I stumbled upon a fast way to switch multitasking modes on the iPad (iPadOS 26).
- Invoke Control Center
- Long press the Stage Manager toggle icon and you get the Windowed Apps and Stage Manager options.
I knew that.
What I did not realize, and what I stumbled upon is that if you just click the icon (don’t long-press), the iPad returns to full app mode. Click again returns to the previous multitasking mode. Duh. 
This may have been obvious to everyone but me, but just in case, I’m humbling myself enough to share it.
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Totally missed that! Thanks for risking humbling yourself. 
I always appreciate the tips you and others share.
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I can’t find this option. Am I missing something?
You need to add the Stage Manager toggle icon in control center if it is not there.
I don’t seem to have the Stage Manager toggle icon. Running Tahoe on an older iPad still with a Intel chip. I don’t know if that makes a difference.
I couldn’t find it to add. I went in settings and turned the view to stage manager view and was able to add it. Long press doesn’t help to make the switch.
It does once the toggle has been added to Control Center.
Good tip. I discovered that it could be added to Control Center when my Scrabble game was acting up. Scrabble appeared only in iphone size on the ipad until I did a quick rotation of the device. Annoying. Put in a ticket and they told me that it does this with ‘windowed apps’ on. Putting it in Control Center helps me switch back and forth. It’s the little things.
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Depending on how old your older iPad is, it might not support Stage Manager. Here’s a list of the models that can run it.
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Is this the correct setting? It is added to control center but when I touch and hold nothing happens.
Yeah, that wasn’t obvious and I stumbled upon it by accident as you did. One thing I’ve been using more frequently though is the double tap at the top of a window which makes that app full screen. When I’m done, I double tap again and it goes back to its place in the Windowed mode.
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Yes, that is how I have mine setup.
Make sure that you have added the multitasking toggle to control center.
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Thank you. I didn’t realize that icon was for multi tasking. I was not looking for that name. Thank ou!
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You are very welcome. Compared to most in this forum, who have much more technical expertise than I do, I am seldom able to help. Now I feel like a power user. 
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@Bmosbacker You helped me solve a different challenge I was having!
I was frustrated that the ability to toggle the onscreen keyboard was gone.
If I’m on the couch, treating my iPad w/ keyboard like an otter with a clam on his chest, I’d rather use the KB as a stabilizing force and still type a url in via the onscreen keyboard.
Toggling off the icon brought back the ability to quickly enable/disable this.
Thank you!
–Tim
That is hilarious! I’m glad I was able to help!
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