IPadOS 26 Adds Four New Apps, Including One You’ve Been Waiting Years For

There are already a number of pre-installed apps on the iPad as well as the iPhone. And now with iPadOS 26, there are four more coming your way.

Apple is adding Journal, Games, Preview, and Phone to the iPad.

Perhaps the biggest news here is the Preview app. This is the same app that has been on Mac for decades. It provides a pretty nice upgrade for the Files app, and will allow you to sign PDFs without the need of a third-party app.

The Phone app is a bit surprising to see here on the iPad, but it is useful for the Hold Assist and Call Screening features that were announced today. The Journal app was previously exclusive to the iPhone. There’s not much to say about this, it’s the same Journal app, but on a larger screen now.

The new Games app comes to iPad

One of the other big announcements for iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 is the new Games app. Apple describes this as a new one-stop hub for all things gaming on iPadOS 26. Allowing you to launch installed games from the app, as well as browse and download new titles, find editorial content, leaderboards, and much more.

It’s a much-needed upgrade from the Game Center app that first debuted in iOS 4.1 back in 2010. The app has mostly gone invisible in recent years, really only appearing when you start playing a game that supports Game Center. So it’s good to see it being reincarnated here in iOS 26 and iPadOS 26.

There are plenty of other iOS 26 features available, some that you might not have even expected to see this time around. Both iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 are available in Beta starting today, and releasing this fall.