iPadOS 19 brings collaborative windowing and shared workspaces for designers

Design · 4 min read

iPadOS 19 expands iPad multitasking with shared workspaces that synchronize window layouts and active artboards between collaborating users. Teams can now invite colleagues to a live session where window positions, layers, and selection states are mirrored in real time.

The update adds multi-user live cursors and presence indicators across system and app toolbars, plus APIs that let design apps opt into collaborative gestures. Apple also improved drag and drop consistency so assets moved on one device animate into place on others in shared sessions.

For offline-first workflows the platform supports local-first merge semantics and per-layer conflict resolution. Apple positioned this as a major push to make iPad a primary device for co-located and remote design sessions.