Slide Over and Split View in iPadOS 26

iPadOS 26 completely changes the way you can use your device with the new advanced windowing mode. And whilst this is great for getting lots of windows on the screen and positioning things exactly as you want them to, one of the complaints when it first came out was that split screen mode had gone. This was when you could simply choose two windows and have them side by side really easily.

Well, that’s back now in iPadOS 26.2. And if your iPad is fully up to date, you can now use the brand new split screen mode.

So let’s stop faffing about with trying to do this the old-fashioned way, and we’ll just go into Freeform and make it full screen.

Okay, I’ve now got one app on my screen, but I want to have Safari open side by side in split view. All I need to do is swipe up gently from the bottom to bring the Dock up – not all the way back to the Home screen, just a small swipe.

Then I can tap and drag the icon for Safari and move it to the left or the right of the screen. As I do this, you’ll see Freeform shrinking slightly to make space. When I let go of the icon, it snaps into half-and-half mode, with Freeform on one side and Safari on the other.

I can then use that little divider in the middle to make one side bigger or smaller, and customise the split view just like before. I can also swipe all the way across to close an app or use the traffic light controls.

But what’s more is that we can also use another app in Slide Over, which means it’s always going to be at the very front of the screen and never hidden behind anything else. So if you’ve got a key app you want quick access to, Slide Over can be really useful.

I’ll swipe up again to bring the Dock back, and this time I’ll grab the Files icon. When I move it towards the edge of the screen, you’ll see a small segment appear with a chevron on it. If I let go here, the app opens in its own floating window.

At first glance, it looks like another window, but if you look closely, you’ll see a thin glassy border around it. I can resize this window, move it around the screen, or flick it off to the left or right.

When I do that, the chevron tab stays on the edge of the screen. That means I can jump to another app, tap the chevron, and Slide Over comes straight back. And even if the chevron disappears, as long as you remember which edge you flicked it to, you can swipe back in from that edge to bring it back.

You can now only have one Slide Over app at a time, but it does make it really easy to keep an important app accessible wherever you need it.

So this new split view and the updated Slide Over really improve multitasking on iPad. And if you want to see what else your iPad can do, check out my YouTube channel down below and make sure you subscribe. I’ll see you next time.