With iOS 19 anticipated to get the largest overhaul we’ve seen since 2013, there’s little doubt that iPadOS 19 will inherit the identical design adjustments. Nonetheless, if current rumors are correct, the following main launch of Apple’s iPad working system may get greater than only a recent coat of paint.
Earlier this month, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman mentioned that Apple plans to make iPadOS 19 “extra like a Mac,” specializing in “productiveness, multitasking, and app window administration.” Whereas Gurman didn’t provide too many particulars on what that may imply, he was clear about one factor: Apple isn’t planning to port macOS to the iPad anytime quickly, so this can nonetheless be iPadOS by means of and thru — simply with a number of extra Mac-like trimmings.
The iPad started its life 15 years in the past as a really single-minded system. The multitasking options we all know right now had been a sluggish rollout that started in 2015 and took seven years of minor updates. We bought Cut up Display screen mode and picture-in-picture in iOS 9, a Mac-like Dock, enhanced app switcher, and drag-and-drop in iOS 11, help for opening a number of home windows for a single app in iPadOS 13, a shelf for managing these home windows in iPadOS 15, and Stage Supervisor in iPadOS 16.
Now, there’s a report that iPadOS 19 may add one other Mac-like characteristic, complementing the Dock from 2019 with a Menu Bar. That’s in line with leaker Majin Bu (who now has a weblog):
One of the crucial thrilling adjustments will profit these utilizing the iPad with a Magic Keyboard. When related, the interface will adapt to indicate a menu bar on the prime, similar to on macOS, turning the iPad into a way more laptop-like expertise.
If the report is correct, the menu bar will solely seem when a Magic Keyboard is hooked up. That looks as if an odd transfer, nevertheless it may very well be half of a bigger characteristic set, as Majin Bu provides that iPadOS 19 can even add a brand new “Stage Supervisor 2.0” enhanced multitasking mode to “make managing apps and home windows smoother and extra productive than ever.”
Whereas this report sounds believable on one aspect, the dependence on the Magic Keyboard makes us a bit skeptical. Treating the iPad as a tool that adjustments modes primarily based on whether or not you’re utilizing a keyboard can be a brand new method for Apple and dangers making a extra complicated hybrid consumer expertise that will be the alternative of the simplicity Apple usually strives for. At that time, Apple may as nicely give in to those that need the iPad to have the ability to dual-boot into macOS.
Majin Bu additionally doesn’t have a firmly established observe document for such issues — they’ve been mistaken as typically as they’ve been proper, and lots of of their hits are sometimes simply doubling down on leaks and rumors which have already been shared by others. As an example, Majin Bu appropriately predicted the identify of the iPhone 16e, however only some weeks after one other leaker, Fastened Focus Digital mentioned the identical. On the flip aspect, Majin Bu was alone in predicting the next-generation iPhone SE would get the Dynamic Island — a really believable concept that by no means materialized.
Majin Bu additionally means that Apple will lengthen this enhanced expertise to the iPhone by including “a Stage Supervisor-like interface” when a USB-C iPhone is related to an exterior show. This may permit customers to deal with an exterior show as a second display reasonably than merely mirroring what’s being proven on the iPhone. We’d recommend taking this one with a fair more healthy dose of salt, because it feels much more un-Apple-like.
This newest thought appears to comply with the idea of Samsung’s DeX desktop computing mode, which has been round for a number of years on Samsung’s gadgets as a method to change a pill or perhaps a smartphone right into a desktop computing expertise. Google can also be including one thing related on this yr’s launch of Android 16. Nonetheless, Apple already provides a desktop computing expertise: it’s known as the Mac.
Majin Bu believes that is about making a extra “seamless ecosystem” by blurring the strains between gadgets, having “iPads actings like Macs, and iPhones gaining desktop-adjacent options.” Nonetheless, that’s not Apple’s fashion; it prefers having every system match into a comparatively distinct area of interest, because it helps customers higher perceive who every system is for. It additionally doesn’t harm that it encourages prospects to purchase a number of merchandise when their wants overlap.
[The information provided in this article has NOT been confirmed by Apple and may be speculation. Provided details may not be factual. Take all rumors, tech or otherwise, with a grain of salt.]