This year’s iPadOS 15 was somewhat of a disappointment for me, as what it brought weren’t exactly major new features to finally utilize the iPad Pro’s large display size and power to their full potential.
Instead of enhanced multtiasking with at least three on-screen apps and more running in the background, plus perhaps a few MacOS apps, as was speculated, we got the exact same two multitasking options as before (Split View and Slide Over), but with one extra way to trigger them.
We could speculate that Apple will never allow the iPad to reach its full potential, because heaven forbid it dips into MacBook sales if it gets too powerful and desktop-like. But if that’s the case, why is the Cupertino company often advertising the iPad Pro with a keyboard and a trackpad as if it’s meant to be used like a laptop? And why even release the Magic Keyboard with trackpad for the iPad in the first place? Why give the iPad mouse support?Either Apple has lost its focus in what it wants the iPad to be, or the company is simply taking its time to perfect its vision for an ultimate versatile device, and maybe iPadOS 16 will be the big one. In any case, I got tired of waiting, so I designed a concept showing how I envision iPadOS 16 to be like. But first…
Here’s how multitasking on the iPad works right now
iPadOS 15 multitasking is still roughly the same as it’s been for years. You can enable Split View, with two apps sharing the screen, which looks like this:
iPadOS 15 Split View multitasking
Unfortunately, you can’t split the screen between more than two apps, but are forced to either replace one of your open apps or switch between app screens. Also notice – no app dock – you always need to slide from the bottom to reveal it, and that’s just one extra step preventing you from accessing your apps quickly.
iPadOS 15 also supports Slide Over, which is essentially a popup carousel of apps (or a single app), that awkwardly hovers over your current open apps, so you still basically only have access to two apps at a time. In addition, if you choose to reveal the app dock, the whole thing becomes a huge mess like so:
iPadOS 15 with two apps in Split View and one in Slide Over
But iPadOS multitasking doesn’t need to be this convoluted and unintuitive. Let’s take a look at my iPadOS 16 concept images based on how I envision future versions of iPadOS.
iPadOS 16 concept: Multitasking with three apps and an app dock
Above we have a multitasking concept where three apps (and why not even four?) can share the iPad screen at once. When you drag an app from the app dock to a corner of the iPad’s screen, iPadOS should offer to snap it in that corner for you. That’s what I’d like to see.
Imagine running a VLC video or Netflix in the top right corner while you browse the internet on the left and chat with your friends through a messaging app at the bottom right. I know that’s a scenario I’d often find myself in, if only iPadOS was capable.
In addition, I always envisioned a three-app split screen mode where all three are in windows about the size of an iPhone – tall and narrow, sharing horizontal screen space. This mode (shown below) would be fantastic for research.
Aside from research and general work, imagine your social media game if you could run three apps like that on your iPad. Open Instagram on the left, Twitter in the middle, YouTube on the right, get an iPad keyboard and go to town with your influencer marketing or just plain old socializing.
And of course, I’d like to at least have the option to pin the dock at the bottom of the screen, similar to how it is on MacOS, instead of it hiding as soon as you open any app like is currently the case on iPadOS 15.
Will this become a reality? Or is the iPad doomed to be a secondary device
This is how I envisioned iPadOS 15 to be like, and since that one was rather underwhelming, I sure hope iPadOS 16 at least comes close. But whether Apple will match or even surpass this iPadOS 16 concept – we can only speculate.
As I mentioned earlier, I fear Apple is afraid that making the iPad any more desktop-like will harm MacBook sales, and if so, many of us hardcore iPad enthusiasts are in for a disappointment year after year. But I choose to remain positive, and still have big hopes for iPadOS 16 next year.
What about you? Do you like this concept, or do you envision iPadOS 16 in another way? Share your thoughts with us in the comments!
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