Steve Troughton-SmithJun 18, 2025

Here's an experiment for prospective reviewers (👀 @viticci)…

With iPad on external display, side by side with macOS Tahoe, compare and contrast individual system apps between the two platforms. It's quite surprising just how close some of them are, in this release. The Contacts app is a good example, because it hasn't traditionally been a shared codebase. It is in some ways better on iPad than Mac, as it has collapsible sidebar sections and a quick jump alphabetical index. (Mac has more menus)

Show threadSteve Troughton-SmithJun 18, 2025

Mail, too, looks great expanded out into multicolumn mode on iPadOS. These really are desktop-class apps; they might not be /as complex/ as those on the Mac, but pretty much any other desktop operating system would be thrilled to have them as they are.

Where iPad falls down, of course, is with existing apps that never bothered to think past the 10" screen — and there are many of them, both from Apple and third parties. iWork needs a complete redo, for example, to take things out of popovers

Show threadSteve Troughton-Smith

One area iPad feels (subjectively) a lot better than the Mac is in how fluid it is. Everything keeps a high frame rate, more things are animated and transition nicely, etc. Now that many of the system apps look identical across platforms, that 'feel' sets iPad apart. On macOS, things are thrown onscreen carelessly and with little finesse re snapping between states or flickering or framerate. It really does make the iPad feel like a 'better' Mac*

(*Of course, with a looong list of asterisks)

Jun 18, 2025 at 12:07pmIvory for Mac
Show threadMaksim OdnoletkovJun 19, 2025
@stroughtonsmith isn't iPadOS still ridden with uninterruptable animations when switching between apps, using spotlight, text input etc. This is what always put me off when try it before with keyboard as Mac replacement