The one about Stage Manager đź–Ą (#99)

The WWDC keynote this Monday showed us what’s in store for iPadOS this fall. One of the new features is Stage Manager, which revamps multitasking on iPadOS, but also brings proper fullscreen support to external monitors. Yeah, you knew I’d write about that, right?

I’m writing this on my M1 12.9” iPad Pro, but I’m not looking at its screen. Instead, I have hooked up to a 27” BenQ display via Thunderbolt, something I rarely do. That’s because you get those pesky black bars on the side, and just a mirrored version of your iPad screen.

Or rather, that’s what it used to be like. You see, I’ve got the developer beta of iPadOS 16 installed, and the main feature there is external monitor support with Stage Manager. I’ve got to tell you, it’s pretty sweet. No, scratch that, it’s bloody brilliant, that’s what it is. At least I think it will be, when the bugs have been ironed out.

Apple announced iPadOS 16 at WWDC this Monday. It’s very much in beta (with improved developer tools), and just for developers at this time. The public beta is due in July, if that’s your thing, with the actual release coming sometime this fall.

So, what’s it like to work on your iPad using Stage Manager?

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