The Mac and the iPad are different devices that do different things. This has been the line from Apple executives, from its initial introduction to the advent of touchscreen PCs to just last month when Apple’s Craig Federighi talked to us about iPadOS 26’s new multitasking features.

But it sometimes feels like this internal commitment to keeping the devices separate has held the iPad back as its hardware has become more capable. A mouse cursor? Sure, we’ll add it, after a few years of insisting on keyboard-and-finger interactions, but we’ll make it round and imprecise instead of pointy because the iPad is Different. Windowed multitasking? Sure, we’ll give you a version of it, but you can’t do whatever you want with the windows, and we’ll tie it to a weird new interface for grouping them, because the iPad is Different.

I respect the desire not to take the path of least resistance here, which would be to imitate the Mac by default without trying to do anything new. And it’s not like you could just move macOS elements over totally unchanged; having a touch-first user interface and touch-first apps means the iPad’s system needs to work well with both touch and a keyboard-and-mouse/trackpad setup. It needs to work well in landscape and portrait modes.

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As with any operating system that ushers in a major new look and feel, this year's Apple operating systems and their new Liquid Glass aesthetic will likely merit some extra attention from power users who want to see all the new stuff and developers who suddenly need to acclimate to a new design language. Apple put out one early beta build of all of its new operating systems after its Worldwide Developers Conference keynote a couple of weeks ago—these updates are the first to standardize on year-based version numbering, making them all version 26—and today the company has formally released the second developer betas of iOS 26, iPadOS 26, macOS 26, and most of its other updates.

For those who don't normally dabble in Apple's beta programs, the company offers two tracks: a developer beta and a public beta. The developer beta builds are offered earlier but tend to be buggier and less stable, and they change more from release to release. The public betas, which typically hit in mid- to late-July, are usually roughly the same code as the third or fourth developer beta and represent a nearer-to-final, more stable experience. Once the public betas begin, both developer and public beta builds are usually updated more or less in lockstep, though the developer betas are still usually available slightly earlier.

Apple used to gate its developer betas behind a $99-per-year developer program paywall. While app developers who want to distribute apps on Apple's App Stores still need to pay that fee, two years ago Apple began making developer betas available to anyone who signed up for a free developer account.

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Apple this week provided a glimpse into a feature that solves one of the biggest drawbacks of passkeys, the industry-wide standard for website and app authentication that isn't susceptible to credential phishing and other attacks targeting passwords.

The import/export feature, which Apple demonstrated at this week’s Worldwide Developers Conference, will be available in the next major releases of iOS, macOS, iPadOS, and visionOS. It aims to solve one of the biggest shortcomings of passkeys as they have existed to date. Passkeys created on one operating system or credential manager are largely bound to those environments. A passkey created on a Mac, for instance, can sync easily enough with other Apple devices connected to the same iCloud account. Transferring them to a Windows device or even a dedicated credential manager installed on the same Apple device has been impossible.

Growing pains

That limitation has led to criticisms that passkeys are a power play by large companies to lock users into specific product ecosystems. Users have also rightly worried that the lack of transferability increases the risk of getting locked out of important accounts if a device storing passkeys is lost, stolen, or destroyed.

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Follow along with the Gizmodo crew as we unpack everything Apple announces at its annual developer conference in Cupertino, Calif.

A recent AirPlay security analysis proved that Apple's ecosystem is not impregnable. Security experts tell us how you can avoid becoming the next victim.