Apple shocked iPad customers earlier this yr when it eliminated Slide Over, the floating mini-window mode that had been a part of iPadOS since iOS 9, and changed it with a extra desktop-like windowed interface that allow you to freely resize and transfer app home windows.
The change appears to have upset some iPad customers who favored the less complicated multitasking. In the event you’re certainly one of them, we now have some excellent news: With the just-released iPadOS 26.1 beta 2, Apple has quietly introduced Slide Over again, though in a barely completely different type.
How the brand new Slide Over works
The most recent beta of iPadOS 26.1 provides Slide Over again. Customers will discover it by tapping and holding the inexperienced resize button within the upper-left nook of any app window. Along with the present choices to maneuver and resize, there’s now a “Slide Over” button.
As soon as you place an app in Slide Over, it behaves just about the identical manner as earlier than. The window floats over different apps as a substitute of sitting in a break up view. This time, Apple additionally lets customers resize apps within the new Slide Over, and so they can transfer the mini window across the display screen by dragging.
The change primarily combines the pliability of iPadOS 26’s new multitasking with the comfort of Slide Over for quick-access apps akin to Messages or Music.
Why it issues
The good benefit of Slide Over is that the window at all times stays within the entrance, regardless of what number of different apps are opened. That is nice for if you want entry to info in a particular app whereas multitasking.
Many iPad customers, particularly those that typically hold a second app helpful for fast duties, missed Slide Over when it disappeared in iPadOS 26. Bringing it again reveals that Apple is listening to suggestions from testers who discovered the brand new windowing system much less handy for informal multitasking.
Availability
For now, iPadOS 26.1 beta 2 is simply accessible to builders – and ought to be launched inside a day or two to public beta testers. Apple is anticipated to launch iPadOS 26.1 to most people later this month.
