iOS 19 risks turning Apple Intelligence into the new Siri — and that's not good

iOS 18 was quite a big deal when it first launched last fall. While a lot of what Apple announced when it previewed the software update wouldn’t arrive on Day One — and some of those features are still missing in action today — iOS 18 was still a leap forward for Apple.And that's even if you subscribe to the opinion that a lot of the AI features included in the update were Apple's attempt to catch up to its rivals.

We’re starting to hear the first rumors about iOS 19, and from the sound of things, Apple is expecting to make a big splash for the second year in a row. Only, this time, it looks like the company will redesign iOS (and its other operating systems for the iPad and Mac) to make the entire Apple ecosystem look more alike.That’s great: iOS has had the same appearance for a while, and it could be the right time for a fresh new look.



But further rumors that Apple Intelligence isn’t getting any meaningful updates with iOS 19 have me worried about Apple’s priorities.A redesign could be a big win for iOS 19(Image credit: Front Page Tech / YouTube)Since Apple's inception, design has been one of the things the company prides itself on. It doesn’t matter whether we’re talking hardware or software, mobile or desktop — Apple wants its stuff to look and feel good.

Things always haven’t played out that way, like the infamous Butterfly keyboards or whatever the Newton was supposed to be. But as a whole, Apple has done a good job at making products that are stylish and desirable.It’s been almost 12 years since we’ve seen truly meaningful changes to iOS.

But you can’t always keep things looking the same forever. Just ask the fashion industry. Eventually you get to the point where you need to overhaul everything and adopt a fresh new look.

Rumor has it that Apple will do this with iOS 19, and other Apple operating systems, to make all the different corners of the Apple ecosystem look more alike. More specifically, Apple reportedly will take inspiration from visionOS, the software powering the Apple Vision Pro headset.So we may see iOS go a little circular.

According to Mark Gurman of Bloomberg, those changes are likely affect “icons, menus, apps, windows and system buttons”. In fact, Gurman claims that this will be “one of the most dramatic software overhauls in the company’s history”.If you remember 2013’s switch from the original "skeuomorphic" design of early iPhones to the current look, it was no small feat.

iOS 7 was controversial because of the amount of stuff it changed, and while we may be used to that look by now, a lot of people weren’t happy about it at the time.So to say the rumored iOS 19 redesign will be even bigger than that suggests that we’re in for something explosive. Which is probably fitting, considering it’s been almost 12 years since we’ve seen meaningful changes to iOS.

The new design can't come at the expense of features(Image credit: Tom's Guide)While software rumors aren’t always as common as hardware rumors, even when Apple is involved, it’s a little concerning we haven’t heard much else about what iOS 19 will involve.That lack of detail is especially worrisome now that Mark Gurman has written that Apple “will not include any significant consumer-facing changes to Apple Intelligence” as part of the iOS 19 update.Granted, Apple is still holding back on Apple Intelligence.

The much-anticipated updates to Siri’s capabilities are still incoming. Last year at WWDC 2024, Apple announced that Siri would be getting more personalized touches, acting more like a true AI than the flagging voice assistant.These changes included natural language responses, the ability to understand personal context, an awareness of what’s on your screen at any given moment and the ability to perform in-app actions across your device.

Those are all things that were expected to arrive in iOS 18.4, but have since been delayed to an indefinite point in time.While it’s not been confirmed, I would expect those features to arrive at some point during the iOS 19 lifecycle, which is anytime before September 2026.

And that's not ideal, considering how much of a big deal Apple made about the features last June.The fact is, as much as a brand new design is going to shake up iOS 19, it can’t be the only thing Apple has to offer this year. Even if Apple only offers basic quality-of-life updates — similar to the approach Google took with Android 15 — it would be better than nothing.

Without those updates, iOS 19 risks falling into the same pitfalls as iOS 7 did.And the problem gets worse if Apple Intelligence really falls by the wayside, as the above rumors seem to be suggesting.Don’t make Apple Intelligence the new Siri(Image credit: Future)If you look at what Google has done with Android over the past several years, you’ll notice that AI has always had some role in the conversation.

For as long as I’ve been watching Google I/O keynotes, there has been talk of artificial intelligence and machine learning improving various aspects of the software.Naturally that exploded a few years back with the launch of Google Gemini. Google’s chatbot and the various other AI models it has in development now have a more active role in the I/O presentation.

It’s arguably one of the biggest parts of the talk, with Google showcasing just how much work it’s done with AI in the 12 months since the last conference.It is fair to say that Apple was late to the party with Apple Intelligence, and there was a lot of catching up to do when those first AI features were announced at WWDC 2024. With that in mind, it’s important for Apple that it keeps up the momentum and doesn’t let Apple Intelligence become an afterthought.

After all, that’s exactly what happened to Siri. Back when it was released, the voice assistant seemed revolutionary. Then Apple spent the next 13 years more or less ignoring Siri and its potential.

Siri stood in place, as the likes of Google and Alexa surpassed its abilities — especially in the AI era.While Apple’s first priority is to actually fulfill the many Apple Intelligence promises it made last year, it still has to think about the future of Apple Intelligence. More needs to be done to add to Apple’s AI suite in the future, even if that only involves small doses.

Plus, considering how quickly AI development has progressed in the two-plus years since the launch of ChatGPT, Apple can’t afford to take even a year off. The less it does on the AI front, the more it cedes to competitors like Google and OpenAI.Considering how relatively late Apple was in launching its own AI efforts, and how important the technology is proving to be, the company can't let the new interface of iOS 19 be an excuse to ignore Apple Intelligence.

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