How do you solve a problem like the iPad? Not by putting macOS on it

With great thanks to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, the Macalope is happy to report that we have something to talk about this week which is neither AI nor tariffs!

And you thought it wasn’t possible. To be fair, the Macalope also thought it wasn’t possible, but he’s glad to be proven wrong.

According to Gurman, Apple is working on an “iPadOS 19 overhaul that will make the tablet’s software more like macOS,” focusing on “productivity, multitasking and app window management.”

Some–the Macalope swears this is not a strawperson–think Apple should just allow users to run macOS on the iPad. You might say, “Well if you are so sure, Mr. Macalope, name names! Who are these non-strawpersons, if they exist at all?!”

Well…

Many of them, including myself, just wanted Apple to put macOS on the iPad.

Mark Gurman, April 13, 2025

Now, there are many ways that could be done. It is unlikely Gurman believes Apple should just slap macOS on the Mac and call it a day. Although…maybe. If so, that would be a mistake.

Here’s an example: hold the tip of your finger up to the traffic light buttons on any window on macOS and imagine trying to tap a specific one with any degree of accuracy. Good. Luck. Half the time the Macalope can’t even get the right one using the cursor. Until humans grow pointier digits, just making the current macOS touch-enabled and slapping it on the iPad is a non-starter.

And when humans do grow pointier digits, the Macalope would like to leave the planet because that sounds like a real horror show.

Of course, you can use a mouse on the iPad, you just shouldn’t have to use a mouse on the iPad. Apple could and should relax its attitude toward virtualization on the iPad, at least allowing it to run macOS in a VM. Barring that, it could also choose to allow macOS to run a la Classic mode in early versions of OS X.

But the Macalope is one who hopes iPadOS retains its identity as its own thing, not becoming an interface layer, something people just drive through in order to get someplace else, like Delaware. Because where have we seen that before? Oh, right. Windows 8.

Windows 8’s overlay interface (née “Metro”) was a bold swing at making Windows touch-enabled, but underneath it was the same ol’ Windows that you knew and… ehhh, not “loved,” that’s not right… more like, “were contractually required to use by your company’s IT department.” Microsoft has made further strides to make Windows whole again after the Island of Dr. Moreau-esque effort that was Windows 8, but it’s still a bit of a rough ride, with some interfaces better designed for touch and others for mouse and keyboard.

There hasn’t been a lot of talk about Apple making a Mac with a touch screen in a while, probably because Apple doesn’t seem interested in making such a device and we all just got tired of talking about it. Turning the iPad into a Mac, however, is still the fever dream of a lot of people, but the Macalope wants to see someone do it right: take an operating system designed from the ground up for touch and give it fully professional capabilities.

Despite the huffy, repeated, and oddly nasally-toned complaints of some, you can do work on an iPad and have been able to for years and years. Seriously, stop trying to tell those of us who do actual work on an iPad that you can’t do work on an iPad. We’re literally doing it all the time. What you mean is you can’t do your work on an iPad.

Yes, you can’t do everything on an iPad. Even though many individual apps are capable of professional production, the operating system itself often gets in the way. It’s not wrong to wonder how long we should have to wait for Apple to get it right. It tried Split View, Slide Over, and Stage Manager, and none of those made multitasking on the iPad elegant or even terribly useful. While Apple has made movements that could be perceived as making macOS more touch-friendly or at least touch-curious, it’s not a touch-first interface.

Maybe the Macalope is a dreamer. Maybe he’s just a glutton for punishment. But he wants to see Apple keep trying to crack this nut.

If nothing else, it gives us something else to talk about.