iPadOS 26 is the seventh and current release of iPadOS, released on September 15, 2025, under the year-aligned numbering that jumped the platform from 18 to 26. It is widely judged the most significant iPadOS release ever shipped: the multitasking system was rebuilt as true windowing — freely resizable, placeable, tileable windows with traffic-light controls, a Mac-style menu bar, a pointer-precise cursor, and Exposé — available on every supported iPad, not just M-series, and replacing Stage Manager's constrained groups outright.

With the windowing came the Liquid Glass design shared across Apple's 26-generation platforms, a Files app overhaul (list customization, folder colors, default-app control), the Preview app from the Mac, background tasks for pro workflows (long exports keep running), and audio input selection per app — the working-professional checklist the platform had deferred for years.

The windowing system with menu bar, tiling, and Exposé; Liquid Glass; Files and Preview upgrades; background tasks; local capture for calls; per-app audio routing; phone-app parity (Hold Assist, Call Screening); Apple Intelligence expansion including live translation; and the Games app. Point releases through 26.6 have refined windowing behaviors and the design language.

iPad (8th gen) and later, iPad mini 5 and later, iPad Air 3 and later, iPad Pro 3rd gen and later — a modest cull of the oldest 18-era devices, with windowing running fleet-wide.

Still unfolding — but the verdict arrived fast: reviewers called iPadOS 26 the release that finally let the hardware breathe, the answer to a decade of "the iPad is a computer" arguments. Its windowing system is the new baseline every future release builds on, starting with iPadOS 27.