iPadOS 19 Will Be 'More Like macOS' in Three Ways

[OSXATL]

I've owned dozens of iPads since the introduction in 2010. Last year, I came to the conclusion that apart from media consumption, the iPad is just too compromised a device to keep sinking money in to it.

I ditched my iPads and haven't really missed it. The thing that made me wake up to its lack of usefulness for me was the Magic Keyboard. You pay nearly $300 for that accessory, and you magnetically attach it to your iPad, and you've got a computer that is trying real hard to be a Mac, but it isn't. It doesn't have the capability of a Mac, it doesn't the flexibility of a Mac, and it's too locked down to be bent to my will.


Apple will never give iPadOS the capability it needs to replace a Mac, and they will never give the Mac the ability to work on a tablet device. Which is a shame. The entire 'we're not going to bolt a toaster on to a fridge' metaphor is debunked by their work over the 'iPad Pro' era, where they are trying to do just that - bolt as much 'Mac-ness' as they can on to iPadOS, instead of just adding touch capability to MacOS. And the reason is obvious - with iPadOS and its locked down app restrictions, Apple earns more monthly recurring revenue from the sale of an iPad than they do with a Mac.

 

[Edgecrusherr]

I’m having a “Yes, preach the gospel of the power user” moment here lol. Do you still think they should develop it in a way that casual users won’t be too thrown off by the changes, allow it to be simple for people who want to be simple, and allow it to be powerful for those who want to take advantage of it. Or simply make the Pro models more pro.

But they really need is an Expose behavior. Expose is one of the best features to ever come to macOS. It was a game changer 20 some years ago. Stage manager is a pathetic attempt to redefine multitasking. It’s terrible on an iPad, and I have never seen anyone. Use stage manager day-to-day on a Mac. It’s essentially like someone working on the keynote team, or even better of an example, somebody who used to work on PowerPoint, trying to design multitasking.

 

[HighwaySnowman]

The most important way iPadOS and iOS need to be more like macOS is the ability to install software without a stupid app store.

Do that first. Then give us Finder.

 

[richpjr]

That scares me a bit. iPadOS is great precisely because it’s not a desktop OS. It’s built from the ground up for a touch interface, where concepts such as windows don’t work well. All attempts to go against that (stage manager, trackpad support, etc.) haven’t been successful. The iPad doesn’t need to be like macOS to keep evolving, it just needs more iPad-like experiences — it already excels at many professional use cases like 3D modelling, art, in the medical field…

The shortcomings you list are some of the reasons why it is not great for a lot of people and their use cases.

 

[HighwaySnowman]

The one "more like macOS" upgrade I'm waiting for is a universally accessible filesystem. The Files.app (which is essentially Apple's version of Documents by Readdle) doesn't cut it for me. But I realize that for most people the Files.apps is just fine.

The stupidest thing is that the file system is ALREADY THERE.

iOS/iPadOS are unix underneath the surface. And unix doesn't function without a file system.

 

[AndrewChen]

A common complaint about the iPad Pro is that the iPadOS software platform fails to fully take advantage of the device's powerful hardware.

That could soon change.

Bloomberg's Mark Gurman today said that iPadOS 19 will be "more like macOS."

Gurman said that iPadOS 19 will be "more like a Mac" in three ways:

• Improved productivity
• Improved multitasking
• Improved app window management

"I'm told that this year's upgrade will focus on productivity, multitasking and app window management — with an eye on the device operating more like a Mac," said Gurman, in the latest edition of his Power On newsletter. "It's been a long time coming, with iPad power users pleading with Apple to make the tablet more powerful."

Gurman did not provide any specific details.

iPadOS 19 will be announced alongside iOS 19, macOS 16, and other software updates during the WWDC 2025 keynote on Monday, June 9.

Article Link: iPadOS 19 Will Be 'More Like macOS' in Three Ways

I hope that when using sidecar with my MacBook Pro, iPad Pro can support touch operation. I used my Samsung Galaxy Tab S9+ as a second display for my Windows laptop before, which not only supports touch, but also can automatically rotate the screen.

 

[maruyama]

The one thing that would do more than anything else to make the iPad a better and more versatile computing device like the Mac is the one thing Apple will never do: allow worldwide distribution outside the App Store.

My M1 iPad Pro is more than capable of running Ableton Live, for instance, but Ableton will never port the full software to iPadOS because it’s not economically feasible on the App Store. So all I’ll ever be able to use on it is a blown up version of the same, simplified Ableton Note that runs on my phone.

I like my iPad for reading and watching videos. I even use some “pro” apps on it from time to time. But by making it economically inaccessible to the longstanding desktop app ecosystem, it will never reach its true potential.

 

[Premium1]

MacOS (lightly optimized) should be a $99 annual fee on iPad. Or $299 lifetime. That should give Apple the money to make the team for optimizing this. MacOS on iPad would shift a lot of folks away from Mac. Just make it a tad more expensive, which it would deserve to be at that point, and we can make a deal. I would hope just 3-4 touch optimizations would come from it.

Apple isn't strapped for cash. Throwing money at it isn't magically going to make it better (look at siri) Also, charging an annual fee for an update is laughable but totally up Tim "penny pincher" Cook's wheelhouse.

 

[HighwaySnowman]

I’m having a “Yes, preach the gospel of the power user” moment here lol. Do you still think they should develop it in a way that casual users won’t be too thrown off by the changes, allow it to be simple for people who want to be simple, and allow it to be powerful for those who want to take advantage of it. Or simply make the Pro models more pro.

But they really need is an Expose behavior. Expose is one of the best features to ever come to macOS. It was a game changer 20 some years ago. Stage manager is a pathetic attempt to redefine multitasking. It’s terrible on an iPad, and I have never seen anyone. Use stage manager day-to-day on a Mac. It’s essentially like someone working on the keynote team, or even better of an example, somebody who used to work on PowerPoint, trying to design multitasking.

Does anybody actually use Stage Manager? I've never seen it in the wild, and I touch a LOT of Macs.

I know I turned it on once, kinda half-screamed "GAAHHHH!" and never looked at it again.

 

[IMPOSSIBLEMAN]

Basically what it should have been years ago. I have always wanted a capable light device similar to Microsoft Surface knowing iPadOS can never deliver such functionality being a mobile OS. I am afraid we will get more of stage manager

 

[RSB96]

I hope! Finally a download system that doesn't stop if it blocks?

We'll see if it finally becomes something more than a vitaminized iOS. I also don't want it to become macOS, but it does need "something more" than what there is so far.

 

[Falhófnir]

Does anybody actually use Stage Manager? I've never seen it in the wild, and I touch a LOT of Macs.

I know I turned it on once, kinda half-screamed "GAAHHHH!" and never looked at it again.

Not on Mac, I occasionally use it on the iPad and it's an ok way of getting a bit more out of the multitasking side of things. Honestly though given iPads max out at a 13" display they're not really ideal for juggling multiple windows even if it handled it more like MacOS.

 

[jclardy]

I hope so. Stage manager is terrible. Not the concept, on the Mac it is okay. But in iPadOS resizing windows and placing them is futile, as the system will actively fight against you at every step of the way.

 

[Premium1]

That's vague!

The Gurman way. That way he can circle back and say he was right since he covers all of his bases (throws everything at the wall and see what sticks). It is wild anyone listens to this guy, he's as bad as Prosser.

 

[jdawgnoonan]

Best rumor of the year.

 

[swiftapplefan]

The one thing I want above all is to just let us install and run DMG / Mac Apps on the iPad, if they don’t give us full fledged macOS. But that would also require to open up the os files, for some apps…

 

[amartinez1660]

That scares me a bit. iPadOS is great precisely because it’s not a desktop OS. It’s built from the ground up for a touch interface, where concepts such as windows don’t work well. All attempts to go against that (stage manager, trackpad support, etc.) haven’t been successful. The iPad doesn’t need to be like macOS to keep evolving, it just needs more iPad-like experiences — it already excels at many professional use cases like 3D modelling, art, in the medical field…

I… actually agree with this. My favorite weekend device happens to be the iPad Pro.

Using the likes of YouTube and many very specific apps trumps over the desktop counterparts (although some of that is purpose, the YouTube app could be checkboxed by Google to run right now in macOS).
Drawing and 3D sculpting apps are a bliss on iPad too, the Pencil Pro is truly unmatched I find, so I don’t look forward to use them in a multi screen desktop cramped with multiple windows and popups that fight for screen space (likely a bad habit of mine).

So, if those desktop experiences are any hint of what would happen to iPadOS, maybe they are correct by not slapping macOS on top right away and take the time to add the good points (flexibility in file systems, windows management, maybe add a way to load Mac .app files?, etc) while protecting the minimalistic streamlined nature of iPadOS (albeit yes, I agree it’s limited).

I also kinda trust it way more… on an iPad I close nothing, I restart it never and it’s always snappy and ready. On macOS it isn’t bad at all, but I restart or turn it off once a week for good measure.

———
A personal recent iPad Pro usage attempt experience:

I think feature parity should happen at the each app’s level instead, recently I was doing a very simple ugly keynote file: a title, bullet points and screenshots (some basic real state fix ups thing). Decided to use the iPad… and honestly it felt like a drag.

• Adding a picture is annoying (no multi select in keynote insert), adding from photos to keynote requires a bit of finger gymnastics (multi select in photos then find your way back to keynote with all fingers there).
• Everything is too big since it’s made for bulky fingers.
• Then making a PDF from there happened spit a huge file and I couldn’t find a way to do the Preview’s app re-export optimized feature.

Had to finish on a laptop after all…

And I’m afraid that these issues wouldn’t be there if the keynote app was just the same or at least had the same features.

If they had just slapped macOS, increased the size of everything for touch friendliness, and made it convoluted to multi select and export optimized, etc then it would still be as annoying as it is right now but with a macOS front… for that example I don’t think it was iPadOS itself the problem.

 

[Parowdy]

How is this news?
Three vague points for change from someone that was recently wrong about iOS changes isn’t worth a headline IMO.
If iOS gets design changes we can expect the same from iPadOS and macOS, just for consistencies sake. That’s an easy guess, nothing else.

 

[needsomecoffee]

Gotta agree with OSXATL. After decades being solely in the Mac camp, I am finding better, more creative solutions for hardware, and starting to really like the simplicity and flexibility of Linux. I am afraid that Apple is so locked into its current business model that it cannot innovate, nor think different. They have tremendous hardwarde solutions locked into software-defined silos. Sad, but good for shareholders of course (near-term) because two of those silos lock in app and Google search profits.

 

[Lepton]

I just want XCode on the iPad, then it covers everything I do. I always thought the MacBook would evolve into a touch screen and detachable keyboard. That’s exactly what the iPad and keyboard accessory is. It just needs MacOS. Even as a bootcamp thing. Anyway, I’m looking forward to better windowing.

 

[Coldsmoke55]

A common complaint about the iPad Pro is that the iPadOS software platform fails to fully take advantage of the device's powerful hardware.

That could soon change.

Bloomberg's Mark Gurman today said that iPadOS 19 will be "more like macOS."

Gurman said that iPadOS 19 will be "more like a Mac" in three ways:

• Improved productivity
• Improved multitasking
• Improved app window management

"I'm told that this year's upgrade will focus on productivity, multitasking and app window management — with an eye on the device operating more like a Mac," said Gurman, in the latest edition of his Power On newsletter. "It's been a long time coming, with iPad power users pleading with Apple to make the tablet more powerful."

Gurman did not provide any specific details.

iPadOS 19 will be announced alongside iOS 19, macOS 16, and other software updates during the WWDC 2025 keynote on Monday, June 9.

Article Link: iPadOS 19 Will Be 'More Like macOS' in Three Ways

Forgive me for being a skeptic, but I'll believe it when I see it. I would absolutely welcome a more unified interface and user experience, but I doubt Apple will cannibalize the MAC market to appease iPad users. To me, the iPad is a glorified iPhone.

 

[obezcinnet]

just make it run macos at this point, maybe the pro models.

 

[555gallardo]

I still find it ridiculous that despite all the performance gains Apple is throwing into iPad, there's no Blender app for it.

 

[zerocharlie]

I don’t mind iPad OS when it’s just in iPad mode (no external keyboard or accessories), but it would be cool to get more features when you plug it into their keyboards, or 3rd party display and keyboard. Almost like DEX on Samsung devices, but in a Mac OS type of way. That would actually be more “pro”.

 

[DaniTheFox]

Give us 120hz on external displays and the possibility to turn off display while on external. Thanks

To the best of my knowledge, no M Chip is capable of archiving 120Hz for a external 6K display. I do not believe this is a software feature; rather, it is a hardware limitation. The M5 may resolve this issue by supporting this over Thunderbolt 5.