How to Disable Multitasking on an iPad

Tired of accidental split screens or floating windows on your iPad? Good news! You can disable your iPad’s multitasking features and enjoy a streamlined, single-app experience.

How to Disable iPad Multitasking Features

Modern iPads come packed with a number of multitasking capabilities, but you can easily turn them off with a few taps. Just open Settings > Multitasking & Gestures. At the top you’ll notice the Multitasking section. By default, Split View & Slide Over is enabled, but you can easily disable the toggle to turn them off.

I should also mention that iPadOS 17 and above introduces many more gesture-based productivity options, most of which are enabled by default. You can find all of them in this Settings area and toggle them on or off at your discretion.

Understanding iPad Multitasking Settings (And What They Do)

If the iPad’s default multitasking behavior feels a bit annoying and intrusive, I can understand the urge to go in and just disable everything. That said, some of these options can actually be useful when they aren’t triggered accidentally. Some of them can vastly speed up your workflow and enable new levels of productivity.

To get the most out of them, it’s best to understand what each of the options does, when and why you should use them, and then make an informed decision on whether you want to disable them.

App Window Behavior: Split View and Stage Manager

The first big decision is how you want apps to behave when open. You have two main options—Split View & Slide Over and Stage Manager. The default option is Split View & Slide Over. When enabled, if you have an app open, and you drag an app from the dock onto the screen, it will open an instance of that app in a floating window. Whereas if you drag the app to either edge of the screen, both apps open in a split view.

This can be really handy for working with multiple apps at a time, like while taking notes and browsing the web at the same time. It’s one of those features that might allow some people to replace a Mac with an iPad and it’s super useful for getting proper work done or studying.

It’s also very easy to accidentally trigger when you’re swiping around your iPad. You can close it by hitting the three-dot button at the top of the app window, but it’s notoriously difficult to find if you don’t know what you’re looking for.

If you notice all apps opening in windows (kind of like macOS) instead of full-screen, it’s likely because you have Stage Manager enabled. It’s Apple’s way of giving iPad users a desktop experience, which sounds great in theory but can be incredibly frustrating in practice.

Each app opens as a floating window that you need to manually maximize. There’s a lot of unused space around the floating apps. You’ll also find yourself constantly managing window positions and sizes—tasks that are much more cumbersome on a touch screen than with a mouse.

That said, Stage Manager can be a cool feature if you connect your iPad to an external display and attach a Keyboard and Mouse for a desktop-like workflow. It’s great for grouping apps together by purpose and quickly recalling them when you need them.

Picture-in-Picture: So You Never Miss Your Videos

Picture-in-Picture (PiP) keeps videos playing in a small window when you switch apps or go to the home screen. This is a great feature for multitaskers, but it can be frustrating if, when you exit the app, you actually want to stop watching. For instance, if you swipe up thinking you’re closing a video app, that pesky window might keep playing when you’re trying to focus on something else.

Even though Picture-in-Picture mode has been around for a while, you might find that some apps simply don’t support it. YouTube is one such app, where creators need to enable support for the feature on their videos.

Gestures: Power Features That Can Get in the Way

iPadOS includes several gesture sets that can either boost productivity or cause accidental triggers:

Corner Swipes let you configure corner gestures for quick screenshots or notes, but they might interfere with normal navigation if you frequently swipe near screen edges. You can turn these off individually, so if you find one corner is becoming a problem, then consider just using the other one instead.

The iPad’s multitasking features are useful, but they’re not for everyone. The ability to disable them is crucial for accessibility and user comfort. Whether you’re simplifying your iPad for a child, making it easier for an elderly user, or just prefer a more straightforward experience, these settings let you customize your iPad to work the way you want it to.