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Title: WWDC 2025: What we expect Apple to reveal including new iOS, macOS,
Apple Intelligence and more

Date: Thu, 29 May 2025 16:04:08 +0000
Link: https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/w...

Apple's big 2025 software reveal is nearly upon us. On June 9, the Worldwide
Developers' Conference (WWDC) keynote will showcase the changes coming with
its 2025 software. That includes ΓÇö deep breath ΓÇö iOS, iPadOS, macOS,
watchOS, tvOS and visionOS.

Leaks suggest this year will be a biggie. In addition to the requisite Craig
Federighi gags, expect a significant visual overhaul ΓÇö one of Apple's
biggest ever ΓÇö and (shocker) new Apple Intelligence features.

Visual redesign

The company is reportedly set to unveil a platform-wide visual overhaul. The
revamp is said to be a dramatic change, drawing inspiration from Apple's
mixed reality headset.

Apple

According to Front Page Tech's Jon Prosser, that may even include (nearly)
round icons on the home screen and in Control Center. He also noted subtler
changes, like a redesigned tab view within apps and the search box in
Messages being moved to the bottom of the screen.

One of Apple's core goals with the new software is to unify the design
language of its operating systems. The idea is to make it less visually
jarring to hop between devices. If executed well, jumping from iPhone to iPad
to Mac (and so on) will feel like touring different flavors of the same OS.

Apple's last big macOS makeover was with 2020's Big Sur. For the iPhone's
software, you have to go all the way back to 2013. That's when iOS 7 kicked
skeuomorphic design to the curb, replacing it with a flat, minimalistic look.
Minus some iterative changes, it's still the UI you see today.

A new naming scheme

Along with the big visual refresh, Apple is also rumored to be changing how
it names its operating systems. Instead of having random version numbers at
the end, the company is apparently planning to unify the names by year ΓÇö so
iOS 19 would become iOS 26, as it'll be Apple's platform for the coming year.
The same goes for all of Apple's other software, so we're looking at iPadOS
26, macOS 26 and so forth. Of course, it goes without saying that macOS
should still get a California-themed name; hopefully Apple won't be throwing
that tradition in the bin just yet.

The iPad goes to work Nathan Ingraham for Engadget

Could 2025 be the year the iPad Pro starts to feel… Pro? The high-end
versions of Apple's tablet have been more than capable on a hardware level
for generations. (Especially when they switched to M-series chips.) But the
software has held it back. That's presumably because the company doesn't want
to cannibalize Mac sales. After all, if the iPad Pro can truly replace a
laptop, then fewer people would buy both.

The bad news for those wanting a full-on Mac experience: The iPad won't
switch to macOS. The good news: iPadOS may get much more Mac-like. This
year's update will reportedly focus on productivity, featuring improved
multitasking and app window management.

It's not that Apple hasn't inched the iPad's software in that direction. It
incrementally did so with Stage Manager in iPadOS 16. The year before, it
added the multitasking menu at the top of app windows. But for many, those
tweaks fell far short of the full-on productivity overhaul they craved. Will
it be enough this time? Bloomberg's Mark Gurman thinks it will "likely go far
enough" for most power users. (Is that a "Hallelujah!" I hear?)

Apple Intelligence Apple

Even if leaks hadn't already suggested as much, this one would be a no-
brainer. After all, AI has been every tech company's obsession since ChatGPT
took the world by storm over two years ago. Expect a healthy portion of the
keynote to be devoted to Apple's AI advances. These will reportedly include
improvements to existing features and a few new ones.

Siri

Remember when Apple promised a more personalized Siri at last year's
conference? The one that many wished would come ahead of the visual overhaul?
Well, we're still waiting on that. The last official update we heard was in
March, when the company told Daring Fireball, "It's going to take us longer
than we thought." (Oops!) Apple expects the new Siri features to arrive "in
the coming year," a clear-as-mud description if ever there was one.

A report from The Information last month hinted that the upgraded Siri was
nowhere near ready. The 2024 demo, where Siri condensed minutes of multi-app
planning into mere seconds, reportedly came as a surprise to team members
working on Siri. (Never an encouraging sign.)

Apple

Separate reporting this month from Bloomberg sheds a bit more light, adding
that we probably won't hear much about those Siri upgrades at WWDC 2025. The
publication described those updates as being months away from shipping. The
company is also reportedly separating its Apple Intelligence and Siri
marketing. The logic behind this is that users are so fed up with Apple's
assistant that it's hurting Apple's AI push.

The company's 2024 presentation was undoubtedly impressive. It showed a more
context-sensitive Siri that better understands what you're doing. It pulled
info from various apps and spliced them together in a seamless flow. It
recorded a specific type of video in a third-party app. It shared a meeting
summary via email with a teammate. And it found missing information the user
remembered reading... somewhere. It even controlled system settings and
explained them when needed.

The bottom line: If or when Apple pulls off what it promised last year,
that's big news for Siri. But don't hold your breath for it to show up at
WWDC 2025.

According to Bloomberg, the Siri updates we do see will be much subtler.
These would include adding the option to use Gemini instead of ChatGPT with
the assistant.

AI battery management Apple

Another iOS 19 scoop points to an Apple Intelligence feature that's easy to
get behind. A new AI-powered battery management mode will reportedly analyze
how you use your phone. It can then use that to make power-saving adjustments
on the fly. If it works well, that could be pretty nifty.

It may also be a key ingredient to a new device: the "iPhone Air." Whatever
Apple calls it, the rumored ultra-slim handset is expected to join Apple's
lineup this year. Without this feature, the phone's smaller battery might
struggle to make it through a typical day. (According to Gurman, it would
last several hours less than Apple's other iPhones.) But with the AI battery
feature activated, the svelte iPhone could become more practical.

Will we see this slim-jim iPhone at WWDC? Well, let's say you have as good a
chance of Valve randomly showing up to announce Half Life 3 at Apple's
conference. First, the svelte handset is expected to be part of the iPhone 17
lineup, which typically arrives around September. Second, Apple hasn't
unveiled a new iPhone at WWDC since Steve Jobs showed off the iPhone 4 in
2010. So, in short, nope.

Virtual health coach Apple

Apple is reportedly working on a virtual health coach. Allegedly codenamed
Project Mulberry, the AI feature would pair a refreshed Health app with an AI-
powered coach. Bloomberg says the feature would, to some degree, give you
advice you'd usually seek from a doctor.

The virtual coach would collect data from your Apple devices and use AI to
provide personalized health advice, chatbot-style. Apple is reportedly
training the AI agent with data from company physicians. Meanwhile, outside
experts would shoot educational videos.

In March, Bloomberg's Gurman said the virtual coach could arrive as early as
iOS 19.4, which wouldn't likely come until early to mid-2026. But a quick
aside in a report this month from Gurman and Drake Bennett mentioned that it
could be a point of focus at WWDC.

A new gaming app

Bloomberg's Mark Gurman is predicting that Apple will introduce a
centralized, pre-installed app for gaming on the Mac, iPad, iPhone and Apple
TV. It'll include some of the features in the long-neglected Game Center
service like leaderboards and matchmaking and pair them with a dedicated game
launcher and editorial content including recommendations ΓÇöincluding a push
towards the Apple Arcade service.

Hair Force One Apple

It wouldn't be an Apple keynote without some wacky Craig Federighi hijinks.
Last year, Apple's software lead strapped on a hair-shaped helmet and
skydived into Apple Park. At previous events, he showed off his parkour
skills, summoned an iPad like he's a Jedi and jammed out on a three-necked
guitar.

Say what you will about "Hair Force One." Federighi knows how to sell a sight
gag. (With maybe just a teensy bit of help from Apple's visual effects
artists.)

Betas and release dates

Following Apple's typical schedule, you can expect the first developer betas
to arrive after the conference ends. (Likely the same day!) Public betas
would follow early this summer. And you can expect the final versions of iOS
19, iPadOS 19, macOS 16 and so on to arrive alongside new iPhones this fall.

What not to expect at WWDC

While Apple's developer conference will be jam-packed if they serve up even a
fraction of the expectations above, there are a few things we can pretty
confidently take off the board, too.

With the possible exception of the Mac Pro, nearly all of Apple's hardware
lines have either just finished an upgrade cycle (consumer Macs, most iPads)
or are going to get updated in the fall as usual (iPhone, Apple Watch). As
such, we're not expecting any major hardware announcements. Apple has talked
about the Mac Pro at past WWDC events, but that computer is updated so
infrequently that it's hard to say with any confidence that we'll see any
changes.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at
https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/w...
reveal-including-new-ios-macos-apple-intelligence-and-more-
210051103.html?src=rss

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