Rumors recommend that Apple will announce a serious iOS, iPadOS, and macOS software program design overhaul at WWDC 2025. If true, this would be the largest iOS UI revamp since 2013, and it’ll change loads of the iPhone-like design parts that invaded macOS in 2020.

Apple hasn’t commented on the rumors, which have been first revealed by Mark Gurman at Bloomberg. Gurman is a widely known Apple analyst and pretty dependable leaker who sources data from Apple staff, companions, distributors. So, whereas we will not confirm the rumors, they’re throughout the realm of risk.

The “key purpose” of this overhaul, per Gurman, is to make Apple’s various working methods “look comparable and extra constant.” Longtime Apple clients could also be confused by this assertion. In spite of everything, Apple has spent greater than a decade chipping away at macOS’ old-school “Aqua” design language to be able to make the desktop working system extra iOS-like. The Big Sur update in 2020 was broadly praised (and criticized) for its use of iOS stylings, and except Apple is ready to offer us a touchscreen MacBook, it appears that evidently macOS is about as just like iOS as it may be.

However Apple is not doubling-down on iOS design language. As an alternative, rumors recommend that the corporate is making an attempt to make iOS, iPadOS, and macOS look extra just like visionOS—the working system of the Vision Pro combined actuality headset.

visionOS is not a serious departure from the usual Apple design language. In actual fact, I would argue that it appears to be like extra stereotypically “Apple-like” than iOS or macOS. It makes extreme use of glassy transparency results, rounded corners, and minimalism. App icons and different distinctive parts present a pop of shade in visionOS, however the UI is usually grey and white. The one factor that is “uncommon” about this working system’s design language is its round app icons, that are harking back to Android.

Apple would possibly deliver a few of these design parts to macOS, iOS, and iPadOS. In that case, the trio of working methods will really feel glassier and bubblier than ever earlier than. The rumored UI overhaul might additionally embody some purposeful upgrades, however I am unsure how Apple might replicate its visionOS gestures on a small, flat display.

In any case, the choice to undertake visionOS design in iOS and macOS is unprecedented. Apple is known for its use of cohesive design language, but it surely normally focuses on no matter stylings its clients are most aware of. Early variations of iOS inherited some skeuomorphic qualities from OSX. After the iPhone turned Apple’s dominant product, it adopted the trendy iOS 7 “Human Interface” type that finally influenced macOS. Apple is yet to sell a million Vision Pro headsets—it is the platform that clients are the least aware of.

So, what is the logic right here? Perhaps Apple supposed this from the beginning. It knew it wanted a brand new UI for the Imaginative and prescient Professional, so it used the gadget as a testbed for a refined design language. Or, perhaps Apple simply needs macOS display mirroring to look higher within the mixed-reality headset. If the corporate really believes that combined actuality is the long run, be it via a cumbersome headset or a light-weight pair of sensible glasses, then cohesive UI is sensible.

As Gurman notes, the design overhaul might additionally function a distraction from numerous failures, significantly Apple Intelligence. Each AI product introduced by Apple has confronted a delay, together with the enhanced Siri assistant, which simply received pushed again by a minimum of a yr. In a market that’s unreasonably obsessive about AI, corporations like Apple must look busy and forward-thinking. An enormous design overhaul might satiate buyers as Apple performs catchup with its belated AI guarantees. (I will not be stunned if an iOS or macOS UI overhaul is accompanied by some nonsense like, “this magically makes AI higher and simpler to combine.”)

To reiterate, we’re discussing a rumorfrom uncredited sources. WWDC 2025 could move with none point out of a UI overhaul. And even when these items does come true, I am unsure about Gurman’s timetable. He says that the redesign will probably be applied with the iOS 19 and macOS 16 updates later this yr, which appears sort of excessive for such a giant overhaul. In fact, I could possibly be unsuitable.

Supply: Bloomberg (Mark Gurman)