Unofficial archive. This is a read-only, community-run archive of the Apple Support Community. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by Apple Inc.
katkramer
User level: Level 1 (92 points)

App window on iPad Pro becomes smaller and won't go full screen

Recently I’ve been working on my iPad, when all of a sudden a window becomes smaller and it’s overlapping the other open apps. I’m not sure what’s happening, and I’m not sure how to make the window full-sized again.


In this example, the toolbars you see at the top and on both sides belong to SketchUp, which is the application in the background, with Shapr3D in the front. I cannot figure out how to make Shapr3D take up the whole screen again.


Does anybody know what’s happening, and know how I can get Shapr3D to be full-size again? This has been happening for about the past three weeks, and I don’t understand why. I’m on an iPad Pro.


Posted on Oct 3, 2026 12:14 PM

2 replies

katkramer Author
User level: Level 1 (92 points)

Oct 3, 2026 1:01 PM in response to katkramer

Okay, here’s what’s going on. Apparently this is a new feature that allows apps to have windows that can be moved around, minimized, and maximized. I think it must have been turned on by default in the latest iOS update, because I KNOW that I didn’t turn this on…it just started doing this.


You can turn this off by going into your Settings, then look for Multitasking & Gestures. You’ll see that there is an option for Windowed Apps, and turning it back to Full Screen Apps will turn this off. But now that I know how to minimize a window or make it full screen, it seems like it could be useful. I think the biggest issue for me is that I didn’t even know how to describe what it was doing, so there was no way to even search how to turn it off because I didn’t know what to call it. Hopefully they don’t pull my video link, but it should show what’s happening.


If this catches you off-guard, just swipe down from the middle of the top of the screen, or tap anywhere on the app’s window, and look for those super tiny three red/yellow/green dots to change the window size.


https://youtu.be/F9nNjVElA6M




LotusPilot
User level: Level 10 (334,506 points)

Oct 4, 2026 5:54 AM in response to katkramer

You have encountered iPadOS 26/27 windowing and multitasking.


The iPad User Guide is a rich and often overlooked source of information for iPad and iPadOS. Here is a direct limk to the relevant section of the Guide for both major versions of iPadOS:

Work with multiple windows at once on iPad (iPadOS 26) - Apple Support

Work with multiple windows at the same time on iPad (iPadOS 27) - Apple Support


The Tips App, installed by default on all new models of iPad, provides a brief introduction to your iPad and iPadOS - and usefully leads you to the online User Guide. In case you missed it, here is a link to the Tips App:

https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/tips/id1069509450

Originally posted at discussions.apple.com/thread/256369822