IPadOS 26

iPadOS 26
Version of the iPadOS operating system
iPadOS 26 Beta 1 running on an iPad Pro
Developer	Apple
Source model	Closed with open-source components
General availability	September 15, 2025;0 days ago (2025-09-15)
Latest preview	26.0 RC [1] (September 9, 2025;6 days ago (2025-09-09)) [±]
Marketing target	iPads
Available in	42 languages
List of languages Arabic, Bulgarian, Catalan, Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional (Hong Kong), Chinese Traditional (Taiwan), Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English (Australia), English (United Kingdom), English (United States), Finnish, French (Canada), French (France), German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Kazakh, Korean, Malay, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Portuguese (Portugal), Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Lithuanian, (Latin America), Spanish (Spain), Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese
Default user interface	Liquid Glass
Preceded by	iPadOS 18
Official website	apple.com/os/ipados/
Tagline	Work. Flows.
Support status
Upcoming release. Drops support for the iPad (7th generation).
Articles in the series
iOS 26 macOS Tahoe visionOS 26 watchOS 26 tvOS 26

iPadOS 26 is the seventh and the next major release of Apple's iPadOS operating system for the iPad. It was announced on WWDC25 on June 9, 2025, and is expected to be released on September 15, 2025. It is the direct successor to iPadOS 18 and was announced alongside iOS 26, 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. ^[2]

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, 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, the first version since iOS 11 to drop support for only one model, and third version overall to drop support for only one iPad model.

New features and changes

User interface

For the first time since iOS 7, the user interface has been redesigned. It uses the new Liquid Glass design, using icons and menus with increased uses of transparency similar to visionOS.

Window management

A new windowing system creates a similar experience to macOS. 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. ^[3]

The new system is powered by a new windowing engine that optimizes window rendering through analyzing which windows are being actively used. This allows the new windowing system to be available on all iPads that support iPadOS 26, while also allowing more windows on the screen at once. ^[4]

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. ^[5]

Split View and Slide Over have been removed as part of the new window management system. ^[6]

Journal

The Journal app, previously only available on iOS, now has a dedicated iPadOS version, with support for the Apple Pencil. ^[7]

Preview

iPadOS 26 now has a Preview app, similar to its equivalent on macOS, with Apple Pencil support to enable features such as markup. ^[8]

Local Capture

iPadOS 26 can now separately record high-quality video and audio streams while using applications like video conferencing, which can be shared or used in editing applications for podcasting. ^[9] The local capture is encoded as an MP4 file, using HEVC video and FLAC audio. ^[10]

Supported devices

iPadOS 26 requires an A12 processor or later. It drops support for the iPad (7th generation), which features an A10 SoC. ^{[11] [12]}

The iPad Air (3rd generation) is the only supported iPad with a 10.5-inch display, while the iPad Mini (5th generation) is the only supported iPad with a 7.9-inch display.

Apple Intelligence requires an Apple M1 or Apple A17 Pro processor or newer. ^{[13] [14]}

iPads that support iPadOS 26 are:

Device	Chipset	Release year	Supported	Apple Intelligence support
iPad (8th generation)	A12	2020
iPad (9th generation)	A13	2021
iPad (10th generation)	A14	2022
iPad (11th generation)	A16	2025
iPad mini (5th generation)	A12	2019
iPad mini (6th generation)	A15	2021
iPad mini (7th generation)	A17 Pro	2024
iPad Air (3rd generation)	A12	2019
iPad Air (4th generation)	A14	2020
iPad Air (5th generation)	M1	2022
iPad Air (6th generation)	M2	2024
iPad Air (7th generation)	M3	2025
iPad Pro (3rd generation)	A12X	2018
iPad Pro (4th generation)	A12Z	2020
iPad Pro (5th generation)	M1	2021
iPad Pro (6th generation)	M2	2022
iPad Pro (7th generation)	M4	2024

Release history

The first developer beta of iPadOS 26 was released on June 9, 2025.

	Previous Release		Latest Release		Latest Beta Release		Security Response

iPadOS 26 Releases

Version	Build	Release date	Notes
26 Beta 1	23A5260n	June 9, 2025
26 Beta 2	23A5276f	June 23, 2025
26 Beta 3	23A5287g	July 7, 2025
26 Beta 4	23A5297i	July 22, 2025
	23A5297m	July 24, 2025	Public Beta 1
26 Beta 5	23A5308g	August 5, 2025	Public Beta 2
26 Beta 6	23A5318c	August 11, 2025
	23A5318f	August 14, 2025	Public Beta 3
26 Beta 7	23A5326a	August 18, 2025	Public Beta 4
26 Beta 8	23A5330a	August 25, 2025	Public Beta 5
26 Beta 9	23A5336a	September 2, 2025	Public Beta 6
26 RC	23A340	September 9, 2025

See also

• iOS 26
• macOS Tahoe

References

1. Clover, Juli (September 9, 2025). "Apple Seeds iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 Release Candidates". MacRumors . Retrieved September 9, 2025.
2. "There's No Apple iOS 19: iPhone 17 To Have iOS 26 In Radical Change, Report Claims". Forbes . 2025-05-30. Retrieved 2025-06-02.
3. Pierce, David (2025-06-09). "Apple launches iPadOS 26 with a new look and way better multitasking". The Verge. Retrieved 2025-06-10.
4. "Interview: Craig Federighi Opens Up About iPadOS, Its Multitasking Journey, and the iPad's Essence". 2025-06-18. Retrieved 2025-06-21.
5. "iOS 26: All the Little Changes". MacRumors. 2025-06-09. Retrieved 2025-06-10.
6. Christoffel, Ryan (2025-06-09). "PSA: iPadOS 26 removes Split View and Slide Over multitasking features". 9to5Mac. Retrieved 2025-06-10.
7. "Journal App Finally Coming to Mac and iPad". MacRumors. 2025-06-09. Retrieved 2025-06-10.
8. "Apple is bringing Preview to iPadOS". Engadget. 2025-06-09. Retrieved 2025-06-10.
9. "How Local Capture immediately turns iPad into a podcasting studio". AppleInsider. 2025-06-10. Retrieved 2025-06-21.
10. "A few notes on iPadOS 26 audio and video capture". Six Colors. 2025-06-20. Retrieved 2025-06-21.
11. Cunningham, Andrew (2025-06-09). "Apple drops support for just three iPhone and iPad models from iOS and iPadOS 26". Ars Technica. Retrieved 2025-06-10.
12. "iOS 26, iPadOS 26 Are Compatible With These iPhone and iPad Models". Gadgets 360. 2025-06-10. Retrieved 2025-06-10.
13. Prospero, Mike (June 10, 2024). "Here are the devices that will support Apple Intelligence — no older iPhones allowed". Tom's Guide. Archived from the original on June 11, 2024. Retrieved June 10, 2024.
14. "iPadOS 26 Preview". Apple. Archived from the original on June 10, 2025. Retrieved September 8, 2024.