iPad Multitasking: How to Use Stage Manager

Learn how to use Stage Manager on iPad to manage multiple overlapping windows in a single view, switch between apps, and more.

What is Stage Manager in iPadOS? How it works?

Stage Manager is Apple’s multitasking feature, available in iPadOS 16.1, that lets you arrange apps and windows in the same view.

You can use Stage Manager on the following iPad models:

• iPad Pro 12.9-inch (3rd generation and up, 2018 model year)
• iPad Pro 11-inch (1st generation and up, 2018 model year)
• iPad Air (5th generation 2022)

What the Stage Manager does is keep the active windows in the middle of the screen while the latest apps are placed in a vertical bar on the left for quick access. Stage Manager supports up to four overlapping applications simultaneously on the same screen.

Stage Manager in iPadOS 16.1+ supports external displays, so you can run eight apps at the same time: four on the iPad screen and four more on the external display.

What can you do with Stage Manager on iPad?

• Use multiple overlapping application windows
• Resizing application windows to different sizes
• Group application windows for specific tasks
• See all open apps at once
• Easily switch between open and recent apps

How to turn the scene manager on or off

To bring up Stage Manager any time your iPad is in landscape mode, click the Stage Manager icon in Control Center. If you don’t see this icon, which looks like a rectangle with three bullets on the left, you must first add it to your Control Center in Settings → Control Center.

You can also turn the Stage Manager on or off in the home screen settings:

1. Open the Settings app on iPad.
2. Select “Home Screen & Multitasking”from the root list.
3. Now select Scene Manager.
4. Toggle this feature by toggling the “Use Scene Manager on iPad”option on or off.

Managing windows with Stage Manager

To move a window, drag it from the top. Instead, to resize it, drag it from any edge with the trackpad, or drag with your finger from the corner marked with a dark curve.

If you click on the three-dot menu (…) at the top of the window and choose Minimize, you’ll send that window to the recent apps strip along the left edge. When you select full screen mode, the window will be enlarged so that it fills the entire screen.

To close a window, select “Close”or “Close Window”from the same menu. If the window is part of an application group, closing it will remove it from the group.

How to free up space for apps

Retina screens group four pixels into one to clean up jaggies on things like curves. To increase the number of pixels available for your content, go to Settings → Display & Brightness and click View under Display Scale, then select More Space.

Apple says this switch “increases the pixel density on the screen so you can see more in your apps,”which comes in handy when working across multiple windows in Stage Manager.

Display scaling mode is supported on 5th generation iPad Air or later, all 11-inch iPad Pros, and 5th generation 12.9-inch iPad Pro or later.

Switch Applications Using Stage Manager

Stage Manager can run up to four overlapping apps in the foreground on iPad, with any apps you’ve recently used appearing on the left side of the screen. To switch apps, tap a recently used app in this list. This will replace the current app or app group with the app you just selected.

Either tap an app in the Dock to switch to it, or use the old app switcher by swiping up from the bottom of the screen and pausing in the center of the screen.

Other multitasking tricks still work when Stage Manager is active, including quickly switching apps by swiping horizontally along the bottom edge of the screen or swiping left/right with four or five fingers. Read: How to move multiple apps at the same time

How to Hide Recent Apps in Stage Manager

As we said, Stage Manager provides a list of recent applications vertically aligned at the left edge of the screen. If you want to maximize space to make room for active apps, you can hide both the recent apps bar and the Dock.

To hide recent apps, touch and hold the Scene Manager icon in the Control Center to open more options. To hide recent apps, check the box on the left. To hide Dick, check the box below.

Multitasking with Application Groups in Stage Manager

Stage Manager allows you to group applications – this is convenient when working on a project. You can group another app with the one you’re working on in three different ways.

1. Three-dot menu: Tap the three-dot menu at the top of the window, then select “Add another window”and click an app to add it to your current ones.
2. Recent Apps: Touch and hold a recently used app on the left side and drag it to the current window to create an app group instantly.
3. Dock: Touch and hold an app in the dock, then drag it up to the center of the screen to create an app group.

Give the writer a chance!

A stage manager may not be to everyone’s liking. The multitasking feature isn’t perfect, and there are certainly some rough edges that need to be ironed out.

All in all, Stage Manager is another useful addition to Apple’s arsenal of multitasking features for the iPad. People who don’t multitask on their iPad can opt out of Stage Manager without losing anything – they’re running one app at a time, after all.

If you’re using your iPad for content creation and want to increase your productivity, Stage Manager is worth checking out. And with your iPad connected to an external display, Stage Manager is suddenly more convenient than ever before.