You’ll see a lot more Apple Intelligence and another staged, months-long feature rollout.
Every year, we are introduced to a new version of iOS (alongside Apple’s other operating systems) at the Worldwide Developers Conference in June. It then marches through an extended beta-testing period before being released in September.
But all the new features don’t come with that initial release; many are planned to coming in updates 9 (iOS 19.1, 19.2, and so on) in the months following the big initial release.
While Apple hasn’t officially announced iOS 19, it has been hard at work on the big iPhone upgrade for quite a while and some rumors have started to leak out. It’s starting to look like iOS 19 will be a bigger change than we’re used to. Based on the most reliable leaks and rumors, here’s what you can expect when it arrives later this year.
Updated March 17, 2025: We now have a better picture of what to expect from iOS 19, and this guide has been updated throughout.iOS 19: Release date
Apple typically released the latest version of iOS to the public on the Monday following the iPhone launch event. Here are the release dates for the most recent versions of iOS:
iOS 18: Monday, September 16, 2024
iOS 17: Monday, September 18, 2023
iOS 16: Monday, September 12, 2022
iOS 15: Monday, September 20, 2021
Based on recent history, we expect iOS 19 to release to the public on either Monday, September 15, or Monday, September 22.iOS 19: New featuresMajor design overhaul
The headline feature of iOS 19 (and iPadOS 19, macOS 15, tvOS 19, watchOS 19…) is said to be a massive change to the user interface. We’re talking about the biggest change since iOS 7, when Apple dropped the skeuomorphic design in favor of flat symbolic icons, changed the lock screen, notifications, and more.
We don’t know what this new interface will look like or what interaction changes it will bring with it, but the rumors say it is loosely based on some of the concepts in the Vision Pro interface. New apps like Apple Invites and Apple Sports may give us some clues to the interface conventions we can expect, as they don’t have have interfaces that fit in with most of Apple’s older apps.Siri delays and other Apple Intelligence features
Apple has been having trouble with some of it’s AI efforts, especially the Siri features that were supposed to come in iOS 18.4 (personal context, screen awareness, and in-app actions). These features have been pushed back until next year, which means they should come as an update to iOS 19 in early 2026.
