WWDC 2025 Rumor Report Card: Which Leaks Were Right or Wrong?

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Many of Apple's announcements during its WWDC 2025 keynote this week were leaked ahead of time, but there were also a few rumors that proved to be inaccurate.

WWDC25 Rumor Report Card 3
In this WWDC 2025 edition of our Rumor Report Card, we have reflected on some of the bigger hits and misses leading into Apple's annual developer conference.

The grades that we have assigned to each rumor below are just for fun.

A+

We give full marks to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, who accurately leaked a wide range of software details ahead of WWDC 2025, including the new naming convention for iOS 26, iPadOS 26, macOS 26, and so forth, the Liquid Glass design, iPads getting several Mac-like features, several new Phone and Messages app features, new preinstalled Games and Preview apps on iOS 26, live translation of calls and texts, and much more.

9to5Mac also accurately leaked several details, ranging from the Messages app getting polls to a full-screen album artwork option on the iPhone's Lock Screen.

B

Jon Prosser was first to report that iOS 26 would feature a new translucent design. In videos on his YouTube channel Front Page Tech, he accurately leaked several iOS 26 design elements, including the new floating tab bar within apps. However, at one point he incorrectly said that Home Screen app icons would be round.

The leaker @MajinBuOfficial accurately claimed that iPadOS 26 would feature a Mac-like menu bar at the top of the screen. However, he wrongly said that the menu bar might only appear when the iPad is connected to a Magic Keyboard.

C-

Ahead of the WWDC 2025 keynote, 9to5Mac and MacRumors reported on homeOS trademark activity that was potentially linked to Apple. homeOS could end up being the name of the operating system that powers Apple's rumored smart home hub, but neither the software platform nor the device were announced at WWDC 2025.

homeOS very well might end up being announced in the future, but speculation that it might be unveiled at WWDC 2025 proved to be inaccurate.

F

@MajinBuOfficial claimed that iOS 26 would enable Stage Manager on iPhones with a USB-C port, but no such feature was announced at WWDC 2025.

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Top Rated Comments

StudyFlo Avatar
StudyFlo
9 months ago
@MajinBuOfficial reported something, which did not get announced and got an F.
Macrumors and 9to5mac reported something, which did not get announced and got a C-?

What's going on there?
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
xander49x Avatar
xander49x
9 months ago
What about all the things Mark Gurman got wrong? why were they not listed? looks like a coverup to me.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Phogro Avatar
Phogro
9 months ago
This is a fairly cherrypicked list of items I think. Yeah Gurman got things right, but I feel like we're not really assessing accuracy if we ignore the things he got wrong.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
con2apple Avatar
con2apple
9 months ago
What is the ratio of correct claims to false claims?
Mark Gurman is the typical clairvoyant. He makes three to four claims per week. In his "newsletter," he adds a few more rumors. Whether they come from third parties or are his own invention, we'll leave open.

But of course, with 260 claims per year, a certain number are bound to be correct. That's pure statistics. Just like you're bound to roll a six at least once in six attempts.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ItsASpider Avatar
ItsASpider
9 months ago

However, at one point he incorrectly said that Home Screen app icons would be round ('https://www.macrumors.com/2025/04/07/ios-19-rounder-app-icons-video/').
Uhm... he never said that? He said that in the build they had, when tapping the icon, it became rounder but not fully round. He made clear that he didn't know what shape these icons would take on, specifically saying "the icons that make it into the final build *may* in fact be circles" but that he hadn't seen a build where that was the case ("we did not see perfect circles") and that "all we can say confidently is, yes, iOS 19 will have new icons".
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Phogro Avatar
Phogro
9 months ago

homeOS/home hub likely still happening by next year, while Stage Manager for iPhones appears to be a complete miss.
But if we're grading the accuracy of reporting related to WWDC25 I think no mention of it should not be a "passing" grade just because it "might happen in the future".
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
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