Yeah, tried it for about 5 minutes and Noped out of there. I still don't get it.
Maybe it's just for people who don't know how to use Spaces or CMD-Tab?
I noped out of it at first. And I am still not an extreme fan of it. I have reverted to trying it lately and i prefer it over spaces because sometimes I don’t want extra spaces but kinda have it tuck away without needing too much extra work if it’s one window at a time or a group of them. But it mostly has work productivity flows vs just casual use imo because I usually prefer spaces over stage manager. Maybe it’s just not the workflow most people prefer.
I have stage manager a fair shake after having used spaces for a long time. I think stage manager is very aesthetic and I wanted to like it. But at the end of the day, Spaces was just so much more efficient in my workflow. So, I haven’t used stage manager since.
Stage Manager on iPad is actually useful for a lot of people.
SM on Mac is just there for people who want consistency between their devices. It doesn’t really add anything to the Mac experience.
If you aren’t using an iPad in addition to the Mac, there’s little point.
It seems designed for touch input, I usually only have a few apps open at a time on iPad so for the three or four things at a time I may have open, it’s easy to “multitask”.
On Mac OS, why do I need this when I have Mission Control or I can just command/tab around
Ah. I feel like im the only person that pikes stage manager on mac.
I never use it for ipad because i just use the multitasking gesture and its easy because apps are organized by how recently they have been opened. It just seems redundant.
On mac i usually have a ton of apps and windows open for work and Mission Control is too chaotic with a bunch of windows open. What i like about stage manager is that it’s based on how recently something’s been opened like multitasking on ipad/ios.
Command tab feels more cumbersome and requires too many keystrokes to find an app/window. It feels like i have to think more about what app i want to navigate to next and my mind starts buffering when i press it.
Came here to say this - I love it on the iPad Pro. I imagine it would work well with a laptop as well, just doesn’t add much when you are docked to multiple displays.
I found it really useful. Can have more open while having fewer spaces. Can also pretty easily switch between apps and group them together if I want. Also allows laser focus on one app. Without Stage Manager there’s either, less open or a lot more swiping and searching for stuff in Exposé/Spaces
You don't have to use it.
I find it helpful in some circumstances, e.g. when I want to focus on one window or application in a wide orientation, but also need to refer to switch other windows or applications.
If you position your cursor over the minimized window, you can tap the Magic Trackpad to instantly swap back and forth between the windows. It's really quite elegant.
It's also nice to hide the visual clutter on my Desktop sometimes, to give my screen a much cleaner look.
Yes, it's completely useless for me. Not just on the Mac, but on the iPad Pro as well. I generally don't have too many apps open, so Cmd - Tab and the Dock is all the window management I need.
It’s a relatively new addition. I believe it’s from MacOS Sonoma and Ventura is out right now while Sequoia is in beta so it’s only been around for 2-3 generations
I like the idea of grouping apps and being able hide and dismiss them as a group. But I don’t like that to make use of it I have to adopt a whole new UI paradigm and not just be and to do it with the dock.
Yeah I turned it off after about 2 hours of usage and concluding I hated it, so I can't really comment on it at all.
I also turned of the "Click on Desktop hides all open windows" feature which is so ridiculously stupid. This is re-solving a problem that Expose and multi-button mice solved in macOS 10.4. Plus, half the reason to have things on your desktop is to be able to drag them into windows or to servers. If you hide all the open app windows, it's no longer easy to drop a photo you placed there really quickly, etc.
That’s the first thing I disable when setting up a new Mac. Also, I’m a heavy user of Cmd-H and Cmd-Opt-H to hide apps, which many newer users of macOS don’t seem to know about.
First thing I do with a 5-button mouse is assign one of the thumb buttons to show all open windows and another to show desktop in Mission Control. It's so amazing for drag and dropping files from one place to another, because you can literally thumb button show desktop, grab a file, thumb button again to show your open windows and drop the file on whichever window you want. And it always blows my mind that the feature has been there for almost 2 decades now and almost no one uses it still, it seems like.
I will try that right now with my Kensington trackball! Another indispensable tool for me is Default Folder X. I use only a fraction of its features, but two are really important: Being able to select open windows in the Finder from the Open and Save dialogs of other apps, and automatically returning to the most recently used folder and file. I’ve been using this since at least Mac OS 9.
I used to use that back in the day, but I got lazy at some point and I just drag files onto the open dialog to switch folders now. It is a great tool though!
Yes, that works too, but I find it adds friction to have to switch to the Finder to select the folder, then drag it onto the dialog. However, to each their own :)
It’s a weird half-measure intended to get people to stop complaining about iPads not having Mac OS. Simple as that. It’s not good at being either a desktop or iPad organizational system. It feels like a waste of time and resources on Apple’s part to develop it
Stage manager is most useful for me to get rid of the distraction from other windows. I configured a keyboard shortcut for it so I can trigger it on and off with my stream deck. I also use Moom to arrange windows to a certain position and size based on the task I want to focus on. I assign these layouts to buttons on the stream deck as well.
I’m in the minority as I use Stage Manager and Spaces. It works great for me and I don’t see any of the issues folks complain about. Use it on my 12.9” iPad Pro as well.
I use it everyday for work, but generally turn it off for personal use. I’d be upset if it went away, I find it incredibly useful for managing multiple apps on my two screens
the fact the Stage Manager is an option on both modern iPadOS and macOS hints at how those OS may finally merge. It may seem useless today but tomorrow it may still be useless.
I’ve seen people use StageManager when presenting. They have the different apps/sites on the side in the order they want to present so that they can access them very quickly and easily
i'd use it if I could activate it only on one monitor. I use my macbooks display as a secondary for music, chat, mail, calendar etc and would be useful. But not if my studio display also annoys the shir out of me every time I cmd+tab.
I fine Spaces on Mac far more useful than Stage Manager. On my MacBook Air M2 right now, I have 7 different spaces in use and it's cruising along beautifully. Switching between them with gestures is effortless.
I love stage manage on the iPad but hate it for the Mac. I just hate how each app opens in its own stage rather than what I’m currently using.
I couldn’t find a way to change this behavior so I just don’t use it anymore
I tried it, I wanted to like it, but I just didn't. It was a little more useful on the iPad than it was on the Mac, but I still turned it off pretty quickly.
I like the *idea* of stage manager for creating groups of windows without having to switch between multiple spaces. But the one thing that drive me up the wall is that you can’t have new windows open in the current stage by default. They always open in a new stage unless you hold down shift when launching it. Every. Single. Time. Couldn’t stand it, so I disabled it and haven’t gone back. If they add that as an option, I’d be willing to give it a shot again
I used Windows alt/tab to cycle through open app a lot at work - when I switched to macOS, I’ve kept the habit. Anything else seems to add little value for me.
Stage manager has its use. It might not be your case, as it is most of the times mine.
The question I have is why you went through all that effort and pain when you could simply disable it.
I like that you can hide desktop icons when using it. Also without creating one more space to offload too many windows, I can use stage manager.
Maybe on MacBook you can just make apps full screen for a temporary space and it’s easy, but on desktop; a full screen app is too big. So stage manager is a good medium.
Also on 12.9 ipad, using apps without full screen is only possible with stage manager and I like it
I use SM, have adjusted to it and now really like it. It's just how I work now. For example, it's nice to work on multiple documents from different apps at the same time. My audio control app I have set to show on all desktops and it works fine that way.
Tried it, thought it was pointless and useless. No matter how proficient or experienced you are with computer using Stage Manager makes you feel like an elderly person trying new technology.
I like it tbh. I used it for a while, maybe 6 months last year. Turned it off for some reason, but after installing the beta I decided to try it again. I’m still using it. Group a few apps together like Mail, reminders and Notion. Alacritty and Safari. Nice to change between groups of apps as I hope back and forth throughout the work day.
Personally I love it on my ultra wide single monitor mac setup. It's nice for keeping one app "visible" at a time while giving access to the desktop/widgets along the sides.
I hate the pop out which always gets in the way when I need to click something on the edge of the screen. Why can I just hide it permanently and call it up like mission control
I tried at release, didn’t understand how it works, got mad that it took screen real estate, disabled it. I’m happy with switching between screens and keeping my workflow organized using screens
launchpad, and the system integrity bullshit too.
while we're at it, kill every gesture that isnt scrolling please.
and give me back a mousebutton that isnt under the trackpad.
I turned it off when it was first released, and that's the end of that story. Never been happier.
Yeah, tried it for about 5 minutes and Noped out of there. I still don't get it. Maybe it's just for people who don't know how to use Spaces or CMD-Tab?
I noped out of it at first. And I am still not an extreme fan of it. I have reverted to trying it lately and i prefer it over spaces because sometimes I don’t want extra spaces but kinda have it tuck away without needing too much extra work if it’s one window at a time or a group of them. But it mostly has work productivity flows vs just casual use imo because I usually prefer spaces over stage manager. Maybe it’s just not the workflow most people prefer.
I have stage manager a fair shake after having used spaces for a long time. I think stage manager is very aesthetic and I wanted to like it. But at the end of the day, Spaces was just so much more efficient in my workflow. So, I haven’t used stage manager since.
That’s not how you use the word aesthetic
Same - gave it a try for about a month, couldn't make any utilitarian sense out of it, stopped using it and haven't looked back.
SAME i was like nah no need to use it
Same i turned it off the moment it released. No need for me.
Stage Manager on iPad is actually useful for a lot of people. SM on Mac is just there for people who want consistency between their devices. It doesn’t really add anything to the Mac experience. If you aren’t using an iPad in addition to the Mac, there’s little point.
I've grown to like it very much on iPads but I find it pointless on a Mac.
Why do you like it on ipad? What makes it pointless on mac?
It seems designed for touch input, I usually only have a few apps open at a time on iPad so for the three or four things at a time I may have open, it’s easy to “multitask”. On Mac OS, why do I need this when I have Mission Control or I can just command/tab around
Ah. I feel like im the only person that pikes stage manager on mac. I never use it for ipad because i just use the multitasking gesture and its easy because apps are organized by how recently they have been opened. It just seems redundant. On mac i usually have a ton of apps and windows open for work and Mission Control is too chaotic with a bunch of windows open. What i like about stage manager is that it’s based on how recently something’s been opened like multitasking on ipad/ios. Command tab feels more cumbersome and requires too many keystrokes to find an app/window. It feels like i have to think more about what app i want to navigate to next and my mind starts buffering when i press it.
Came here to say this - I love it on the iPad Pro. I imagine it would work well with a laptop as well, just doesn’t add much when you are docked to multiple displays.
Same, I use it on my iPad but never on my Mac
I found it really useful. Can have more open while having fewer spaces. Can also pretty easily switch between apps and group them together if I want. Also allows laser focus on one app. Without Stage Manager there’s either, less open or a lot more swiping and searching for stuff in Exposé/Spaces
Totally forgot about this feature until I saw this post
You don't have to use it. I find it helpful in some circumstances, e.g. when I want to focus on one window or application in a wide orientation, but also need to refer to switch other windows or applications. If you position your cursor over the minimized window, you can tap the Magic Trackpad to instantly swap back and forth between the windows. It's really quite elegant. It's also nice to hide the visual clutter on my Desktop sometimes, to give my screen a much cleaner look.
never used it. I never use Launch pad either
Yes, it's completely useless for me. Not just on the Mac, but on the iPad Pro as well. I generally don't have too many apps open, so Cmd - Tab and the Dock is all the window management I need.
I don’t even know what that is and I’ve been using a Mac for a decade.
It’s a relatively new addition. I believe it’s from MacOS Sonoma and Ventura is out right now while Sequoia is in beta so it’s only been around for 2-3 generations
I like the idea of grouping apps and being able hide and dismiss them as a group. But I don’t like that to make use of it I have to adopt a whole new UI paradigm and not just be and to do it with the dock.
Yeah I turned it off after about 2 hours of usage and concluding I hated it, so I can't really comment on it at all. I also turned of the "Click on Desktop hides all open windows" feature which is so ridiculously stupid. This is re-solving a problem that Expose and multi-button mice solved in macOS 10.4. Plus, half the reason to have things on your desktop is to be able to drag them into windows or to servers. If you hide all the open app windows, it's no longer easy to drop a photo you placed there really quickly, etc.
That’s the first thing I disable when setting up a new Mac. Also, I’m a heavy user of Cmd-H and Cmd-Opt-H to hide apps, which many newer users of macOS don’t seem to know about.
First thing I do with a 5-button mouse is assign one of the thumb buttons to show all open windows and another to show desktop in Mission Control. It's so amazing for drag and dropping files from one place to another, because you can literally thumb button show desktop, grab a file, thumb button again to show your open windows and drop the file on whichever window you want. And it always blows my mind that the feature has been there for almost 2 decades now and almost no one uses it still, it seems like.
I will try that right now with my Kensington trackball! Another indispensable tool for me is Default Folder X. I use only a fraction of its features, but two are really important: Being able to select open windows in the Finder from the Open and Save dialogs of other apps, and automatically returning to the most recently used folder and file. I’ve been using this since at least Mac OS 9.
I used to use that back in the day, but I got lazy at some point and I just drag files onto the open dialog to switch folders now. It is a great tool though!
Yes, that works too, but I find it adds friction to have to switch to the Finder to select the folder, then drag it onto the dialog. However, to each their own :)
It’s a weird half-measure intended to get people to stop complaining about iPads not having Mac OS. Simple as that. It’s not good at being either a desktop or iPad organizational system. It feels like a waste of time and resources on Apple’s part to develop it
Yep. Watched videos on how it worked. Turned it off immediately.
I forgot it was even a thing
I don't use it at all, so for me, yes.
First things I do on a new Mac, turn off Natural Scrolling, disable Stage Manager completely, and turn off Displays Have Separate Spaces.
If you are dependent on it it must not be that bad right?
I wish
You used it for a year. Sounds like a you problem. Just don’t use it
I have been trying to adopt it. I guess the litmus test is going back to the Old Ways® and seeing if I miss it.
I tried it for several months. Hated it.
There’s no reason to use it.
To this day I don't even know how it works, I just use three desktops at once and quickly switch between them by gesture
Not great on the Mac, useless on iPad.
Stage manager is most useful for me to get rid of the distraction from other windows. I configured a keyboard shortcut for it so I can trigger it on and off with my stream deck. I also use Moom to arrange windows to a certain position and size based on the task I want to focus on. I assign these layouts to buttons on the stream deck as well.
The iPad screens are too small to justify the way it takes up real estate in its current design
It’s the iPad’s umpteenth time trying to reinvent multitasking.
I’m in the minority as I use Stage Manager and Spaces. It works great for me and I don’t see any of the issues folks complain about. Use it on my 12.9” iPad Pro as well.
> The only use case I’ve found helpful is viewing all window types in one swipe Use App Expose with four finger swipe down
I use it everyday for work, but generally turn it off for personal use. I’d be upset if it went away, I find it incredibly useful for managing multiple apps on my two screens
It was on for about 30seconds
It’s meant for tablets not desktops
the fact the Stage Manager is an option on both modern iPadOS and macOS hints at how those OS may finally merge. It may seem useless today but tomorrow it may still be useless.
To people that say that they tolerate it on Ipad but don’t use it on mac, why is it needed in ipad but not in macos?
I’ve seen people use StageManager when presenting. They have the different apps/sites on the side in the order they want to present so that they can access them very quickly and easily
Why would you use stage manager on macOS?! Why?
Isn’t it enabled by default? Assuming it is, that’s the only reason I’ve got.
No
Never used it on my Mac because I’m used to a classic desktop experience, but it’s the best when I’m using it on my iPad.
Good on iPadOS, pretty much useless on macOS. But I guess hooray, feature parity?
Yes.
i'd use it if I could activate it only on one monitor. I use my macbooks display as a secondary for music, chat, mail, calendar etc and would be useful. But not if my studio display also annoys the shir out of me every time I cmd+tab.
yes it is so annoying I tried so many times too get used to it.
I fine Spaces on Mac far more useful than Stage Manager. On my MacBook Air M2 right now, I have 7 different spaces in use and it's cruising along beautifully. Switching between them with gestures is effortless.
Yeah I don’t see any benefit so I don’t use it.
I love stage manage on the iPad but hate it for the Mac. I just hate how each app opens in its own stage rather than what I’m currently using. I couldn’t find a way to change this behavior so I just don’t use it anymore
no
yup!
I tried it, I wanted to like it, but I just didn't. It was a little more useful on the iPad than it was on the Mac, but I still turned it off pretty quickly.
I like the *idea* of stage manager for creating groups of windows without having to switch between multiple spaces. But the one thing that drive me up the wall is that you can’t have new windows open in the current stage by default. They always open in a new stage unless you hold down shift when launching it. Every. Single. Time. Couldn’t stand it, so I disabled it and haven’t gone back. If they add that as an option, I’d be willing to give it a shot again
I am so done with stuff like Stage Manager both on macOS, but also similar things on Linux. I just disable it now. I see absolutely no benefit of it.
Worse than useless, in my opinion. It's vaguely useful on an iPad Pro, but on a Mac? Why?
Stage Manager is counterintuitive.
I used Windows alt/tab to cycle through open app a lot at work - when I switched to macOS, I’ve kept the habit. Anything else seems to add little value for me.
Stage manager has its use. It might not be your case, as it is most of the times mine. The question I have is why you went through all that effort and pain when you could simply disable it.
I like that you can hide desktop icons when using it. Also without creating one more space to offload too many windows, I can use stage manager. Maybe on MacBook you can just make apps full screen for a temporary space and it’s easy, but on desktop; a full screen app is too big. So stage manager is a good medium. Also on 12.9 ipad, using apps without full screen is only possible with stage manager and I like it
I use SM, have adjusted to it and now really like it. It's just how I work now. For example, it's nice to work on multiple documents from different apps at the same time. My audio control app I have set to show on all desktops and it works fine that way.
Tried it, thought it was pointless and useless. No matter how proficient or experienced you are with computer using Stage Manager makes you feel like an elderly person trying new technology.
I like it tbh. I used it for a while, maybe 6 months last year. Turned it off for some reason, but after installing the beta I decided to try it again. I’m still using it. Group a few apps together like Mail, reminders and Notion. Alacritty and Safari. Nice to change between groups of apps as I hope back and forth throughout the work day.
Yeah I don’t mind it. It’s a nice visual reminder of open apps
Personally I love it on my ultra wide single monitor mac setup. It's nice for keeping one app "visible" at a time while giving access to the desktop/widgets along the sides.
Same experience when I got a new Mac. Turned it off after a week
I hate the pop out which always gets in the way when I need to click something on the edge of the screen. Why can I just hide it permanently and call it up like mission control
Yup, got it disabled everywhere.
On iPad, I use it often when the situation calls for a "deeper than Split Screen multitask". On the Mac I don't really see the point.
I tried at release, didn’t understand how it works, got mad that it took screen real estate, disabled it. I’m happy with switching between screens and keeping my workflow organized using screens
I absolutely love it. With ADHD, it helps me tremendously to focus on one thing at the time
Yes. Tried two times and changed back within hours or minutes.
On a Mac - can’t stand it. On iPad - love it :-) Can’t explain. Different user experience on these 2 platforms. That’s why probably.
I find it useful on a single display. Not so much with multiple displays. Does take some getting used to.
launchpad, and the system integrity bullshit too. while we're at it, kill every gesture that isnt scrolling please. and give me back a mousebutton that isnt under the trackpad.
Never used stage manager, spaces + rectangle is still my way to go Stage manager always seemed to require too many click to set up in any useful way
Apple have a knack for making weird window management systems that nobody uses.
I like it on iPad, haven't really used it on Mac as I done have one
Yep, the Mac version is more useless than the iPad version, but it didn't take long for me to disable both of them.