After installing IOS 26 on my 128 GB 8th Generation iPad the appearance and functionality is RUINED.

Question

Level 1

7 points

After installing IOS 26 on my 128 GB 8th Generation iPad the appearance and functionality is RUINED.

After installing IOS 26 (including 26.3) on my 128 GB 8th Generation iPad without problem (it has 40 spare GB of memory), the appearance and functionality is RUINED. Will iOS 26.4 fix my functionality? IMO the 8th Gen. iPad should not have been deemed compatible with this horrible version of the Apple OS. (And why can’t I find my Three prior complaints in the last week or ten days? Details there to be found under my email.)

iPad, iPadOS 26

Posted on Feb 27, 2026 12:57 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

lkrupp

Level 7

23,563 points

Feb 27, 2026 1:18 PM in response to andynamex

Well part of your problem is that iOS 26 is for iPhones, not iPads. You’ll have to live with your ‘ruined’ functionality because you can’t downgrade back to your previous version of iPadOS 26.

But maybe if you care to explain some of the 'ruined functionality' we can offer settings changes that can help. It's up to you. You can rant or you can ask for help. Your choice.

You are posting in a user-to-user forum. No one here works for Apple and Apple Support neither monitors nor participates in these forums. We all are fellow users trying to and help one another with problems.

If you want to express your opinion to Apple use the feedback system to do so.

https://www.apple.com/feedback/ipad/

Reply

Answer 2

LotusPilot

Level 10

304,646 points

Feb 27, 2026 2:38 PM in response to andynamex

Presumably, from your description, the changed appearance of which you complain is the new Liquid Glass presentation. While Liquid Glass cannot be fully disabled, there are some key settings that ameliorate the most intrusive elements.

iOS/iPadOS 26.1 introduced a new setting that subtly charges the appearance of Liquid Glass:

Settings > Display & Brightness > Liquid Glass - select Clear or Tinted

Sadly, for iPad, this new setting makes very little difference for those that struggle with both the appearance and overlapping screen elements introduced with Liquid Glass. If you are experiencing difficulty with the new Liquid Glass UI, there are other settings that can significantly improve the appearance and suppress the majority of unwanted effects:

Settings > Accessibility > [Vision] Display & Text Size > Reduce Transparency - set to ON
Settings > Accessibility > [Vision] Display & Text Size > Increase Contrast - set to ON
Settings > Accessibility > [Motion] Reduce Motion - set to ON

Each if these settings can be used individually, or in combination. Setting Reduce Transparency alone (1) will likely suppress the majority of your issues. The Reduce Motion setting (3), if used, will eliminate the "lensing" effects of the Liquid Glass UI. Experiment; you should find a combination that works for you.

I suggest that you begin with setting Reduce Transparency to ON - and then, if needed, experiment with additional use of one or more of the other options.

NB: The new Display & Brightness > Liquid Glass setting can only be changed/toggled while Reduce Transparency is set to OFF. You might find that setting Liquid Glass to Clear, prior to enabling Reduced Transparency to ON, may give the best result.

Reply

Answer 3

SergZak

Level 6

10,942 points

Feb 27, 2026 6:41 PM in response to Cool393

Cool393 wrote:

I agree bro, but the thing for me is that some apps don’t go fullscreen anymore on the iPad it just fits a portion.

iPadOS 26 introduced a new "Windowed Mode" Multitasking feature. To disable it, be sure you are running iPadOS 26.3 (because I updated from iPadOS 18.7 directly to 26.3, I am unsure if a previous version of iPadOS 26.x allowed one to disable the feature, hence my suggestion to update to 26.3 if you have not already done so).

After updating, the toggle is under:

Settings > Multitasking & Gestures

You will want to select/enable "Full Screen Apps" to get back to the mode you are likely used to. As you describe the issue, the setting is likely set to "Windowed Apps".

Note that you can add a Multitasking toggle control to the Control Center (swipe down from the top-right corner) for easy access in case you wish to experiment with the new feature.

Reply

Answer 4

nibor209

Level 2

441 points

Feb 28, 2026 11:52 AM in response to Cool393

Which apps? Have you contacted the app developers? Do you have the Full-Screen Apps setting enabled? If you have the Windowed Apps setting enabled then have you tried selecting the green toggle full screen button in the traffic-light-style buttons in the top-left corner of the app window?

Reply

Answer 5

DeadEyeD

Level 1

8 points

Feb 28, 2026 10:50 AM in response to Cool393

Um, the Apps all go full screen for me ?

hmmm, in 26.3 under « MultiTasking & Gestures » there are three options.

Sorry, but have you checked those ?

Don

Reply

Answer 6

DeadEyeD

Level 1

8 points

Feb 28, 2026 8:22 AM in response to LotusPilot

Thank for some pointers to try and reduce the unwanted and performance impacting effects of this »Enhancement «

Even Windows gives you options to disable all the graphics GeeGaw’s in favor of performance over useless CPU consuming graphic effects !

PS: After checking those setting , I found that the ones available have all be disabled.

Once again, I live to Regret going Apple rather than Android , and Upgrading IOS.

thanks again,

Don

Reply

Answer 7

andynamex Author

Level 1

7 points

Mar 6, 2026 9:21 AM in response to andynamex

I can be specific - but firstly thank you for a willingness to hear me out. (Repeated prior efforts to post this before Always failed, with a come back: “Your post couldn’t be saved. Try again in a few minutes.” Am I being penalized for something?)

As I said, the issue is mainly with the Notes app, and the strange orange tint I get that slows everything down. There is also a darker orange frame around most of the screen but not all of it. When I drafted this originally, in Safari, I had a blue tint and a dark frame around this reply box. Now it is a pink tint and a blue frame. When it appears, my Bluetooth keyboard is unresponsive for arrow control, or starting to type. I have to backspace, retype and then I can type. (Somehow it has now utterly screwed up my Bluetooth keyboard — with new batteries — I cannot get it to connect. In Notes, it goes away after a minute, then comes back after entering text. For whatever reason the arrow control works here in Safari. Secondly, after selecting text, when you could get a pop-up menu to choose from many options including format, translate, add links, etc., it would often only flash and disappear, even after several attempts. This was the case All Day yesterday, but for whatever reason is working today, now. Lastly, for now, I hate that the elipsis at the top of the screen is gone and replaced with the pull down menus for window control. One last piece of information that may be relevant is that I am using an 8th Generation iPad (and I saw that 7th Gen. iPads were Not compatible with iOS 26; replacing my 8th with a 7th has some appeal now).

Reply

Answer 8

andynamex Author

Level 1

7 points

Mar 6, 2026 9:31 AM in response to andynamex

“Apologies to all” - but my only apparent way to reply to any comment was to reply generally to all.

The above, latest comment was meant for IKRUPP — but any attempt to reply stalled with the ‘try again in a few minutes’ message)

I have reviewed all the comments and am sorry to say they have not helped in any way. I have tried various settings mentioned, but they do not solve the fundamental problems.

A new apparent problem seems to be that iOS 26 sucked the life out of new batteries (Energizer 2032s) in my Logitech Bluetooth keyboard (Slim Folio) in less than a month, after some six or eight months with the factory battery. I am sure I am not using my iPad six times more in the past month. (New batteries are now running my entry here.)

Reply