Apple has just released iPadOS 26.2 with new features and bug fixes, and a major improvement to multitasking.

Here’s what’s new for iPad users in this update:

System Features

Drag and Drop Multitasking

If you actually use your iPad as an iPad, this feature alone is worth the price of admission. After iPadOS 26.1 brought back Slide Over, Apple continues to address our complaints around multitasking with the return of drag-and-drop support for both Split View and Slide Over.

For those newer to iPad, prior to iPadOS 26, the main way iPad users utilized multitasking was through dragging apps from the Dock or Spotlight into either Split View or Slide Over. It was an approach that made a lot of sense in a touch environment.

iPadOS 26 abandoned this feature in favor of a more macOS-like windowing paradigm. While you absolutely could still create a Split View with the new windowing, it required more steps and didn’t feel nearly as smooth when using touch.

Maybe adding this back was always on the roadmap, but it feels like Apple is actually listening to the iPad community and responding quickly to our concerns, which is great.

This isn’t 100% the same interaction we had before. For example, in the old system, when you removed the second app from Split View, the remaining app would go full screen. Now, the remaining app stays at half size.

But that’s really more of a nitpick. I’m just glad Apple isn’t completely neglecting touch users.

Liquid Glass Continues to Evolve

As expected, the initial release of Liquid Glass with iPadOS and iOS 26 was not the end of the story. Apple is continuing to evolve it based on both internal plans and community feedback.

• Slider for Lock Screen Clock: When customizing your Lock Screen, there’s now a slider that lets you adjust the level of transparency of the clock, as well as toggle between Glass (more transparent) and Tinted (less transparent) options.
• Lock Screen Controls Get Glass: The Close, Show More, and Clear All Notifications buttons are now glassy.
• Menu Bounce Animation Improved: The animation when expanding a menu has more bounce and feels more lively.

Flash Camera LED for Alerts

iPadOS and iOS have long had an accessibility setting that allows users to flash the camera LED when an alert is received. Now, there’s an additional option to flash the screen when an alert appears as well.

AirDrop One-Time Codes

Apple is reportedly introducing a temporary AirDrop sharing feature that allows users to share files with unknown contacts using a one-time code. While I haven’t been able to test this feature myself yet, some explanatory text in the Settings app seems to confirm that it is either currently available or will soon be.

AirPods Live Translations for EU Users

Live translations (powered via the device they are connected to) are now available to users in EU countries.

App Updates

Offline Lyrics for Apple Music

The excellent lyrics support built into the Music app for Apple Music can now work completely offline.

The Podcasts App Gets Smarter

• Automatic Chapters: For podcast episodes without chapters, Apple Podcasts can now automatically create chapters with tappable markers that take you back to that section of the episode. This is something publishers will be able to opt out of, so don’t be surprised if you don’t see this for every show you listen to that doesn’t do chapters.
• From This Episode: Links mentioned in a podcast episode can be surfaced and easily accessed from the episode page in the app.
• Mentions: This is still a feature I haven’t been able to try yet, but Apple Podcasts should recognize when another podcast is mentioned and provide a link to it on the episode page.

Freeform Gets Support for Tables

You can now insert tables into your Freeform boards. Also, if you’re not using the Freeform app, here’s your reminder to check it out, because it’s actually quite good.

Set Reminders for Alarms

This is still strange to me, but if you want to set an alarm for a reminder, you can now do that. Presumably, you’d do this to make the reminder harder to ignore and to use the snooze options of an alarm.

To enable this, you mark the Reminder as Urgent in the Reminders app. You must make sure that the Reminders app has access to Alarms. This is done in the Reminders section of the Settings app.

I’ll add the caveat that I was unable to actually this working on both the iPadOS 26 and iOS 26 RC builds. Urgent Reminders aren’t triggering alerts. I’m still investigating, but I’m assuming I’m doing something wrong here.

Games App Improvements

A new splash screen in the Games app showcases a few improvements in this release, including:

• The ability to navigate the app using a connected game controller.
• The ability to sort and filter games.
• The ability to see your scores (presumably in Game Center) update in real time.