Mark Gurman’s recent Q&A revealed a little snippet of information about iOS 19 – its codename within the Apple teams working on it – and it sounds very much like it tells us what to expect …
That codename is Solarium, and the internet was quick to jump on this as a clear description of the upcoming design language.
Merriam-Webster defines the word as “a glass enclosed porch or room.” Couple that to Apple’s frosted glass WWDC 2025 graphic, and reports of a UI based on Vision Pro, and it seems like another, uh, clear piece of evidence about what to expect.
But as Macworld notes, Apple’s codenames have never meant anything.
Historically, Apple’s codenames don’t have anything to do with the shipping product. For example, last year’s iOS 18 codename was Crystal, and iOS 17’s was Dawn. iOS 12? Peace […]
The last major change to iOS’s interface came with iOS 7. That codename? Innsbruck, a mountainous city in Austria popular for skiing. Back then Apple was fond of naming iOS versions after winter resort cities.
The site’s Michael Simon says that Solarium, like Innsbruck, “almost certainly” has no meaning. I’d put it far more strongly than this: one of the most secretive companies in the world, with a history of seeing its codenames leak, absolutely isn’t going to embed clues into them.
WWDC graphics are arguably a little different. By the time those are issued, there have already been a fair number of leaks, so Apple can get a little playful with these. But codenames – created right at the start of a project – aren’t going to give anything away.
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