iPad Pro as My Daily Work Companion: A Personal Journey

Apple inspired me, then left me wanting more.

While my experiment was largely fruitful, a few persistent issues prevented the iPad Pro from fully meeting my daily work requirements. Consequently, I transitioned to using a Surface Pro 8 alongside an iPad Mini—this combination has worked well, yet I still long for a versatile device that seamlessly merges both tablet and laptop functionalities. Hence, I’ve been closely monitoring the iPad landscape and the latest iPadOS updates.

iPadOS 16 introduced a series of features that significantly enhance the user experience. Notable improvements include photo sharing via iCloud, upgraded messaging capabilities, enhancements to Mail and Safari, and the long-awaited Weather app finally making its debut on the iPad.

Among these updates, the feature that caught my attention the most was Stage Manager. This tool provides what many power users have been desiring for years: a genuine external display experience. It also introduces a robust multitasking system, enabling users to resize and display multiple windows simultaneously and switch between different groups of windows effortlessly.

These features seemed to align perfectly with my expectations from Apple, and I was eager to experience them firsthand. However, I quickly realized that these capabilities were restricted to iPads equipped with Apple’s M1 processor.

It's an intriguing decision. The M1 chip was introduced to the iPad lineup last year, and while it's powerful, many experts believe that any iPad released in the last 2–3 years should have the ability to utilize Stage Manager. For instance, the iPad Mini 6, which was launched last year, and the 2020 iPad Pro models with up to 8GB of RAM are excluded from this feature.

It’s generally accepted that with annual product upgrades, users may eventually need to purchase new devices for new features. However, many dedicated iPad users who recently invested in a device likely did not anticipate being left behind so soon.

The prevailing theory suggests this decision was aimed at boosting iPad sales, which have been sluggish recently.

Though my less-than-a-year-old iPad Mini couldn’t access Stage Manager, I was determined to test it and see if the updates were as transformative as many hoped. I managed to borrow an M1 iPad Air to experience all that the latest iPadOS had to offer.

Upon connecting the iPad Air to an external display, Stage Manager undeniably provided the external display experience that iPad enthusiasts had longed for. The background image filled the entire screen, and the desktop interface, complete with a dock at the bottom, bore a striking resemblance to a macOS layout.

My initial test was straightforward: I opened Safari to see if I could stretch the display across the full width of the screen. I was skeptical about whether this would be achievable or if the apps would be confined to the center. Fortunately, I was able to extend Safari to span the entire screen, albeit sluggishly. While this may seem like a minor victory, utilizing the entire external display for web browsing from my iPad was a long-awaited feature. It's the small victories that matter.

The iPad has had multitasking support for several years, allowing two apps to work side by side, with a third window accessible through the slide-over feature. Stage Manager revolutionizes multitasking by creating a more familiar desktop-like environment. You can resize windows, as I did with Safari, and even have windows overlap, akin to a basic Windows, macOS, or Linux setup. Essentially, you can arrange your workspace to suit your needs.

Additionally, you can group apps similarly to previous iPadOS versions, but now your various app groups are displayed on the left side of the screen, with the currently selected group front and center. Switching between app groups is as simple as clicking the left sidebar.

While I did encounter glitches and crashes—understandably, since I was using a beta version—the feature functioned adequately when it did work.

On the whole, Stage Manager represents a significant improvement and is precisely the type of update I wanted to see for the iPad. It offers a more desktop-like experience when connected to an external display, while still retaining the versatility of a tablet on the go.

Nevertheless, there’s something about Stage Manager that feels slightly off. The experience has a hint of a poorly executed emulation of a true desktop environment. While windows can be resized and arranged on a large display, users often face the inherent limitations of the iPad interface. After all, it remains an iPad, and Apple hasn't promised a full macOS experience.

I would categorize Stage Manager as "Desktop Lite." It gives a visual representation of a desktop-like experience for those who desire it, but at its core, it merely remixes iPad's existing multitasking capabilities, enhanced by a full-screen experience.

These updates underscore that the true limitations of the iPad as a daily work tool run deeper than just improvements in window management or screen usage.

The Files app, another critical obstacle to the iPad's evolution into a comprehensive all-in-one machine, did see some enhancements. The ability to modify file extensions is a significant step forward for the iPad. However, this improvement alone isn’t sufficient. iPadOS 16 still lacks essential capabilities like formatting external drives, forcing users to rely on other devices to make certain drives compatible with the iPad. Although the Files app's interface has improved considerably over the years, it still falls short of offering desktop-class functionality.

Apple even promotes "Desktop-Class Apps" as part of iPadOS 16, but this label can be misleading. Rather than introducing entirely new desktop-class applications, it refers to several quality-of-life improvements to existing apps. Enhancements include visual tweaks to toolbars, new context menus, improved find and replace functions, and other refinements to Apple apps. Much like Stage Manager, these updates offer at best a superficial desktop experience.

Reflecting on my time with iPadOS 16, I believe Apple has made progress, albeit at a time when many users were hoping for a more substantial leap. The hardware is more than capable of handling most tasks, yet the iPad Pro continues to be underutilized due to a subpar operating system and software. If Apple genuinely wishes to address sluggish iPad sales, it may be time to implement the significant changes that users are eager to see, ensuring that loyal customers are motivated to revisit the product line in the coming years. The era of merely upgrading hardware annually appears to be behind us, even for devoted iPad users.

For the average user, I still consider the iPad a solid option for an all-in-one computer, especially for tasks like sending emails, browsing the internet, engaging with social media, or writing occasional articles. However, for anyone seeking more advanced functionality, it’s advisable to explore alternatives.

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