iPadOS 26: Four new features being announced next week

WWDC is only a few days away, and Apple has a lot of big announcements coming. Here are four new iPadOS 26 features rumored to be unveiled next week.

Many iPad users have long wished iPadOS would offer more Mac-like productivity tools. And it sounds like iPadOS 26 might be Apple’s answer.

Per Majin Bu, a Mac-style menu bar is coming to the iPad this year.

iPadOS 26’s menu bar is expected to look and work fairly similarly to the Mac version. Though as Apple has done with other Mac-to-iPad feature ports, there will undoubtedly be a fresh twist.

Bu says the menu bar will appear on-screen automatically when a Magic Keyboard is connected, but we suspect it will be available to touch-only users too.

#2: Stage Manager 2.0

Multitasking is reportedly another big focus of iPadOS 26.

Apple’s last big iPad multitasking change was Stage Manager, which some users appreciate for its power, while others (like myself) have never taken to the feature.

iPadOS 26 will reportedly bring ‘Stage Manager 2.0,’ a revamped version of the multitasking interface.

Details are scarce, but here’s hoping Apple has cracked iPad multitasking this time around.

#3: Siri’s AI upgrades

Alongside iOS 26, iPadOS 26 is expected to bring Siri some long-delayed upgrades.

New Siri features include:

• hundreds of new actions in and across apps
• onscreen awareness
• intelligence tailored to your personal context

Originally, these enhancements were set for iPadOS 18, but Apple chose to delay them when they reportedly proved unreliable internally.

#4: New design

One major theme for all of Apple’s software platforms this year is that they’re getting redesigned in big and small ways.

iPadOS 26 is expected to benefit from design changes that focus on consistency, usability, and a visionOS-style “glass effect” for system elements.

If it proves anything like the early iOS 26 redesign leaks, iPadOS 26 should feel fresh yet still familiar for longtime iPad users.

iPadOS 19 new features: wrap-up

The iPad didn’t get many platform-exclusive features last year in iPadOS 18. The year before was a little on the light end too. So it’s been a full three years since major iPad productivity features shipped.

As a longtime iPad Pro user, I hope iPadOS 26’s upgrades can truly deliver, otherwise there may be another round of calls for Apple to simply enable macOS on the iPad.

What new features do you want to see announced in iPadOS 26? Let us know in the comments.

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