Three reasons iOS 19 redesign could be bigger than iOS 7

I started using OS X full-time when I was 18 and the Mac was 25. Booting up my first Apple computer, a 2009 MacBook Pro running OS X 10.5 Leopard, was like getting behind the wheel of a Porsche for the first time after being raised on pedestrian PCs.

Now it’s the iPhone and its software that are 18. In Macintosh terms, the iPhone and iOS are in the iMac G4 “iLamp” running OS X 10.2 Jaguar era — maturing products and platforms that still have room to grow up.

For this reason, I am still one to welcome changes to the way things look with open arms. ‘It looks different’ is a great feature if the way it looks is cool. “Does it look cooler” is a different question than “does it look better.” The former has more to do with trends while the latter is a matter of longevity.

If a change can be both stylish and practical such that it can last for years, then that’s a design change success. iOS 7 was too polarizing and required too many iterations before reaching stability to really hit that mark. iOS 19 has the potential to meet both metrics. It could also be a bigger deal than iOS 7 for three reasons.

Apple’s iOS 7 design reset in 2013 was largely fueled by a personnel change. Steve Jobs had a larger-than-life presence that balanced differences between Scott Forstall and Jony Ive. After Jobs died, Tim Cook recognized an imbalance that caused the new CEO to fire Forstall, elevate Craig Federighi, and give software design to Jony.

The staff change that led to an redesign played out in a matter of months. Before 9to5Mac revealed the breadth of change in iOS 7, people reasonably predicted that we wouldn’t see much of a departure from iOS 6. Apple published its press release titled “Apple Announces Changes to Increase Collaboration Across Hardware, Software & Services” on October 29, 2012. In just 224 days, iOS 7 was unveiled.

In the years since, Apple has gradually built upon the wireframe design foundation set by iOS 7. The original iPhone software through iOS 6 looks like a video game today while some parts of iOS 18 are virtually unchanged from iOS 7 — icons included.

First, the circumstances of the iOS 19 redesign are quite different. There is no major personnel change between polar personalities to expedite a new design. Instead, the principal designers of iOS 19 have been in place for years, considering the future direction of Apple’s software design. This should result in a more thoughtful look that doesn’t need as much correction as early iOS 7 builds.

Second, the redesign could go deeper than how things look. This Slate piece from Farhad Manjoo argued at the time that as different as iOS 7 looked, the iPhone software basically worked the same. That was a feature, not a bug. Four years later, the way things worked changed with the software running on the iPhone X. If iOS 19 is both a software design and interaction model change, it will arguably be bigger than iOS 7.

Third, iOS 19 will run on upgraded hardware that also looks new. iOS 7 looked dramatically different, but it was tied to the iPhone 5s that looked nearly identical to the iPhone 5 (which was re-cased as the iPhone 5c). iOS 19 will be tied in part to the rumored iPhone 17 Air. The ultra thin design would look futuristic even if it ran iOS 18.

iOS 19 is also a redesign that should make considerations for a new form factor: a foldable iPhone. The iOS 7 design was more adaptable and less pixel perfect, helping developers adapt apps for larger displays the following year. iOS is already resizable at this point, but iOS 19 and iOS 20 may need to prepare the way for a version of the OS that adapts to changing form factors.

Whatever Apple has in store for us, we’ll soon learn as WWDC is officially set for June 9, 2025.