iPadOS 26 Brings iPad Closer To The Macs Like Never Before: All You Need To Know

Apple announced all the new platforms at the WWDC 2025 keynote on Monday and surprisingly, the biggest of all was the new iPadOS 26 version. Yes, the new iPad platform has gotten closer to the Macs with some of the new features that are supported by both new and old-gen iPads. 

iPadOS 26 is not just a design change or a new naming sequence, it is a fresh start for the platform as Apple looks to arrest the decline of iPad sales in the market. But will that happen at the cost of the Macs, these new features surely will play a big role in making the iPads functional again. 

New iPadOS 26 Update: Changing The Face Of iPads 

The iPadOS 26 version gets the Liquid glass interface design that is now seamless across all Apple devices. But the biggest changes are linked to the multitasking abilities of the slate which also promises to make browsing files and background activities run smoothly. 

You might find this basic but iPads can now have multiple apps open on the screen and you resize them to fit all at once and place them wherever you want. As you can see here, you can have as many apps open, resized and ready to use on the iPad with the new update. Apple’s windowing the system takes it closer to the Macs without opting to run macOS on the device. 

The other big useful change coming to iPadOS 26 is the menu bar. Once again, you’ll probably say it is standard for these platforms but Apple never thought about having it for the iPads. Now, with the iPads getting bigger, the menu bar will make it easier to access commands across apps and even close/minimise the file using the regular Apple coloured icons. 

Making AI-Ready 

The iPadOS 26 also gets all the new Apple AI upgrades like live translation and ability to create shortcuts for files that you really need all the time. The Files app is also getting a new lease of life with the new version, customising the colour of the folders as per your choice and even drag-drop files from the folder.

These features have been standard on the Macs and soon the 13-inch iPad Air and Pro models will get them out of the box. 

And finally, you have the background task feature which lets you export a video and still continue with your primary task on the screen. The status will show in a live activities form at the top. 

iPadOS 26 will work across both A-series and M-series variants but some of the AI-centric features will require the M2 iPad Air or higher models. 

Most people have been wondering if we could see macOS run on iPads, Apple has made it happen without calling quits on iPadOS and that’s a start we can live with.