iPadOS 26 is the seventh and the next major release of Apple's

iPadOS iPadOS is a mobile operating system developed by Apple for its iPad line of tablet computers. It was given a name distinct from iOS, the operating system used by Apple's iPhones to reflect the diverging features of the two product lines, suc ...

operating system for the

iPad The iPad is a brand of tablet computers developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple that run the company's mobile operating systems iOS and later iPadOS. The IPad (1st generation), first-generation iPad was introduced on January 27, 2010. ...

. It was announced in June 2025 at the 2025

Worldwide Developers Conference The Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) is an information technology conference held annually by Apple Inc. The conference is currently held at Apple Park in California. The event is used to showcase new software and technologies in the macO ...

(WWDC) and is expected to be released in September. It is the direct successor to

iPadOS 18 iPadOS 18 is the sixth and current major release of Apple's iPadOS operating system for the iPad. It was revealed at the 2024 Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC). It is the direct successor to iPadOS 17 and was announced alongside iOS 18 ...

and was announced alongside

iOS 26 iOS 26 is the nineteenth and the next major release of Apple's iOS operating system for the iPhone. It was announced on June 9, 2025, at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), and is expected to be released in September. It is the di ...

, macOS 26, watchOS 26, visionOS 26, and tvOS 26. Starting from this version of iPadOS, Apple changed its numbering convention for consistency across all operating systems. iPadOS 26 features the new Liquid Glass design. It will be the first version of iPadOS to be exclusive to iPads with Apple

Neural Engine Neural Engine is a series of AI accelerators designed for machine learning by Apple. The first SoC including Neural Engine is Apple A11 Bionic for iPhone 8, 8 Plus and iPhone X introduced in 2017. Since then, all Apple A series SoCs have Neura ...

, as it drops support for the seventh-generation iPad, making it the first iPadOS version to drop support for an iPad with the 10.2-inch display and the first version since

iOS 11 iOS 11 is the iOS version history, eleventh major release of the iOS mobile operating system developed by Apple Inc., Apple, being the successor to iOS 10. It was announced at the company's Worldwide Developers Conference on June 5, 2017, and w ...

to drop support for only one model.

New features and changes

User interface

For the first time since

iOS 7 iOS 7 is the seventh major release of the iOS mobile operating system developed by Apple Inc., being the successor to iOS 6. It was announced at the company's Worldwide Developers Conference on June 10, 2013, and was released on September 18 ...

, the user interface was redesigned with the new Liquid Glass design, using icons and menus with increased uses of transparency similar to

visionOS visionOS is a mixed reality operating system derived primarily from iPadOS and its core frameworks (including UIKit, SwiftUI, ARKit and RealityKit), and MR-specific frameworks for foveated rendering and real-time interaction. It was develope ...

Window management

A new windowing system creates a similar experience to

macOS macOS, previously OS X and originally Mac OS X, is a Unix, Unix-based operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 2001. It is the current operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. With ...

. Apps are now freely resizable, with traffic light controls that allow a user to minimize an app, close an app, or make an app full-screen. A macOS-style menu bar is available by swiping down on the top of the display. Window tiling options are also available when flicking windows or using the new tiling options. The existing full-screen and Stage Manager window management modes are still available; Stage Manager is now also supported by all iPads that support iPadOS 26, instead of only being on models with M-series chips and A-series iPad Pro models with iPadOS 18 support. Split View and Slide Over have been removed as part of the new window management system.

Journal

The Journal app, previously only available on iOS, now has a dedicated iPadOS version, with support for the Apple Pencil.

Preview

iPadOS 26 now has a Preview app, similar to its equivalent on macOS, with Apple Pencil support to enable features such as markup.

Supported devices

iPadOS 26 requires a device with an A12 processor or newer, thus dropping support for the iPad (7th generation). Apple Intelligence requires an

Apple M1 Apple M1 is a series of ARM-based system-on-a-chip (SoC) designed by Apple Inc., launched 2020 to 2022. It is part of the Apple silicon series, as a central processing unit (CPU) and graphics processing unit (GPU) for its Mac desktops and no ...

or Apple A17 Pro processor or newer.

Release history

The first developer beta of iPadOS 26 has been released as of June 9, 2025.

References

{{iOS 26 Apple Inc. operating systems Mobile operating systems Tablet operating systems 2025 software Products introduced in 2025