Initial Thoughts on iPadOS 26

Watching the iPadOS 26 reveal at this year's WWDC, I found myself thinking a familiar thought: maybe this year will be the year that I start doing work on the iPad. Notions of opening an iPad Pro on my bus commute into the city and powering through documents, or traveling with just my iPad, began to percolate, finally resizing windows and overlaying them to my heart's content.

But then reality started to sync in, and then the next familiar feeling: I've been here before. With Split View, desktop class webpages, Stage Manager, and countless other features Apple has brought to iPad over the years that initially excited me, the excitement dims as I push against two fundamental truths that Apple can't solve with new desktop-class features alone.

First, the apps I use aren't as powerful and useful to me on iPad. Slack, Superhuman, Asana, Arc (while it lasts), are just better on desktop for the way I prefer to use them.

Second, is mobility. An iPad Pro with Magic Keyboard is .62 lbs lighter than my 13" MacBook Air. While not nothing, for that extra .62 lbs I'm getting 2" more of screen real estate and all of my desktop class apps.

Maybe if developers choose to invest more in the iPad this year I would reconsider this tradeoff, but given the state of Apple developer relations these days, I'm not banking on that happening.

After years of trying to work on the iPad, I've accepted that the iPad is an ideal content consumption for me, especially the iPad mini, which is the perfect size and weight for throwing into my backpack without weighing me down, or for catching up on my RSS feeds at a small coffee shop table.

Look, I'm thrilled that Apple is finally giving iPad power users what they want. But without app developers along for the ride, I'm not yet convinced I'll be pulling out an iPad Pro and that aforementioned daily bus ride.

What do you think of iPad OS 26? Let me know in the comments below or on BlueSky.