21 Oct 2025
Apple's WWD 26 introduced significant user interface enhancements across its entire ecosystem, including iOS, iPadOS, macOS, tvOS, WatchOS, and VisionOS. The updates are primarily characterized by a pervasive 'liquid glass' design theme, alongside numerous functional improvements to core applications and system features.
WWD 26 saw Apple introduce a multitude of features, capabilities, designs, and charms across its user interfaces. While specific internal versions like WatchOS 8 or iPadOS 12 were mentioned, the major updates for iOS, iPadOS, macOS, tvOS, and WatchOS are generally referred to as '26', with VisionOS specifically being 'VisionOS 2'.
iOS 26 features a pervasive 'glass' design, which Apple considers its most significant change since iOS 7. This aesthetic applies to icons, Control Center, buttons, and backgrounds, creating a highly transparent and layered visual experience. The intensity of this glass theme might be toned down in the final release.
The iOS 26 lock screen introduces dynamic elements where the clock adapts proportionally to the background image and content. For instance, if a subject is distant from the clock, the clock stretches to position itself beneath the subject's head, retracting upon notification arrival for an engaging visual effect.
The Camera app in iOS 26 is redesigned for reduced distractions, featuring minimal on-screen menus. Core options like video/photo selection are at the bottom, with advanced settings like video ratio or quality appearing in glass windows when activated, emphasizing content focus.
The Phone app in iOS 26 features a glass design and condensed options at the bottom, with favorites moved to the top. A new 'Call Screen' feature allows the phone to automatically ask unknown callers their name and reason for calling before the call rings, transcribing the response as text, primarily beneficial for international users.
The Gallery or Photos app in iOS 26 addresses previous clutter by completely compacting menus into a tab-based interface with an integrated search option, providing a streamlined way to navigate photos and existing galleries.
Safari in iOS 26 features a dynamic, glass-like URL bar that becomes smaller and less opaque when scrolling down, minimizing distractions to allow more focus on content. Scrolling up causes the bar to expand and become fully visible again.
The Messages app in iOS 26 now allows users to change chat backgrounds and introduces a polling feature, enabling group participants to vote on topics, though its utility in regions less reliant on iMessage is limited.
iOS 26 integrates live translation capabilities throughout the iPhone ecosystem, functioning offline. This feature applies to audio and video in video calls, standard calls, and messages, allowing for real-time translation during conversations or while typing.
Visual intelligence features are improved in iOS 26, enabling the identification of objects like dog breeds from photos. Screenshot functionality also integrates search, allowing users to highlight an object in a screenshot to instantly search for information, like a product's price.
The Image Playground app in iOS 26 gains the ability to combine three different emojis to create new, unique emoji designs for use across messages and other media platforms.
WWD 26 revealed little about direct consumer-facing artificial intelligence, with Apple focusing on providing developers an 'Apple Intelligence' framework. Expectations for a more advanced, AI-powered personal assistant Siri with deep content access were not met, indicating a cautious approach in the AI domain.
iOS 26 will be compatible with iPhone 11 and newer models, with older devices like the iPhone Xs and Xs Max no longer supported. The developer beta is currently available, a public beta is expected in about a month, and the stable version will release alongside iPhone 17 in late September or early October.
WatchOS 26 incorporates the 'Liquid Glass' theme. New features include gesture control for interacting with the watch and enhanced body workout analysis with more training programs. The system can provide voice feedback via AirPods during workouts, detailing progress like rounds completed or distance covered.
macOS 26 also adopts the glass aesthetic. Spotlight has been significantly upgraded to function more like a GPT-chat, capable of performing actions such as background removal from photos directly within the search interface, expanding its utility beyond simple file searches.
iPadOS 26 introduces more attractive multitasking and tab management features, similar to previous macOS versions. Users can manage different tabs with draggable buttons to resize them, and a zoom feature, mirroring macOS, enhances interaction, allowing applications to open in a stacked, multitasking manner.
tvOS 26 integrates the glass design, which is particularly beneficial for large-format visual content by minimizing distractions and improving content immersion. It also enables displaying enlarged lyrics for Apple Music, facilitating sing-alongs.
VisionOS 2, the original inspiration for Apple's glass design theme, receives minor updates. These include improved visibility of widget icons, enhanced quality of 3D avatar images, and the addition of a pen tool. These changes are considered incremental rather than revolutionary.
Apple, like other major tech companies, maintains a cautious stance on risky innovations to avoid significant failures, a lesson perhaps learned from past experiences like the early Siri iOS story. This caution is reflected in the mostly aesthetic 'glass' theme and the limited direct AI announcements at WWD 26.
Apple itself stated that the iOS 26 update is the biggest change since iOS 7, marking a complete overhaul of the interface with a dominant 'glass' aesthetic and extensive transparency.
| Operating System | Key Feature | Description |
|---|---|---|
| iOS 26 | 'Liquid Glass' Design | Introduces a pervasive transparent 'glass' aesthetic across UI elements, icons, and backgrounds, marking the biggest design overhaul since iOS 7. |
| iOS 26 | Dynamic Lock Screen | The clock dynamically adjusts its position and size based on wallpaper content and notification status for enhanced visual appeal. |
| iOS 26 | Call Screen Feature | Screens unknown callers by asking for their name and reason before the phone rings, transcribing the response for user review. |
| iOS 26 | System-Wide Live Translation | Enables offline live translation in calls, video calls, and messages across the operating system. |
| macOS 26 | Enhanced Spotlight | Upgrades Spotlight to offer GPT-like functionality, capable of advanced tasks like photo background removal directly from the search interface. |
| iPadOS 26 | Improved Multitasking | Introduces more attractive and flexible tab management, allowing users to resize and interact with multiple applications in a macOS-like stacked view. |
| WatchOS 26 | Gesture Control & Workout Feedback | Adds gesture commands for interaction and provides real-time voice updates via AirPods during workouts for detailed progress tracking. |
| tvOS 26 | Content-Focused Glass UI | Adopts the 'glass' design to reduce distractions on large screens, improving visual content consumption, and enables enlarged Apple Music lyrics display. |
