Apple will unveil iOS 19 at WWDC 2025 in a few months, which is exactly what we’re expecting from the iPhone maker. WWDC is the place for all Apple’s software to shine, particularly iOS. Millions of iPhone users will install the first iOS 19 beta on their devices as soon as Apple releases it after the event kicks off.
With a few months to go until the event, Bloomberg dropped a bombshell this week, saying the iPhone will get a big software redesign in iOS 19.
It’s not just the iPhone. The software updates for iPhone, iPad, and Mac “will fundamentally change the look of the operating systems and make Apple’s various software platforms more consistent,” according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. But, again, iOS 19 is the big star because the iPhone is the most used piece of Apple hardware.
Apple is reportedly looking to bring more cohesion to its operating systems, hence the redesign. That includes the Vision Pro spatial computer, whose design may loosely inspire iOS 19. While Gurman did not provide visuals to help us imagine what iOS 19 will look like, it turns out we might have already seen the big redesign a few months ago.
John Gruber points out that back in January, we saw a new Camera app design for iOS 19 from YouTuber Jon Prosser. He posted a video on his Front Page Tech channel that focuses on the big redesign coming to the Camera app, complete with speculation that the new UI design can’t apply just to that app.
Prosser said he saw the actual design of the Camera app in iOS 19 and recreated it from scratch to share it with the world. Now that Gurman said iOS 19 will get a big design overhaul, Prosser’s claims make even more sense, and it’s worth revisiting his concept and thoughts about what’s coming in iOS 19.
If the Camera app looks like Prosser’s renders, we’re about to get a much simpler camera UI, and I’m already a big fan of the concept. The Camera app will be much cleaner, with the viewfinder being the main element on the page, as it should be.
The menus will get a sort of translucency that’s immediately familiar if you’ve been looking at the Vision Pro and visionOS as much as I have. Add the rounded corners, animations, and circle-shaped menus; the visionOS inspiration is very clear here. It’s also a welcome change for the Camera app, which is somewhat cluttered as it is right now.
Prosser speculated that Apple would give the entire operating system a visionOS look via the iOS 19 update. If that’s the case, iOS 19 might look like what we see above. The icons will become perfect circles, and we’ll have all sorts of translucent elements on the screen, especially concerning widgets.
Prosser also had a backup scenario in which Apple only gave its iPhone apps a big redesign, not the home and lock screens. That is, iOS 19 could resemble iOS 18 in terms of the overall UI. Now that Gurman mentioned the big redesign, I hope Prosser’s first prediction is accurate.
Gruber also pointed to designer Parker Ortolani looking at Apple’s newest iOS apps in early February, Apple Sports and Invites. The designer observed clear visionOS design inspirations in the latest apps. He speculated Apple was only giving us a taste of what’s to come in iOS 19:
The last new Apple app, Apple Sports, already felt out of place in iOS 18. It has a more visionOS or watchOS-like design language utilizing colorful backgrounds, glassy floating UI elements, expanding buttons, and lots of layered shapes. Apple Invites takes it all even further. It’s got big beautiful cards, translucent cells, big bold buttons, and an emphasis on content. It feels so clearly like a hint of what is to come in a future iOS update. It’s almost screaming it in our faces.
If Apple is going for this big visionOS-inspired update, I also hope that macOS will get a similar UI. The Mac experience is already very similar to iOS and iPadOS. Apple isn’t about to merge the two (three?) operating systems, but it could always make them look identical.
That way, it will be very easy for an iPhone user to start using an iPad or a Mac. They wouldn’t need to spend that much time getting used to the different experiences.
But why the visionOS inspiration, you might ask? Well, I dare to speculate the iOS 19 redesign is part of a bigger play. The future will be smart glasses with deep AI support and AR experiences. The Vision Pro is a precursor of that. Once we get into the era of AI/AR wearables, we’ll already be familiar with the look and feel thanks to the steps Apple is taking now.
