iPadOS 19 May Finally Turn Your iPad Into a True Laptop Replacement
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This could be the year Apple finally addresses one of the iPad’s biggest shortcomings: its ability to function well as a multitasking productivity tool.
While the iPad was quite revolutionary when it debuted, it hasn’t come as far as people had hoped in the 15 years since its release. In many ways, the first iPad was little more than a glorified iPhone — it even ran the same operating system, quite literally iPhone OS 3.2, when it launched in April.
Although the iPhone 4 arrived two months later with the newly rebranded iOS 4, the iPad didn’t get that update until November, when iOS 4.2 reunified the iPhone and iPad on the same operating system. Apple’s iPads continued to run the same iOS releases as their iPhone counterparts until 2019, when Apple forked it off into iPadOS with version 13.
That’s not to say the iPad wasn’t magical and fun. The larger canvas allowed for far more robust creativity and gaming experiences, and it was a delightful way to take notes, sketch, and read on the go. Still, it remained very much a single-app device for years. Features that many iPad users today take for granted, like Split Screen mode, didn’t even begin to arrive until iOS 9 in 2015. The Mac-like Dock, enhanced app switcher, and drag-and-drop capabilities didn’t come until iOS 11, and you couldn’t open multiple windows for a single app until iPadOS 13.
Subsequent iPadOS releases have enhanced that further, with the three-dot multitasking controls at the top of the screen and a shelf for managing multiple windows within a single app in iPadOS 15 and Stage Manager in iPadOS 16. However, these enhancements have often felt like awkward features that offer a glimmer of multitasking capabilities but, in reality, only make the entire process less intuitive and more cumbersome, requiring knowledge of arcane gestures to accomplish anything.
Despite iPads getting more powerful chips every year, the software continues to hold back Apple’s tablet, making it feel woefully underpowered. Today’s iPad Air and iPad Pro models run the same Apple silicon found in contemporary Macs, and Apple even debuted its newest M4 chip in the 2024 iPad Pro six months before it came to any of its Macs.
That move led many to hope that iPadOS 18 would finally bring a more Mac-like experience. Some even held out hope that Apple might finally release macOS for the iPad. Sadly, neither happened, and iPadOS 18 had no meaningful new productivity features besides Apple Intelligence.
We doubt that Apple will ever fully merge macOS and iPadOS, as the company would much rather see customers buy an iPad and a Mac, but the latest from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman gives us a glimmer of new hope that iPadOS 19 may finally address some of the software’s productivity shortcomings to bring the iPad closer to a proper laptop experience.
In his Power On newsletter, Gurman says that Apple plans to give iPadOS 19 an overhaul similar to what it has in store for iOS 19. Apple’s iPhone operating system is expected to get the biggest design changes we’ve seen since 2013, and it stands to reason that iPadOS 19 will come along for the ride. However, the changes on the iPad may be more than skin-deep.
With iOS 19, the iPhone is expected to get a new design “loosely based on the Vision Pro’s software,” Gurman said previously. However, while iPadOS 19 will almost certainly follow suit, it’s also expected to gain some macOS styling that could make it a central theme of this year’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC).
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. It’s been a long time coming, with iPad power users pleading with Apple to make the tablet more powerful.
Mark Gurman
Gurman’s report is light on details, but he’s optimistic that the changes should be enough to placate even the folks who have been clamoring to run macOS on the iPad. That’s a pretty high bar, and not everyone will be completely satisfied (we doubt that tools like Terminal will appear in iPadOS any time soon), but anything Apple can do to make app and window management more seamless and intuitive will be a big win.
[The information provided in this article has NOT been confirmed by Apple and may be speculation. Provided details may not be factual. Take all rumors, tech or otherwise, with a grain of salt.]
