Apple

iPadOS 26 is Really Great—And It’s Confusing as Hell

iPadOS feels more like a laptop replacement with the latest updates to multitasking—but as iPad blurs the line between it and a Mac, how I use the two has become more confusing

Sam Clemente

19 Jun 2025 — 2 min read

Source: Apple

I’ve been using Apple’s developer betas of all of Apple’s latest releases and I’ve honestly been enjoying using them. The upgrade I was honestly most interested in was testing out the newest productivity updates in iPadOS 26. I use a 13” M4 iPad Pro as my main device for general browsing and social media and such, but there are still places where I need to drop over to the Mac—and it’s kinda confusing to figure out how to decide when to use a device.

Apps

Not all of this is Apple’s fault—a lot of this comes down to apps (which you could also argue is Apple’s fault). I’m a big Notion user, I’m using Notion right now to write this article. All of my notes are stored in here, all of my tasks. Everything. One issue: Notion kinda sucks on iPad. Notion proper is limited, there are a lot of weird bugs with the app and at times it’s almost unusable. Notion Calendar doesn’t exist as an iPad app, only as an iOS app (though the new update to multitasking makes that easier to use), and Notion Mail just…doesn’t exist (at least yet).

If Notion were able to run properly as a web app like it does on macOS, this wouldn’t be as much of an issue, but this kind of tech is still…limited on iPad. I’m a swift developer; I use Apple’s own programming language, their SDK, their UI frameworks, but I know that’s not the only way to build a good app. I was formally taught web development. I learned things like PHP, EJS, React, and Svelte. Swift isn’t the only stack that’s great to build on (even if it’s my preference). Apple can’t keep pushing devs to do things their way, they just don’t have the power to do that anymore—not socially, and definitely not legally. Ultimately if Apple were to loosen the reins on their OS they would be more open to better apps on the platform.

The Confusion

There are a lot of times where I try to get this stuff done on my iPad. Removing the barriers to creativity are the way of getting good work done. If I’m ready to write, my device should be ready to write with me. It’s that simple.

Where the Mac Shines

This is what the Mac is good at—it’s the device you need when you need it. The only thing is that it’s not portable like an iPad is. I don’t need my iPad to be my development machine, I don’t need it to be able to play back 100 software instruments in Logic, and I don’t need it to connect to 5 displays. I just need it to be the device I need it to be when I need it to be that device.

Apple acts like it’s making things better by locking things down—favoring their preferred tech stack over all else. If they loosened their stranglehold on their platforms they would let their devices be what they want them to be—the right tool for the job.