iPadOS 19 Rumored to Show Mac-Like Menu Bar When Connected to Magic Keyboard

When an iPad running iPadOS 19 is connected to a Magic Keyboard, a macOS-like menu bar will appear on the screen, according to the leaker Majin Bu.

ipad air magic keyboard feature
This change would further blur the lines between the iPad and the Mac. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman previously claimed that iPadOS 19 will be "more like macOS," with unspecified improvements to productivity, multitasking, and app window management, and the addition of a macOS-like menu bar would certainly align with that overall plan.

In a blog post today, the leaker also claimed that iPadOS 19 will enhance Stage Manager, the feature that lets you use multiple apps at once on an external display. The leaker said that Stage Manager will work more seamlessly, but they did not provide any specific details about the alleged improvements. They also said that iOS 19 will enable at least a basic version of Stage Manager on iPhone models with a USB-C port.

The first beta of iPadOS 19 should be available after the WWDC 2025 keynote on June 9, but some new features are not enabled until later betas.

Majin Bu has a mixed track record with Apple rumors, with some hits and some misses.

Related Roundup: iOS 19

Popular Stories

iphone 17 air iphone 16 pro

iPhone 17 Air USB-C Port May Have This Unusual Design Quirk

Wednesday April 30, 2025 3:59 am PDT by
Apple is preparing to launch a dramatically thinner iPhone this September, and if recent leaks are anything to go by, the so-called iPhone 17 Air could boast one of the most radical design shifts in recent years. iPhone 17 Air dummy model alongside iPhone 16 Pro (credit: AppleTrack) At just 5.5mm thick (excluding a slightly raised camera bump), the 6.6-inch iPhone 17 Air is expected to become ...
AirPods Pro 3 Mock Feature

AirPods Pro 3 Just Months Away – Here's What We Know

Tuesday April 29, 2025 1:30 am PDT by
Despite being more than two years old, Apple's AirPods Pro 2 still dominate the premium wireless‑earbud space, thanks to a potent mix of top‑tier audio, class‑leading noise cancellation, and Apple's habit of delivering major new features through software updates. With AirPods Pro 3 widely expected to arrive in 2025, prospective buyers now face a familiar dilemma: snap up the proven...
iOS App Store General Feature JoeBlue

Epic Games Wins Major Victory as Apple is Ordered to Comply With App Store Anti-Steering Injunction [Updated]

Wednesday April 30, 2025 4:01 pm PDT by
In a victory for Epic Games, Apple was today found to be in violation of a 2021 injunction that required it to allow developers to direct customers to third-party purchase options on the web using in-app links. Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, who has been handling the Apple vs. Epic Games dispute for the last five years, said that Apple is in "willful violation" of the injunction she issued to ...
General Spotify Feature

Spotify Submits iOS App Update With Out-of-App Purchase Options

Thursday May 1, 2025 3:37 pm PDT by
Spotify today submitted an app update to Apple that will include information on Spotify plan costs and options to subscribe through weblinks without using the in-app purchase system. Spotify will not need to pay a fee to Apple when customers subscribe to the service using alternate payment methods in the Spotify app. In a blog post announcing the changes, Spotify said that yesterday's ruling ...
iphone 16 display

iPhone 17's Scratch Resistant Anti-Reflective Display Coating Canceled

Monday April 28, 2025 12:48 pm PDT by
Apple may have canceled the super scratch resistant anti-reflective display coating that it planned to use for the iPhone 17 Pro models, according to a source with reliable information that spoke to MacRumors. Last spring, Weibo leaker Instant Digital suggested Apple was working on a new anti-reflective display layer that was more scratch resistant than the Ceramic Shield. We haven't heard...
iOS 19

Apple Already Testing iOS 19.4 After Delaying Personalized Siri Features

Thursday May 1, 2025 9:03 am PDT by
A subset of Apple's software engineers started internal development of iOS 19.4 last month, according to the MacRumors visitor logs. iOS 19.4 is expected to be released in March or April next year, so the software update is still nearly a year away. However, Apple develops both "Fall" and "Spring" versions of iOS each year, with our website's analytics logs indicating that both iOS 19.0 and...
fortnite apple featured

Epic Games Offers Apple 'Peace Proposal' to Return Fortnite to the App Store Worldwide

Wednesday April 30, 2025 5:12 pm PDT by
Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney today said that Fortnite will return to the U.S. App Store next week, and he offered a "peace proposal" with a pledge to bring Fortnite back to iOS worldwide if Apple follows certain steps. "Epic puts forth a peace proposal: If Apple extends the court's friction-free, Apple-tax-free framework worldwide, we'll return Fortnite to the App Store worldwide and drop...
nest thermostat

Google Announces End Date for Original Nest Thermostat Support

Wednesday April 30, 2025 3:08 am PDT by
Google has announced that first- and second-generation Nest Learning Thermostats will lose support in October 2025, disabling their connected features (via ArsTechnica). After October 25, 2025, these devices will no longer receive software updates or connect to Google's cloud services. Users won't be able to control them via the Google Home app or voice assistants, though basic temperature...

Top Rated Comments

Reason077 Avatar
1 week ago
“How curious it is,” Pooh said aloud, to nobody in particular, “that the iPad tries so very hard to be like the MacBook, but never quite manages to feel as settled and cozy.”

You see, the MacBook is like a warm armchair by the fire. You sit down, and everything is where it ought to be. Menus are at the top, folders behave like proper friends, and when you click, things listen. It's a sensible sort of magic.

The iPad, on the other paw, is always trying to do tricks—jumping and spinning and saying, “Look! I can be a computer too!” which is very sweet, but sometimes a bit too eager, like Tigger with too much juice.

“Wouldn’t it be rather nice if the iPad just let itself be a MacBook", Pooh pondered.

And then he had a second smackerel of honey, because thinking is hungry work.
Score: 26 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MacKid Avatar
1 week ago
Oh god, we don’t need on screen dropdown versions of cut/copy/paste, we need a reliable version of Files
Score: 24 Votes (Like | Disagree)
applefan8254 Avatar
1 week ago
Can we get multiple users please? Thank you
Score: 21 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jole Avatar
1 week ago
iPadOS foundation is very capable, but anything resembling full featured computer is intentionally disabled. How about allowing us to run full apps, virtual memory with swap, background tasks, JIT, compilers, command line, … All that would be possible if Apple would unlock the capabilities.

??
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
thejadedmonkey Avatar
1 week ago
Just an Apple keyboard? What about any other mice and keyboards? There's no technical reason my Logitech G915 mechanical keyboard and G703 mouse can't make use of a menu bar when a Magic Keyboard can.
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
needsomecoffee Avatar
1 week ago
After decades firmly entrenched in the Apple camp, I have moved to a 10th Gen Thinkpad Yoga running Unbuntu which is amazingly good w/ the touch screen When going back to my MBP, I often laugh at how natural it has become to use a good keyboard, trackpad, and touch screen on a highly portable device running Linux FGS. Mac OS on a MBP in comparison just has a lot of misses now in comparison. I could wish for Apple to provide what likely would be a superior option with its hardware, but facts we know... "touch screens on PCs are the Devil's handiwork" and "always protect shareholder value via App Store profits". Likely some others I missed. So iPad OS will become more Mac-like to appease the many, many current criticisms. iPads will never be MacOS-like enough to support app loading like we can on Macs (value argument), and we will never get a touchscreen UI on a MB portable (Devil's argument). Entrenched they are those C-Level execs. Apple makes great hardware -- the best still. Yet "Think Different" left the building A LONG TIME AGO. Sad.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)