A newly discovered iPhone prototype offers a rare glimpse of the unreleased iOS 19, which was a precursor to iOS 26 sans Liquid Glass, and it may provide a hint of what's coming in iOS 27.

At WWDC 2025, we witnessed the introduction of Apple's controversial Liquid Glass design language. iOS 26 brought glass-like elements, replacing the long-standing flat aesthetic. Apple also jumped from iOS 18 to iOS 26, leaving iOS 19 nowhere to be found — until now.

Courtesy of collector Kyolet, AppleInsider was provided with exclusive imagery of an EVT-stage iPhone prototype, running an early InternalUI build of iOS 19.0. Unlike the final version of iOS 26, this unreleased variant of iOS 19 doesn't feature a working implementation of Liquid Glass, even with the "Sensitive UI" setting enabled.

The associated Solarium feature flag is also active in the Livability app, but the UI of the operating system remains effectively identical to iOS 18. This suggests we're looking at a relatively early version of what was then known as iOS 19.

A newly discovered iPhone prototype offers a rare glimpse of the unreleased iOS 19, which was a precursor to iOS 26 sans Liquid Glass, and it may provide a hint of what's coming in iOS 27.

At WWDC 2025, we witnessed the introduction of Apple's controversial Liquid Glass design language. iOS 26 brought glass-like elements, replacing the long-standing flat aesthetic. Apple also jumped from iOS 18 to iOS 26, leaving iOS 19 nowhere to be found — until now.

Courtesy of collector Kyolet, AppleInsider was provided with exclusive imagery of an EVT-stage iPhone prototype, running an early InternalUI build of iOS 19.0. Unlike the final version of iOS 26, this unreleased variant of iOS 19 doesn't feature a working implementation of Liquid Glass, even with the "Sensitive UI" setting enabled.

The associated Solarium feature flag is also active in the Livability app, but the UI of the operating system remains effectively identical to iOS 18. This suggests we're looking at a relatively early version of what was then known as iOS 19.

Prototype of iOS 19 provides a glimpse at iOS 27

While iOS 19 won't be released to the public, the operating system does give us an idea of what we might see in iOS 27. To be more specific, the software contains references to capabilities planned for WWDC 2026 and even 2027.

This is to be expected, given that software features are tested over long periods of time and can take years to develop and perfect.

The Livability app on the prototype displays feature flags for WWDC 2026 and beyond.

While it's unclear exactly what Apple might deliver in 2026, we can expect improvements to Accessibility features, Messages, Photos, and the Wallet app. CoreMedia updates and changes to the Workout Buddy feature for Apple Watch appear to have been planned as well.

Apple's prototypes sometimes include features that only end up debuting years later, as was the case with on-device email categorization. Other times, we get to see features that never made it past prototyping, like the canceled Bongo project.

Source: Appleinsider