What’s new in iPadOS 26
Dive into the latest key technologies and capabilities.
New design
The new design across Apple platforms elevates the content people care about most, and creates a unified design language between platforms — all while maintaining the distinct qualities that make each unique. It introduces Liquid Glass, a new dynamic material that combines the optical properties of glass with a sense of fluidity. Liquid Glass refracts content from below it, reflects light from around it, and has a gorgeous lensing effect along its edges.
Foundation Models framework
Built into the core of Apple operating systems, Apple Intelligence is the personal intelligence system that helps people get things done through features like Writing Tools, Genmoji, and Image Playground. Now, any app can tap into the on-device models that power many Apple Intelligence features through the Foundation Models framework. Use this framework to power intelligent features in your app, using model capabilities, such as text extraction, summarization, and more. Since the model is on-device, your users’ data stays private and doesn’t need to go to a server-side model or anyone else. It’s readily available, so features you build will work offline. And it’s all available at no cost per request.
App Intents framework updates
With the App Intents framework, people can easily find and use the core functions of your app, even when they’re not in your app. The App Intents framework deeply integrates your app’s actions and content with system experiences, including Siri, Spotlight, widgets, controls, and more. App Intents can be used with context-aware Action Button experiences, interactivity in Widgets, automation via Shortcuts, and quick controls in Control Center. You can now apply your app-specific visual search logic to content in visual intelligence. This brings your results right into the search experience, so people can deep link into your app from the results.
Background Tasks API
With the updated Background Tasks API on iOS and iPadOS, you can start long-running tasks — like a video export — that will complete in the background. The API allows your app to deliver features in the background while maintaining a great foreground experience.
Menu bar
iPad apps will now have menu bars with default menus provided by the system and custom menus provided by your app. Users can now reveal the menu bar by swiping down with a finger or moving their pointer to the top edge of the screen. Menu bars organize your app’s actions, making them easier to discover — and easier for people to use.
Windowing
iPadOS now offers an entirely new windowing system. Using a new handle in the bottom-right corner, users can fluidly resize your apps, and window controls now appear on the top-left corner of every window. iPad apps can also now create a window for each document, and a new section of the app menu offers descriptive names for each of app’s open windows.
Resources
Take advantage of the latest advancements in iPadOS by building your apps and games with Xcode 26 beta. Browse updated documentation and try out the sample code for the new technologies introduced at WWDC25.