With iOS 19, Apple might dramatically refresh the iPhone's look and feel

Summary

With the release of its Vision Pro spatial computing headset, Apple debuted a new software design language alongside the VisionOS operating system.
Many have been left wondering whether the VisionOS look and feel was destined to make its way to the iPhone and the iPad.
According to a new Front Page Tech leak, Apple is reportedly working on just that — an overhaul across both iOS and iPadOS that’ll bring visionOS-inspired visuals over to mobile.

In a new video from YouTube channel Front Page Tech, host Jon Prosser provides us with an exclusive first look at what purports to be a major iOS 19 visual redesign being worked on by Apple.

While the alleged iOS 19 video itself has been blurred out to protect the source of the leak, Front Page Tech has recreated the interface elements from scratch to provide us with a visual approximation.

This conceptual redesign appears to be inspired by Apple’s own VisionOS, which is the operating system the company’s Vision Pro headset runs on. This first glimpse at iOS 19 showcases new interface elements with circular iconography, increased depth and scale, and other VisionOS-esque UI components.

When looking at the redesigned iPhone camera viewfinder in specific, it appears to provide a much more condensed set of interface controls, with a blur effect reminiscent of the one found on Apple’s VisionOS.

“What you might notice most, is that we’re looking at a complete redesign here,” says Prosser regarding the updated camera app.

Extrapolating on this, Prosser provides a mock-up of what a broader home screen redesign might look like, if Apple were to double down on this refreshed visual style. In this render, application icons are circular, Control Center toggles are accessible via the home screen, and there’s liberal use of shadows and depth across the various pinned widgets.

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A VisionOS-inspired redesign for the iPhone is looking increasingly likely

The Vision Pro’s design language might serve as a basis for Apple’s upcoming iOS 19 release

Apple

Ever since Apple released its Vision Pro spatial computing headset early last year, analysts have been keenly interested in the VisionOS operating system running under the hood. From a technical perspective, it appears that VisionOS shares a lot of the same underpinnings as iPadOS, but from a visual perspective, the two software packages diverge.

The current iOS and iPadOS design language is an evolution of the flat-and-modern visual redesign first seen all the way back in iOS 7. VisionOS, on the other hand, takes things in a bit of a different direction: there’s increased depth, circular elements are aplenty, and everything is spruced up to align with the Vision Pro’s immersion-based computing paradigm.

A moderate redesign would inject some much-needed excitement into Apple’s next iDevice software update cycle.

In an effort to unify its software across mobile product lines, it would make a lot of sense for Apple to give iOS and iPadOS a VisionOS-insired coat of paint. I’d argue that in their current form, both the iPhone and the iPad suffer from somewhat stale user interface elements. A moderate redesign would inject some much-needed excitement into Apple’s next iDevice software update cycle, and I’d personally welcome the change with open arms.