iPadOS Nears Desktop Window Management | Generated by AI
You’re mostly correct, but let’s clarify the current situation (as of iOS 18 / iPadOS 18 in late 2025):
-
iPhone (iOS): Still no true resizable, freely overlapping windows. Apps are almost always full-screen or in limited split-view/Slide Over. You can’t arbitrarily resize app windows like on a desktop.
-
iPad (iPadOS): Yes, iPadOS is much closer to macOS in this regard thanks to Stage Manager (introduced in iPadOS 16 and improved in 17/18).
With Stage Manager turned on (especially on iPads with M1 or newer chips and an external monitor), you get:
- Freely resizable app windows
- Overlapping windows
- Multiple resizable windows on the internal screen or external display
- Behavior that feels very similar to macOS window management
Even without an external monitor, on supported iPads with Stage Manager enabled, you can resize and move windows around quite freely on the iPad screen itself — way beyond what iPhone allows.
So yes, in this specific point (window resizing and management), iPadOS is now much closer to macOS than to iPhone’s iOS. iPhone remains strictly full-screen / basic multitasking, while iPad (with Stage Manager) gives you proper desktop-like windowing.