Final 12 months, Apple launched Stage Supervisor, which is how the corporate has tried to please iPad customers who’ve all the time wished an expertise much like a desktop working system with a number of home windows. And whereas Stage Supervisor gives this, it does so in a fairly restricted manner. Issues have gotten loads higher with iPadOS 17, however there are nonetheless some issues that I miss.
iPad and Stage Supervisor
To recap, Stage Supervisor lets iPad customers handle their apps as in the event that they’re floating home windows on the display. These home windows will be resized and rearranged, much like what you are able to do in macOS and Home windows. In one other first, Stage Supervisor additionally permits customers to attach their iPad to an exterior show to make use of it as a secondary monitor, not simply to reflect no matter is on the iPad display.
However Stage Supervisor 1.0, launched with iPadOS 16, has numerous limitations. For example, the resizing choices are restricted, as are the choices for transferring home windows across the display. Stage Supervisor additionally solely permits you to open a most of 4 apps on the iPad and as much as eight apps whereas linked to an exterior show.
This may increasingly look like sufficient for most individuals, however a system like macOS lets you could have as many open home windows as you need. And customers can’t flip off the iPad’s display to make use of it completely with an exterior show, even when they’ve an exterior keyboard and mouse linked.
What’s new with iPadOS 17
As reported by my colleague Likelihood Miller, iPadOS 17 significantly enhances the Stage Supervisor expertise. Customers can transfer home windows across the display extra freely, and there’s extra flexibility when resizing apps. It’s nonetheless not as versatile as in macOS, nevertheless it’s a begin.
Apple can be letting customers Shift-click app icons so as to add new home windows to the workspace, similar to on the Mac.
You can too Shift-click app icons to immediately add home windows to your present workspace. Truthfully, this transformation alone is sufficiently big to at the least make the Stage Supervisor expertise usable for me on iPad, not to mention when mixed with the liberty for resizing and inserting home windows.
Throughout WWDC 2023, Apple additionally detailed that iPadOS 17 works with USB webcams or microphones linked through the USB-C port. Builders will be capable to make the most of these equipment of their apps with a brand new API out there within the iPadOS 17 SDK.
All these enhancements mixed end in a greater multitasking expertise when utilizing the iPad. However there are two issues I miss from macOS that also hassle me after I’m utilizing my iPad with Stage Supervisor.
Options I miss in Stage Supervisor
For me, one of many greatest flaws of Stage Supervisor is that it lacks clamshell mode. With a daily laptop computer, you possibly can plug it into an exterior show, keyboard, and mouse after which shut the lid to make use of it as a desktop. However on the iPad, even with these equipment, you need to preserve the built-in display turned on on a regular basis.
My colleague Fernando Silva was capable of get clamshell mode enabled on his iPad operating iPadOS 17 beta 1, however I couldn’t get it to work right here. We don’t know if this can be a bug, however I actually hope that clamshell mode turns into a factor in iPadOS.
One other annoying limitation is that Stage Supervisor forces you to make use of the linked exterior show as your iPad’s audio supply. This implies you possibly can’t select to make use of your iPad’s built-in audio system when linked to a show, which is unhealthy when your show’s audio system aren’t good or if it simply doesn’t have built-in audio system.
Talking of which, the iPad interface may very well be barely up to date to make the most of the exterior shows mixed with a keyboard and mouse. The audio output menu all the time takes up the entire display, blurring each different app behind it.
Wrap-up
Apple has been slowly updating iPadOS to make the most of the whole lot that the iPad {hardware} has to supply. And whereas iPad continues to be removed from providing the identical capabilities as a Mac by way of software program, iPadOS 17 seems like a step in the precise path.
The primary beta of iPadOS 17 is now out there to builders. Apple says a public beta shall be out there this summer time, whereas the official launch is anticipated this fall. Extra particulars on easy methods to set up the beta replace will be discovered on the Apple Developer web site.
For extra particulars on what’s new in Stage Supervisor with iPadOS 17, I like to recommend studying the MacStories article by Federico Viticci detailing his expertise with the replace.
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