Stage Manager puts iPad applications into floating, resizable, overlapping windows. It’s the most significant change to iPadOS in many years, and Apple Support created a video that walks through the possibilities.
Watch it if you’d like to get started with this multitasking system.
Improving multitasking on iPad
Believe it or not, when iPad launched in 2010 it could display only one application at a time. But Apple eventually brought in a multitasking system that offers Split View, allowing a pair of apps to appear side by side. And Slide Over allows a third to appear temporarily. These are still the default options for working with multiple applications.
But it was not enough for some power users. They wanted floating app windows so that iPad worked more like macOS. Apple responded with Stage Manager in iPadOS 16.
How to use Stage Manager on iPad
It’s a new system similar to the way a Mac works, but not identical. That’s why Apple Support made a video that demonstrates the basics.
It starts by pointing out which models can use the new multitasking system: any tablet with an M1 or M2 processor and a few extras, which means iPad Air 5 plus every iPad Pro released since 2018.
Then the video covers how to activate Stage Manager in Control Center — it’s off by default.
Next, Apple Support goes onto opening and resizing applications. This works slightly different on a iPad than a Mac because it’s controlled by touch, not a cursor.
The following topic is working with app groups, a major feature of Stage Manager. Open application windows can be collected into groups, and these can be brought to the foreground or hidden together.
Applications and groups show up in another new feature: a recent apps list on the left edge of the screen.
Watch the Apple Support video to see all this in detail.
Take a deeper dive
Cult of Mac has its own guide on how to get started with Stage Manager. It’s not a video, but goes into considerably more detail.
Most notably, Apple’s video How To says nothing about using Stage Manager on an external screen. Our version does.
