in my recent video where I detailed nine
new features in iPad OS 16 I mentioned
stage manager and at the time I
explained that it was too complicated to
cover everything in that video and would
need a dedicated video well here's that
dedicated video stick with me as I show
you everything that stage manager can
now do on the iPad
before we get fully into the video it is
important to mention that not all iPads
will be able to run stage manager you'll
need either an iPad Air 5th generation
an IPad Pro 12.9 Inch Third Generation
or later or an iPad Pro 11 inch first
generation or later I'm currently
running this on my iPad 11 inch Second
Generation and if you're unsure about
what kind of iPad you're using open
settings then tap on General then about
and look here model name unfortunately
if you've got an iPad that isn't
compatible this feature will not be
available on your iPad but keep watching
maybe by the end of this video you'll
like the feature enough to consider an
upgrade
according to Apple's stage manager is
their brand new solution for
multitasking on the iPad if you've been
an iPad owner for a while you'll likely
know that multitasking is the one thing
that apple have really struggled to get
to grips with here on the iPad the
previous multitasking methods have
always been a bit clunky or failed to
really make the most of what is
potentially quite a small display
especially when compared with a Macbook
or a desktop Mac stage manager does go
some way to making the multitask
experience on the iPad better it's not
perfect but it's good albeit kind of
confusing at first so let me walk you
through it
okay so first up we need to enable stage
manager to do this head into settings
then choose home screen and multitasking
and toggle on use stage manager on iPad
beneath that we've got this layout
section with two toggle options that
aren't all that obvious I would
recommend that you play around with
these and find a setup that works for
you recent apps is the strip on the left
of the screen that gives you quick
access to apps that you've got open
we'll talk more about that in this video
and the dock is the dock just like
you've always had on your iPad
Apple don't really explain how this
works especially well in my opinion but
from what I've worked out by using the
feature if you toggle on recent apps for
example the recent apps tab can remain
visible while you've got other apps open
if you toggle it off you can still
access the recent apps tab by swiping
from left to right with an app open but
when you then select another app the tab
will disappear it works the same with
the dock so it really is a case of you
trying them both out and seeing which
one you prefer I'm going to leave them
toggled on for the rest of this video oh
and something else worth doing is
ensuring that you can access stage
manager from control center go into
settings then Control Center and then
scroll down to the more control section
in here there will be a stage manager
option tapping the little green plus
next to that will then move stage
manager into our Control Center and we
can then come out of settings open
Control Center and tap this button to
enable stage manager when you first
enable it it's not obvious that you've
labeled it as nothing really happens on
the main screen but once we start
opening up apps you'll start to see the
change take effect
so let's start by opening up Safari you
can see that at first nothing looks
particularly different but notice this
little icon down in the bottom right
corner at the edge of the display this
is a feature of stage manager and if I
tap and drag here I can resize this
Safari window at its most basic this is
how stage manager works I've now got an
app that takes up most of the display
enough of it to be fully functional but
I've still got full access to my dock
down at the bottom of the screen
so let's also open another app I'll tap
into the app gallery and I'm going to
open podcasts see how the podcasts app
has opened in the same space that Safari
was just in but Safari has switched over
to the left of the display this over
here on the left is known as a thumbnail
and at its most basic I can tap on the
thumbnail for Safari to swap apps out
notice that when I do that podcasts
moves over to where Safari was
but if I want I can use that resize tool
to make more changes so I could make
Safari even smaller albeit still
entirely functional and then I could
drag podcasts from the thumbnail over
here on the left and drag it onto the
screen along with Safari so now I've got
both Safari and podcasts open in the
same main window and I can easily tap to
move between the two apps Apple are
referring to this as a workspace
although I'd have thought they would
have referred to it as a stage but never
mind and the idea is that each workspace
can be personal to you based on how you
like to work
so perhaps you tend to write in notes
and you want to use Safari for research
at the same time you could in theory
position notes to give you enough space
to be able to type out your documents
whilst also having visibility of safari
but then where it gets really
interesting is if I then open another
app so I'm going to open calm and see
how the new app opens while my previous
workspace which consisted of safari and
podcasts gets moved to its own thumbnail
together on the left of the screen
so again at its most basic level I can
bounce between the thumbnails bouncing
from the car map which is currently by
itself into the workspace that I've just
created that consists of safari and
podcasts
notice that each window has three dots
up at the top of it if you tap and hold
on that you can then use that to drag
Windows around a little and whilst it
isn't as fluid as doing so on a Mac it
does allow you a certain degree of being
able to position Windows across your
workspace but if you simply tap on these
three dots you've got some options you
can make an app Go full screen which is
kind of what we're used to on the iPad
or you can add another window to the
current workspace if you tap on this the
open windows in your current workspace
will kind of move to the side allowing
you to either access another app by
selecting something from the dock or
from the app gallery down here at the
bottom of the screen or by selecting any
of the apps that you've got open in
other workspaces so if I tap on calm
that app now joins the other two apps
that I've got in this workspace I'm then
going to do some positioning to get this
workspace looking how I like it using a
mixture of the three dots menu up at the
top to drag Windows around and the
little resize icon in in the bottom
right for resizing but then let me show
you what happens if I then go to the app
gallery and open another app for the
sake of this I'll open YouTube YouTube
opens in its own workspace as expected
and the three other open apps have now
bounced to a thumbnail over here on the
left and again you can bounce between
the workspaces jumping from the one with
YouTube to the one with three apps and
vice versa
and I guess this is kind of the point of
stage manager you can use it the way
that you're comfortable with taking
advantage of it as much or as little as
you like if you want to use it to bounce
between open apps very easily whilst
only sacrificing a small amount of
screen real estate you can if you want
to create stages or workspaces with
multiple apps that you like using
together at the same time and bounce
between those or mix and match with
those two functions you can or you can
of course choose to not use it at all if
you'd prefer it takes some getting used
to but I actually quite like it even on
my 11 inch iPad Pro which is a really
small screen all things considered it
does work pretty well I'll probably use
it for bouncing between apps more than
anything else but there are situations
where I can see myself using it with
multiple apps open in the same workspace
finally if you want to close down a
window tap on the three dots and choose
close window if you swipe up from the
bottom of the screen and hold for a
second you can see all open apps and
workspaces and can access one by tapping
on it here and then if you have multiple
instances of an app open like multiple
safari windows for example tap and hold
on the app icon so down here in the dock
for example and choose show or Windows
you can then of course start closing
down Windows if you wish
and you can make use of this with an
external display although the full
capabilities of that where you can
essentially use your iPad like you would
a Macbook and have your external display
as a fully fledged external monitor is
only available on the iPad Pro with M1
or M2 Chip sadly so not something I can
test out at this time it's also not
available until later on in the year but
when it arrives if you happen to try it
out drop me a comment and let me know
what you think of it I'd love to get
your opinion on whether the iPad has
truly reached laptop replacement
standard with this new update so there
you go that stage manager on the iPad
explained
the Bold change by Apple and some people
are going to absolutely hate it I think
some people are going to really like it
and I guess a number of people are going
to be totally disinterested which
category do you fit into is this
something you'll use drop me a comment
and let me know oh and by the way if
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