In a significant shift in its software branding strategy, Apple is moving away from its traditional iOS and iPadOS version numbering. Instead, the company announced the move to a year-based naming convention at WWDC25.
So, rather than iOS 19 and iPadOS 19, the company will market its releases this year as iOS 26 and iPadOS 26. Apple’s other operating systems will also adopt the same naming style.
“We’re unifying our version numbers across all our platforms. Our releases for the fall that will power us through the coming year, 2026, will be version 26,” said Craig Fedrighi during WWDC’s opening keynote.
Apple switches to years for all OS names
Apple has stuck to the same naming scheme for iOS since its inception in 2007. However, after 18 years, the company believes it’s time for a major change.
The change aligns with Apple adopting a unified “Liquid Glass” design, which all its operating systems are adopting this year. Besides iOS 26, iPadOS 26 and macOS 26, Apple’s other operating systems, including watchOS, tvOS, and visionOS, are also switching to the yearly naming scheme.
Here’s what Apple will call all its operating systems this year:
- iOS 26
- iPadOS 26
- watchOS 26
- macOS 26
- tvOS 26
- visionOS 26
Apple is not making any other changes to its operating systems. Like before, it will release developer betas right after the WWDC opening keynote. Public beta testing will start in July, with a stable build planned for release this fall.
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