Apple WWDC 2025 Highlights: Apple brings Liquid Glass UI with new iOS 26, iPadOS 26, macOS Tahoe and more

The rumours were correct about their prediction, as Apple’s new software comes with big upgrades not just in terms of unifying numerical suffix but also with massive visual user interface overhaul.

American technology major Apple on Monday (June 9) kicked off the 2025 edition of Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) event at Cupertino, California.

Like previous years, the company offered a sneak peek at new features of its upcoming new software for iPhone, iPad, Mac computers, Apple Watches, TVs, and more.

The rumours were correct in their prediction, as Apple’s new software comes with big upgrades not just in terms of unifying numerical suffix but also with massive visual user interface overhaul. 

All the upcoming software for its products— iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, tvOS and others— will come with 26 suffix. With this, Apple wants align the software versions with the year. 

Though the year is 2025, the software name will have 26 as a suffix, as the software usually gets officially released late in the year around September and get upgraded next year. In the intervening months, Apple rolls out multiple updates.

It is worth noting that Samsung also made this transition for its product names in 2021. Its products’ names reflect the year of the launch.

WWDC 2025: Here are key announcements by Apple at developers' conclave 

As noted earlier, all the upcoming operating systems of Apple will come with new user interface design. Called Liquid Glass UI, it takes inspiration from visionOS. The glass-like translucent UI promises to create a lively experience that makes using iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and Apple TV even more delightful.

Liquid Glass UI on iPhone.

The new UI design extends to all aspects of software from smallest elements users interact with every day — such as buttons, switches, sliders, text, and media controls — to larger elements, including tab bars and sidebars for moving through apps. It also extends to Lock Screen, Home Screen, notifications, Control Center, and more.

“At Apple, we’ve always believed in the deep integration of hardware and software that makes interacting with technology intuitive, beautiful, and delightful,” “This is our broadest software design update ever. Meticulously crafted by rethinking the fundamental elements that make up our software, the new design features an entirely new material called Liquid Glass. It combines the optical qualities of glass with a fluidity only Apple can achieve, as it transforms depending on your content or context. It lays the foundation for new experiences in the future and, ultimately, it makes even the simplest of interactions more fun and magical,” said said Alan Dye, Apple’s vice president of Human Interface Design. 

iOS 26: Key new feature coming with the latest software for iPhone

Besides the Liquid Glass UI, iOS 26 brings Apple Intelligence-powered live translation capabilities to Messages, FaceTime, and Phone to help users communicate across languages, translating text and audio. All the AI features work on-device and doesn’t connection to cloud server to process the live translation. Initially, it will support up to nine languages including English (US & UK), Spanish, German, Chinese, French, Italian, Korean and more.

iOS 26 UI.

It also brings new Visual Intelligence feature, which allows users to scan the website on the phone’s screen and get summaries, or add an event to the calendar. It will be similar to Google Gemini AI-powered Circle to Search feature we see on Android phones.

Further, Apple Intelligence feature will also be able to automatically identify and summarise order tracking details from emails sent from merchants and delivery carriers, giving users the ability to see their full order details and progress notifications all in one place.

Genmoji and Image Playground apps, which can churn out custom emojis and photos, will soon be able to allow users mix their favorite emoji, Genmoji, and descriptions together to create something new.

Another notable new feature is call screening. This feature allows the iPhone to answer calls and ask the caller’s name and this screening feature can help users decide to either answer or reject calls. This same feature will also be available on iMessages app as well.

Also, the Messages will get new option to beautify the background of the chat session. Similar to WhatsApp, users will be able to add wallpaper in the chatroom background.

Apple Music app gets lyrics translation and lyrics pronounciations features, which can assist users while playing karaoke.

The new iOS 26 brings new Apple Games feature. It is one-place-destination to group all their favourite gaming titles. They can find their gaming title resume right from where they left the previous day. Also, users can explore new games that matches their taste.

For AirPods 4, AirPods 4 with ANC and AirPods Pro 2, iOS 26 brings studio-quality audio recording feature. It allows iPhone, iPad, and Mac users to record their content with great sound quality and enjoy even clearer calls. Also, they will be able to remove any ambient noise while editing the video.

iPadOS 26: Key new features coming to the new OS for iPads

Besides all the new features announced for iPhones, iPads will get several exclusive features to make best use of the big display and powerful Apple M-class processor. 

The new iPadOS 26 brings an intuitive Windowing system. This feature allows users to resize their favourite apps as per their needs on the Home Screen. It also offers the option to place or pin them anywhere on the screen for easy access.

iPadOS 26 UI.

It also introduces a new enhanced Files app with an updated List view. This allows users to see more of their document details in resizable columns and collapsible folders. To make folders easier to identify at a glance, Files also offers folder customisation options that include custom colours, icons, and emoji that sync across devices.

For the first time, iPad will soon get Preview app. It is standalone app for creating a quick sketch, as well as viewing, editing, and marking up PDFs and images with Apple Pencil or by touch gestures.

The calculator which made its debut on iPad last year is also getting new update.The upcoming iPadOS 26 introduces new 3D graphing capabilities in Math Notes, allowing users to write an equation with three variables and create a graph in three dimensions.

macOS Tahoe 26: Key new features coming to the new OS for Mac devices

Besides the new Liquid Glass UI, the macOS 26 brings Phone app to the Mac devices. With the Continuity feature, users can instantly make phone calls. It will also have favourites, recent calls and voicemails — in addition to call screening feature and Hold Assist. The latter allows users to keep their spot in line while they wait for a live agent. In the meantime, users can continue working on the Mac.

macOS Tahoe 26 UI.

Further, Live Activities from a user’s nearby iPhone will now appear in the menu bar on their Mac so the device owner can stay on top of things happening in real-time, such as an upcoming cab ride, flight status, or live sports score via iPhone screen mirroring.

The Spotlight gets universal search. Here, all results — including files, folders, events, apps, messages, and more — will be listed together and ranked intelligently based on relevance to the keywords typed by the user.

watchOS 26: Key new features coming to new OS for Apple’s smart wearable 

The latest watchOS 26 brings all-new Workout Buddy. It offers personalised, spoken motivation with Apple Intelligence on how to improve the fitness. 

The Workout app also gets a new UI design, and offers music to listen to based on your tastes and the workout type. 

The new watchOS 26 UI.

Like on the iPhone and iPads, watchOS 26 brings new updates to Messages, including Live Translation. 

Another new feature coming with watchOS 26 is  one-handed wrist flick gesture. It can be used to easily dismiss notifications.

For the first time ever, Apple Watch will get Notes app. It can be used to take dictation with microphone on and make a note file out of it and can be synced with other Apple devices.

tvOS 26:  Key new features coming to new OS for Apple’s set-top box

The new tvOS 26 brings Sing-along feature, which allows users to transform their iPhone into a handheld microphone for Apple TV to sing songs like karaoke through Lyrics Translation and Pronunciation features of Apple Music. 

Apple tvOS 26 UI.

Further, the tvOS 26 enables FaceTime to support Live Captions and translations. It supports multiple languages including French, German, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, and Spanish

visionOS 26: Key new features coming to Apple’s AR device

The new OS brings 3D-like Widgets. It can be customisable, with a variety of options for frame width, colour, and depth. New widgets include Clock, Weather, Music, and Photos. 

visionOS 26 UI.

Also, the spatial photos on Vision Pro will get better with the visionOS 26. With the new generative AI algorithm and computational depth, Apple has managed to offer 3D-like spatial depth with multiple perspectives. This lets users feel like they can lean in and look around the spatial photo.

visionOS 25 brings 3D-depth to spatial photos.

Also, the visionOS 26 enables Vision Pro to support native playback of 180-degree, 360-degree, and wide field-of-view content from Insta360, GoPro, and Canon.

Further, visionOS 26 also introduces support for the PlayStation VR2 Sense controller.

All the new software will be available for testing initially for registered developers from June 9 onwards. For public, the beta versions will be available from July. And, the final versions will be released as free software to all eligible devices in Q3, around September.

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