Screenshot of Apple CEO Tim Cook during the WWDC 2025 keynote. Image: TechnologyAdvice
Apple’s 2026 operating systems will be unified and see a major visual upgrade called the Liquid Glass design language.
During Apple’s WWDC 2025 keynote today, the company revealed iOS 26 and the new, unified operating system naming structure, introduced a framework allowing any app on iOS to use Apple Intelligence, and more.
The new operating system will be available for download for free on applicable devices this fall, likely in September.
“This year’s event was not about disruptive innovation, but rather careful calibration, platform refinement and developer enablement – positioning itself for future moves rather than unveiling game-changing technologies in the present,” said Francisco Jeronimo, vice president of analyst firm IDC, in an email to TechRepublic.
Apple is standardizing its operating system naming across devices and tying the names to the release year, with 2026 bringing the new design language to iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, tvOS, and visionOS. iOS also comes with a new design language, which Apple calls Liquid Glass. It’s the biggest redesign since iOS 7, said Craig Federighi, Apple SVP Software Engineering.
On macOS, the next operating system will be macOS Tahoe 26. The Liquid Glass design makes app icons and widgets look transparent, and refracts images behind UI elements.
Liquid Glass changes the appearance of floating design elements depending on context and content. More design elements now feature rounded edges to echo the rounded edges of the hardware. The color of elements morphs with the content and appears to float above apps, changing between views. The lock screen, dock, and mobile notifications will be transparent and appear to float above content.
The Phone app will have a new layout, with Favorites at the top of a consolidated menu. iOS 26 will screen incoming calls, automatically answering calls from unknown numbers without notifying the user. If the caller shares their name and reason for calling, the phone will display a transcript of the greeting and the user can pick up. Another new feature, Hold Assist, automatically detects hold music and listens for a live agent, ringing again when the phone assistant hears a real person.
Similarly, Messages will screen for spam and unknown numbers and automatically exile unknown senders to a spam folder. They won’t appear as notifications. On the other hand, the phone can detect time-sensitive messages from unknown numbers, like alerts from restaurants that a table is ready.
Genmoji in Image Playground is getting a slight upgrade, with the ability to combine emoji. It has ChatGPT integration with its own artistic styles, too. Essentially, AI-generated images will be more broadly available in Image Playground. Developers can add the feature with the Image Playground API.
In Messages, Apple is adding background colors and designs that are shared with both people in the call. Thanks to Apple Intelligence’s image creation, users can generate a background, too. Users will also be able to add polls and Apple Cash requests in chats. Plus, typing indicators will now work in group chats. Apple Intelligence will be able to perform live translation in Messages, too, and developers can link to live translation through an API.
Apple employees allegedly saw the AI news that would be announced at WWDC 2025 as a “letdown,” with few major changes. As revealed on June 9, most changes to Apple Intelligence are indeed small, with one exception: a framework allowing any app developer to add Apple Intelligence to what they create.
The major additions to Apple Intelligence across devices are:
Perhaps most importantly, developers can now hook their apps to the on-device foundation model powering Apple Intelligence. Using the Foundation Models framework, app developers can add AI features with no cost for cloud API.
“We think this will ignite a whole new wave of intelligence experiences in the apps you use every day,” said Federighi.
Members of the Apple Developer Program can start testing out these new features today. A public beta will open in July. Apple Intelligence is available on iPhone 15 Pro and later and iPad and Mac models with M1 and later, in select languages.
One thing Apple never announced? The revamped Siri that was supposed to bring the digital assistant into the generative AI era.
macOS Tahoe 26, available this fall, brings the Liquid Glass aesthetic to the desktop and laptop. Along with Apple Intelligence features detailed below, macOS Tahoe has a redesigned Spotlight search bar with AI flair. Spotlight can suggest actions based on the user’s usual activities, or run shortcuts which users can set using natural language. For example, a shortcut could enable a user to compare the content of a recording with notes from the same event, with one button, using the onboard AI.
In addition:
Changes coming to the Vision Pro headset include:
On the tablet front, iPadOS 26 brings the same Liquid Glass design language and Apple Intelligence features as on other devices. Some other quality of life upgrades were designed to make working on collaborative projects easier:
In addition, developers can now customize how the menu bar appears in their own apps for iPadOS.
Developers making apps for iOS 26, iPadOS 26, macOS Tahoe 26, watchOS 26, and tvOS 26 will have some new options. Foremost is the Foundation Models framework mentioned above, which can quickly hook developers up to Apple Intelligence using Swift.
Xcode 26 connects directly to large language models (if the developer chooses to do so), enabling them to code, test, and write documentation. It works with ChatGPT, local models (if used on a Mac with Apple silicon), or any models for which developers have API keys. Coding Tools in Xcode 26 respond to natural language prompts, as well as suggesting actions based on activity. A new Icon Composer app gives developers and designers a place to work on icon design, including taking advantage of the Liquid Glass aesthetic.
App Intents is Apple’s portal for integrating content into specific features like Siri, Spotlight, widgets, or controls. Now, App Intents supports visual intelligence, expanding the AI querying feature to any image an app can display.
Another new feature, the Declared Age Range API, lets developers prompt users to share their age range, enabling app makers to partition content that may not be suitable for younger children.
Lastly, Apple’s app-building programming language Swift has reached version 6.2. The new version offers:
Swift 6.2 also enables developers to configure modules or individual files to run on the main actor by default, resulting in more seamless compilation of single-threaded code.
All of these developer options are available for testing now, with a public beta coming in July.
Megan Crouse has a decade of experience in business-to-business news and feature writing, including as first a writer and then the editor of Manufacturing.net. Her news and feature stories have appeared in Military & Aerospace Electronics, Fierce Wireless, TechRepublic, and eWeek. She copyedited cybersecurity news and features at Security Intelligence. She holds a degree in English Literature and minored in Creative Writing at Fairleigh Dickinson University.
