iPadOS 16 Lets Apps Use Storage as Virtual RAM on M1 iPads

Apple is adding virtual memory swap to iPadOS 16, allowing apps on the recent iPad Pro and iPad Air models to use free and available storage as extra memory for demanding workloads.

m1 ipad pro table
With iPadOS 15, certain apps can use up to 12GB of memory on the highest-end M1 ‌iPad Pro‌ which has 16GB of total RAM. With iPadOS 16 and virtual memory swap, Apple is significantly increasing the amount of memory an app can use by tapping into available storage on the device.

For ‌M1‌ ‌iPad Pro‌ models, apps can use up to 16GB of memory for the most demanding workloads. Fifth-generation ‌iPad Air‌ models with the ‌M1‌ chip and a minimum of 256GB of storage also support the feature.

Virtual memory swap and the higher memory ceiling join a list of features coming with iPadOS 16 that are exclusive to the ‌M1‌ ‌iPad Pro‌ and ‌iPad Air‌, including Stage Manager. In fact, Apple told Digital Trends that ‌Stage Manager‌ relies on this virtual RAM swap.

‌Stage Manager‌ is an entirely new way for pro-users to use their iPad, allowing users to have multiple windows of an app opened at once, overlaid on top of each other. ‌Stage Manager‌ also enables full external display support on iPadOS for the first time.

iPadOS 16 is currently available to developers, with a public beta planned in July. iPadOS 16 will be available to all supported iPads later this fall.

Update: Apple's footnote on its iPadOS 16 preview page originally stated that it was the fourth-generation ‌iPad Air‌ that supported the feature, but the error has been corrected.

Related Forum: iOS 16

Popular Stories

iOS 26 on iPhone Feature

Here's When iOS 26 Rolls Out Today in Every Time Zone [Update: Out Now!]

Monday September 15, 2025 12:00 am PDT by
Update 10:06 a.m.: iOS 26 is rolling out now, though it may take a bit for all users to see it, so keep checking! Today's the day! Apple is about to release iOS 26, which will deliver the biggest redesign since iOS 7 and bring a range of new features and improvements to iPhones worldwide. It's Apple's biggest software update of the year, and Apple announced at last week's iPhone event that...
Tim Cook Rainbow

Apple Reportedly Plans to Launch These 10 Products in 'Coming Months'

Sunday September 14, 2025 8:45 am PDT by
Apple's annual September event is now in the rearview mirror, with the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone 17 Pro Max, iPhone Air, Apple Watch Series 11, Apple Watch Ultra 3, Apple Watch SE 3, and AirPods Pro 3 set to launch this Friday, September 19. As always, there is more to come. In his Power On newsletter today, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said Apple plans to release many products in the...
iOS 26 Battery Glass Feature

Apple Says Installing iOS 26 Might Impact Battery Life

Monday September 15, 2025 10:56 am PDT by
In the iOS 26 release notes, Apple is warning iPhone users that installing the new software might have a temporary impact on battery life, which is normal. A new support document explains that major iOS updates require background setup like indexing data and files for search, downloading new assets, and updating apps. Further, Apple says that new features could require more resources,...
apple n1 chip

Apple's New N1 Chip in iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone Air Has a Wi-Fi 7 Limitation

Saturday September 13, 2025 10:01 am PDT by
The latest iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone 17 Pro Max, and iPhone Air models are equipped with Apple's all-new N1 chip for Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, and Thread connectivity. However, the chip has a Wi-Fi 7 bandwidth limitation. According to FCC documents reviewed by MacRumors, the N1 chip in all of the new iPhone models supports up to 160 MHz channel bandwidth for Wi-Fi 7, short of the...
iphone 17 lineup

iPhone 17 Models Launch on September 19 With These New Features

Friday September 12, 2025 7:58 am PDT by
Apple will launch its new iPhone 17 lineup and ultra-thin iPhone Air in stores on Friday, September 19, and the company has already shown off the new devices at its fall event, which ran with the the tagline "Awe dropping." The iPhone 17 series brings a host of new features and enhancements. Here's a rundown of the biggest upgrades and changes: iPhone 17 Display Changes The iPhone...
iphone air all colors

iPhone Air and iPhone 17 Pro Now Facing Extended Delivery Estimates

Saturday September 13, 2025 11:43 am PDT by
iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone 17 Pro Max, and iPhone Air pre-orders began on Friday in the U.S. and many other countries. iPhone 17 Pro Max delivery estimates quickly slipped beyond the Friday, September 19 launch day for those who had yet to place an order, and now the rest of the new models have started to follow suit. As of shortly after 11:30 a.m. Pacific Time today, select iPhone 17, ...
iPhone 17 Pro Air Boxes

iPhone Air and iPhone 17 Pro Boxes Revealed

Sunday September 14, 2025 1:36 pm PDT by
T-Mobile President Jon Freier today shared real-world photos of Apple's boxes for the iPhone Air, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 models, which launch on Friday. Image Credit: Jon Freier Apple has typically included iPhone box renders in its product environmental reports, but it did not do so for the latest models. However, Apple's iPhone Upgrade Program page does offer some images of the boxes, ...
AirPods Pro Firmware Feature

AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4 Get iOS 26 Features With New Firmware Update

Monday September 15, 2025 10:50 am PDT by
Apple today released updated firmware for the AirPods Pro 2 and the AirPods 4, introducing support for the new AirPods features that are included in iOS 26, iPadOS 26, and macOS Tahoe. The firmware has a build number of 8A356, and it replaces the current 7E93 firmware. With Apple's new software updates, the AirPods Pro 2 and the AirPods 4 support better audio quality for phone calls and...

Top Rated Comments

yabeweb Avatar
43 months ago

Same here, absolutely disappointed by this decision. If this is how Apple decides to treat its 2-yr-old ”Pro” device, I’m never buying another ”Pro”.
Never understood this type of comment.

Your "Pro" device does and will still do what you thought it was doing, you were never promised anything forward.

You based your decision on what it did for you not what it might do in the future (as nobody could guess), your 2 year old device wont suddenly stop being pro or doing it's work.

You are missing on features from the new OS, features you didn't have before, but the HW you have is still as good and as zippy on the new OS.

Bottom line, ALWAYS buy stuff for what they are capable the day you buy them, never buy things hoping they will do more in the future.
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
blackcrayon Avatar
43 months ago

Basically me with A11 iPhone. Seemed like a great idea at the time. Bionic chip, huge performance upgrade over A10. Now almost every feature is A12 and higher

But the glaring problem was that it was a first gen neural enabled phone and the golden rule with apple is… never buy first gen products.


First ipad was weak as hell. First retina iPad was basically an iPad 2 but with performance issues. First retina iPhone was a just a 3GS powering 4x the pixels. All sucked.
I had all those iPads and iPhones and they were great when released. And well reviewed. None of them "sucked" as far as I remembered, until they got a few years old and were no longer up to the task of the current software. Which is basically every product (though the OS/hardware requirements moved more quickly in general back then).

Saying "never buy the first gen iphone/ipad/mac" is mostly meaningless- at this point, any iPad, iPhone, Mac, etc is both a first generation of something, and a second, third, etc etc etc generation of something else. In 2 years people will be complaining about the current 13" iPad Pro missing some feature and "you should've skipped it" because it was the "first generation" product with a mini LCD display, or it had the "first generation" M1 chip. Your advice is basically to never buy anything, something better might be released later ;)
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Kylo83 Avatar
43 months ago
Amazing all this power for YouTube and Facebook, I mean the iPad is so slow we needed this lol give us final cut
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
singularity0993 Avatar
43 months ago

Bummer it's just M1. I've got the 2020 A12Z iPad Pro and loads of free storage. Did a whole computer as the dev transition kit, but hamstrung relative to M1. Just down to memory capacity?

I knew buying the 2020 was a kinda bad deal at the time, being just the 2018 with only an extra graphics core, and that the next would probably whoop it's ass. But I didn't realise it was such a big jump to the M1 coming to iPad and I'd then have big feature skips rather than just a general performance hit on a pretty damn powerful iPad. ?
Same here, absolutely disappointed by this decision. If this is how Apple decides to treat its 2-yr-old ”Pro” device, I’m never buying another ”Pro”.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MrGimper Avatar
43 months ago

So the 16gb iPad wasn’t worth it when the 256 storage will give you the same 16gb ram lol
Because RAM and virtual memory on flash storage are the same thing :rolleyes:
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
AlexESP Avatar
43 months ago

Amazing all this power for YouTube and Facebook, I mean the iPad is so slow we needed this lol give us final cut
So you only use YouTube and Facebook? Then it’s not for basic users like you, it’s for people who use more demanding iPad apps.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)