How can I allow Split View on my iPad running iPadOS 26?

boxuanfromhalifax1 wrote:

Totally agree I recently just update my iPad to the newsoperating system it is a nightmare and I can tell you I hate it. I love the split review. This is what I used. I pay for easy to have a two Windows side-by-side. I can study techno lesson music and watch TV but now everything is getting so complicated and I still don't know what the **** the difference between stage management and the wi. I hope just get worse and worse. They turn iPad into a computer so what is different between iPad and Mac Air . I think a lot of people will get rid of iPad and switch the Samsung, which offer much much better product activities and currently there's no difference between an iPad and MacBook.

Split View still exists - and with a little practice, the new controls become second nature. Perhaps reading the guidance provided in my earlier replies to this thread will help to clarify how multitasking features are accessed in iPadOS 26.

We humans often resist change, but we must evolve - just as commercial products will evolve to maintain relevance in the marketplace. You are of course able to choose the device (and Operating System) that best meets your needs - including those that you perceive to be "simpler" and easier to use. Be mindful that other manufacturers devices may also evolve over time.

Apple invites submission of constructive comments and feature requests via its Product Feedback portal. If you would like to see the ability to use the earlier/simpler multitasking features with which you are accustomed, this would be the most appropriate channel to make you voice heard.

For iPad and iPadOS:

Feedback - iPad - Apple

I just have to go on record to say the new multitasking option and missing 3 dots for split screen is VERY ANNOYING!!!

As a multitasking person, this recent update does not make the multiple screens easier at all!

It’s awkward and creates more steps.

There should be an option to have the split screen like it used to be!

Im all in for upgrades, but only if they make sense and don’t cause more frustration!

Nathan Jones2 wrote:

Split view does NOT exist. I just checked the guidance.

Split View surely does exist in iPadOS 26/26.0.1 - and as of release of iPadOS 16.1 today, Slide Over View has also been restored.

The old method was three intuitive gestures to complete a split screen. It’s at least five now and is not always successful first time. Also, the split breaks repeatedly if you switch to a different app. It’s not a matter of getting used to it, the new method is retrograde and doesn’t function properly. It also produces less screen real estate as the curved window corners reduce usable screen with no purpose. I think this has been discussed enough now. The new version needs improvement.

Nathan Jones2 wrote:

The old method was three intuitive gestures to complete a split screen. It’s at least five now and is not always successful first time. Also, the split breaks repeatedly if you switch to a different app. It’s not a matter of getting used to it, the new method is retrograde and doesn’t function properly. It also produces less screen real estate as the curved window corners reduce usable screen with no purpose. I think this has been discussed enough now. The new version needs improvement.

Tell someone who can do something about it:

Product Feedback - Apple

No doubt the revised iPadOS 26 multitasking environment will continue to be developed and further refined over the lifetime of this major version. Refinements introduced with iPadOS 26.1 and 26.2 are perhaps just the start of improvements that might be anticipated over the lifespan of iPadOS 26.x.

Whomever is responding from Apple Support,

You are not understanding what we mean by the three dots at the top of the window.

Yes, we see the traffic light buttons — red to close, yellow to minimize, and green to expand. However, the traffic light does NOT provide the same options as the three-dot menu did.

Specifically, there is no option to add or open another window.

When I am working with two windows, I expect both windows to remain open. Instead, the system is pushing one window aside or sending it down to the bottom, which is causing me to lose data while actively working.

This change is disrupting workflow and causing real issues.

Please restore the previous behavior or provide a way to open and keep multiple windows active at the same time, the way it worked before.

Thank you.

wiggles3331 wrote:

Whomever is responding from Apple Support,

You are not understanding what we mean by the three dots at the top of the window.

Yes, we see the traffic light buttons — red to close, yellow to minimize, and green to expand. However, the traffic light does NOT provide the same options as the three-dot menu did.

Specifically, there is no option to add or open another window.

When I am working with two windows, I expect both windows to remain open. Instead, the system is pushing one window aside or sending it down to the bottom, which is causing me to lose data while actively working.

This change is disrupting workflow and causing real issues.

Please restore the previous behavior or provide a way to open and keep multiple windows active at the same time, the way it worked before.

Thank you.

Responses here do not originate from Apple or Apple Support.

Please understand that the Apple Support Community is a user-to-user technical forum. Contributors here are all end-users, just like you. Other than the site Moderators, Apple neither monitor nor participate here.

Not all Apps are coded to support multiple instances (i.e. more than one) or windows. For those Apps that do, launching a second App window is not immediately intuitive. The easiest method of launching a second instance of an App that support multiple windows is to first add (i.e. drag) the App to the iPad dock.

When you wish to open a second window, use the traffic-light button to initiate multitasking windows - then tap the App within the dock. If the App supports multiple windows, you see all currently open windows that are running - along with a "+" button to launch a new App window.

wiggles3331 wrote:

Whomever is responding from Apple Support,

No one from Apple Support is responding here. This is a user-to-user forum.

You are not understanding what we mean by the three dots at the top of the window.

Yes, we see the traffic light buttons — red to close, yellow to minimize, and green to expand. However, the traffic light does NOT provide the same options as the three-dot menu did.

Specifically, there is no option to add or open another window.

Yes, things have changed.

When I am working with two windows, I expect both windows to remain open. Instead, the system is pushing one window aside or sending it down to the bottom, which is causing me to lose data while actively working.

This change is disrupting workflow and causing real issues.

You will most likely get used to it over time.

Please restore the previous behavior or provide a way to open and keep multiple windows active at the same time, the way it worked before.

No one here in this user-to-user forum can do that. Apple doesn't read here for suggestions or feedback. You can, however, let them know your thoughts here:

Product Feedback - Apple

With the new update when you’re on your full screen slide down where the red yellow green dot you should see Safari file edit view, history, bookmarks window, and help to split your screen Hit the window then click where it says move and resize and then you should see where it says arrange and you can pick left or right and you should be able to split your screen

Bad enough to move away from Apple and my iPad Pro:

The new OS ‘updated’ this week has destroyed my creative ability by making the old split screen capacity unusable. whichever of the 3 multitasking options I choose, I have lost all kinds of capacity. The rounded corners are annoying and lose screen space, the ‘upgrades’ inside Apple apps - Notes particularly - now bounce out of the menu bar - if they register my touch at all. Feels like some egotistical developer at Apple has decided to have fun at the expense of actual users.

BRING BACK THE SPLIT SCREEN!

BRING BACK CLEAN MENU BARS THAT WORK AND DON’T BOUNCE AROUND

In fact bring back functionality. I hate this.

I still cannot find the split screen buttons from the “simple downward swipe” from the top edge. The left edge reveals the routine menu. Where is the downward swipe from the top edge when viewing apps in full mode?

Sure, the three buttons are there, but they don’t enable split screen anymore. The red button closes out the app, the yellow one takes you to the home screen, and the green one just makes the app fill your screen before. People are still asking the same question because they want to know the way to enable SPLIT screen, not just “where the three buttons are.”

emilyhumke wrote:

Sure, the three buttons are there, but they don’t enable split screen anymore. The red button closes out the app, the yellow one takes you to the home screen, and the green one just makes the app fill your screen before. People are still asking the same question because they want to know the way to enable SPLIT screen, not just “where the three buttons are.”

Touch-and-hold (not tap) the traffic light button to expand the full set of windowing controls - which includes a full set of windowing options and side-over: