When Stage Manager first released as part of iPadOS 16 last year, I turned off the setting as quickly as I could and never looked back. It was a half-baked attempt to build a better multitasking system, with too many quirks and complexities, all of which added up to cluttering and confusing the iPad even more.
But this year is different. H is. I’ve been with the iPadOS 17 beta for a while now, ahead of the public beta that goes live today, and there’s good news. Stage Manager feels much closer to the multitasking system that Apple has always said it was trying to build. Still far from perfect, Stage Manager still interacts with apps and other his iPad features in strange and confusing ways. But for the first time, we can at least say that the iPad is a semi-sane multitasking machine.
Important upgrades are simple. Besides setting windows to several set sizes and orientations, most apps can now be as tall, short, thin or wide as you want, and can be placed almost anywhere. rice field. anywhere on the screen. It can even look bad! are you OK! Choosing is good.
When you move a window around the screen, it can subtly bounce to the center or to the edges, and there are a few places, such as corners, where apps can’t be placed at all. But it’s close enough. There are many small iPhone-sized windows randomly placed on the screen. You can play a video in a large window or see a recipe in progress in a small window in the corner. You can drag windows almost anywhere and in almost any size.still no stage manager very Totally free-form multitasking like the Mac, but a big step forward.
Like many new features, Stage Manager only works as the app allows. Here’s mostly good news. Most apps support different sizes and resolutions required by Stage Manager. However, I occasionally run into apps that shrink awkwardly to smaller sizes or refuse to be anything other than the old big rectangle. Netflix is the issue I use most often. Netflix’s only layout options are ‘Portrait iPad’ and ‘Landscape iPad’, and if you scale it down in the Stage Manager, it will shrink and become smaller. Some of Apple’s own apps also do this. But I haven’t found one straight broken yet.
If you’re a “my iPad is my computer” type of user, the new Stage Manager is just for you
If you’re the “my iPad is my computer” type of user, the new Stage Manager is just for you. First, Stage Manager is substantially more practical to use with an iPad and an external monitor combination than it is on a tablet iPad alone. The iPad has 5 stages (4 on the side and one you’re looking at) and the monitor has 5 more stages and it’s very easy to move items between them. If you have a stage open on each screen, you’ll have 8 apps at the same time, making it a very powerful command center.
If you have a monitor with a built-in or attached camera, such as the Apple Studio Display, you can also use the monitor’s webcam when your iPad is connected, as long as your video app supports it. I haven’t been able to test this as I don’t have the $1,600 to spend on a monitor. But it’s a great idea and makes the iPad a very portable video chat device. (Aside: The iPad is really transforming into a “screen docking accessory”, whether it’s a keyboard, a monitor, or a TV. I think that’s a pretty cool way of thinking about the iPad. But that’s the story. I did.)
However, you can still have up to 4 apps in a single stage. This is probably good enough for most people. Any more than that, and even with a smaller window, the iPad’s screen gets pretty crowded. But it feels like an unnecessary limitation for external displays. Besides, I know clutter is my job, and he insists Apple doesn’t need to limit the number of things you can see at once. I can’t handle this limitation anymore. Dragging a 5th app will cause Stage Manager to automatically punt his one of the apps currently in the space to another app. It quickly becomes confusing.
Switching between stages is still a bit confusing as well. The left-aligned tray only shows four at a time, but the stage is so much more. Swipe up to the app switcher to see all the apps you’ve created. i love it! But I wish I could put my app in multiple stages at once. I would like to have the Notes app on one stage with the calendar and to-do list, another stage next to the browser, and another stage next to the Kindle. One example is apps.
Stage Manager still has nothing to do with the rest of iPadOS
In fact, my biggest complaint about Stage Manager is still the same as last year. It has nothing to do with other software on the iPad. You can’t Command-Tab through spaces, they won’t show up in the dock, and you can’t save them in any meaningful way. As always, the app switcher is the only convenient way to move between spaces. If you use Stage Manager my recommendation is simple. Create 5 spaces and keep using them. If you need more at once than can fit on the screen, Stage Manager isn’t for you.
I suspect that’s why the Stage Manager is still pretty much an all-or-nothing setup. Turn it on to phase everything, or turn it off to revert to the iPad’s side-by-side windows and slide-over system. But it also gives me a headache. I like that when I turn on the Stage Manager, I can drag the corner of the window to full screen and drag it back to see everything else. I really don’t understand why you can’t use slideover apps when your app is in full screen unless you turn off the Stage Manager. A fullscreen app should always behave like a fullscreen app.
The first version of Stage Manager struck me as a bad solution to a non-existent problem and a better and easier way to navigate the iPad, but it’s actually neither better nor simpler. But no. With iPadOS 17, we really feel like there is potential here. Especially for power users, Stage Manager is a quicker way to switch between the apps you use most, and if you’re using an external display, it’s much better than any previous option. Just allowing the user to move and resize windows makes the Stage Manager even more useful.
But now Apple needs to make Stage Manager a real iPad feature. It should integrate with other iPadOS navigation tools and windowing systems in a way that makes sense. Arrange your widgets and apps together in a space! Then name and save your app collections to show up in Spotlight search. please. You need to take advantage of the tablet’s incredible processing power and actually be able to use more than four apps at once. In other words, we want the Stage Manager to feel like part of the iPad, rather than a completely separate device that just happens to be on the same screen.
A stage manager could be great. And Apple is pushing it in the right direction. (You might call that direction “Mac-ish.”) I wish it pushed harder and faster.
