Slide Over Returns in iPadOS 26.1 for Apple Devices

Quick Summary

• Feature Return: Apple has reintroduced the Slide Over multitasking feature in iPadOS 26.1.
• Functionality: Slide Over allows users to quickly show and hide apps from the screen’s side.
• Window Management: The redesigned feature now supports quick resizing and changing of aspect ratios.
• Limitation: Users can only have one active app in Slide Over at a time, unlike previous versions.

The reaction to iPadOS 26 has been mixed, but some users have bemoaned the absence of the decade-old Slide Over multitasking feature. Well, Apple just announced that it’s coming back as part of iPadOS 26.1. It’s actually already available, though just as part of the beta build.

For the uninitiated, Slide Over is a multitasking tool that lets users quickly reveal and hide an app that slides in and out from the side of the screen. This is great for quickly revealing and hiding an app without permanently rearranging your workspace.

Apple also got rid of Split View with iPadOS 26, but the new windowing system can easily do something similar. There has been no way with the new OS to mimic Slide Over, which has become a point of contention.

Slide Over has been redesigned to work with that new windowing system and there’s a major upgrade. Users can quickly resize the windows and change the aspect ratios, in addition to swiping right to completely hide them from view.

There is also one major downgrade, . Users can only have one active app in Slide Over at a time. In iPadOS 18 (and earlier), folks could switch between multiple apps in a Slide Over window, but it looks like that option has been removed.

Given how iPadOS 26 radically reworked the way the system handles multiple apps, it’s a safe bet that this old Slide Over behavior was incompatible with the latest OS. Engadget has reached out to Apple for clarification and will update this post when we hear back.