iPadOS 26 finally makes the iPad into a touchscreen Mac

The Apple operating system that seems to have gone through the most changes is iPadOS 26. Not only does the new OS use Apple’s exciting Liquid Glass design, but it’s also got a host of changes to help it act more like a full-on Mac computer.

These upgrades include better window management, a menu bar, and lots of upgrades to how the iPad handles files. The iPad’s mouse pointer has also been redesigned to look more like a traditional mouse instead of a grey dot.

When you open an app for the first time in iPadOS 26, it will spring up and fill the whole screen like it always has. However, now there is a software handle in the bottom corner that you can drag to resize the app into a traditional window. You can add more apps as windows, tile them for enhanced multitasking, and even more. For instance, simply flicking an app towards one of the sides of your iPad will snap it in place on the right or left side.

Apple has also added app exposé to the iPad to make it even easier to manage all your open apps and windows at once.

The new multitasking enhancements are also coming to the new iPad mini and the base model iPads that were previously blocked from using Stage Manager for multi-window support.

Another update that also makes the iPad more powerful is the menu bar. This won’t be supported for all apps, but those who choose to utilize it will be able to offer people an experience on iPad that is extremely similar to macOS.

Apple took some time in the middle of its iPadOS presentation to talk about file management on iPad and how it will be improved in the upcoming update.  The most exciting aspect to me is that you can now pin files to your dock on iPad to make accessing common folders like your downloads much more seamless. You can also customize the colour of your folder to personalize them.

The Files app itself has also gotten new updates to add more sorting options and controls like choosing what app will open what file type. This means you can set PDFs to open in Adobe Acrobat and video files to open up in Final Cut Pro every time.

However, you might not need to use Acrobat anymore because Apple is bringing the Preview app from Mac to iPad. This will give the tablet built-in PDF editing abilities of its own.

For content creators, Apple has added a new function that makes it easier to record yourself while doing a video call so you can make sure to always have high-quality video for your projects. I assume a lot of people who will be excited about this update will be podcasters, and notably, you can also use more third-party mics in iPadOS 26 and swap between them at will from a new toggle in Control Center.

The real icing on the cake for creators, though, is a new feature that lets people run tasks in the background. This means you will no longer need to keep Final Cut or your video editing app of choice open when exporting or importing video files. This background functionality will be able to extend to all kinds of other apps as well.

Other smaller updates

Smaller updates to the OS include pretty much all of the new features in iOS 26, such as more customization options for your lock screen and apps, upgrades to Apple Intelligence features, and the new live translation engine.

The Phone and FaceTime apps are also getting updates along with Apple Messages. The latter will get the most exciting updates, including custom chat backgrounds and typing indicators in group chats.

There is also a new Games app that will act as a launcher for all of your game apps while also having achievements and in-game challenges to compete in. There is also a new Game Overview that you can open to adjust things like brightness, volume or invite friends to your session.

There are tons of other updates, and you can dive deeper in Apple’s Newsroom or the company’s official iPadOS 26 webpage.