The stakes are higher than usual at this year’s WWDC. Major Apple Intelligence features the company teased at last year’s conference are stalled out, the company got a stern talking-to from a federal judge a couple of months ago over its App Store policies, and then there’s everything going on with tariffs. It’s not an entirely enviable position, but the show goes on.
Apple announced a slew of platform operating system updates with its latest design language, called Liquid Glass, and a new yearly naming scheme. iOS 26, macOS Tahoe 26, tvOS 26, watchOS 26, visionOS 26, and more. It’s also opening up access to on-device Apple Intelligence for app developers and plugging ChatGPT into Image Playground.
A new Games app connects you to your friends, AirPods have added camera controls, and the planned update for Spotlight “looks like a power user dream,” according to David Pierce. Oh, and did we mention the multitasking improvements on the way for iPadOS?
Read on below for all of the updates from Apple’s WWDC 25 keynote.
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Apple packed a bunch of major updates into its annual Worldwide Developer Conference keynote. During the event, the company showed off the sleek design refresh coming to its operating systems, as well as a mix of new features for the iPhone, iPad, Mac, AirPods, and more bundled in upcoming software updates.
Here’s a roundup of some of the most exciting changes Apple announced during Monday’s keynote.
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This year’s WWDC is shaping up to be surprisingly focused on power users. There are lots of new personalization ideas, plenty of new ways to move things around on your device, and some new ways to get things done. But Mac power users in particular are going to really fall for two things: the new Spotlight, and the new Shortcuts.
In MacOS Tahoe, Spotlight, the universal search and launcher feature you open with CMD-Space, can now do more than just open stuff. It can do stuff. Apps can provide access for Spotlight to execute all kinds of actions, from playing music and podcasts to creating notes or adding to files. You can find actions with search or with short keyboard shortcuts — on stage at WWDC, Apple’s Craig Federighi demonstrated using “sm” to quickly send a message.
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A better mouse pointer on iPad!So pointy! Apps are getting a real menu bar, too.
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Apple is launching a new app that acts as a central hub for the games and gaming features across its platforms. The new Apple Games app combines Apple Arcade, App Store game recommendations, your App Store game library, and your friends list into a single location. Apple calls it an “all-in-one destination for games and playing with friends.”
The new app will be available on iPhones, iPads, and Macs, starting with versions coming out this fall. In addition to collecting your games, you’ll also be able to view leaderboards for supported titles and complete “challenges” set by developers. Apple sees it as a way to create multiplayer experiences out of single-player titles.
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Apple’s ChatGPT integration makes it easier to search for more context on images and shop for things they see.Apple is pushing visual intelligence features that build on Apple Intelligence, allowing users to go beyond searching for context using their device’s camera and now also “search and take action on anything they’re viewing across their apps.” The feature can also recognize when a user is looking at something they may like to attend and pre-populate a calendar event with time and place.
“Users can ask ChatGPT questions about what they’re looking at on their screen to learn more, as well as search Google, Etsy, or other supported apps to find similar images and products,” according to Apple. To access the feature, a user can act like they’re taking a screenshot — they will then be prompted to either save the screenshot or search using Apple Intelligence.
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Apple’s next major versions of iOS and macOS, iOS 26 and macOS Tahoe 26, are set to launch as free updates this fall, the company announced at its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC).
One major feature across both updates is a new “Liquid Glass” software design that adds a lot of translucency across the operating systems, including inside apps and with small elements like buttons and sliders. Apple is also redesigning apps to incorporate the design. The new look is inspired by Apple’s visionOS software.
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Apple’s Image Playground now integrates with ChatGPT.
Apple is updating Genmoji and Image Playground with new styles, powered in part by ChatGPT. With Image Playground, users can now tap into ChatGPT to change a friend’s photo into the style of an oil painting, for instance.
Image Playground sends the description you write out, or your image, to ChatGPT to create the results, but “nothing is shared with ChatGPT without your permission,” according to Apple.
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Apple Intelligence takes on language barriers in messages and phone calls.
Apple announced at WWDC 2025 that it’s debuting live translation Apple Intelligence features that allow you to translate between languages in Messages, FaceTime, and phone calls.
For a phone call, that’ll mean live translation aloud as you talk, and with FaceTime, it means live captions displayed on the screen. It’s all powered via Apple-built models that run on-device.
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Typing indicators in group chats!
There’s a bunch of good new stuff in group messaging for Apple Messages — polls, better notification management for unknown senders, and more — but the best quality-of-life thing here is definitely typing indicators for group chats. This is going to make chaotic family messaging so much less chaotic.
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Apple has announced iOS 26, the next version of its iPhone operating system, as part of its suite of announcements at its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC). It features a complete redesign with Apple’s new “Liquid Glass” design language along with updates to apps across the platform.
The announcement also marks a change in how Apple signifies its major updates to iOS. Under the previous marketing scheme, this year’s major release would have been iOS 19 — the direct follow-up to iOS 18. But now, Apple’s big iOS updates will be numbered based on the year following their introduction, a little bit like car-makers do with new car releases.
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Apple gives developers access to its on-device Apple Intelligence model.
This year at WWDC, Apple announced it’s opening up access for any app to tap into the on-device large language model at the core of Apple Intelligence, giving developers direct access. It will “ignite a whole new wave of intelligence experiences” in the apps users frequent, per Apple, and it cuts out cloud API costs due to on-device access.
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Apple announced the latest major update for its Vision Pro headset during the company’s WWDC 2025 keynote presentation on Monday. It’s now called visionOS 26 to match Apple’s new naming convention for its mobile and desktop operating systems.
One of the biggest additions is widgets that appear blended into physical environments, “integrating seamlessly into a user’s space and reappearing every time they put on Apple Vision Pro” in the exact same location. Users can customize a widget’s frame width, color, and depth, and visionOS 26 is introducing several new widgets, including a Clock, Weather, Music that provides quick access to playlists, and Photos that displays “stunning panoramas and spatial photos of their favorite memories.”
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A protester attempted to disrupt the beginning of Apple’s WWDC. At Apple’s in-person event, software chief Craig Federighi was onstage delivering opening remarks to attendees when the protester began shouting.
The protester marched in and unzipped his jacket to reveal a keffiyeh. He also held up a badge and appeared to say “I work at Apple,” though his remarks were hard to hear. The protester spoke for about 30 seconds before security walked him out. Throughout, Federighi continued talking.
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The iPad is getting a big refresh this year: Apple just announced the new version of iPadOS, its tablet operating system, at WWDC. (The keynote is still going, actually; Apple dropped its press releases before they were technically announced in the virtual event. We’ll keep updating this post as Apple gets to the announcements.) The flagship feature is a new windowing system for multitasking across apps, but there’s also a new Files app, more Apple Intelligence features, and a Mac-like Preview app for looking at and editing PDFs.
As usual, the new iPadOS has a lot in common with the new iOS, including the new Vision Pro-inspired visual language called “Liquid Glass.” The updated name also follows Apple’s overall scheme, switching from version numbers to years. The iPad tends to differ in its approach to multitasking, how you move between apps, and around the operating system. With iPadOS 26 that difference is more stark than ever: Apple says it will let you “fluidly resize app windows” and place windows anywhere you want on the screen. The windowing system can be used inside of Stage Manager, too, and works across displays. Stage Manager has not always been the most intuitive of iPad software, but this looks like a solid next step toward proper multitasking.
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Apple just announced watchOS 26, the latest version of its Apple Watch operating system, at WWDC 2025. It’s been updated with Liquid Glass, Apple’s new transparent design language; a new wrist flick gesture to dismiss notifications; and an AI-powered “Workout Buddy” that gives you pep talks as you exercise.
watchOS 26 is the follow-up to last year’s watchOS 11 release, but Apple has jumped its numbering up to match the upcoming year in a bid to standardize its operating system names, so that the watchOS numbering now matches iOS, macOS, and Apple’s other software platforms. As in previous years, developer access starts today, with a public beta to follow next month. The full release is coming this fall alongside the new Apple Watches.
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Apple just announced a bundle of new AirPods features at WWDC 2025 that will launch this fall, letting you get more out of earbuds you might already own. That includes a way to control your device’s camera by tapping the stem of your AirPods 4 or AirPods Pro 2. The feature will work in the official Camera app, as well as in third-party apps that utilize your device’s cameras. To use it, press and hold the AirPods stem to take a photo. It also works to start a video, and you’ll just press and hold again to stop the video recording.
It also introduced studio-quality recording for those models, with the ability to let users pause and resume recording by tapping the stem. Apple says you should notice “more natural vocal texture and clarity” across several apps, from recording Voice Memos and dictating messages to making phone and FaceTime calls. The features work across iPhone, iPad, and Mac, and will launch in the upcoming iOS 26, iPadOS 26, and macOS Tahoe 26 releases this fall.
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Apple is introducing a new Liquid Glass design across its software platforms. It’s all about adding transparency and glass shine effects to Apple’s in-app interfaces across its renamed iOS 26, iPadOS 26, macOS Tahoe 26, watchOS 26, and tvOS 26 operating systems.
“[It’s] our broadest design update, ever,” says Alan Dye, Apple’s VP of human interface design. “For the first time we’re introducing a universal design across our platforms.” The new design adds glass-like elements throughout iOS, including to the dock and the lockscreen, and it’s designed to mimic the optical qualities of glass.
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Apple has announced a sweeping change to how it names — or, rather, numbers — its operating systems. Instead of being numbered by how many versions each has had, they are now named based on the year. Well, next year, to be exact.
So we have iOS 26 coming to this year’s iPhones, and macOS Tahoe 26 for Apple’s computers. iPadOS 26, watchOS 26, tvOS 26, and visionOS 26 complete the set. In future years, the numbers will tick up together, making it easy to figure out if any Apple device is running the latest version of its software or not.
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Conference season is underway, and today we’re live at Apple Park in Cupertino, California, for this year’s WWDC. While we got a glimpse of the Vision Pro in 2023 and a preview of Apple Intelligence in 2024, this year is a bit of a wild card.
Rumor has it that instead of flashy hardware or AI, Apple is giving all its software a makeover. That reportedly includes a glassier aesthetic for iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS. The company is also rumored to be renaming all its operating systems to be more consistent. So instead of iOS 19, visionOS 2, and watchOS 12, we’d be getting iOS 26, visionOS 26, and watchOS 26. Oh, there’s possibly a new gaming app on deck, too.
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I really, really hope Apple announces way better iPad multitasking today.I feel like there are reports every year that Apple is going to introduce better iPad multitasking, and then we get something like Stage Manager or a different update that’s still not quite what I need to work. This year’s rumor suggests more Mac-like features. I’ve been playing with a Surface Pro 12 I bought, and I keep thinking, ’Man, it would be so nice to be able to do this on my M4 iPad Pro.’
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Good morning from Apple Park.The sun’s out and so are the iconic arches. Stay tuned for more soon.
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We’re at Apple Park!We were just driven around the spaceship in a golf cart that may or may not have had party speakers. The keynote is scheduled to start in less than an hour. More to come soon.
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Apple’s new research paper says AI reasoning isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
Right before WWDC 2025, Apple researchers published a paper called The Illusion of Thinking (PDF) that made waves. The researchers wrote that popular and buzzy AI models “face a complete accuracy collapse beyond certain complexities,” especially with things they’ve never seen before.
They presented models from OpenAI, Anthropic, and DeepSeek with new and complex puzzle games and found their reasoning ability “increases with problem complexity up to a point, then declines.”
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With Google and Microsoft’s developer conferences out of the way, now it’s time for Apple’s WWDC. The Cupertino company is gearing up to unveil new versions (and new numbers) for all its operating systems, as well as taking a second step at convincing everyone it’s a major player in the AI industry.
Rumor has it we may also see a whole new product category from Apple, with a HomePad smart display possibly in the offering. Here’s how to catch it all live.
