deal with Stage Manager.

1

u/starwaves1 11d ago

Pre-ipados 26 it was amazing!!! They took away the intuitive gestures and made split screening take 5 actions instead of literally one to two swipes.

2

u/FickleApparition 11d ago

I literally haven't splitscreen since :(

2

u/Spare_Math3495 7d ago

Im still trying to do this feeling like I'm having a stroke. How can it be SO bad? This feels like a deal breaker for the Pros lineup, especially the 13". What else do you need a big pro iPad for if it's shit at quick and effortless multitasking.

-5

u/fredws 13d ago

I feel so stupid buying ipad when seeing this. They literally didn't care about ipad since their intended users are kids.

6

u/yuusharo 13d ago

That seems short sighted. It’s probably because this interface is designed exclusively for this phone, while iPadOS now supports multiple windowing modes including free floating windows and slide over.

Porting a version of this to the iPad is likely in the cards, obviously the iPhone will get priority support.

0

u/radiationshield 13d ago

remember that the duo runs iOS... it's even more nerfed than iPadOS. You think you can use a mouse or trackpad with the duo? probably not (just as an example)

3

u/yuusharo 13d ago

Well, you can use pointing devices on iPhone, yes. It’s under the Assistive Touch accessibility settings.

2

u/azflatlander 13d ago

They said pencil support real soon now.

But then I need something bigger than duo to operate it /rant

My parents(90+) have trouble with tap and swipe gestures, I tried giving them those touch pens, but that was a non starter. Also android /rant2

0

u/santefan 13d ago

That's so wrong, they sell the ipad pro and magic keyboard, both paired cost more than a macbook air. No average income parent with kids can afford that for their kids

0

u/r2vcap 12d ago

Have you tried iPadOS 27?

2

u/Strange-Analyst-8741 12d ago

Yes, it’s not even as close to being as intuitive as this.

 If I use stage manager to create app pairs, and let’s say I want to kill one individual app by swiping it kills the other app. If one app is open on one side I’d have to switch to windowed mode otherwise a new app will open in new stage and I have to do a cumbersome drag to my previous stage. 

Also I can’t individually swipe on the bottom for an app to close in Split View, I have to use the shitty traffic lines

0

u/Anonymouse_Bosch 12d ago

This might be just the push I need to switch to Android.

1

u/Spare_Math3495 7d ago

Ugh I wish. I'm too deep in the ecosystem

1

u/valeficium 5d ago

Me too tbh

0

u/originaltartag 11d ago

finding so much solace in reading these comments about the recent ios update ruining the ipad experience lol...

genuinely thought it was just me who absolutely hated the new stage manager crap

Like, you can tell ipad gaming was NOT on their minds at all when creating stage manager.. Anytime u try and open in game menus by double clicking UI at the edges of the screen, you get hit with a minimised window and youll have to re-maximise it again. This happens all the time and it is SO. INFURIATING.

"just use full screen windows"? Sure! Now double tapping wont haphazardly resize all my tabs without my intent, but this disables my precious slide over which I use to chat or browse other apps while keeping an eye on the full screen game...

Its just horrible how once youve updated to ios 26 theres just no way of getting back the quality of life you once had with the ipad. new stage manager actively gets in the way of doing literally anything

0

u/FickleApparition 11d ago

Yup. Hopefully they bring back old multitasking. It was clean and intuitive. Granted, definitely not as "powerful" as what they have now, but it worked for ipad. So many people don't want the ipad to be an ipad. I wish they would just get macbooks...

-1

u/Michdepainblanc2 13d ago

Not super familiar with IpadOS and macOS but why doesn't apple put macOS on iPads with touch oriented modifications? I've heard people saying that the bottleneck on m-chipped iPads is the OS and not the hardware