Jason Cipriani / ZDNet
With the release of iPadOS 16, even in its current beta form, Apple completely changed the way I use my iPad Pro. After years of yelling at itself about a better multitasking interface and lack of true external monitor support, Apple has combined both features for select iPads via a feature called Stage Manager.
However, Stage Manager is an optional feature. It’s something you have to look at and then specifically turn to. But when it’s enabled, you can have up to four apps running on your iPad’s screen at a given time—each of which can be moved around the screen and resized exactly as You can on Mac.
And when you connect your iPad to an external monitor, you’ll get a second iPadOS desktop, where you can have up to four more apps open and active, giving the iPad a total of 8 active apps at any given time. Yes, that’s an impressive leap forward in the capabilities of Apple’s tablets. Below I’ll walk you through where to find Stage Manager as well as cover some of the basics on how to use the new feature. But, before I get too ahead of myself, there is something else that needs attention.
How to Use Stage Manager on iPadOS 16
There is definitely a caveat because there is.
The new Stage Manager feature does not work on any iPad compatible with iPadOS 16. This is limited to iPads using Apple’s M1 processor, including the 2021 iPad Pro and 2022 iPad Air right now. Apple cites the need for additional processing power, faster memory, virtual memory, and USB-C 4/Thunderbolt 4 ports on the M1 iPad model.
Unfortunately, that’s exactly the case and Apple isn’t concerned about users who are upset by the disappearance of Stage Manager.
Screenshot by Jason Cipriani/ZDNet
How to turn Stage Manager on and off
Again, Stage Manager is an optional feature. You can use it as little or as often as you want, turning it on or off with a quick tap of a button. That button is located in the iPad’s Control Center. To access it, swipe down from the top right corner of your iPad’s screen. There you’ll see a new icon with three dots on the left, with a rectangle to the left of the dots. Tap the icon to start Stage Manager.
If you want to revert to the more traditional iPad layout, open Control Center again and tap the Stage Manager button to close it.
Screenshot by Jason Cipriani/ZDNet
What to do after enabling Stage Manager
You may not notice any difference in how your iPad looks after turning on Stage Manager and leaving Control Center, especially if you go back to the Home screen.
Open any app on your iPad to see the basic yet impressive changes Apple has made to multitasking with Stage Manager. As you can see in the screenshot above, the Weather app is no longer taking up the entire display. Instead, it’s a bit smaller and the left side of the screen has app thumbnails for previously used apps.
You can either tap the app icon to open another app or tap the thumbnail on the left side of the screen to switch to that specific app.
Screenshot by Jason Cipriani/ZDNet
Use more than one app at a time
If you want to add a second, third, or fourth app to your scene on the iPad, all you have to do is drag and drop the app’s icon from the Dock or App Library. Or you can drag the thumbnail preview from the left side of the screen to open it next to your active window.
When you add a second app, both windows will be resized to divide the screen space equally. But don’t feel like you’re stuck with windows in a split-screen-like arrangement. You can resize windows, overlap them, and place them on top of each other.
iPadOS 16 intentionally leaves an edge of all active apps visible, so you’ll have to tap somewhere to switch between apps. Again, you can have up to four apps open and available at a given time.
In the screenshot above, you can see that Safari, Tweetbot, Weather, and Apple Music are open and active on my iPad Pro’s screen, each a different size and overlapping.
If you open a single app or switch to an app (or app group) that’s to the left of Stage Manager, the app you currently have open will move to the left side of the screen, making it easier to miss. Same group when needed.
Screenshot by Jason Cipriani/ZDNet
Resize, minimize and close apps
You’ll see a three-dot button at the top of each app window when Stage Manager is activated. When selected, that button reveals a menu that gives you some actions you can perform. Here’s a quick description of what each option does:
- zoom Expands the current app to full-screen size, but it keeps the rest of the app group in the background.
- add another window Will push currently visible apps to the edge of the screen where you can view your app library or home screen to open another app by adding it to your current group.
- to cut down Moves that specific app to the left side of the Stage Manager.
- close Will completely close that particular app.
You have a few options when it comes to resizing app windows. You can use the curved handle which is often located in the lower right or left corner of the window, or if you have a mouse/trackpad attached to your iPad, you can move the pointer to any edge of the window and can make adjustments.
Window sizes are not 100% free form, but instead the window will snap to the pre-existing sizes set by iPadOS. But from what I’ve experienced so far, the countless options make it feel like you can adjust to any size.
You can also adjust the size of the windows so that they automatically hide the App Dock at the bottom of the screen or cover the Stage Manager area on the left side of the display.
image: apple
Using Stage Manager With External Monitor
Now that you have the Stage Manager hanging out on iPad, it’s time to take it to the next level by connecting your iPad to an external monitor.
Stage Manager operates at resolutions up to 6K. Unlike previous implementations of external monitor support for the iPad, instead of mirroring your iPad’s display to the monitor, you get an app dock and a second home screen with Stage Manager thumbnails.
Stage Manager is automatically enabled on the monitor when you connect an iPad. Once connected, you can open apps, resize them, and move them around, as we just covered. The three-dot menu button at the top of each window includes an additional option: move to display either go to ipad, depending on which device it is currently on. As the name suggests, selecting that option will move the window to another screen.
On the second display, Stage Manager works and works just as it does on the iPad. By using the monitor, you double the maximum number of open and active apps at a given time, from four to eight. And thus, the need for higher-performance requirements and limiting the Stage Manager to M1 processors. for better or for worse.
iPadOS 16 has some other features and specifics for Stage Manager, but with the update still in beta, I’m going to hold off on covering them completely until the official release. Apple often makes changes to features as it gathers feedback during the beta process.
If you want to sign up for iOS 16 or iPadOS 16 beta, you can do so now by following the instructions here. Just know that you will encounter bugs and problems, and it is not recommended to install the beta on any device you rely on daily.
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