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Apple’s annual Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) 2025 keynote on Monday, June 9, was all about its new ‘Liquid Glass’ design language coming to its operating systems. During the event, the company also showed off a mix of new software updates and features for the iPhone, iPad, Mac, Vision Pro, Apple Watch, AirPods, and more.
From the UI design revamp to windowing features for iPad, live translation in iMessage, smarter Spotlight in macOS Tahoe, and a Visual Intelligence-powered iOS upgrade, here’s a rundown of the most significant changes announced by Apple during the WWDC 2025 keynote.
Apple is changing the operating system design across all its products with a new design theme called ‘Liquid Glass’ that extends across iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS.
As part of the new look, buttons, switches, sliders, text, and media controls are more translucent throughout the interfaces. This look is also adopted by the date, time, and notification previews on iOS 26’s lockscreen. It means that users have a blurred view of the wallpaper behind all the text or apps on the home screen even when they pull down the Control Centre from the top right corner.
Apple’s liquid glass design is drawing mixed reactions online. While some are in awe of how it fluidly blends, for instance, the time into the lockscreen wallpaper, others have pointed out that it is harder to read text due to the glass-like optical qualities of the new design.
In iOS 26, the home bar that was earlier used to swipe up to get to the home screen disappears after you open an app. Apple has also introduced a new app icon mode, besides Light and Dark mode, called Clear which makes the app icons highly translucent and monochrome.
As expected, Apple has decided to switch to a new naming convention with the latest versions of its operating systems. It is based on the year following its release. Instead of iOS 19, watchOS 12, and macOS 16, the new names are iOS 26, iPadOS 26, macOS 26, watchOS 26, tvOS 26, and visionOS 26. While all of these operating systems are currently available in developer beta, they are expected to be rolled out to all eligible devices in late 2025.
In its preview of iPadOS 26, Apple showed off new windowing capabilities that are designed to make multitasking easier. This includes the ability to resize app windows, place them around your display, and open more windows at once. It also adds a new Mac-like menu bar that allows users to swipe down on an app to view various options and commands. Windows tiling also allows users to arrange their windows with a simple flick.
The iPadOS 26 is also getting a more precise mouse pointer and its own version of the Preview app that lets users view, edit, and mark up files with Apple Pencil or by touch. With iPadOS 26, users will have the ability to choose different audio inputs such as iPad mic or Bluetooth mic for each app.
The latest updated version of macOS brings major upgrades to Spotlight, the search functionality on Mac. Search results shown on Spotlight are now more personalised and listed together. It also offers filtering options to help users search for specific files and apps or view clipboard history. Users can now take actions like sending an email, creating a note, or playing a podcast directly on Spotlight without visiting the apps. Short keys such as ‘sm’ or ‘ad’ can also be used to quickly initiate these actions.
Also, macOS Tahoe can now show Live Activities from a nearby iPhone in the menu bar. This means users will be able to see things like their upcoming Uber ride, flight, live sports score and more in real time. macOS Tahoe will also be the final major software update for some Intel-powered Macs.
Visual Intelligence, Apple’s AI-powered image analysis feature, is coming to the iPhone screen as part of iOS 26. Built on top of Apple Intelligence, the new feature allows users to do an image search of an object or ask ChatGPT questions about what they are looking at on their screens. Visual Intelligence is also capable of recognising an event and asking the user if they would like to add it to their calendar, while filling out the details like time and location on its own based on the on-screen text.
“We’re also making it possible for you to search visually across your most-used apps using Visual Intelligence with the iPhone camera,” Apple’s head of software engineering, Craig Federighi, said while onstage at WWDC.
Apple also introduced the Foundational Model Framework, which gives developers access to its own foundational AI models that can be used to power new AI apps and AI features within apps.
Apple has introduced a new Games app that lets users access all Apple Arcade games and download new ones at a single destination. It has a Library tab for users to view the games that they have already downloaded from the App Store as well as an option called Play Together that allows users to compete with their friends based on scores, essentially turning a single-player game into a “shared experience”.
The company also introduced Games Overlay which lets users see recent scores, achievements, and which friends are playing without closing the gaming app. It can also be used to adjust game settings, start a chat, and view the latest in-app events.
iOS 26 brings a unified layout to the Phone app with Favourites, Recents, and Voicemails all in one place. It also has new Call Screening features that gathers information from an unknown caller and shows it to the user in order to help them decide whether they should answer the call. With Hold Assist, users who are put on hold by a customer care helpline will receive a notification when a live agent is available to talk on the call.
Apple announced that Live Translation has been integrated into Messages as well as Facetime and Phone, enabling translation of texts and audio into various languages in real-time. The Live Translation feature is powered by Apple’s on-device AI models. Users can also filter out messages from unknown senders in the Messages app. These messages will appear in a dedicated folder where users can then mark the number as known, ask for more information, or delete.
In group chats on the Messages app, iOS 26 lets users generate custom backgrounds that fit the conversation. Messages can also detect and suggest polls based on the conversation. This feature is powered by Apple Intelligence. Additionally, users can now see typing indicators in group chats. They can also request or transfer money via Apple Cash within group chats on Messages.
With tvOS 26, users can turn their iPhone into a handheld microphone for Apple TV and sing their favourite songs with friends in an impromptu karaoke session. Other users can also jump in with their own iPhone. It also lets users queue up songs and react onscreen with emojis. The ‘Sing in Apple Music’ feature displays lyrics as well as visual effects in Apple TV in real-time. It also brings the Lyrics Translation and Pronunciation features from iOS 26 to tvOS 26.
As part of its preview of visionOS 26, Apple revealed an update that transforms app widgets viewed through the Vision Pro headset more immersive and personal by integrating them into the user’s space. These widgets also reappear at the same place, such as on the wall or table, every time the user wears the Vision Pro headset. They can also be customised with a variety of options for frame width, colour, and depth.
The visionOS 26 also offers ‘Look to Scroll’ which lets users navigate apps and websites with just their eyes. The scroll speed can be customised based on the user’s preference. Users can also unlock their iPhone, directly answer incoming calls, and start calls all while wearing the Vision Pro headset. visionOS 26 now offers support for Sony PlayStation’s VR2 Sense controllers, letting users have access to a wider variety of virtual reality games.
The next watchOS software update will introduce an AI-powered Workout Buddy that is designed to help users receive personalised, motivational insights during their workout sessions. For example, you can ask Workout Buddy to give you a personalised pep talk while going on a run that is voiced using AI. Workout Buddy is powered by Apple’s new text-to-speech model that has been trained using voice data from Fitness+ trainers, according to Apple.
The feature is accessible as long as the user has an Apple Watch, bluetooth headphones, and an iPhone with Apple Intelligence support nearby. The generative voice is currently available in English across a few workout types on the Apple Watch such as Outdoor and Indoor Run, Outdoor and Indoor Walk, Outdoor Cycle, HIIT, and Functional and Traditional Strength Training.
