Iffy leak claims iPadOS 19 could gain macOS menu bar
Apple's shift to a more Mac-like experience in iPadOS 19 and iOS 19 is rumored to introduce features such as a menu bar -- but there are reasons to doubt the latest "leak."
Apple will reveal iOS 19 and iPadOS 19 at WWDC this summer
Despite repeated calls over the years for the iPad to run macOS and be more like the MacBook Pro in usage, Apple has resisted making that move. However, that hasn't stopped rumors from surfacing about changes that bring the operating systems much closer together.
According to a source of serial leaker Majin Bu, Apple will be shrinking the gap between macOS, iPadOS, and iOS when it comes to iOS 19 and iPadOS 19.
iPadOS 19 menu bar
The key change Bu proposes for iPadOS is the introduction of a Mac-like menu bar at the top of the screen. This will apparently appear when the iPad is attached to an accessory like the Magic Keyboard, for a more MacBook-like experience.
Another operating system change for iPad is Stage Manager 2.0, Apple's system for managing multiple apps at the same time. An enhanced multitasking mode will apparently activate when the Magic Keyboard is attached, but other than saying it will make app management smoother, no other benefits are explained.
iOS 19 external display support
There will apparently also be changes arriving in iOS 19 to help with productivity, with the main one apparently being external display support for iPhones with USB-C ports.
Currently, you can mirror an iPhone display on a monitor using a USB-C cable. According to the leaker, there will be a Stage Manager-like interface this time around, which will let users extend their workspace to the second screen.
Bu warns of potential limitations in resolution or apps that can run while displayed.
Dodgy claims
The rumors from Majin Bu should be taken with a pinch of salt, as they don't seem to be that plausible. This is in part because of Bu's not exactly stellar reputation for accuracy, and a greater record of reposting fabrications from social media as their own.
Apple has long held the belief that the iPad and Mac are separate computing experiences. It seems improbable that a menu bar will be arriving in macOS, short of being shoehorned in by an app, rather than as an OS change.
The iPhone display extension also feels a bit out of place. While you could consider expanding your work on an iPad, it seems less likely that anyone would do that with an iPhone, in part due to needing accessories like a Bluetooth keyboard to make it more worthwhile.
That said, there have been hints that Apple will be making some changes to its operating systems. In March, this was in the form of visionOS UI elements potentially making the jump from the Apple Vision Pro to Apple's other operating systems.
In April, there was a claim that iPadOS 19 could be more Mac-like for increased productivity, but stopped short of explaining what was on the way.
Rumor Score: Unlikely
Read on AppleInsider
Comments
Moreover, Apple actually has released a touchscreen device with a menu bar on the bottom: the Newton. They already know what this user experience is like. Newton flopped and Apple clearly looked at the device's design to figure out what went wrong. The fact that they did not include the menu bar on the iPad (or iPhone) speaks volumes.
If you look at a simple task like selecting text, it's crystal clear. When you press and hold some text, a contextual menu (Select, Cut, Copy, Paste) appears right above the selection. You don't need to navigate to the top of the screen to perform an action. On a Mac you have the option to use keyboard shortcuts to copy, cut, paste. Or you can mouse over to the menu bar and locate the appropriate action under the Edit Menu. On an iPhone or iPad (without keyboard), you don't have keyboard shortcuts at your disposal.
Apple got it right by ditching the menu bar on iPhone and iPad. Essentially they brought the menu bar to where your finger is rather than mindlessly and inefficiently tacking it to the top (or bottom) of the screen.
In that way, a lot of computer software interfaces are still trapped in this outmoded paradigm. Back in the Nineties Autodesk Maya brilliantly introduced a contextual radial menu that would appear where the mouse pointer was. While the standard menu bar interface existed the tutorial itself guided the new user into using the radial context menu and hiding the traditional menu bar layout. It's more efficient.
Steve's dead and the world changes. But I'm not sure if Apple thinks there's enough to make a touchscreen MacBook worthwhile even in 2025. But without a doubt, they have experimented with the concept.
Touchbar's flop is reason enough for hesitation and skepticism.
Using the Microsoft Surface as an iPad-like tablet is still something I find to be a struggle. Sure, if you hook up a keyboard and mouse/trackpad to a Surface it becomes a pretty decent lap-unfriendly laptop. But it still doesn't fill that gap entirely because Microsoft offers real clamshell laptops that are pretty nice to use if you are Windows tolerant. I suppose you could argue that if Microsoft can build a hybrid device that can kind-of satisfy people who want a device that both a tablet and a laptop while still having a traditional laptop to offer, why can't Apple do the same?
The reality is that Apple can do the same thing from a technology and product perspective. A decade ago it would have been more of a struggle, but with improvements in performance per watt that Apple delivers today and the gradual diminishing of ports on slim laptops Apple could deliver a Surface-like product that has far fewer compromises than what Microsoft has to offer. Microsoft never had a touch-first device that rivaled the iPad. Apple's iPad is stellar at what it does. As a touch-centric device with a huge app ecosystem of excellent apps, it's unrivaled. On the other side, macOS has been refined to the point where Apple has to keep dreaming up new ways to stress its capabilities because all of the regular stuff that people use a laptop or desktop for have been in place for so long. It works, it's stable, reliable, and largely a pleasure to use.
So yeah, Apple should be able to combine the best tablet with the best laptop to bring the best of both worlds together on a single device. From a practicality and efficiency standpoint such as device would have a massive amount of overlap in functionality and capability between the two worlds. At some point users of a this type of FrankenPad would probably find the overlap to be a bit tedious. Start a document in iPad mode and finish it in Mac mode ... sure, but why? A better approach may be to come up with a unified "fusion" operating system that satisfies both worlds without redundant functionality. I suspect that this will be the approach that Apple is taking at least for its mobile aspirations, with some probability of bringing it to the desktop as well.
There have been a few tiny hints over the past decade of a move to a fusion operating system with Apple incorporating some aspects of iPadOS into the Mac and some aspects of macOS into the iPad. None of these seem terribly consequential or seem like they could reach a point where Apple burns their boats on both existing operating systems and realigns everything to some sort of new fusion based operating system that works across all devices. I do think it will happen at some point, it's only a question of when and how it pans out. Apple's current offerings across the Mac, MacBook, and iPad product lines seem to be getting much more stratified, even to the point where there are products in different product lines that can be seen as being interchangeable (to some extent) like MacBook Air and iPad Pro.
I'd like to see Apple be simple again when it comes time for customers to walk into an Apple Store without being overwhelmed with too many choices. I think Apple could have fewer product lines but provide more user-defined scalability within each product line to target the wide diversity of users and applications that users need their Apple computing device to serve. This may go against traditional marketing strategies but I personally would be happier to avoid the rationalization arguments about what makes a "Pro" product "professional" in some special way. If every product could be spec'd up to precisely match users with the most basic needs to users with the most challenging needs, why bother with predefined designations? I know this is totally alien to any marketing person because they would prefer that you "slot in" to a particular category and more often than not purchase a lot more capability than you really need. From a functional perspective and TCO standpoint, having far more control over what you can spec out and far more upgradability and modular replacement opportunities would satisfy me a lot more as a customer.
But this article isn't about that, it's about some extremely unlikely rumor that Apple is considering adding a traditional menu bar to iPadOS. It's not going to happen for reasons several people have discussed in this thread (and other previous discussions here and elsewhere on the Internet).
From a usability standpoint, the menu bar makes no sense in iPadOS based on the way users interact with the device.
I'm still not convinced that touchscreen displays on notebook computers add any exceptional value. What percentage of the time does the user need to be touching the screen to make it worthwhile? We already saw how much success the Touchbar enjoyed. Could they make the trackpad on a notebook a configurable display? Sure, absolutely. Yet no one has shown any interest, not even in a standalone Magic Trackpad-like device. There are a handful of specialized devices like Stream Decks but nothing mainstream.
Anyone clamoring for macOS on an iPad should VNC into a Mac with Screens Connect or the like and check it out. It's not a pleasant experience. I do it all the time for my media server and it sucks, but gets the job done for small tasks.
You can extend all of the above to the idea of touchscreen Macs. What exactly are you trying to solve here? What's improved by adding touch to the display? And it'd only work with Macs with built-in displays.
Would the parents of very young children like to answer mccargos’ question? lol
Scenario: Doctor’s office. Parent is waiting for an appointment. 4 year old child is bored out of their mind, running around and won’t be quiet.
Parent: “Stop that. Here. Take this.” *hands kid the iPhone*
Child: *quietly plays a game on parent’s iPhone*
Other patients waiting: *sighs of relief*
Not wanting to share access to everything on your device is the exact reason why people want multiple user logins.
Unfortunately this feature is also available on their own (underage people) devices, so they can escape ScreenTime limitations.
I did let Apple know, they did not fix this. Case at L2 was quietly closed, no info to me nor confirmation asked.