Apple announces iPadOS 16 with a Weather app, Stage Manager multitasking, collaboration via the Messages app, Passkeys support, better undo and redo, and more
it's another mystery meat UI with weird hidden edge gestures and ‘smart’ behaviors https://twitter.com/... Steve Troughton-Smith / @stroughtonsmith : So, Stage Manager on iPadOS 16. I'm coalescing my feelings about it, which so far are a net negative for b1, so bear with me. I hate that it shuffles/resizes windows on me. It also unhelpfully decides which side of the window you're allowed resize from via touch (but not mouse) https://twitter.com/... Mark Gurman / @markgurman : I find it odd that the multi-tasking improvements in iPadOS 16 are M1 exclusive. The A12Z was clearly capable of handling full macOS, it should be able to handle this update. Steven Sinofsky / @stevesi : @stroughtonsmith Seems like a mess. When they clicked the menu bar button it was a signal that it was weird. Basic Apple Guy / @basicappleguy : This man is a treasure! We need to protect him at all costs! #WWDC22 [Screenshot of Craig Federighi running to iPadOS presentation] @darth : u may think i am joking but i keep my ipad near my bed and not having access to weather is a real issue in terms of whether or not i get out of bed based on the weather Steve Troughton-Smith / @stroughtonsmith : Having the windows shuffle around as you drag them makes it impossible to organize anything the way you want it. It's adding unnecessary complexity that doesn't help anything. The least it could do is implement Windows' snap modes that everybody loves — Microsoft did it better https://twitter.com/... Tom / @bytereview : A decent step forward for iPad. Full screen support was a big one and windowed apps within Stage Manager looks cool #WWDC22 Steve Troughton-Smith / @stroughtonsmith : The new open/save panels on iPadOS are starting to look very macOS-y https://twitter.com/... James Thomson / @jamesthomson : Generally on the “how bad will my summer be as a developer?” scale, this was a pretty good WWDC. I'm guessing a lot of the iPad changes will work with the existing APIs for view size transitions. Nothing made me put my head in my hands, which is a big two thumbs up from me. James Thomson / @jamesthomson : By the way, this iPadOS 16 first build is rougher than most. I've been running into a lot of weird bugs. I wouldn't necessarily recommend installing it on your main device yet! I know you won't listen, but I can at least say I told you so. Bastian Lehmann / @basti : The Apple highlight today: The Weather app is now on iPad. @canoopsy : they did it. they finally did it. [image of iPad with external display support] Steve Troughton-Smith / @stroughtonsmith : The possibility of me moving from my Mac mini to an iPad with external display is not zero... 👀 https://twitter.com/... Francisco Tolmasky / @tolmasky : Apple's response to iPad complaints: 1. Sure, you can only do one thing at once, but now MANY people can only do one thing at once, TOGETHER™ 2. Work? Gaming is better than ever on the iPad! 3. Uh, Lists in Contacts? 4. You can always seamlessly transfer to the Mac. #wwdc22 @darth : omfg weather on the ipad finally Aaron Levie / @levie : Apple's passkey announcement today is another important step toward a password-less future. This is great news for everyone. Ian / @ianzelbo : Apple... Where's the calculator app for iPad? Michael Kukielka / @detroitborg : Stage Manager works amazingly well in iPadOS 16, clever physics in all the window resizing animations and automated adjustments. Steve Troughton-Smith / @stroughtonsmith : Unfortunately, I'm not going to be able to get a good read on how it works in practice as my iPad doesn't support it, and the Simulator is a very limited experience. I don't think it's nailed, yet @bencsin : Real multi-tasking on an iPad. I've been waiting for this for years. 😭 😭 https://twitter.com/... Steve Troughton-Smith / @stroughtonsmith : Here's an example of why its ‘smart’ resizing is so frustrating. You could be working in a three-column app one moment, but dragging in another window kicks you out into a smaller window and throws away your sidebar. Huge context switch and painful to return https://t.co/UxIxZZzPis Chris Espinosa / @cdespinosa : FYI a 1024 x 1024 x 32 bit icon image is sixteen times larger than the entire memory space of the original Mac. For a single icon. https://twitter.com/... Steve Troughton-Smith / @stroughtonsmith : There is a lot that I don't like about how Stage Manager works in this first beta of iPadOS 16. I really hope it's salvageable before release, or we'll be stuck with it for at least 2 years. There are tiny moments of zen, though... https://twitter.com/... Michael Kukielka / @detroitborg : iPadOS 16 finally fixes external display use. https://twitter.com/... Paul Haddad / @tapbot_paul : I feel like at this point you should just go use a Mac. https://twitter.com/...
Context & Ripple Effects
Apple had already been iterating on iPad multitasking through iPadOS 15’s improved multitasking tools, and reporting immediately before the announcement pointed to resizable windows as iPadOS 16’s defining change. Stage Manager makes that shift explicit alongside collaboration and passkey features.
The initial M1 restriction made the feature as much a hardware distinction as a software update. Later beta work extended Stage Manager to older A12X and A12Z iPads, while dropping external-display extension for those models, showing Apple was adjusting the boundary rather than abandoning it.
First-order effects
- M1 iPad users receive Stage Manager’s new windowed workflow, while owners of initially unsupported iPads are excluded despite Apple also shipping broadly applicable additions such as Weather, Messages collaboration, and Passkeys.
- Developers and early users must adapt to a multitasking interface criticized for automatic window movement, constrained touch resizing, hidden gestures, and buggy behavior.
Second-order effects
- Apple’s M1-only launch position puts greater value on M1 iPads for users who want desktop-style multitasking, while the later A12X/A12Z beta expansion reduces that product-generation divide without granting every display capability.
- The reported delay tied partly to multitasking work signals that Stage Manager’s interaction model, rather than the smaller app additions, became a release-critical quality and scheduling issue for Apple.
Third-order effects
- Apple’s continued investment in fluidly resizable windows—visible again in iPadOS 26’s window-management changes—points to iPad software moving incrementally toward a more Mac-like work surface rather than a single-app tablet model.
- The staged device support suggests Apple will keep balancing advanced multitasking capabilities against hardware segmentation, making feature parity across iPad generations uneven when new interaction models arrive.
The trend: The iPad is being recast as a windowed productivity device, with Apple using successive OS releases and selective hardware support to close part of the gap with the Mac.