What to expect at WWDC 2025: A new look, Apple Intelligence and more

Engadget

22-05-2025

Apple's big 2025 software reveal is nearly upon us. On June 9, the Worldwide Developers' Conference (WWDC) keynote will showcase the changes coming with — deep breath — iOS 19, iPadOS 19, macOS 16, watchOS 12, tvOS 19 and visionOS 3.
Leaks suggest this year will be a biggie. In addition to the requisite Craig Federighi gags, expect a significant visual overhaul — one of Apple's biggest ever — and (shocker) new Apple Intelligence features.
The company is reportedly set to unveil a platform-wide visual overhaul. The revamp is said to be a dramatic change, drawing inspiration from Apple's mixed reality headset.
According to Front Page Tech's Jon Prosser, that may even include (nearly) round icons on the home screen and in Control Center. He also noted subtler changes, like a redesigned tab view within apps and the search box in Messages being moved to the bottom of the screen.
One of Apple's core goals with the new software is to unify the design language of its operating systems. The idea is to make it less visually jarring to hop between devices. If executed well, jumping from iPhone to iPad to Mac (and so on) will feel like touring different flavors of the same OS.
Apple's last big macOS makeover was with 2020's Big Sur. For the iPhone's software, you have to go all the way back to 2013. That's when iOS 7 kicked skeuomorphic design to the curb, replacing it with the flat, minimalistic look that (minus some iterative changes) the company's software still uses today. Nathan Ingraham for Engadget
Could 2025 be the year the iPad Pro starts to feel… Pro? The high-end versions of Apple's tablet have been more than capable on a hardware level for generations (especially when they switched to M-series chips). But the software has held it back. That's presumably because the company doesn't want to cannibalize Mac sales. After all, if the iPad Pro can truly replace a laptop, then fewer people would buy both.
The bad news for those wanting a full-on Mac experience: The iPad won't switch to macOS. The good news: iPadOS may get much more Mac-like. This year's update will reportedly focus on productivity, featuring improved multitasking and app window management.
It's not that Apple hasn't inched the iPad's software in that direction. It incrementally did so with Stage Manager in iPadOS 16. The year before, it added the multitasking menu at the top of app windows. But for many, those tweaks fell far short of the full-on productivity overhaul they craved. Will it be enough this time? Bloomberg 's Mark Gurman thinks it will "likely go far enough" for most power users. (Is that a "Hallelujah!" I hear?)
Even if leaks hadn't already suggested as much, this one would be a no-brainer. After all, AI has been every tech company's obsession since ChatGPT took the world by storm over two years ago. Expect a healthy portion of the keynote to be devoted to Apple's AI advances. These will reportedly include improvements to existing features and a few new ones.
Remember when Apple promised a more personalized, Apple Intelligence-infused Siri at last year's conference? The one that many of us wish would come ahead of the visual overhaul? Well, we're still waiting on that. The last official update we heard was in March, when the company told Daring Fireball , "It's going to take us longer than we thought." (Oops!) Apple expects the new Siri features to arrive "in the coming year," a clear-as-mud description if ever there was one.
A report last month from The Information hinted that the upgraded Siri may not have been as far along internally as Apple's 2024 presentation suggested. The demo, where Siri used Apple Intelligence to condense minutes of multi-app planning into mere seconds, reportedly came as something of a surprise to team members working on Siri. (Never an encouraging sign.)
Separate reporting this month from Bloomberg sheds a bit more light, adding that we probably won't hear much about those Siri upgrades at WWDC 2025. The publication described those updates as being months away from shipping. The company is also reportedly separating its Apple Intelligence and Siri marketing. The logic behind this is that users are so fed up with Apple's assistant that it's hurting Apple's AI push.
The company's 2024 presentation was undoubtedly impressive. It showed a more context-sensitive Siri that better understands what you're doing and can take appropriate actions. It pulled info from various apps and spliced them together in striking, multi-step requests. It responded to requests like recording a specific video in a third-party app, sharing a meeting summary in an email draft to a teammate or locating missing information you remember reading somewhere. It could even control system settings or spit out support documents explaining how they work.
The bottom line: If or when Apple pulls off what it promised last year, that's big news for Siri. But don't hold your breath for it to show up at WWDC 2025.
According to Bloomberg , the Siri updates we do see will be much subtler. These would include adding the option to use Gemini instead of ChatGPT with the assistant.
Another iOS 19 scoop points to an Apple Intelligence feature that's easy to get behind. A new AI-powered battery management mode will reportedly analyze how you use your phone and make power-saving adjustments on the fly.
The feature would analyze your data to predict when to lower the power draw from apps or device features. If it works well, that could be pretty nifty.
It may also be a key ingredient to a new device: the "iPhone Air." Whatever Apple calls it, the rumored ultra-slim handset is expected to join Apple's lineup this year. Without this feature, the phone's smaller battery might struggle to make it through a typical day. (According to Gurman, it would last several hours less than Apple's other iPhones.) But with the AI battery feature activated, the svelte iPhone could become more practical.
Will we see this slim-jim iPhone at WWDC? Well, let's say you have as good a chance of Valve randomly showing up to announce Half Life 3 at Apple's conference. First, the svelte handset is expected to be part of the iPhone 17 lineup, which typically arrives around September. Second, Apple hasn't unveiled a new iPhone at WWDC since Steve Jobs showed off the iPhone 4 in 2010. So, in short, nope.
Apple is reportedly working on a virtual health coach. Allegedly codenamed Project Mulberry, the AI feature would pair a refreshed Health app with an AI-powered coach. Bloomberg says the feature would, to some degree, give you advice you'd usually seek from a doctor.
The virtual coach would collect data from your Apple devices and use AI to provide personalized health advice, chatbot-style. Apple is reportedly training the AI agent with data from company physicians. Meanwhile, outside experts would shoot educational videos.
In March, Bloomberg 's Gurman said the virtual coach could arrive as early as iOS 19.4, which wouldn't likely come until early to mid-2026. But a quick aside in a report this month from Gurman and Drake Bennett mentioned that it could be a point of focus at WWDC.
It wouldn't be an Apple keynote without some wacky Craig Federighi hijinks. Last year, Apple's software lead strapped on a hair-shaped helmet and skydived into Apple Park. At previous events, he showed off his parkour skills, summoned an iPad like he's a Jedi and jammed out on a three-necked guitar.
Say what you will about "Hair Force One." Federighi knows how to sell a sight gag. (With maybe just a teensy bit of help from Apple's visual effects artists.)
Following Apple's typical schedule, you can expect the first developer betas for the new software to become available after the conference ends. (Likely the same day!) Public betas would follow early this summer. And you can expect the final versions of iOS 19, iPadOS 19, macOS 16 and so on to arrive alongside new iPhones this fall.