Apple is reportedly planning a major redesign of iPadOS this year to make it much more Mac-like for power users.
We'll see the new version in June, and it'll have a late 2025 release.
Apple's iPadOS is an odd operating system – stuck somewhere in the middle between the iPhone and the Mac, even though the Pro models specifically creep into the laptop sphere.
However, it seems that Apple is finally ready to make the leap – it's reportedly going to move its iPad software Mac-wards in a dramatic redesign we'll see later this year.
That's good news for all recent iPad owners, too, because it's a software update many of us will be able to get.
Bloomberg's Apple expert, Mark Gurman, claims in his latest Power On newsletter that Apple is working on a major upgrade to iPadOS . It'll look much more like the current macOS, he states, and it'll be focused on three key areas – productivity, multi-tasking and app window management.
There have been rumours of more Mac-like iPads for years now, but this report is credible: Gurman is well-connected with Apple insiders and has a good track record in this department.
Why the iPad needs to be more Mac
The report doesn't go into any more detail about the changes, although the same outlet previously reported that Apple was implementing a more visionOS-like look and feel. But if the update is more than just cosmetic, this sounds like really good news.
We've long said that the iPad is a superb device let down a touch by its operating system, and that's particularly obvious in the M4 iPad Pro.
As we noted in our iPad Pro (M4) review, the current operating system is quite limited in what it can do. Stage Manager, introduced last year, helps a bit for power users, but "with a 13-inch screen and an M4 chip, there’s no reason why (the iPad Pro) couldn’t support a version of MacOS or at least completely mirror the look of MacOS".
I'm a long-time iPad Pro owner, and I definitely feel that the hardware has improved far faster than the software. On my own Pro, which I often use instead of my laptop, iPadOS can be frustratingly simple – even more so when there's a Magic Keyboard attached.
That turns the iPad into a very powerful laptop, but iPadOS doesn't feel very interested in it – it's much better in creative apps than in productivity ones.
We won't have to wait too long to find out what's coming. Apple will show off iPadOS 19 at this year's WWDC, which takes place in June.
