Elevate the design of your iPad app

Key Takeaways

• 🗂️ Start with Tab bar as navigation

• 🚏 Use Sidebar for complex navigation

• 🚥 Every app gets size handle, window controls, and menu bar

• 📄 Open documents in new windows

• 👆 New pointer highlight effect

• 🙈 Never hide menu items!

Navigation

Main navigation patterns for iPad:

• Sidebar can morph into Tab bar and vice versa

  • Users can choose best fitting navigation

• Sidebar automatically morphs into Tab bar in portrait

  • Also on smaller windows

• Apps without Tab bar collapse columns down

• Make sure layout changes (because of size) are non-destructive

Extend content around navigation

• Use as much of display as possible with “scroll edge effect”

  • Especially for floating windows (aka smaller than fullscreen)

• Extend content behind sidebars

Windows

• Every app that supports multitasking gets handle at bottom right corner

• Every window get window controls on top left

  • Tap extends/enlarges

  • Tab and hold shows menu with layout actions

• Window controls placed in leading edge of toolbar

  • Existing controls get shifted

• Apps not updated for iPadOS 26 get window controls in top safe area

  • Safe area is increased for that

  • Should only be used for compatibility

Opening Documents

New behavior when opening documents from external app (like Files):

• Create new window for each opened document

  • Don’t open/replace in same window

• Doc menu will provide way to see all open windows

  • Like on macOS

• Provide helpful window titles, like document name

Pointer

• Original pointer was designed to mimic finger

• iPadOS 26 gets new pointer shape

• New highlight effect for hovering buttons/controls

  • No more morph and rubber band effect

The Menu Bar

• Shares core principles with macOS’ menu bar

• Revealed by swipe down or moving pointer to top edge of screen

• Every app gets menu bar

• Every menu bar has app menu, default system menus and custom menus of app

Organize your menu items

• Populate menu with every action related to menu name

• Order by frequency of use

  • Not alphabetically

• Group related actions in sections

• Move secondary actions into sub-menus, if menu gets too long

• Assign each item a symbol

  • Match symbol how they appear in app

• Assign keyboard shortcuts to each action to most common actions

Populate the “view” menu

• One of system provided menus

• Tabs are great to include here

• Navigation toggles are great as well

  • Like show/hide sidebar (default action)

Never hide menus or items

• Don’t hide menu items

  • Disable items when inactive

• Don’t hide whole menus

  • Disable all menu items inside

• Hiding menu items is disorienting and hard to scan

  • Messes with muscle memory

  • Bad for discoverability of features