Review: iPadOS 26 finally made me an iPad person

Usually, when you hear about Liquid Glass, Apple's new design language, you hear about it in the context of iOS and iPhones. I get it — there are 1 billion active iPhones on Earth, including mine. But Liquid Glass isn't just coming to your Apple phone. Our Macs, iPads, Apple Watches, and TVs are also getting the design upgrade. And in my testing, you can really appreciate the subtleties of the fluid new look on the larger iPad screen.

But iPadOS 26 doesn't just put a futuristic new face on your tablet. It also arrives with critical new features like multitasking and windowing that make your iPad more like a laptop than ever before.

I've been testing out the iPadOS 26 beta ahead of its official launch today (it's available as a free software upgrade for all compatible iPads). I'm ready to share my thoughts on what works, what really works, and what's still a work in progress. I tested iPadOS 26 using an 11-inch iPad Air (M3) provided by Apple for this review.

Liquid Glass is gorgeous, and it shines on the iPad

Apple introduced Liquid Glass at WWDC 2025, and at the time, I wrote about the divisive initial reaction. (Side note: What isn't divisive in 2025? Nothing, I'm afraid.) If you were worried about Liquid Glass, let me put you at ease — it looks phenomenal, and it operates as smooth as, well, glass.

Per Apple, Liquid Glass "combines the optical qualities of glass with a fluidity only Apple can achieve." What does that mean? Core elements of the user interface are now translucent and expressive, so when objects overlap or interact, new liquid-like animations cause a transparent light effect, as if you're looking through glass or water. It's never distracting, and often quite beautiful. The Control Center, Lock Screen, Camera, Preview, and other tools all look a touch more futuristic now.

I haven't experienced any lag with the subtle animations that occur when different widgets or icons meet at the edges. Liquid Glass also makes the simplest interactions a lot more satisfactory. In the updated camera app, switching between Photo, Video, Pano, and other settings causes the text to bend and refract.

I'm also a big fan of the new lock screen customization options. And while the translucent control center required some troubleshooting on iPhones, I've had no problems on the iPad.

Liquid Glass is the biggest update to Apple's visual aesthetic in 10 years, and for this tech editor, it's a success. While a lot of people are questioning the design of the new orange iPhone 17 Pro, for me, Liquid Glass feels more Jobs-ian, if you know what I mean.

iPad introduces Windows. No, not that Windows.

Sorry, I meant "Windowing," not Windows, as in Windows 11.

Yes, iPadOS 26 brings the ability to group apps in discrete windows, which can be dragged, expanded, and moved as you like. It's a neat trick for a tablet, and combined with multitasking, truly transforms the iPad into a MacBook-like device. So much so that I could see it sparking an existential crisis of sorts for some Apple users who previously owned both devices. Again, simply use your finger or the Magic Keyboard's trackpad, and you can easily organize your windows on the display. Gesture controls are also an option, though they come with a learning curve (more on that soon).

With multitasking, you can now view and use multiple apps and widgets simultaneously. Keep Google Docs open as you browse the web and ask ChatGPT for ideas. Or bring up the Notes app to jot down reminders while you watch a video. Use Apple Pencil to draw something on your tablet while you watch a tutorial video on an external display.

When I set up my iPad Air with the Magic Keyboard case and my external display, it really felt like using my MacBook, except the iPad is much easier to travel with and move from room to room. In fact, the iPad Air's M3 chip is actually significantly better than my work laptop's M1 chip. It's enough to make my old MacBook sick with jealousy.

This is also going to be phenomenally useful for pro-level power users on the M4 iPad Pro. I know video editors who depend on that iPad's advanced screen for video editing, and these iPadOS 26 upgrades will make it much easier to use your iPad in professional situations. A new Background Tasks feature will let you access other apps while a large video file exports in the background, for instance. So, for power users, artists, creative professionals, and productivity-minded folks, iPadOS 26 is one of the biggest updates to the iPad in years.

Of course, this existential crisis cuts both ways. If your iPad is basically a MacBook, and you already have a MacBook, do you really need an iPad? For users who like to use their iPad for streaming, gaming, and chatting, these new features will be overkill. I suspect that work is the last thing some users want to do on their iPad. Still, even for these users, iPadOS 26 has some cool new features.

The new Files, Preview, and Menu Bar

If you're going to use your iPad more like a laptop, then you need a better way to access and organize your files. So, it's no surprise that iPadOS 26 comes with a new Files app. It's much easier to find files saved on your iPad and iCloud. A new list view, customizable folders, and the ability to drag files into apps in the Dock all work together here for a better UX.

On top of that, literally, are more features that will be familiar to Mac users. When you have an app like Chrome or Preview open, you can swipe down and reveal a full Menu Bar, where you can access the File, Edit, View, Window, and Help drop-downs you're used to accessing on laptops. Likewise, the red, yellow, green navigation bubbles that appear on the upper left of a window are now on iPad, letting you minimize and expand apps with a tap of your finger.

You can also use this to quickly organize your screen. Right-click, and you'll see options that let you fill the left, right, bottom, or top half of your screen with the app. This didn't always work perfectly — it's one of the few issues I found with the beta version of iPadOS 26, but on the whole, it works well. You can even use gestures to organize your screen.

The Preview tool contains one of the coolest Liquid Glass animations, with a spyglass that zooms in on the screen and your files. It also has more practical tools for working with PDFs and creating images.

What else is new with iPadOS 26?

There are a lot of new features Apple wants iPad users to know about, some of which are more helpful than others for me personally. The much-discussed Live Translation tool is also available on iPads (in the Phone, FaceTime, and Messages apps), though Mashable is still in the process of testing this Apple Intelligence feature. I will say that based on what I've seen, Apple is still playing catch-up with Google Pixel's live translation tools, but that's now a familiar story for Apple's AI tools.

Ditto the new options in Image Playground, where you can create images, edit photos, and make custom Genmoji. I played around with this tool, but to be honest, don't have much use for it in my day-to-day life. If I need to use an AI image generator or editor, I'll go straight to ChatGPT, Midjourney, or Gemini, and I don't know that I've ever felt like I needed more emoji options. Still, I could see my parents having a lot of fun with this toolkit. My nieces and nephews also love playing around with photo and video filters, and I could see them creating all sorts of fun Genmoji creations (with their cool Uncle Tim's help, of course).

Other new features include:

• Shortcuts: You can create new automations that tap into Apple Intelligence.

• Phone: Your iPad isn’t just more like a Mac; with iPadOS 26, the Phone app comes to iPad.

• Apple Music: You can now translate lyrics and use Apple Intelligence to seamlessly transition between songs, DJ-style

• Gaming: An all-new Games app provides a better gaming experience; an overlay tool lets you adjust settings without leaving the game

• Audio recording: For professionals who need to capture audio, you have more tools for recording sound.

iPadOS 26 takes some practice

My only real quibble with iPadOS 26 is that it has a bit of a learning curve, which is to be expected. It's not just the new tools and features, however. If iPadOS 26 inspires you to use your tablet more like a laptop, then you'll have to unlearn some movements and muscle memory. When I connected the iPad to my external monitor and Magic Keyboard, my hands kept wanting to treat it like my MacBook, and I'd have to remember that iPadOS runs a little differently than macOS. The new gestures and swipes needed to properly use the new windowing, organization, and Menu Bar features also take some practice.

For technophiles like myself, that's fine. But I'm also thinking of my mother-in-law, who uses her iPad every day to play Wordle and The Sims. I think she'll have a harder time adjusting to all the new tools and may need a bit more of a tutorial than Apple provides.

Here's my final verdict: On the whole, iPadOS 26 makes the iPad a more formidable and versatile gadget. That would be enough of an upgrade on its own, but combined with the beautiful new design elements of Liquid Glass, iPadOS 26 represents a big leap forward.

You can learn more about iPadOS 26 at the Apple website. To access the free upgrade on your iPad, go to Settings > General > Software Updates.