Stage Manager is the feature of iPadOS 16 designed to bring those of us looking for a more Mac-like experience to the iPad. It looks like we’re going to be able to use iPad with multiple displays; mirroring will no longer be the only option when connecting an iPad to an external display.

Interestingly, Stage Manager made it to the Mac too, whether first as a Mac feature, or as an iPad feature brought back to the Mac. It makes sense, too: as we’ve fallen more in love with laptops and smaller screens, we’ve lost the tendency to use multiple windows (I noticed a long time ago that I tended to use my Macbook not in full-screen mode, but with the main application window fully maximized. It took working from home during COVID and a really big display to change my habits).

I don’t think Stage Manager will be interesting, on the Mac, for me, but I can see it being incredibly useful for someone who tends to drag windows half way out off the screen to make space for what they’re seeing. Will it be another Launchpad? I don’t know, but I don’t think so.¹?

iPad finally gets floating windows in Stage Manager on iPadOS 16

¹And by “another Launchpad,” I mean something no one uses.