iOS 13: New iPhone update leaks ahead of release, showing new features

The iPhone is about to get the ability to track your health in deep ways, change the look of the screen entirely and a whole host of other new features, according to a new report.

Apple is planning a wide-ranging update for the iPhone and iPad operating system – as well as those for its other hardware – that will bring profound changes to the way the software works, the report from Bloomberg claimed.

But just like last year it will also focus on speeding up the devices and fixing issues with them. With iOS 12, which was shown off at its Worldwide Developers' Conference in June, it focused on improving performance rather than introducing new features, and will do some of the same this year.

There will still be a host of new features across the operating system, including some features that were delayed from last year as part of the effort to clean up the operating system, the report claimed. It is possible that any features currently being worked on could actually be delayed until next year, or never released at all.

The company is also already at work on iOS 14, which is scheduled to be released in 2020 and is codenamed "Azul", Bloomberg reported. That will seize on the breakthrough new technologies that are expected to come with that year's phone, including 5G connections for increased wireless speed and new augmented reality features.

Nicknamed Yukon, iOS 13 will instead focus on tweaks and features inside individual apps.

The look of the operating system will change, the report suggested. It will include a Dark Mode to allow people to flip the colours on the screen and view it more easily in the dark, as well as changes to the menus that show when opening and closing apps and navigating around the home screen.

The company will also re-design the keyboard, according to the report. It could finally introduce the ability to swipe across the letters with one motion, rather than tapping out each individual letter, which is already available on Android phones.

Individual apps will also get changes. Chief among them appears to be the Health app, which is intended to track your wellbeing – and will now get a new homepage that will show a better picture of activity through the day.

Reminders, Screen Time, Mail, Home, Books, Maps and iMessages will also get their own minor tweaks. The latter will be altered to work a little more like WhatsApp, allowing people to make profiles and include their picture, which will show it to everyone.

The Find My Friends and Find My iPhone apps will also get updates. That could allow them to serve as a hub for small physical beacons that can be attached to items, so they can be tracked if they are lost, previous reports have suggested.

There will also be updates aimed specifically at the iPad. It will have new ways of multi-tasking and showing information on the home screen, as well as the ability to look at two different versions of the same app.