Apple's iOS 13 will have a dark mode, new iPad home screen, tabbed apps: Report

Apple’s new iPad Pro takes baby steps towards the future
The iPad still may not replace your laptop, but it’s getting better at what it does best.

Bloomberg on Wednesday published a report detailing what the publication has been told about Apple’s upcoming iPhone and iPad releases.

There is a lot of information and juicy details about new 3D cameras, a third camera on future XS Max models, Apple is testing USB-C instead of Lightning on iPhones and augmented reality improvements in the report, which has a co-byline of Mark Gurman and Debby Wu.

Gurman has repeatedly — and accurately — published early details regarding unreleased Apple products and iOS updates, first for 9to5Mac and now Bloomberg. As far as the hardware news in the report is concerned, most of it is focussed on products we won’t see until 2020 and carries the standard caveat that Apple may change or alter its plans.

Also included in the report, near the end, are some details about iOS 13, the next major update to the operating system that runs on the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.

Specifically, iOS 13 is said to include a dark mode, CarPlay improvements, and some intriguing iPad-specific features.

It’s unclear just how far dark mode will go, but as we’ve seen in macOS, Apple’s approach to dark mode is to build it into the core iOS apps and give developers to the option to support the feature. When enabled, dark mode gets rid of the bright, white colors that have become a prominent look in mobile apps, replacing it with a dark, or sometimes black, background. Not only does this make it easier on your eyes to use your phone or computer in low-light environments, but it also improves battery life, according to Google.

The iPad, especially the iPad Pro line, is in desperate need of improvements in order to add functionality to the line that Apple often bills as a laptop replacement. The report mentions the iPad will receive a new home screen and tabbed apps. It’s unclear what exactly will change on the home screen, but hopefully, there’s some form of ability to add widgets or more information to the home screen instead of wasting space with app icons and nothing more.

As for tabbed apps, it sounds like you’ll be able to have multiple instances of the same app running in a single window, making it possible to view multiple documents side by side in a word processor, for example.

The report also mentions the update will bring improvements to file management on the iPad, which is yet another area that iOS as whole lacks in.

With iOS 12, Apple took the approach of refining the experience, eliminating bugs, and speeding up the platform as a whole. Major feature additions were reportedly saved for iOS 13, so if that holds true, we should begin hearing more about iOS 13 in the coming weeks and months.

Apply has traditionally unveiled the next version of iOS during its developer conference held in June, followed by a developer and public beta leading up to a full release in September.