APPLE BETAS

Against My Better Judgement, I Installed the iPadOS 26 Beta 1

So far, so good

Oh, well, I have no self-control. Photo by and of author.

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I did it… I said I would wait, but my impatience got the better of me. So far, it’s all good. I have turned off automatic updates in case the next beta falls apart; I can wait a week or so to see what troubles others encounter.

And I have promised myself that when I buy a new iPad, I’ll keep this one for betas.

Here’s what I’ve done so far.

Windowing

Of course, the first thing I had to try was putting multiple overlapping windows on my screen. Oh, gosh, so neat and organized!

Mere moments later, I had this awful mess.

Arrgh! Too much, too much!

Or was it? It turns out, maybe not. If I can see what I want to go to next, that’s very quickly done. If not, Alt-Tab still lets me switch fairly quickly most of the time, and if that fails, a swipe up from the bottom of the screen with my finger brings up the dock and Exposè which might do it (doesn’t seem to work with the Magic Keyboard trackpad).

And if the app I want still isn’t there, Command-space and type it!

I still get a little confused when something unexpectedly opens full screen, but that’s easy to fix, so it’s all good so far. Time to explore more.

Damn, Apple, that’s not what I wanted

I asked ChatGPT about Maps Preferred Routes because I couldn’t see any way to create one. I want this because I follow an apparently illogical route to several grocery stores that I shop at. It’s actually very logical because it’s the best priced store first, and then on to the other stores to get what the first store doesn’t have.

But you can’t create a preferred route — Maps learns it and will suggest it when it thinks it should. I do not think this will work out well for me.

Arrgh!

Phone on iPad

Yes! This is wonderful. Now all I need is a spam phone call to see if that works.

3D Graphing

I have no conceivable need for this, but I tested it anyway.

A 3D Graph

Menu bar

I almost forgot about this because, at least right now, you have to drift into the top of the screen to see it. Will Apple put in a setting to make it automatic? I hope so, because this is much more convenient for many actions.

iPadOS 26 Menu Bar

Third party apps

One of the worries of installing betas is that a third-party app might crash and burn. I use very few, primarily Overcast and Cronometer, both of which work fine so far.

The other issue is that if you do encounter a problem, was it the app or the beta os? Should you report it to Apple or the developer? The answer is probably both should be told.

Proofreading

I tested using Apple’s writing tools directly in Medium, highlighting and proofing each paragraph as I write it. I still prefer to first compose in Notes because I never know when I’ll finish something, and it’s easier to find in Apple Notes than in Medium Drafts, but Writing Tools proofing works perfectly and never messes with my voice.

Though maybe I should have chosen a rewrite for that rambling paragraph!

Apple Proofreading