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iPad Why does iPadOS not feel like true OS?
- Thread starter Bubble99
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A. iPadOS does support swap memory. (And has for many years now).
B. Background apps can very easily be forced to restart by swiping them closed…
I have noticed this problem getting worse with iPadOS 26, I don't know it it's partly due to
- the beta
- to me not realizing that I am using the iPad more
- to iPadOS 26 using more resources/keeping more stuff open and therefore reloading more
but my tabs in both Safari and Brave have been reloading as if I have a 4GB RAM device... And contrary to Android you cannot prioritize apps when it comes to RAM or battery management.
Issue is I don't know if 16GB RAM would do any better, as my 16GB iPad is on iPadOS 16 in order to be able to run Windows
Probably not in the way most people (and you) think... When Apple introduce Swap to disk they said it was to allow apps that request it to use up to 16GB RAM on M series iPads. Those apps need to specifically request an exception to Apple. And it was never said it was an OS level thing like it is on Windows or MacOS... And given how much things are reloading on 26 and even on 18, I believe it's far from being a OS feature like on desktop OSs...
Do you mean on iPadOS 26 or also on earlier versions?
I haven’t experienced any such issues on either my old 11” M1 iPad Pro (with 8GB RAM), or my new 13” M4 iPad Pro (also 8GB RAM). Both I run RAM intensive apps on all the time, including graphic design apps, tons of tabs in Safari, 3D modeling/sculpting apps, etc. Both are running the iPadOS 26 beta. My guess is you’re probably encountering a bug. 👍🏻
I think it’s definitely an OS-level thing, I even see a section for it in iPad Storage. And I don’t know if swap memory enables apps to use more than 16GB RAM or not, but I can’t see why any app should require more than that. Especially when most iPads ship with 8GB RAM, and the highest configuration is 16GB. But swap memory is definitely an OS feature, and it’s not like developers need to go through a complex process to utilize it, they literally just add it as an entitlement in their app. Many app functions are already based on entitlements. It’s not like they have to jump through a ton of hoops or anything.
I mean also on earlier versions. 👍🏻
I have 4 M Series iPad pros, and leaving aside the 16GB RAM one which has to stay on iPadOS 15 for the reasons mentioned above, I have a M1, M2 and M4 all with 8GB RAM. M1 is in beta, while the other 2 are on iPadOS 18, and honestly I see too many tab reloads (and I don't use dozens of tabs, only 7-8, although RAM heavy ones like desktop youtube and gmail) to believe for a second that this is a bug.
Currently I am holiday and I have my M1 on with 26, and using whatsapp, safari with less than 10 tabs and Brave with 1-2 tabs, plus outlook and gmail apps, notes, dropbox, maps, voice dream reader, files, I have constant browsers reloads (all tabs), far from a swap experience I have on desktop..
So I can only say we have a very difference experience...
It was never meant to use more than 16GB, they said 16GB on both 8 and 16GB RAM devices.
Again based on my experience I disagree with you, and there is no way to say who is right as Apple have never given details
And like I said, how does it matter if there’s a 16GB limit per app or not? It’s still a system OS-level feature that shows usage in the iPad Storage stats. Any app can use it if needed. And the vast majority of apps, even pro apps like video editing apps, 3D modeling/sculpting apps, etc. don’t really need more RAM than that. That would be akin to a single app using the entire native RAM available on a base-spec Mac. Even Mac apps shouldn’t be that aggressive with memory usage…
I literally tend to have 30+ tabs open in Safari, and I often run Affinity apps with at least a dozen open projects in each, plus other system apps like Mail, Notes, etc. I never run into anything feeling sluggish. Some of my oldest, least-used web tabs may be binned, but it really doesn’t matter, because tabs load up very fast. I really don’t understand why some people seem like it’s the worst thing to ever happen if a tab gets binned (not saying you’re one of those people), but seriously, it’s practically irrelevant either way, because it takes very little time for a tab to reload. And even with all the RAM heavy apps I run, I don’t ever really notice any tabs having to reload, unless they’re ones I opened days ago.
I think we can agree on this point: this doesn’t make the iPad “not a full-fledged computer” as the commenter I was responding to claimed. The iPad is fully capable of the computing needs of probably the majority of people out there, and even niche power users like myself. It is a computer. It just doesn’t run a legacy desktop OS. Some see this as a downside, but I actually view this as a plus. It isn’t weighed down by all the legacy thinking and code that plagues desktop OSes. It’s far more modernized, and provides a core simplicity and intuitive interaction paradigms that legacy desktop OSes almost completely lack…
Here's all I could find in Apple's directions for devs:
https://developer.apple.com/library...tual/ManagingMemory/Articles/AboutMemory.html
I only said it because you said "more than 16GB", possibly misreading what I had written earlier
1st, I don't see any variation in storage, but I'll check more often now, 2nd that may be due to some RAM intensive apps using this feature, this is no proof of it being a system wide thing
I am indeed one of those people and I have no issue with it, but not for the reasons you think. Why? Because I use browsers for youtube. I don't want the youtube apps with ads. And reloading an app means losing where a was in a youtube video. Same with TV apps, you lose where you had paused when they reload, because you had been using other apps in the meantime. I don't care how fast tabs reload, I don't want them to ever reload for lack of RAM, like on MacOS or Windows. And sometimes they reload after less than 1 hours, when I have used other apps in the meantime. So no, it's very relevant for me. Is this better on 16GB RAM? Not even sure... My 16GB iPad reloads tabs too...but that's an old version of iPadOS so let's not consider it...
We can partially agree, it's not this that makes it "not a computer", but it's a limiting factor for some uses. Also not running legacy apps can be a big issue for me. Especially MS Office, which I use a lot and which is too limited on iPad. iPadOS is no longer the real issue, despite memory swap not behaving like on MacOS and Windows in my experience, the issue is that some (not niche) apps I use a lot, like Word, are too limited. And some (more niche) apps are absent (and for them remote desktop is the only solution, assuming you have access to internet all the time).
I wish I could just go on holiday with just my iPad, but no, I have to take my thinkpad too, because I have a business and some clients need me even when on holidays sometimes (everyone does whatever they want with their holidays etc before someone comes and say you should never work on holidays)
I was trying to say that I don’t know for sure whether or not Apple allows developers to use more than 16GB of RAM for apps, so you could be correct that Apple limits it to 16GB RAM. 👍🏻 But even if they do limit it to 16GB RAM, I think that makes total sense, as there really should be no reason for one app to use the entire RAM of the base model 16GB Mac…
I read the developer resources about that, as well as the public info about the virtual memory swap system when it was introduced. And because I was running closer to the limits of my storage, I watched my storage more closely, and would notice my storage use ease up when I closed out more of the older open apps I wasn’t using. It’s within the category of “System Data”. 👍🏻
I have an M1 Mac Mini with 8GB RAM, and an M1 iPad Pro with 8GB RAM. The 8GB M1 Mac Mini bins old web tabs as well. In both cases, I’ve never had either bin a tab that I left to go do something else for an hour or so, it’s usually if it’s a day or so for me. And neither seem particularly more aggressive about binning tabs than the other. Maybe you’re comparing with your experience with Macs with more RAM? I don’t know, I’m just saying that for me, I’ve never noticed any substantial difference either way in this regard. Maybe I’m the outlier. 🤷🏼♂️
I’m not saying there aren’t any potential limiting factors for others, but I think every computer will have limiting factors that prevent some people from using it as their primary device. For me, macOS has several limiting factors that would pretty much prevent me from moving over to a Mac without making a ton of major compromises in my use-case. I understand there are people in the reverse position of me, who would have to make several compromises to move to an iPad. But that doesn’t mean the iPad isn’t a real computer. Linux doesn’t have native MS Office at all (has web version, but so does iPad). But Linux computers are still obviously real computers. And it’s the same with the iPad. The iPad is a real computer, and it has its pros and cons just like any other computer system. 👍🏻. Also, I will note here, that MS Office doesn’t lack functionality due to iPadOS or anything in Apple’s control, it lacks functionality because Microsoft basically wants it to lack functionality. That’s why even the Mac version of MS Office lacks a ton of functionality as well. Because Microsoft wants to use MS Office for platform lock-in on Windows. So no matter what Apple does with iPadOS (or macOS), Microsoft will probably never provide the same range of functionality on Apple’s platform as on Windows unless there’s some serious market pressure or something to force them to do so. Apple can’t do anything about that. Same with other niche apps that aren’t available, if the developers of those apps don’t want to port to the iPad (which Apple even provides a whole bunch of tools to simplify that process, and it becomes a simpler process every year), nobody can force them. That doesn’t mean the iPad isn’t a real computer… I guess that’s just what I’m trying to say. 👍🏻
I'll look into this more closely.
Yes, my M1 Mac Mini has 16GB RAM and my previous youtube machine in my kitchen (a 12" Macbook, now replaced by a Surface pro 11) had also with 16GB RAM and they could stay months without reloading a single youtube videos with a dozen open at some point...
To be honest even my 8GB RAM 12" Macbook hardly ever reloaded tabs and just crashed or freezed after weeks of many tabs opens. Very different experience with iPadOS. In the past 8GB iPads used to reload after days. More recently they reload a lot more, and I don't know if that's due to 18 and 26 taking more RAM or to the fact that I am using them a lot more than in the past. Why? Because since whatsapp was made available for iPad I can use my laptops and desktop less, since part of my work involves using whatsapp a lot. So while at it I do many other things as well, and not just youtube like in the past.
I think a lot of this "is it a computer" or even "is it a tablet" would need some agreed-upon definitions that do not exist. For instance, what is a tablet? Is a surface pro a tablet? Tecnically yes, but not a good one, and some people say it's not a tablet, it's just a laptop with a detachable screen. Some people also associate computer with laptops and desktops. And is an iPad a computer? Absolultely, unless by computer you mean a device that runs what people consider a desktop OS (Windows, MacOS and Linux). I am not part of these people. For me a computer is whatever has a physical keyboard and a large enough screen. Very subjective definition (by which the mini is less of a computer, but could be turned into one with some third party accessories, while still not being great at that, because of screen size, screen mirroring on external display etc). But can we say that an iPad is a laptop? I guess many people would say no, it's a tablet. And then the associate computer with a laptop (or desktop) and not a tablet. Biased ideas, but that's where all these debates come from...
I can definitely do much more of my work and leasure on an iPad than on a Linux device. And to be honest I can do more even on an Android tablet than on a Linux laptop.
Can I do everything I need on an iPad? No. Because I need Windows for some apps. On a Mac? Technically yes, because it can run Windows virtualized (technically I have one iPad with Windows virtualized but that's an exception and there are limitations, like I cannot run external displays).
About Office and Apple I totally agree with you, that's on Microsoft. And about niche apps, the developers never bothered to make a Mac app, let alone an iPad one.
But I still blame Apple in part. They have gone out of their way to prevent virtulization on iPadOS, as I have explained in past comments. Without that "hostility" I could really make iPad pro my main or even only device...
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The "what is a computer" discussion gets ridiculous. I'm a retired s/w & h/w engineer with my start back in '71. Even with a reasonably light definition of a computer as one with a physical keyboard and a large enough screen, I didn't work with a computer for many years early on, something I would certainly not agree with.
Yeah, I think the discussion about whether or not the iPad is a “real computer” or not is often full of subjective assumptions and definitions. And I think that’s where the problem ultimately lies. And personally, I would say that if a Surface Pro can be fairly classified as a tablet with a detachable keyboard, that an iPad plus keyboard case could be classified as a laptop with a detachable display. At least I think that would only be fair. 👍🏻
I agree about Linux it’s too limited for me as well. I considered Linux when switching from Windows, but there are just not a lot of common apps natively on Linux. Linux is great for certain workflows and usecases, but not really my creative workflows.
So I somewhat agree with you on virtualization, though I also understand why Apple is hesitant on this. Now with apps like UTM SE, Windows emulation is actually possible. I even got a Windows 7 VM running smoothly on my M1 iPad Pro. I intend to eventually test a Windows 10 or 11 VM on my new iPad, now that I have enough extra storage. My results with Windows 7 were perfectly fine. The only things missing from virtualization/emulation on iPadOS are HyperVisor access, and JIT. But both pose serious security/privacy concerns for the system. Unless Apple made a generic JIT layer specifically for emulation, opening this to third-party developers would essentially bypass every single security and privacy measure in the system. Apps could A. add new code (possibly including malware) into the app after it’s been scanned for malware by Apple’s system, defeating the whole point of scanning it. And B. it would likely allow apps to access anything on the system outside of its own container, another major security/privacy risk. This would pose major potential security concerns. Perhaps Apple could come up with a creative solution to these issues. Maybe they could create an official emulation JIT framework that third-party apps could tap into (likely essentially impossible for Apple to do unless it focused on specific software platforms, which would be impractical). Perhaps there’s other solutions. But the security concerns are definitely real. And developers of emulators are successfully implementing alternatives to JIT. Interpreters are becoming more advanced and sophisticated, and are able to be used safely and securely in iPad emulator apps. And another worthwhile approach would be an emulator that merely runs Windows apps, rather than trying to run Windows. Or, in other words, an emulator that either runs a stripped down version of Windows without a lot of the visual elements, or something like ReactOS that can run .exe files without being Windows. Or something like WINE. This would likely be more efficient, and provide better performance. All that said, i intend to try Windows 10 or 11 in UTM SE, and I’m thinking I will probably get decent results judging from my experiments on my M1 iPad. I found the settings that UTM recommends in their templates don’t tend to work very well, I had to tinker with the settings, and I got much better results, so I think many people following UTM’s directions will experience slow performance, but I think there are several possible options to get better performance out of it. It will be interesting to see how my experiments work out. 👍🏻
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