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Apple

Apple Finally Brings Mac-like Windowing and Menu Bar To iPad (apple.com) 46

Posted by msmash from the hallelujah dept.
Apple unveiled iPadOS 26 at its Worldwide Developer Conference on Monday, introducing what appears to be the most significant productivity overhaul in the tablet operating system's history. The update brings dynamically resizable windows that users can drag by their corners, a menu bar accessible through swipe gestures or cursor movement, and Expose for viewing all open windows in a tiled array.

The new windowing system allows users to seamlessly close, minimize, resize, and tile app windows while maintaining the iPad's touch-first interface. When users reopen apps, windows return to their last position and size. The menu bar, a longtime Mac staple, provides access to familiar commands like File, Edit, and View through either touch or trackpad controls.

Apple is also enhancing the Files app with resizable columns and collapsible folders, while bringing the Preview app to iPad for the first time with PDF editing capabilities and Apple Pencil support. The update introduces Background Tasks for computationally intensive processes and new audio features including Voice Isolation and Local capture for video calls.
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Apple Finally Brings Mac-like Windowing and Menu Bar To iPad More

Apple Finally Brings Mac-like Windowing and Menu Bar To iPad

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  • Perhaps that Apple commercial from 2018 ("What's a computer?") might be getting closer for some consumers.

    • I was at a cookout last weekend. My retired uncle stated he doesn't own a computer and can't understand why anyone would own a personal computer if they owned a cell phone. My 16 year old niece agreed.

      It was interesting as I've never considered not owning a computer since I bought my first one in the 90s.

      • Re:What's a computer? (Score:4, Insightful)

        by waspleg ( 316038 ) on Monday June 09, 2025 @03:55PM (#65438273) Journal

        Apps suck. Computers can do a great deal more, and can actually be under your control too.

        Neither of them understand what they've given up (probably even a little bit) for the captive portals they've inured themselves to.

        • I guess the question is "does that matter?"

          What do you need your computer to do? For work I need very few things. I need my computer to browse the web, to have a semi decent text editor, an email client, a chat tool, a compiler, and a zsh shell.

          For my personal life, taking gaming out of the equation (which I almost never do anymore) I need a email client, web browser, photo manager, and chat tool.

          Sure it's great to have all this freedom, but do I want the complexity that comes with it? At the end of the day

          • > Sure it's great to have all this freedom, but do I want the complexity that comes with it?

            I have multiple problems with this argument. The first is that you're implying what you term "complexity" is automatically bad.

            I swear and get frustrated at my PC far, far, less than I do my tablet. The touch-only UI is just painful, it's like someone "simplifying" a house by making the doors smaller and roof lower so you have to crawl around. Setting up barriers around what you can do does not make it more conven

            • I find the touch screen keyboard on an iPad to be decent enough for punching in a URL, a short text message, or what not. If I were to type out something lengthy then I'd make the minimal effort to plug in a proper keyboard.

              I agree that the advantage is portability. With that comes the disadvantage of not having a proper keyboard attached. There's no more "channeling" of the user into something than a laptop. There's all kinds of applications for an iPad that bring the freedom to do as one pleases.

              I'll

            • What kind of tablet did you use, that you have such a bullshit experience?
              A tablet where you can not switch tabs?
              Where you can not type in an URL?
              Where the browser does not open when you tap the browser icon?

            • You could a interface you prefer. That's wonderful.

              I hate using a keyboard outside of work. If I have to type more than a small url or 4/5 words then it warrants a phone call and not a message. In the event that I did need to write an article there is a computer, but I'd rather never use it. Not becuase it's difficult, but because I use one all day and using one feels like I'm back at work.

              I am still of the age where the bigger the purchase decision, the bigger the screen needed to buy it. So I will connect

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by reanjr ( 588767 )

          Most people - when giving a workstation - will immediately navigate to the nearest captive portal in their browser.

        • Apps suck. Computers can do a great deal more, and can actually be under your control too.

          Neither of them understand what they've given up (probably even a little bit) for the captive portals they've inured themselves to.

          It's like telling people pre-built furniture sucks because you can build anything with your hands. With a cherry on top explaining their decisions have robbed themselves of the experience of sanding down a piece of pine all because they'd rather sit on a couch. As if they couldn't at literally any time do both. Like grind away on a piece of wood right in your living room. Or open a terminal app to a virtual machine and go wild.

          IDK, maybe it can be your hobby and not everyone's? Since you're being that melod

        • >Neither of them understand what they've given up (probably even a little bit) for the captive portals they've inured themselves to.

          They aren't giving anything up - if they had actual computers they'd be on Windows 11 by now, which is becoming (or has become) the next captive portal.

      • My mother calls her IPad "the computer" now and does everything on it (and has not touched the Windows PC for five years,
        which she used a lot before the IPad came along)

        It seems that normal people do not have much use for "a computer" any more when all their
        basic needs are met by these devices.

        • I would suggest that not that many people want "a computer". Most people as you say, want to get something done, that is the application. I want to play a game, make a call, send a text. Back when the earth was still cooling off, we used to create "captive user environments" (IBM speak). User logs in and has a menu of 5 things they can do, pick one, get stuff done. No one cared that is was "a computer". and you couldn't do anything else... like play a game.

      • I often have my laptop with me. Even when I only go shopping.

  • What about side loading?

  • Now if they can remove iPad-like fullscreen windows from macOS, we'll be getting back to where we belong.

    • That, and a menu bar that's not stuck to the top of the screen, but instead attached to the top of the window to which the menu bar belongs.

      • No, that's a bad idea. A menu bar at the top of the screen is a much bigger target to hit, and easy to find by muscle memory. The file menu is always in the same place, regardless of what app you're using, and the buttons extend infinitely up above the screen. By contrast, a menu bar tied to the window moves around whenever the window moves, so you always have to visually find it again, and target size is just the size of the button and ends at the top of the window.

        • It's a matter of preference, I guess.

          The File menu on Windows is always at Alt - F. Clicking is much slower.

          And, some of us use very large screens. I use a 42" 4K TV as a monitor. It works great. But if all the menus were at the very top, I'd have to move my mouse a lot farther across the screen to get to it, than if I'm just focused on the window that's in the foreground right now.

          As for having to "visually find" the menu again because it's tied to the window, I don't think so. You're always focused on the

          • Asking for a UX paradigm where you depend on keyboard shortcuts, on a device that has an optional keyboard, or a virtual one that doesn't have an "Alt" key is not really an acceptable solution here.

            You are trying to do the reverse of Microsoft's Windows 8 sins - you are trying to force a desktop UX onto a non-desktop piece of hardware, the same way that Microsoft tried to force touch UX onto non-touch devices. Both will result in similarly shitty results.

            • You've got a point, putting a menu bar on an iPad isn't the ideal UI for a tablet. Menu bars are NOT touch-friendly.

              • And what exactly would be touch unfriendly?
                I rather have the same or similar UI on all of my devices.
                I have absolutely no idea what touch friendly is supposed to mean.
                My tablets all work exactly the same as my computer with a mouse.
                Single click is a single tab.
                Double click is double tab.
                Click and drag is tap and drag.
                Right mouse is two finger or long press on the tablet ... does not matter if Android or iOS.

                • Menu bars are touch unfriendly because they are small and therefore present a small target for a finger to hit. They *must* be small, because otherwise you can only have a few of them before you run out of space. And if you have just a few, why do you need a menu bar in the first place? Just use ellipsis buttons like other mobile apps.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by caseih ( 160668 )

          Fits law starts to break down when using a large 4k monitor, or even multiple monitors. It's much quicker to aim for a menubar that's local to the window I'm working in. Maybe old-school Next-style popup menu palettes may end up being the best way to go forward with large, multiple monitors.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Jeremi ( 14640 )

          A menu bar at the top of the screen is a much bigger target to hit, and easy to find by muscle memory.

          This logic made a lot of sense on the original Mac 9" screen. It makes less sense on a modern Mac with multiple large monitors, where the distance between your window's content and the menu bar can be significant, and your mouse may move up past the the menu bar and into the screen "above" if you aren't careful.

      • Urgh, no.

        I'd rather the other OSes follow Apple (and Digital Research and Commodore's, etc) lead on this and at least provide the option of a menu that follows Fitt's law.

        Having to aim a mouse at a line of text should be made as simple as possible, especially when it's a critical part of the user interface.

        • That's all good if you use a small-ish screen. I use a 42" 4K TV, which essentially is the same as an array of four monitors. When I've writing code, I have various windows scattered all over the surface. I do NOT want the menu bar tied to the very top all the time.

          It's interesting that all modern OSes have menus at the top of the windows, even the various Linux desktops. Visually, Apple's menu is disconnected from the window to which it pertains. It's not intuitive that the menu of one app gets replaced by

    • I often maximize Windows, but I've never wanted full-screen windows. It's pretty annoying that simply clicking the green button full-screens; to maximize, it's option-click.

      • Yeah, I know, but it's bugged me since they changed it that I have to use [option] to fix what they broke.

        [option] is to get UI behaviors that don't work in the expected way.

        Well, the expected way was to maximize. So [option] should get you the iPad full screen, because the green button has well-defined, regularly-used expected UI behavior.

        Pisses me right off. That and backward vertical scrolling. At least you can fix the latter with a setting, but why should I have to fix my OS?

  • The only time I use two windows on an Ipad... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by c120plus ( 3825447 ) on Monday June 09, 2025 @04:18PM (#65438323)

    The only time I use two windows on an IPad... ...is when I accidentally activate a seconds one and have to close it again.

    On the IPad Mini it would be great if there was a way to turn off accidentally opening extra windows -
    this change will just make it even harder to use... not something I look forward to.

  • These "powerful" new features were already introduced by Google last year.

    It's gotten to the "...on the web!" stage in mobile development. They spend all their time rediscovering 1970s-era desktop technology but it's revolutionary because it's "...on a tablet!"

  • I guess they finally decided dumbing down the desktop won't get us to unification, so now they're going to overcomplicate the mobile experience instead.

  • I haven't used Gnome in a while, but the UI reminds me a lot of what Gnome3 is trying to do. With the big difference the Gnome 3 devs didn't sound like they were targetting mobile or touch screens the last time I checked.

    The largest thing I miss from Linux on macOS is sloppy focus with raise on click disabled. Having only the terminal able to do that just isn't the same.

  • Maybe the windowing system will make user think, "Man! I want a desktop now! Gimme a MacBook Pro! I didn't know that window management is so awesome!"

    • If someone is inspired by the new user interface to move to a MacBook then they can get that experience with a Magic Keyboard, an accessory that provides a keyboard, trackpad, and stand that gives a very laptop style look, feel, and function to an iPad.

      It appears the distinction between the iPad and MacBook is fading. If so then it would be nice to see the MacBooks have a touch screen as I find myself trying to touch the screen on my MacBook like I've done with my iPad.

  • Wake me up when we get a terminal and the ability to run arbitrary code and Iâ(TM)ll buy an iPad again.
  • Something that will mess her up on her iPad. allows users to seamlessly close, minimize, resize, and tile app windows ...and she will get frustrated when she accidentally does this and can't find what she was looking at.
  • Just one more step in decommissioning the Mac line and turning everything into Ipads.

    I mean they probably won't decommission the name, they want you buying $3000 Ipads.

    It's not like they aren't making it obvious at this point.
  • Gee, maybe tablet interface were a step back before? In another 10 years--they might even have a system wide trash can--or even keys!

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