iPadOS 26 goes skin-deep, includes almost zero genuine improvements

The first thing I tried when installing iPadOS 26 was Figma in Safari. Due to the way Apple locks down the iPad Pro, Figma, an incredibly popular browser-based UX tool, just doesn’t work on the device. Pinching to zoom is broken and despite being a desktop-class web application, it is a bad experience on iPad even with a mouse and keyboard.

Has this improved with iPadOS 26? No. It works exactly the same. Poorly.

Multitasking on iPad has changed seemingly every year. With iPadOS 26 Apple has finally come to terms with the fact that people understand window paradigms from computers. And while I honestly like the differentiation when it comes to using the iPad as a touch-only device, with a mouse and keyboard iPadOS 26 still disappoints, even thought they’ve tried to merge some UI concepts between macOS and iPadOS. The new traffic-light window controls are tiny and only appear when hovered over, apps don’t have title bars that would be easier to move around, the corner resize lines still fade into the app interface. Is the new window system of where different windows exist when closed less confusing? No. Is it as good as macOS? No. Windows randomly disappear and I genuinely sometimes just don’t understand what’s happening. Is this browser window still open? Maybe?

My final check with the first beta was Notes. With Apple’s AI “improvements” last year the company introduced Smart Script, which painfully tries to correct your handwritten Notes. It works terribly, often totally inserting the “improved” handwritten text in a different place. Has that improved? No.

I think my issue with iPadOS is that it’s still trapped by Apple. On macOS if Figma didn’t work I could just install Chrome. But Apple demands developers use WebKit-based browsers only. And it also feels like Apple is needlessly building everything twice, or sometimes even three times. Maybe with a more unified platform they could just build Final Cut Pro or Files once and make it work on macOS and iPadOS.

Instead it still feels like a blend of old and new, macOS and iPadOS, and multiple ways of learning the same tasks. You simply can’t hand someone an iPad Pro and expect them to use it in the same way they would a MacBook Air. Maybe that’s the point, but it’s increasingly a frustrating experience. I don’t want to learn a new multitasking paradigm.

But hey, they sure did add a lot of glass! (Except also not really yet on iPadOS? Maybe that’s coming in later betas.)