iPadOS 26 is so bad that I replaced it with Android

This is a tale as old as time. iPads are better productivity machines than Android tablets. At least, that’s what people want you to think. As an iPad owner (2020 iPad Pro 11) and a Galaxy Tab S10 Plus user, I think the opposite is true. Apart from one or two specific uses, I can do more on the Tab S10 than I can on the iPad: iPadOS 26 is bad. It’s bad enough that after five years of enjoyment, I now hate using the iPad.

As I said in the introduction, I use a six-year-old iPad and a Samsung tablet that’s about a year and a half old. Performance and power differences do not affect what I write today. All of my issues with iPadOS 26 are based on software design, not device performance.

Before iPadOS 26 came out, iPad’s multi-functionality was limited but easy to use. Suddenly, two programs could be split side-by-side until we launched Stage Manager, which provides more freedom and a more desktop-like experience. There were frustrations with this; for example, there was no way to connect windows to shared layouts, but that was enough for most users.

iPadOS 26 removes these limitations. That sounds like a good thing, and the way it addresses these concerns didn’t destroy everything that was good before. You can no longer drag and drop apps from the app switcher onto the split screen. Now you have to drag an app to the edge of the screen and repeat the process with another app, or long-press the MacOS-inspired traffic lights and select the window layout you want.

So what’s the deal with this new UX? For starters, the UI is tiny. Trying to touch traffic light buttons or anything in the menu bar is hard to do quickly without touching the wrong thing. Slowing down and making a conscious effort to pick the right thing is annoying, and it’s even worse if you’re using an iPad Mini.

Slideover apps were also greatly weakened in iPadOS 26 and were completely absent until iPadOS 26.1. In older versions of iPadOS, you can have as many sliding apps open as you want and easily switch between them. iPadOS 26 can only have one sliding app at a time. Adding another one sends any existing apps back to the app switcher. The only thing advanced scrolling apps got was the ability to resize them, but that doesn’t make up for the limitation of one app at a time.

The biggest mistake Apple made in iPadOS 26 was to make all these changes in the default mode of the iPad. I provide technical support for a large group of elderly family members and family friends, and the iPad has always been something I recommend. Since the release of iPadOS 26, almost all of these people need help learning the new window management UX, and a few of them are worried that their iPads will break for some reason. All these changes had to be made part of the Stage Manager, leaving the default behavior as it is. Instead, a product that “just works” and is simple to use feels nothing.

Look One UI 8 Samsung’s tablets and the situation could not be different. Samsung’s split-screen and multitasking features have always been easy to use and a revised DeX mode builds on that foundation.

In older versions of One UI, DeX mode was used as a separate operating system where you do everything with your tablet. Turning on DeX mode will force you to wait at the loading screen, and you can no longer bring apps running in the regular Android space into DeX. One UI 8 overhauled DeX mode, bringing it to the core Android experience and making it seamless. Instead of launching DeX and waiting for it to launch, simply scroll to the overview screen and click the add desktop button on the right.

DeX also allows you to switch to multiple desktops with touch screen or keyboard shortcuts. Samsung’s changes in One UI 8 are more intuitive, but most importantly, they didn’t stop the Tab S10 Plus from working normally. If I’ve never opened a desktop on it, then the tablet continues as it always has: no broken or frustrating features, nothing new to learn for the tech-savvy.

This is not to say that everything is perfect. Samsung’s DeX mode only lets you close two windows side-by-side, while you can have three columns of apps in a standard Android environment. This is a shame on a 12.4-inch display, especially when iPadOS 26 can handle four windows at once on tablets significantly smaller than the Tab S10 Plus.

I don’t do any heavy work on my tablets. You won’t find me strapping on a mouse and keyboard and using them to type. I do use them for research though, which always involves extensive use of any of the device’s multitasking features. I’m one of those crazy people who use split-screen apps and pop-ups on my 6.2-inch Galaxy S25, so you can imagine how much I’m in the weeds on the tablet.

Neither Samsung nor Apple have improved tablet multitasking. The iPad on the latest OS version is difficult to use without a mouse and has some fan-favorite features, and the Tab S10 Plus on the latest version of One UI has some quirks that limit window snapping. When choosing between the two, I’m choosing which compromises annoy me the least, and that puts Samsung’s implementation down. One UI 8 is easier to use on a tablet, and most importantly, unlike iPadOS 26, it hasn’t caused me to get dozens of phone calls from confused people who think their tablet is broken or has a virus.

Do you agree? Do you think the latest version of iPadOS 26 is a frustrating mess compared to iPadOS 18, or do you prefer what Samsung did with One UI 8? I’d love to hear from you in the comments.