iPadOS 26 with 2018 iPad Pro

[pdaholic]

I’ve been using the developer beta on my old iPad Pro 11” from 2018 and not only is it surprising that Apple is updating a 7 year old iPad, but that the new operating system is running surprisingly well. I had some slight stuttering with scrolling initially, but it seems smoother now. The bookmarks bar in safari is also not functioning when I tap it. Battery life was terrible before the update (I pretty much have to leave it plugged in), so no surprises there. Windowing is nice, but I’m pretty much setting up everything to use like before with slide-over—my two most used apps, dropbox and safari take half the screen each, and all my lesser used apps are hidden and in the smaller size. I’ll miss slide-over but I guess we just have to accept the new. It’s crazy how much the menu bar is like MacOS. The “glass” interface just overall seems bland to me. The new plain/rounded user elements in apps contrast with the seemingly “shimmering” folders and apps in the dock.

If you’ve got an old 2018 device that’s not your main device, it’s worth giving the beta a go. I’ll update if anything disastrous occurs!

 

[eclipse01]

nice, i was wondering this so thank you!

 

[pdaholic]

Just to update, the bookmarks bar in safari started working. I’ve not had a springboard crash, and it is running fairly smoothly. I’m trying to deal with the loss of slide-over. I wish there was an option to keep the dock onscreen at all times like in macOS. I’m still debating if I want to install on m4 and iPad mini!

 

[Bacasable]

Ho, Thanks for your try, I wondered the same test for my iPad Pro 2020.

It’s my main tool for vidéo editing, so I will wait the 26.1 release in septembre, to avoid issue

 

[Isamilis]

OP, thanks so much for the report. Are you able to run geekbench (or other benchmark) and see how the cpu performance difference with the previous version? I am concerned how much CPU extra required for the liquid glass interface.

 

[pdaholic]

OP, thanks so much for the report. Are you able to run geekbench (or other benchmark) and see how the cpu performance difference with the previous version? I am concerned how much CPU extra required for the liquid glass interface.

Hey hey—I just ran a Geekbench 6 CPU test and uploaded the results. I’ll link it here in a sec…

iPad Pro (11-inch) - Geekbench

Benchmark results for an iPad Pro (11-inch) with an Apple A12X Bionic processor.

browser.geekbench.com

 

[pdaholic]

Another update after quite a bit of time using the 2018 iPP 11” with iPadOS 26…
I found a way to make the iPad freeze by swiping up and going to expose, then swiping up again to go to the homescreen. If I swipe left or right it will come out of it without a springboard crash.

Other than that bug, it’s working extremely well. Battery life has been on par with iOS18. I’ve been using it quite a bit without being plugged-in. It’s also running cool, no overheating.

My greatest discovery has been that the dock will actually stay visible if you make all the windows small enough. Having the dock open with all the windows in positions/shapes you want is a game changer for efficiency on the iPad. You can flip quickly between apps by just tapping on the dock, no more swiping up to see the dock each time. I’m…actually…loving it!

 

[lint2015]

Do you know if they enabled monitor as second display on older iPad Pros (and other iPad models) or is that still limited to M-series iPads, with the rest still stuck with screen mirroring?

 

[pdaholic]

Do you know if they enabled monitor as second display on older iPad Pros (and other iPad models) or is that still limited to M-series iPads, with the rest still stuck with screen mirroring?

I don’t have an external monitor to test it, but I read two people report on Reddit that the 2018 iPP still doesn’t support extended display.