In iPadOS 16, Apple introduced Stage Manager for the iPad, bringing a new windowing paradigm to the company’s tablet. Julio Ojeda-Zapata wrote “First Impressions: Stage Manager on the iPad and Mac” a year ago. To what extent have TidBITS readers adopted it on the iPad? Please vote in the poll below.
The principle of it interests me, the realisation less so.
Too much screen real estate lost using it. Something leaner but still a quickly tappable way of moving between apps would be better, perhaps tabs over icons.
I intensely dislike all these attempts to add multitasking to the iPad UI. Every time I accidentally invoke one I have to fumble around to get out of it again. I just want my iPad to do one thing at a time. Period.
I recently replaced my Intel 2018 MBP and iPad Air 4 with a Mac mini M2 Pro and an iPad Pro 12.9” M2. This is the first time ever that my portable computer hasn’t been a Mac.
Stage Manager would not be useful on an 11” screen. That screen is already cramped. When I had the iPad Air, I would only use split screen and slideover when I really needed to multitask.
But on a 12.9” screen, Stage Manager is a useful windowing system. As my only portable computer, the iPad Pro needs to be able to multitask. I got over the lack of truly continuous window sizing basically immediately. It’s plenty granular.
Absolutely love it on my iPad 12.9 with Magic Keyboard. Can’t comment on using it without a keyboard ….imagine it would be a very different experience. In fact the whole iPad usability is massively reduced without a keyboard.
Never tried it on the iPad. I’m having enough trouble trying to deal with multi-apps on split screens. It’s one of those things I don’t use that much so never developed the motor memory skill to do it quickly without a lot of thinking.
Sadly my iPad doesn’t support it. I wish it did: I love it on the Mac.
I hate the window-splitting on the iPad and I wish there was a way to turn it off. It is a real accessibility problem for our disabled son. He does it by accident and doesn’t understand how to fix it.
My 10.5 inch iPad Pro doesn’t support Stage Manager.
I feel really bad about not only that, but barely using my now two year old (!) MBP M1.
Takes up way too much space. Screen space is too valuable to waste on something that I really haven’t been able to find useful.
I tried it and found it too confusing, intrusive and frustrating (especially as some apps have controls that interfere with stage manager controls). Perhaps I’ll try it again in a few years when more apps have been updated.
Stage manages to be in my way, worthless.
Exactly right. Still clunky and not worth the effort. I’m deliberately using it on a trip and so far, no joy.
Forgot to mention I have an 11” iPad. 12.5” too heavy. But if you want confusion, Try using Arc with stage manager. Argh!
No, in fact I think it messes me up if I accidentally trigger it. The iPad screen is too small for me to want multiple windows, if that in fact is what SM on the iPad is doing.
My iPad doesn’t support it.
I’m not using Stage Manager on iPad (M2 11" Pro) … the screen is simply too small. Occasionally I’ll use two views. However, some apps do not work in multiple views and again, the screen is too small.
Using it on the M1 iPad Pro, 13" and love it. I used it on iPadOS 16 and now on 17 beta which is mostly improved with the increased options for window sizing and positioning.
Though I do actually miss one aspect of the auto-positioning in the original version. I often do two windows side by side and with the original Stage Manager I could move one and the other would switch to the other side. Of course, that aspect of Stage Manager could also be frustrating at times.
All that said, I can’t imagine using it on an 11" screen. I think it’s very likely the kind of feature best used on the 13" or on an external display. I often use an external display and Stage Manager is excellent there.