Apple broke an essential presentation feature of iPads

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Apple’s latest iPadOS 27 release quietly changed how external displays are handled, breaking a popular teaching and presenting workflow where an app could drive the projector while the presenter used other apps privately on the iPad. Commenters argue this highlights deeper problems: iPadOS remains locked down and awkward for “real computer” tasks despite powerful hardware, Apple’s UX and QA standards are slipping under an aggressive annual release cadence, and users have little recourse when OS updates remove critical capabilities. Some still defend the iPad as a capable tool in constrained, app-specific workflows, but many see it as an increasingly fragile platform for professional use.

iPadOS 27 external display regression

  • Main issue: in 27, only the foreground app can control an external display. Previously a background “presenter” app could keep projecting while the user interacted with other apps.
  • This breaks common teaching workflows: annotating slides while privately viewing notes, polls, or controlling another device.
  • Some argue the old behavior was obscure and maybe never “intended”; others say it worked “fantastically” for years and was a critical pro use case.
  • One teacher notes the new behavior better matches naïve “screen mirroring” expectations, but advanced background‑presentation behavior should be an option.
  • Multiple suggestions: explicit “presentation mode” that keeps control until stopped; UI to choose which app owns the external screen; Zoom‑style “share window vs share screen” model.

Debate: Is an iPad a “real computer”?

  • Many commenters say this regression reinforces that iPadOS is too locked down and fragile to be a primary work machine, especially for programming, complex file operations, OBS‑style recording, browser extensions, or heavy multitasking.
  • Others counter that iPads work very well for many professional tasks: trials, rental checkouts, note‑annotated presentations, illustration, portable CRUD apps.
  • Disagreement centers on “general purpose”: some define a “real computer” as something where you can run arbitrary code, rearrange windows freely, and access the filesystem; others see those as power‑user needs irrelevant to most people.

Window management and multitasking

  • iPadOS windowing (Stage Manager, Split View, Slide Over) is widely described as confusing, fragile, and worse than earlier simpler models.
  • Many users fall back to single‑app mode; some say 27 is an improvement over 26 but still unintuitive, especially without mouse/keyboard.

Apple software quality and cadence

  • Strong sentiment that macOS/iPadOS 26–27 are buggy: Mission Control, spaces, external monitors, keyboard navigation, AirPlay, Apple Music behavior, etc.
  • Yearly major releases are blamed for regressions; some miss the slower, more polished OS X era.
  • A minority report having no serious issues with 27.

Locked‑down platforms and user control

  • Recurrent frustration: no easy OS downgrades, App Store gatekeeping, lack of root/process spawning, and unilateral behavioral changes.
  • Some characterize such devices as “rentals masquerading as sales” since the vendor can remove features without recourse.