iPadOS 19 Rumored to Show Mac-Like Menu Bar When Connected to Magic Keyboard

[MacRumors]

When an iPad running iPadOS 19 is connected to a Magic Keyboard, a macOS-like menu bar will appear on the screen, according to the leaker Majin Bu.

This change would further blur the lines between the iPad and the Mac. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman previously claimed that iPadOS 19 will be "more like macOS," with unspecified improvements to productivity, multitasking, and app window management, and the addition of a macOS-like menu bar would certainly align with that overall plan.

In a blog post today, the leaker also claimed that iPadOS 19 will enhance Stage Manager, the feature that lets you use multiple apps at once on an external display. The leaker said that Stage Manager will work more seamlessly, but they did not provide any specific details about the alleged improvements. They also said that iOS 19 will enable at least a basic version of Stage Manager on iPhone models with a USB-C port.

The first beta of iPadOS 19 should be available after the WWDC 2025 keynote on June 9, but some new features are not enabled until later betas.

Majin Bu has a mixed track record with Apple rumors, with some hits and some misses.

Article Link: iPadOS 19 Rumored to Show Mac-Like Menu Bar When Connected to Magic Keyboard

 

[DHagan4755]

🤔

Not sure until I see it. Pencil me in as skeptical — for now.

 

[icanhazapple]

Interesting. It's a start!

 

[SilmarilFinder]

Too good to be true (provided it is implemented properly)

 

[davecom]

With all of the work done the last decade to scale the user interface of iPad OS "up" to be more like macOS, it has to be asked whether the right approach is just to scale macOS "down" to work for pros with a touch screen device like the iPad. Apple used to say they see them as distinct devices for different use cases. But I feel like trying to make the iPad a pro machine outside of some very specific use cases (art, manufacturing, aviation for instance) has been an exhausting ride with no clear end. Do many people who work in an office buy an iPad Pro for their "work"? If not, why keep pushing in this direction? Or is the iPad Pro just meant to satisfy specific verticals and not serve the general office market?

 

[applefan8254]

Can we get multiple users please? Thank you

 

[aleux]

Good change, exposes advanced functions in a familiar way and takes advantage of the Magic Keyboard’s pointer precision.

Looking forward to stage manager changes. Hope it becomes easier to use than the current clunky paradigm.

 

[aleux]

With all of the work done the last decade to scale the user interface of iPad OS "up" to be more like macOS, it has to be asked whether the right approach is just to scale macOS "down" to work for pros with a touch screen device like the iPad. Apple used to say they see them as distinct devices for different use cases. But I feel like trying to make the iPad a pro machine outside of some very specific use cases (art, manufacturing, aviation for instance) has been an exhausting ride with no clear end. Do many people who work in an office buy an iPad Pro for their "work"? If not, why keep pushing in this direction? Or is the iPad Pro just meant to satisfy specific verticals and not serve the general office market?

You ask good questions. From my experience (I also work on operating system UI), it’s much easier to build complex systems from simpler parts than to try to simplify a complicated system. Now what I don’t understand is why it took Apple so long to do it, or why they remained indecisive over the years.

 

[MacKid]

Oh god, we don’t need on screen dropdown versions of cut/copy/paste, we need a reliable version of Files

 

[WilliApple]

Let's hope they don't shove everything in a menu bar like they do in macOS.
I talk about this macOS user friendliness issue with the menu bar and I still feel the same about this to this day.

 

[jole]

iPadOS foundation is very capable, but anything resembling full featured computer is intentionally disabled. How about allowing us to run full apps, virtual memory with swap, background tasks, JIT, compilers, command line, … All that would be possible if Apple would unlock the capabilities.

🥺🙏

 

[thejadedmonkey]

Just an Apple keyboard? What about any other mice and keyboards? There's no technical reason my Logitech G915 mechanical keyboard and G703 mouse can't make use of a menu bar when a Magic Keyboard can.

 

[needsomecoffee]

After decades firmly entrenched in the Apple camp, I have moved to a 10th Gen Thinkpad Yoga running Unbuntu which is amazingly good w/ the touch screen When going back to my MBP, I often laugh at how natural it has become to use a good keyboard, trackpad, and touch screen on a highly portable device running Linux FGS. Mac OS on a MBP in comparison just has a lot of misses now in comparison. I could wish for Apple to provide what likely would be a superior option with its hardware, but facts we know... "touch screens on PCs are the Devil's handiwork" and "always protect shareholder value via App Store profits". Likely some others I missed. So iPad OS will become more Mac-like to appease the many, many current criticisms. iPads will never be MacOS-like enough to support app loading like we can on Macs (value argument), and we will never get a touchscreen UI on a MB portable (Devil's argument). Entrenched they are those C-Level execs. Apple makes great hardware -- the best still. Yet "Think Different" left the building A LONG TIME AGO. Sad.

 

[darngooddesign]

I like SM on my iPadPro so I'm excited to see the changes.

 

[subjonas]

I’m curious if and how much I would use a menu bar on my iPad. Also if each developer has to implement it in their app, I’m a little skeptical this will catch on.

 

[ttyRazor]

This might be a step in the right direction, depending on what actually goes in there. Currently, when you hold down a modifier key you get a list of keyboard shortcuts, organized in very menu bar-like sections. They’re not nearly as consistently available as they are on macOS, but hopefully the extra visibility gets it the attention to flesh it out.

That said, how would you get to those functions without a keyboard? Or would they be completely tied to this new magic keyboard mode?

Or, is this the first step towards a sort of reverse-Catalyst setup where Mac apps become easier to port to iPadOS? It’d probably be limited so something like SwiftUI Mac apps or something else pretty narrow and they’d be further limited by what’s allowed in App Store apps, but maybe that’s where they’re going.

 

[paulcons]

Really, only when you spend $300 on a keyboard, otherwise you pound sand.

 

[darngooddesign]

Really, only when you spend $300 on a keyboard, otherwise you pound sand.

I bet any keyboard you can connect will be supported.

 

[xxFoxtail]

I’m curious if and how much I would use a menu bar on my iPad. Also if each developer has to implement it in their app, I’m a little skeptical this will catch on.

Most apps already have a version of the menu bar. Hold down cmd for a few seconds and it’ll appear on screen. I’d imagine they'd just move that up to the top of the screen to be more accessible.

 

[Reason077]

“How curious it is,” Pooh said aloud, to nobody in particular, “that the iPad tries so very hard to be like the MacBook, but never quite manages to feel as settled and cozy.”

You see, the MacBook is like a warm armchair by the fire. You sit down, and everything is where it ought to be. Menus are at the top, folders behave like proper friends, and when you click, things listen. It's a sensible sort of magic.

The iPad, on the other paw, is always trying to do tricks—jumping and spinning and saying, “Look! I can be a computer too!” which is very sweet, but sometimes a bit too eager, like Tigger with too much juice.

“Wouldn’t it be rather nice if the iPad just let itself be a MacBook", Pooh pondered.

And then he had a second smackerel of honey, because thinking is hungry work.

 

[mlayer]

I'm intrigued, not at all convinced this will work. The menu bar and Stage Manager as they currently exist use valuable screen real estate. Automatic show/hide could help there but it also could create confusion especially when it's not properly implemented at the OS and app levels. Majin Bu's report also notes USB-C external display support for the iPhone, which leads me to believe that this feature would also translate to the iPad mini in lieu of full "desktop" support on that device - since it too is screen real estate-challenged.

TBH, sometimes I wish Apple simply licensed the Windows' snap feature from Microsoft, implemented an improved version of it, and called it a day for iPad.

 

[thejadedmonkey]

I’m curious if and how much I would use a menu bar on my iPad. Also if each developer has to implement it in their app, I’m a little skeptical this will catch on.

It's been a while since I worked on it, but IIRC the menubar uses the same APIs as the shortcut key combos. Any app that implements command + xxx functions will automatically have menubar support. SwiftUI apps that target iOS and macOS via a shared common library will also have easy to implement menubar support.

 

[subjonas]

Most apps already have a version of the menu bar. Hold down cmd for a few seconds and it’ll appear on screen. I’d imagine they'd just move that up to the top of the screen to be more accessible.

Oh ok if that’s equivalent to the menu bar then it should be an easy automatic implementation. But then I wonder how much benefit a menu bar adds if the functions are already there. I could see the bar being useful if you don’t have a keyboard (can’t hold down cmd), but this rumor is saying that it’s only visible when the keyboard is connected. 🤔

 

[arc of the universe]

i have never owned an iPad.
long term mac user.

however, for a long time now i see how much more i have been preferring to use my iPhone (and its apps), to do task/app specific things (banking, weather, credit card status. map related queries, buying baseball tickets, making restaurant reservations) etc. etc. i find i pick up my iPhone because i prefer to use those dedicated apps rather than work on my mac for that kind of thing through a browser. the mac app store for the past 5 years has offered fewer and fewer really interesting apps. all of the action has moved to iOS.

that's why i am thinking of just getting an iPad, rather than a macBook Air next time.

iOS/iPadOS apps can just declare victory, and hoover up any remaining mac-like features that make iOS/iPadOS my preferred system.

 

[Achillias]

This simply isn't enough. Apple absolutely needs to implement a Dex-style mode on iPadOS. That thing has way too much power for the tasks it's limited to. It should essentially be a laptop, allowing users to choose whether they prefer to buy a laptop or do all their work on the iPad.