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How to Disable the Slide Over Sidebar on iPad

The Slide Over Sidebar feature on iPad is one of the coolest features in the iOS9 which allows multitasking at ease. These multitasking features include Slide Over sidebar, side-by-side Split View, and Picture-in-Picture with videos floating on top of another app. These are exclusively for iPad models which have a 64-bit Apple A7 processor or better as picture-in-picture is a bit aggressive on the processor. Slide Over Sidebar is a great multitasking feature on iPad and today we’ll see how we can disable it.

So, here’s how the Slide over Sidebar works. When you’re using an app, you can simply swipe from right to left of the screen to bring up a sidebar that occupies around one-third space on the screen. Now, you can simply switch to any other app by swiping from the top down. This feature works both in portrait and landscape orientations. Similarly, you can press and hold on to the divider in between the two apps and drag it to the center of the screen, this will activate the split-screen feature called Split View.

Multitasking features are cool on iOS but they are rather annoying for many users who almost never use it. The little sidebar annoys people by surprisingly popping up from the right whenever an innocent finger touches the edge of the screen. Most importantly, elders and kids don’t like other apps popping up when they’re busy with what they’re doing. So, it’s useful to know how to disable this feature when not used. Today, we will show you how to disable the Slide Over Sidebar feature on the iPad.

Using the Slide Ove Sidebar feature, you can enjoy multiple apps on the iPad at once.

How to Disable the Slide Over Sidebar on iPad

  1. Open the Settings app on the iPad and navigate to the General section of the menu.
  2. Choose the Multitasking option.
  3. Now, simply toggle the switch next to “Allow Multiple Apps” to the OFF position.
    ipad multitasking settings
  4. Finally, exit the Settings app.

Now, all the multitasking features of iOS are completely turned off which means no more slide over or split screens. Hurrah!!! Your parents will never complain about the Facebook feed popping up when they’re enjoying a good movie. If you want to enable the feature, just toggle the switch back again. It’s time now to check out these productivity apps for your iPad.

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9 thoughts on “How to Disable the Slide Over Sidebar on iPad”

  1. My iPad is a little over a year old. When I tried your instructions and went to Settings, General, Multitasking does not appear on the right side so I can’t disable the annoying split screen.

    What can I do?

  2. I have an I pad 2021.

    I had this annoying side bar hidden off to the side (tab sticking out ) while playing in a game tournament under the clock . It was cutting into my time by having to repeatedly move the sidebar back over to side, because that annoying tab was in the way.

    So I looked for the prompts in settings as instructed above. I never found the prompts in the new OS 15 format. Not sure what that is all about. In reading the comments of others, they couldn’t find the multitasking prompt in their settings also.

    So quite, by unintentional discovery, while clearing apps running in the background (pressing home button Twice) and swiping everything running in the background, lo and behold, that annoying sidebar was running in the background. I just swiped it to the top to remove it from within view.

    Now, no more annoying sidebar to contend with during game play or any other investment of my time on iPad.

    And it hasn’t come back, either. Just a quick fix. It may not be a permanent able/disable function, but it did solve my issue.

  3. So frustrating, all these “‘helpful accessible multitasking aids” that I wish were gone. Why not OPT IN? Or at least some way to shut it off, arrrggggg.

    Still have a few long shots to stop it, just needed this ventilation app to run in my head, which, with some practise, can be minimized…. We need to control these background app and brain circuits – the big problem with consciousness, that ‘busy mind’ thing

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