All iPads iPadOS Really Needs Its "Mac OS X" Release

[ric22]

They can at least give us multiple user accounts and a proper file system. Allowing dual boot iPadOS/MacOS would be great too on the Pro, to appease both camps. By the time you boost storage and buy the keyboard and pencil you're paying silly money and deserve some benefits.

 

[Ctrlos]

They can at least give us multiple user accounts and a proper file system. Allowing dual boot iPadOS/MacOS would be great too on the Pro, to appease both camps. By the time you boost storage and buy the keyboard and pencil you're paying silly money and deserve some benefits.

By the time you boost and buy the accessories you have remorse for not just buying an M1 MBA instead!

 

[SABunting]

I recently re-used an iPad after being off them since 2019 era when I last tried going 'iPad only'. I must say, along with the new Pencil, it's a great experience. The scribble feature is neat and handy when you already have the pen in hand. I used the trackpad / keyboard experience at the Apple Store too and wow, has that changed since the old days of hooking it up to a mouse using accessibility and having a very difficult experience.

I used to think personally that macOS on it would be amazing for me and others like the people on here - but that it would almost certainly relegate the iPad to Surface Pro / Go level appeal, appealing to only a small fragment of the market and completely alienating young kids and the elderly / tech hesitant who it strongly appeals to.

Apple could consider some deep hidden 'pro' switches in Settings, which once enabled, allows some more Mac like / desktop class features and complexity that is opt in, keeping the basic experience the same and simple.

 

[SABunting]

multiple user accounts and a proper file system

I'd love multiple user accounts on iPad! So far, it's so personal, that any time I pick up someone else's to do notes or something iPad only, I am bombarded with their personal iMessages / internet history etc. I think it'd be an easy feature for Apple to bring, but I hope they do a better job than they did on Apple TV... I change profiles on Apple TV, and very little of use changes!

As for a proper file system, I think it's fine so far. If it was just more reliable with external drives and didn't crash so much when zipping / unzipping files would be most welcome.

I recently bought an S24 Ultra and tried moving my stuff across, and I've gotta tell you, Samsung Files / Android files is a LOT more 'mobile phone' feeling than the current Files app. I always had the impression that Android was 'ahead' of Apple / iOS in this way but after experiencing it I think not. It also lacks a lot of desktop class apps like Affinity's apps etc to open and make use of many files.

 

[eltoslightfoot]

I used to think personally that macOS on it would be amazing for me and others like the people on here - but that it would almost certainly relegate the iPad to Surface Pro / Go level appeal, appealing to only a small fragment of the market and completely alienating young kids and the elderly / tech hesitant who it strongly appeals to.

Again, allowing MacOS on the iPad Pro/Ultra (or whatever they would call this theoretical top-end iPad that costs as much as a macbook and iPad together) would not stop them from keeping iPadOS on every other iPad. In fact, it would allow them to shove the power users that complain about Stage Manager and all the other remaining limitations on to that new MacOS iPad Ultra and leave the iPadOS lovers alone.

In fact, even if they suddenly allowed MacOS on every single M-series iPad Pro, it would not stop them from continuing iPadOS alongside it--in fact, they would have to. So, in summary, Mac on iPad Pros does not necessitate a move in any way away from iPadOS for the elderly and children.

 

[SABunting]

Again, allowing MacOS on the iPad Pro/Ultra (or whatever they would call this theoretical top-end iPad that costs as much as a macbook and iPad together) would not stop them from keeping iPadOS on every other iPad. In fact, it would allow them to shove the power users that complain about Stage Manager and all the other remaining limitations on to that new MacOS iPad Ultra and leave the iPadOS lovers alone.

In fact, even if they suddenly allowed MacOS on every single M-series iPad Pro, it would not stop them from continuing iPadOS alongside it--in fact, they would have to. So, in summary, Mac on iPad Pros does not necessitate a move in any way away from iPadOS for the elderly and children.

I think macOS would need a lot of work to even work as well as Windows 10 / 11 in its 'tablet mode'. And a lot of folks who are PC / Windows fans don't seem to rate tablet mode very well on Windows. I haven't tried it myself but it seems to me, even with a good tablet mode on macOS, a lot of the macOS gem apps / software we run, won't be optimised or usable, at best, perhaps a convoluted experience.

Although some of us would persevere and still appreciate the fact it's possible, I can't see Apple delivering it as a marketable feature for it to deliver a lacklustre experience. Nothing Apple does is really like that, sure, there are things everyday users will never venture into like Shortcuts, but that has a level of polish to it. If a 'normie' were to stumble upon macOS mode on their iPad, and the experience felt unfinished, I think Apple would see that as a serious blow to overall opinion on its brand. I hope that makes sense

 

[Macalway]

I doubt Mac OS, but now that emulation for games is allowed, i'm wondering if this may tie into a Bootcamp for iPad, or a deal with Parallels.

MS may want Arm Windows on as many things as possible, to gain user base. I use it with Parallels, and it's functional, although drivers can be an issue. It would be really cool on an iPad.

Then again, it's possible Apple has secretly worked out a touch Mac OS. It would be a great project, but could they keep it secret this long?

 

[rkuo]

I think macOS would need a lot of work to even work as well as Windows 10 / 11 in its 'tablet mode'. And a lot of folks who are PC / Windows fans don't seem to rate tablet mode very well on Windows. I haven't tried it myself but it seems to me, even with a good tablet mode on macOS, a lot of the macOS gem apps / software we run, won't be optimised or usable, at best, perhaps a convoluted experience.

Although some of us would persevere and still appreciate the fact it's possible, I can't see Apple delivering it as a marketable feature for it to deliver a lacklustre experience. Nothing Apple does is really like that, sure, there are things everyday users will never venture into like Shortcuts, but that has a level of polish to it. If a 'normie' were to stumble upon macOS mode on their iPad, and the experience felt unfinished, I think Apple would see that as a serious blow to overall opinion on its brand. I hope that makes sense

I don't see a lot of people here asking for macOS to work in tablet mode. Keyboard and trackpad/mouse is fine as a requirement. Hiding macOS from "normies" or gating it behind higher spec iPad's is also fine.

 

[Yebubbleman]

Mac OS was great pre-Mac OS X. Revolutionized personal computing. Did wonders for Windows and Linux as well. But it had inherent limitations that inhibited further advancement of the Mac platform. Mac OS X overcame all that and basically revolutionized personal computing all over again. It was a massive advancement for the Mac and for every desktop computing platform out there.

iPadOS, for all its faults, is still a fantastic tablet operating system. Has been great since iPhone Software 3.2 on the original iPad. But it has inherent limitations that limit what it can do as a computer. Again, I'd argue that on every iPad still rocking an A-series Apple SoC inside, this is still fantastic as those iPads are perfectly marketed to iPadOS's capabilities as they are today. But, for M-series iPads and for the kinds of experiences Apple markets those products as being able to do (e.g. Editing seriously in Final Cut Pro, running multiple Apps at once, effectively replacing one's PC Ultrabook or MacBook Air as their next computer, etc.), there's room for more capability.

This doesn't require macOS on the iPad in any capacity. Nor am I advocating for anything even remotely like that.

If it requires iPadOS to fork off a iPadProOS, ProOS, iPadOS Pro, or anything of a similar sort, then, honestly, cool. Leave the media consumption use cases to the standard A-series iPads; standard, mini, some incarnation of "Air" (whatever that means for iPads in the present era). Overhaul the capabilities of iPadOS on M-series iPads; give it multi-user support, give it desktop-class multi-tasking from top to bottom, Terminal and Disk Utility support, Xcode (if Final Cut Pro can come to M-series iPads, why not Xcode?). Support for desktop-class extensibility using the same frameworks macOS has (again, without making this all just macOS on iPad).

Steve Jobs originally saw the iPad as the thing that fills the gap between smartphone and computer. I can say from experience that, while some multi-iPad configurations make less sense than others, the mini and the 12.9-inch Pro have each proved that even in between iPad and phone and in between iPad and computer, there's still room for yet other flavors of computing. I'm not too sure what can be done to further perfect what exists between normal/mid-sized iPads and smartphones (e.g. the iPad mini), there's PLENTY that can be done to further perfect everything between that and a computer.