iPad iPad multitasking thoughts

[Abazigal]

This is working well, thank you for reminding this.
I was initially hoping this would work on the app switcher.

For now, I just get all the apps on my dock for easy access to drag and split view. Leaving my home screen empty like on desktop computers, only showing the always stay widgets.

I have tried this but found it cumbersome to have to keep opening a folder in order to launch an app. Shame because I find the concept alluring but have never gotten comfortable with it.

 

[The Game 161]

I wish they added a 3rd window but i use spilt screen pretty much a large part of the day...on a 12.9 iPad Pro i think it is very useful. Would i use it on a phone? Sure but not to the level i use it on the iPad so from this part of multitasking i really enjoy.

 

[secretk]

I do not use multitasking on iPad. First of all for me multitasking is much more than using two apps in the same time. It is about running multiple processes in the same time and this is something I cannot do on an iPad. I hardly call multitasking things like split screen. This is way too basic and even on 12.9 inch iPad would not bring a lot to me as I like to use multiple monitors.

As a whole I find iOS gestures not intuitive at all. Have in mind that I bought my first iOS device just 2 and half years ago. So I had to learn basically those gestures at once by reading articles online. Definitely not OK with this. Furthermore some gestures are way too similar and I trigger the wrong ones (for example the gesture to go home screen and to see dock are quite similar).

And btw if I had not read in Internet I would have never even found that these gestures are possible and what they can do. It really is not that intuitive or natural. I would not be surprised if a lot of iPad users do not even have an idea about those things.

To sum up - I rarely use those gestures. Both because I trigger the wrong ones half of the time and because it does not bring that much value for me. The moment I really need to use two apps in the same time I just open my laptop, hook up the external screen and use the bigger screen real estate and keyboard. I would appreciate far more being able to watch a movie while exporting a movie in iMovie for example. That I like and need far more than being able to open two apps in split screen.

 

[xxray]

I like it. My only qualm is having to exit the app that I’m in to open the app I want in multitasking (if it‘s not in the dock), just to get it in the “recently opened apps” part of the dock, just so I can go back into the original app I had open and finally use multitasking with the new app. So cumbersome.

 

[paulmeyers42]

I like it. My only qualm is having to exit the app that I’m in to open the app I want in multitasking (if it‘s not in the dock), just to get it in the “recently opened apps” part of the dock, just so I can go back into the original app I had open and finally use multitasking with the new app. So cumbersome.

The “cmd-space” trick to find the other app is useful here. It’s still kinda clunky but faster than the what you described.

 

[ApfelKuchen]

I like the multitasking too, but my HOPE is that with the emergence of Apple Silicon that the iPad will basically turn into a touchscreen Mac. I get that the iPad was created for a different niche and all that (please, I'm not trying to incite any arguments there), but sometimes you just want a device that can do it all. With Apple Silicon, I TRULY believe that Apple can do it across the different platforms it has.

I say this not as a jaded iPad user, but I love my iPad Pro, more than any of my Apple devices. It's just that at the end of the day, I don't want to work around compromises anymore. I want desktop level apps on iPad and desktop level multitasking (and many of you have listed other wants/needs). Then I can eliminate some of the devices I have.

Of course, I'm sure that's not Cook's intent or desire, but all these teases that Apple releases with "What is a computer?" and Apple Silicon sure makes me think that they are more than capable of merging the lines and giving a desktop experience on the iPad (Pro).

I'm sure that we will see desktop-level apps on iPad, because universal apps are just that. While initially the big "party" will be getting all my iOS/iPadOS apps on my Apple Silicon Mac, that ship sails both ways. Mac apps developed for Apple Silicon can/will run on iPad.

As to Mac "multitasking" migrating to iPad? I seriously doubt it. This isn't about product differentiation, it's about user interface design based on the dimensions and constraints of the operating environment.

Technically speaking, we're not discussing multitasking (running multiple apps simultaneously), but the user interface that supports having more than one app/window open on-screen at the same time.

I can't begin to imagine the kind of undisciplined, open-windows-all-over-the-place, layer-upon-layer chaos I allow myself on a 27" Mac to work well on a 12.9" (or smaller) iPad display. Back when I had laptops (Windows and Mac), managing open windows/apps was a serious chore - I was always re-arranging - dragging windows around, resizing, etc. Slide-over and split view on iPad are definitely more disciplined/constrained than that, but I find that helpful rather than restricting.

Now that iPadOS supports switching between workspaces it's little different than using multiple Mac desktops - there's not much practical difference between Mac's Mission Control and App Exposé/App Switcher on iPad. Should the day come when iPad supports a second display, I'm sure the iPadOS interface will adapt in a useful way.

I don't use Mac's Full Screen mode on my 27" iMac (except accidentally). It's clearly designed to aid users of smaller screens - hide the Menu bar and Dock until they're needed to give the app's primary workspace as much room as possible. Don't you think this is very iOS-like? Basically, the smaller the display, the more useful it is to have a single app full screen.

I don't ever expect to see the Mac's Menu bar on iOS - a touchscreen device should not be menu-driven, even if the fraction of users who have physical keyboards might appreciate it. For them, perhaps the system could reveal those menus if the user so desires - but developers do have to put the extra work in to support it).

However, iPadOS has embraced Mac's Dock - it is graphical/touch-friendly, and a natural extension of traditional iOS. But I don't expect iPadOS to ever allow an always-present Dock due to available screen space.

Overall, I expect there will continue to be cross-pollination between the OSes, but so long as fundamentals such as display size and touchscreen separate them, I expect each OS to accept its natural boundaries. There are undoubtedly many iPad/iOS users who were never Mac users, so anything iPadOS adopts from Mac has to be done in a way that extends from the iPadOS/iOS UI language and traditions.