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WWDC is Just Two Weeks Away: Here Are the Biggest iOS 19 Rumors

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WWDC 2025 is just two weeks away as of today, with Apple's opening keynote scheduled for Monday, June 9 at 10 a.m. Pacific Time.

WWDC-2025-Banner.jpg

During the keynote, Apple is expected to announce iOS 19, iPadOS 19, macOS 16, watchOS 12, tvOS 19, visionOS 3, and other software updates, along with new Apple Intelligence features. In some years, there are also hardware announcements at WWDC, but there are no rumors yet about new devices being on deck for this year's conference.

Below, we recap key iOS 19 rumors to know about as the developer conference nears.

The first beta of iOS 19 should be seeded to developers immediately after the WWDC keynote, and the update is expected to be released in September.

New Design With Floating Tab Bar

iOS 19 is expected to introduce a new design that looks more like the visionOS operating system on the Apple Vision Pro headset.

Alleged-iOS-19-Tab-Bar-Front-Page-Tech.jpg

According to Front Page Tech's Jon Prosser, iOS 19 will have a glass-like appearance, with added translucency for menus, buttons, and more. He also expects a new floating tab bar to be shown at the bottom of some of Apple's built-in apps.

Bloomberg's Mark Gurman also expects iOS 19 to have a visionOS-like design, and he said the design changes would be the biggest since iOS 7.

The design changes should extend to iPadOS 19, macOS 16, watchOS 12, and tvOS 19.

Stage Manager for iPhones

In April, a leaker known as Majin Bu claimed that iOS 19 will enable support for at least a limited version of Stage Manager on iPhone models with a USB-C port.

ipados-16-stage-manager.jpg

In a blog post citing sources, the leaker said that when an iPhone with a USB-C port is connected to an external display, users will be able to take advantage of a Stage Manager-like interface with multiple apps open at once on the screen. However, he said that there might be more limitations compared to Stage Manager on iPads.

iPhone models with a USB-C port include all iPhone 15 models and newer.

iPhones with both Lightning and USB-C ports can already be connected to external displays, but only for basic screen mirroring.

New Battery Mode

iPhone-Air-Battery-Feature.jpg

iOS 19 will include a new AI-powered battery management mode for all iPhone models that are compatible with the software update, according to Gurman. He said this enhancement will "analyze how a person uses their device and make adjustments to conserve energy," paving the way for longer battery life.

End-to-End Encryption for RCS

In March, Apple said that it plans to add support for end-to-end encrypted RCS messages to the Messages app in future iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and watchOS software updates. That likely means iOS 19, macOS 16, and other corresponding updates.

RCS-Feature-1.jpg

Apple promising end-to-end encryption for RCS messages indirectly confirms that it will be adopting the RCS Universal Profile 3.0 specification, which also includes several iMessage-like enhancements that were originally introduced in version 2.7 of the specification. iOS 18 supports RCS Universal Profile 2.4.

Here are five new capabilities to expect for RCS conversations on iOS 19:

  • End-to-end encryption, which will prevent Apple and any other third party from being able to read messages and attachments while they are being sent between devices
  • In-line replies
  • Edit messages
  • Unsend messages
  • Full-fledged Tapback support for RCS messages, ensuring they always work
iMessage conversations with blue bubbles have supported end-to-end encryption by default since iOS 5. In addition, iMessage has supported in-line replies since iOS 14, while the options to edit and unsend iMessages were introduced with iOS 16.

Apple has not indicated which iOS version will upgrade RCS, but iOS 19 or a follow-up update like iOS 19.1 or iOS 19.2 seems like a safe bet.

New Accessibility Features

Earlier this month, Apple previewed new accessibility features that are expected to debut across iOS 19 and other software updates.

iOS-19-Accessibility-Feature.jpg

An overview of some of the new features... Click here to read rest of article

Article Link: WWDC is Just Two Weeks Away: Here Are the Biggest iOS 19 Rumors
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2025/05/26/wwdc-2025-ios-19-rumor-recap/
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Paddle1 said:
"iOS 19 will include a new AI-powered battery management mode for all iPhone models that are compatible with the software update" The linked article says only for devices with Apple Intelligence enabled. I hope there aren't too many features locked behind AI as you can't really turn them on and off separately.
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I find it consumer hostile to be gating things like this behind "AI comptability"

Let's not pretend they couldn't roll that feature out without "Apple Intelligence" being involved at all.

It's so maddening to see even Apple getting subsumed by the marketing desire to claim everything suddenly involves "AI".
 
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guessing it will all be amazing and world changing and yet at the same time just very "meh". I do expect to hear how great Apple is though at being green and everything put aside what I am really excited about, and I know everyone else is as well, will be all the new emojis!
 
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turbineseaplane said:
I find it consumer hostile to be gating things like this behind "AI comptability"

Let's not pretend they couldn't roll that feature out without "Apple Intelligence" being involved at all.

It's so maddening to see even Apple getting subsumed by the marketing desire to claim everything suddenly involves "AI".
Click to expand...
I saw a cell phone screen protector that said on the packaging "Optimized for AI". It's nutty.
 
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At this stage I don’t know what I would do if I were running MacRumors. On the one hand your job is to hold Apple to account on the state it’s in (ie they’ve dropped the ball on software innovation for almost a decade, new releases are minor iterations, years-long bugs abound, etc). On the other, you need to publish news, some excitement, so that people keep coming back to the site. It’s a difficult situation to be in.
 
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Etc_ said:
More accessibility is always good, the rest of it sounds so horribly underwhelming. Apple is now fully into the bs buzzword AI bingo. AI-powered battery management, really? Not every new feature needs to be "AI-powered".
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do we know it is a buzz word? AI is a huge thing and is going to change so much of how we do just about everything. I would be a little hesitant to write off AI anything at the moment, at least till Apple does a demo and explains how AI is actually benefiting the iPhone battery. I am sure people will be able to quickly tell if this is a gimmick as well when they do the update and their phone lasts way longer or nothing really has changed.
 
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wonderings said:
do we know it is a buzz word? AI is a huge thing and is going to change so much of how we do just about everything. I would be a little hesitant to write off AI anything at the moment, at least till Apple does a demo and explains how AI is actually benefiting the iPhone battery. I am sure people will be able to quickly tell if this is a gimmick as well when they do the update and their phone lasts way longer or nothing really has changed.
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They can improve their battery management without slapping the "AI" label on it. This so-called AI uses more battery power to analyze and process my battery usage in order to improve it. Make it make sense.
 
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Etc_ said:
They can improve their battery management without slapping the "AI" label on it. This so-called AI uses more battery power to analyze and process my battery usage in order to improve it. Make it make sense.
Click to expand...

Gotta love it ... "use more battery to analyze your battery usage"

It sounds like The Onion
 
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I don’t get why they moved the tab bar to the top of the screen on iPad. Hopefully they’ll move it back to the bottom where it’s much more easily accessible.
 
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turbineseaplane said:
Gotta love it ... "use more battery to analyze your battery usage"

It sounds like The Onion
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It does make sense, sort of. The AI will suck your battery dry analyzing everything, then figure out how to not do that. Rule 1 of course is turn itself off.

I'm so glad my iPad can not run AI. Sonoma is still good for another year. By then either the hype will be over and the AI will be an optional download, or the AI will be useful, though for what (things I actually do) I don't know. Third option, they admit it won't work on the old baseline of 8 GB RAM and 256 GB of storage and delete it from these machines.
 
Waiting to see the new design and everything that Apple will announce. Wonder whether there will be any hardware announcement.
 
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