Apple Mail app reading pane layout

Question

Apple Mail app reading pane layout

Hi

i have an iPad 11 iOS 26.2.1.

my husband is finding the layout of the Apple Mail app a bit frustrating

On previous IOS versions there were 3 panes, the first pane listed all his email accts, the middle pane his list of emails in his inbox and the third pane the actual message, when you pressed on a message in the middle pane the first pane disappeared which was great as it made the actual message larger

Now it doesn’t disappear and I have to press the small square at the top left hand corner to collapse it. Any ideas how to revert back to original ??

iPad, iPadOS 26

Posted on Feb 3, 2026 4:54 AM

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Answer 1

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LotusPilot

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303,008 points

Feb 3, 2026 6:22 AM in response to clairefrompotters bar

iPadOS 26 introduced a number of changes - the most significant if which being the new windowed multitasking environment (relevant) and, visually, introduction of Liquid Glass.

The Mail App has indeed seen some minor changes - one being the windowing behaviour that you now observe - and relocation of some elements of the interface, such as the Search dialogue. These changes are not reversible.

If you dislike the new windowing behaviours, you can suppress many by selecting the Full-Screen Apps mode in your multitasking settings - although this will not change the new behaviours observed within the iPadOS 26 Mail App.

Settings > Multitasking & Gestures >

Apple does invite submission of comments and feature requests via its Product Feedback portal. If you would like to see different or modified functionality in future versions of iPadOS, this would be the most appropriate channel to communicate your thoughts to Apple. For iPad and iPadOS:

Feedback - iPad - Apple

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