App lifecycle on iPadOS 26

It appears from my testing that the following is true:

  • If you close all windows of an app, the app terminates entirely. Minimizing the last window sends it into multitasking. This is different from previous behavior and might have implications on your app's logic.

  • If you close the last window and quickly tap the app icon again, that same window will come back. Waiting a second before tapping the app icon will bring up the main window (likely because by that point the app was terminated and relaunched).

Is this expected behavior? I did not see any announcement of this.

I find this a bit counterintuitive and would presume that closing the last window would just send the app to multitasking, just like previously. Quitting the app should be reserved by swiping up on it in the multitasking UI or with a new context menu command.

App lifecycle on iPadOS 26
 
 
Q