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iPadOS 26 is the seventh major release of Apple‘s iPadOS operating system for the iPad. It was announced at WWDC 2025 on June 9, 2025, and released on September 15, 2025. The direct successor to iPadOS 18, it was announced alongside iOS 26, macOS 26, watchOS 26, visionOS 26, and tvOS 26—all of which introduced the “Liquid Glass” design language. Apple advanced the version number to 26 as part of a shift to a year-based versioning convention across its operating systems.[4]

iPadOS 26 only runs on iPads with Apple’s Neural Engine. It dropped support for the seventh-generation iPad. It is the first version of iPadOS to drop support for an iPad with a 10.2-inch display. It is the final version to support the third-generation iPad Pro, fifth-generation iPad Mini, third-generation iPad Air, and eighth-generation iPad, as its successor, iPadOS 27, drops support for those models.

New features and changes

Design language

Main article: Liquid Glass

iPadOS 26 introduced a new design language known as Liquid Glass, marking the first major design change since iOS 7. UI elements feature refraction and reflection, similar to visionOS.

Multitasking

A redesigned optional windowing system replaced the Split View and Slide Over introduced in iOS 9,[5] creating a similar experience to macOS. Apps are freely resizable, with “traffic light” controls akin to macOS that let a user minimize, close, or make an app full-screen. Window tiling options are also available when flicking windows to the edges of the display or using new tiling options.

The updated system is powered by a new windowing engine that optimizes window rendering by analyzing which windows are being actively used. This enables the new windowing system on all iPads that support iPadOS 26, while also allowing more windows on the screen at once.[6]

Due to being revamped to use the same internal architecture, the existing Stage Manager is now supported on all iPads running iPadOS 26, rather than only on M- and A-series iPad Pro and iPad Air models running iPadOS 18.[7] The windowing system occasionally exhibits behavior specific to Stage Manager, where windows may unexpectedly minimize or become inaccessible when another window is moved on-screen. As the system does not maintain stage groupings outside of Stage Manager, affected windows cannot be retrieved as a group and must be located manually.

A macOS-style menu bar is also available by swiping down on the top of the display or pushing the mouse pointer into the top of the display.[8] If the user uses fullscreen apps rather than windowed apps or Stage Manager, the menu bar will not appear, neither will the shortcuts fly out from previous iPadOS versions.[9] If an external display is connected and placed above the iPad display, users cannot push the mouse pointer into the top of the display, therefore requiring them to swipe down or use the keyboard shortcut. Similarly to other menus, users can type to select elements in the menu bar, but only on external displays. The “traffic light” buttons move into the menu bar if a window is in fullscreen. Toggling between a windowed and fullscreen state rapidly on an external monitor will cause the traffic lights to duplicate in the menu bar until it fills up and the system resprings.

By default, the system will add a safe area to the top of legacy applications to act as a title bar and container for the traffic lights whereas updated applications extend their interface all the way to the top border of the window with traffic lights being placed in-line. When moving a window to the top of the display, its top safe area widens to account for system elements and the menu bar.[10] The system still hides the menu bar on external displays when a window is placed behind it. Disabling the windowing system also causes applications to still leave space reserved for the traffic lights, which are no longer available. In some versions of iPadOS 26, a bug existed that would cause apps to not exhibit a top padding at all, causing system elements to be overlaid on top of app content, including in Apple’s own applications.

In iPadOS 26.1, Apple introduced Slide Over to the windowing system. Slide Over windows can be resized and placed along predefined vertically fixed points along either side of the display, they cannot be placed in the center of the display. They can also be pushed into the side of the display to hide them.[11] It could be accessed through the traffic lights’ context menu or through the menu bar. A window that is in Slide Over will always float on top of other windows and persist across stages when Stage Manager is enabled. It is denoted by a Liquid Glass backplate that extends past the window borders. This version of Slide Over does not feature an independent app switcher like previous versions, so only one window can be in Slide Over at any given time and Slide Over windows can no longer be dismissed with a trackpad gesture. If the user returns to the Home Screen and opens a window previously in Slide Over, it will remain in Slide Over. Windows can leave Slide Over by another window entering it, placing the window in fullscreen, dragging and holding it into the center of the display or the traffic lights and menu bar.[12]

In iPadOS 26.2, Apple added new gestures to create window tiling setups by dragging app icons from the dock to either outer edge of the display to tile to half the display’s size, the center of the display to open as a window or onto chevrons that appear to the left and right of the display to place a window in Slide Over.[13] If another window is in fullscreen or filled above the dock, it will reflow to enable a tiling layout. Users can minimize one app and maximize another by dragging the divider bar all the way over, causing the minimized window to open in fullscreen the next time it is invoked.[14] This addition is commonly referred to as the return of Split View, however, Apple does not refer to it as such as window tiling generally does not line up with Apple’s definition of a Split View.[15]

In iPadOS 26.4, Apple added gray outlines around windows should Dark Mode be enabled. These precisely follow the window’s outline, which fill in corners while tiling, so the outline will extend into the rounded corners of the display found in many iPad models. However, this is not addressed in 26.5.

Journal

The Journal app, previously available only on iOS, now has a dedicated iPadOS and macOS version, with the iPadOS version having support for the Apple Pencil stylus.[16]

Preview

iPadOS 26 now includes a Preview app, similar to its macOS counterpart, with Apple Pencil support for features such as markup.[17]

Local Capture

iPadOS can now record high-quality video and audio streams separately while using applications like video conferencing, which can be shared or used in podcasting editing applications.[18] The local capture is encoded as an MP4 file, using HEVC video and FLAC audio.[19]

Supported devices

iPadOS 26 requires an A12 chip or later. It drops support for the seventh-generation iPad, which has an A10 SoC.[20][21]

The third-generation iPad Air is the only supported iPad with a 10.5-inch display, while the fifth-generation iPad Mini is the only supported iPad with a 7.9-inch display. Both of these, along with the eighth-gen iPad, are the supported iPads with a white bezel that run iPadOS 26.

Certain older devices have limited features, such as Spatial Scenes requiring an Apple A14 chip or newer.

iPads that support iPadOS 26 are:

Device Chipset Release year Memory Supported Apple Intelligence support
iPad (8th generation) A12 2020 3 GB Yes No
iPad (9th generation) A13 2021 4 GB Yes No
iPad (10th generation) A14 2022 4 GB Yes No
iPad (A16) A16 2025 6 GB Yes No
iPad Mini (5th generation) A12 2019 3 GB Yes No
iPad Mini (6th generation) A15 2021 4 GB Yes No
iPad Mini (A17 Pro) A17 Pro 2024 8 GB Yes Yes
iPad Air (3rd generation) A12 2019 3 GB Yes No
iPad Air (4th generation) A14 2020 4 GB Yes No
iPad Air (5th generation) M1 2022 8 GB Yes Yes
iPad Air (M2) M2 2024 8 GB Yes Yes
iPad Air (M3) M3 2025 8 GB Yes Yes
iPad Air (M4) M4 2026 12 GB Yes Yes
iPad Pro (3rd generation) A12X 2018 4 GB or 6 GB Yes No
iPad Pro (4th generation) A12Z 2020 6 GB Yes No
iPad Pro (5th generation) M1 2021 8 GB or 16 GB Yes Yes
iPad Pro (6th generation) M2 2022 8 GB or 16 GB Yes Yes
iPad Pro (M4) M4 2024 8 GB or 16 GB Yes Yes
iPad Pro (M5) M5 2025 12 GB or 16 GB Yes Yes

Version history

The first developer beta of iPadOS 26 was released on June 9, 2025.

iPadOS 26 releases
Version Build Release date Notes
Unsupported: 26.0 23A8330 Preinstalled on iPad Pro (M5) models
23A341 September 15, 2025
Unsupported: 26.0.1 23A355 September 29, 2025
23A8464 October 15, 2025 iPad Pro (M5) models only
23A8466 October 21, 2025
Unsupported: 26.1 23B85 November 3, 2025
Unsupported: 26.2 23C55 December 12, 2025
Unsupported: 26.2.1 23C71 January 26, 2026 Support for AirTag 2
Unsupported: 26.3 23D127 February 11, 2026
Unsupported: 26.3.1 23D8133 March 4, 2026
Unsupported: 26.3.1 (a) 23D771330a March 17, 2026 Background Security Improvement
Unsupported: 26.4 23E246 March 24, 2026
Unsupported: 26.4.1 23E254 April 8, 2026
Unsupported: 26.4.2 23E261 April 22, 2026
Latest version: 26.5 23F77 May 11, 2026
Preview version: 26.6 beta 2 23G5043d June 15, 2026
Legend:
Unsupported
Latest version
Preview version

References

  1. ^ “Apple Releases iOS 26.5 and iPadOS 26.5 With End-to-End Encrypted RCS, New Wallpaper, and Maps Updates”. MacRumors. May 11, 2026. Retrieved May 11, 2026.
  2. ^ Clover, Juli (June 15, 2026). “Apple Seeds Second iOS 26.6 and iPadOS 26.6 Betas to Developers”. MacRumors. Retrieved June 15, 2026.
  3. ^ “iPadOS 26.6 beta 2 (23G5043d) – Releases”. Apple Developer. May 4, 2026. Retrieved June 15, 2026.
  4. ^ “There’s No Apple iOS 19: iPhone 17 To Have iOS 26 In Radical Change, Report Claims”. Forbes. May 30, 2025. Archived from the original on June 1, 2025. Retrieved June 2, 2025.
  5. ^ Christoffel, Ryan (June 9, 2025). “PSA: iPadOS 26 removes Split View and Slide Over multitasking features”. 9to5Mac. Archived from the original on June 9, 2025. Retrieved June 10, 2025.
  6. ^ “Interview: Craig Federighi Opens Up About iPadOS, Its Multitasking Journey, and the iPad’s Essence”. June 18, 2025. Archived from the original on June 20, 2025. Retrieved June 21, 2025.
  7. ^ “iOS 26: All the Little Changes”. MacRumors. June 9, 2025. Archived from the original on June 10, 2025. Retrieved June 10, 2025.
  8. ^ Pierce, David (June 9, 2025). “Apple launches iPadOS 26 with a new look and way better multitasking”. The Verge. Archived from the original on June 10, 2025. Retrieved June 10, 2025.
  9. ^ “Use the menu bar on iPad”. Apple Support. Apple Inc. Retrieved May 26, 2026.
  10. ^ “Elevate the design of your iPad app”. Apple Developer. Apple Inc. Retrieved May 26, 2026.
  11. ^ “About iPadOS 26 Updates – iPadOS 26.1”. Apple Support. Apple Inc. Retrieved May 26, 2026.
  12. ^ Clover, Juli (November 4, 2025). “Thank goodness Slide Over is back in iPadOS 26.1”. Cult of Mac. Retrieved May 26, 2026.
  13. ^ Clover, Juli (December 12, 2025). “Apple Releases iPadOS 26.2 With Multitasking Improvements”. MacRumors. Retrieved May 26, 2026.
  14. ^ “Multitask on iPad with iPadOS 26”. Apple Support. Apple Inc. Retrieved May 26, 2026.
  15. ^ “Split views”. Apple Developer. Apple Inc. Retrieved May 26, 2026.
  16. ^ “Journal App Finally Coming to Mac and iPad”. MacRumors. June 9, 2025. Archived from the original on June 10, 2025. Retrieved June 10, 2025.
  17. ^ “Apple is bringing Preview to iPadOS”. Engadget. June 9, 2025. Archived from the original on June 9, 2025. Retrieved June 10, 2025.
  18. ^ “How Local Capture immediately turns iPad into a podcasting studio”. AppleInsider. June 10, 2025. Archived from the original on June 18, 2025. Retrieved June 21, 2025.
  19. ^ “A few notes on iPadOS 26 audio and video capture”. Six Colors. June 20, 2025. Archived from the original on June 21, 2025. Retrieved June 21, 2025.
  20. ^ Cunningham, Andrew (June 9, 2025). “Apple drops support for just three iPhone and iPad models from iOS and iPadOS 26”. Ars Technica. Archived from the original on June 9, 2025. Retrieved June 10, 2025.
  21. ^ “iOS 26, iPadOS 26 Are Compatible With These iPhone and iPad Models”. Gadgets 360. June 10, 2025. Archived from the original on June 10, 2025. Retrieved June 10, 2025.