WWDC 2025 wrapped last week, and Apple delivered a tidal wave of new features. It also marks the company’s biggest software design overhaul in a decade, introducing a bold, unified look across every device category. This post kicks off a new series breaking down the standout features of each operating system in one crisp, no-fluff TL;DR. Click subscribe below to stay up to date as I publish new posts.
iOS 26 ✨
Apple has unified its naming conventions across platforms. All its new operating systems, including iOS, are now named after the year ahead in which they are released. iOS 26 is expected to arrive in late September 2025 and will be updated regularly throughout 2026, so it makes sense. Name aside, iOS 26 is a feature-packed release with a stunning new user interface for your iPhone. Let’s dive in.
Design & Liquid Glass💧
For the first time in over a decade, Apple has redesigned the look and feel of iOS. The last major redesign was with iOS 7 which introduced flat icons, bold colours and removed a lot of depth and shading. Apple’s new design paradigm is called Liquid Glass. It features refractive, translucent glass-like elements that react to movement, the motion of your device and respond to your content.
All of the app icons have been redesigned with layers of Liquid Glass. You can customise them with an all-new clear look, choose a tint, or switch to dark mode icons. By default, icons retain their traditional, colourful appearance. Controls inside apps have been designed to recede when you don’t need them. And automatically pop straight back up the moment you do. Scrolling reveals contextual menus that have previously been dismissed, for instance. This approach is perhaps most notable in apps like Camera, which has a new simplified user interface.
Every element of the user interface has been overhauled and this becomes immediately apparent on the lock screen. The lock screen adapts dynamically with the time wrapping around photos. And there’s also a new 3D photo effect that you can choose which responds to your movement.
With all this change, opinions will be divided. Some people will love the new design. Others will find the changes frustrating. Already initial reactions online have ranged from love and appreciation to outright fury and anger. The same was true when iOS 7 first arrived. But in time, most people came to really enjoy the new design or at the very least, accept it.
Personally, I really like that Apple has taken a bold new direction. However, I think the Windows Vista comparisons are lazy. The Windows Aero interface from Vista was primarily aesthetic, while Liquid Glass is interaction-aware. It uses translucency not just for looks, but to subtly introduce visual hierarchy and provide user context. Aero was decoration, while Liquid Glass is a design architecture. Whether you like the new look or not is subjective, but you can tone the translucency down by enabling reduce transparency in settings.
Apple Intelligence & AI 🤖
Translation was a big focus for Apple in its updates this year. iOS 26 includes real time translation in Messages, FaceTime and even live, spoken translation in phone calls. All of this occurs on device with real time processing for privacy.
One of the biggest announcements is that Apple has opened up its foundational, on-device model to third party apps. Developers will be able to take advantage of the local model on your iPhone to build intelligent new features in their apps. To be clear this won’t enable developers to suddenly create an on-device local ChatGPT competitor. The model is too small. But it will enable new features that weren’t possible previously without the need to process data in the cloud.
Apple’s built in Shortcuts app can now do more with Apple Intelligence. It’ll be able to create images by hooking in to Image Playground, summarise text and take actions in apps for you. Not a lot of time was spent on this in Apple’s keynote. But it has the potential to be huge for power users.
Image Playground has been updated with ChatGPT integration. Users can generate images using Open AI’s models for improved results. You’ll be able to choose when to use ChatGPT to help stay in control of your privacy. And on the subject of images, Apple is enhancing its popular Genmoji feature by allowing you to combine together multiple regular emojis and add additional text prompts.
The biggest new Apple Intelligence feature, however, is an overhaul to Visual Intelligence. Visual Intelligence is the feature that allows you to take images in the real world and ask questions about what you’re seeing with ChatGPT or search for similar images with Google. Now Apple has expanded this to include not only what your camera can see, but what is on your screen too. To invoke this, you simply take a screenshot. In addition to the usual options in the screenshot menu like sharing, mark-up, etc., you’ll now see the same ‘Ask’ and ‘Search’ buttons. It can even pull details like text out for you from screenshots. This is powerful as you could, for instance, screenshot an event poster you see in an app like Instagram and add the event to your calendar. Third-party apps are able to take full advantage of this capability with integrations too.
Phone and Messaging 📞
For the first time in forever, Apple has redesigned the phone app (with an option to revert back to the classic UI). It has a more compact UI which combines your recent calls, favourites and voicemail into a single location. This modernises the interface for clarity and ease of use and is a welcome change.
More important than the updated UI are new calls and messages screening features. Call screening works by asking unknown callers for information about who they are, presenting it on screen, and helping you decide if you want to pick up. Similarly, messages from unknown senders will now appear in a separate inbox.
Another great updates to the phone app is ‘Hold Assist’. This feature means you’ll never have to listen to cursed hold music ever again. When placed on a hold, you can enable Hold Assist which will save your place in line. When the agent picks up your call, your iPhone will let them know that it’ll prompt you to go ahead and pick up. Your iPhone actually calls you again when it’s time to pick up. Genius!
Other nice improvements to messages include the ability to change the background in messages. You can choose from backgrounds created by Apple, your own image, or you can generate a custom background using Image Playground. Apple has also added typing indicators in group chats and the ability to send custom polls. A useful way to make quick group decisions.
Maps, Wallet and CarPlay 🗺️
Maps received a few small, but still helpful updates. First up is the ability to learn your routines with Apple Intelligence and serve up custom routes. For example if you typically take the same route to work each morning and make a stop off for coffee on the way, Maps learns this and using real time data, can suggest alternative routes if traffic will impact your arrival time.
In addition to intelligent routes, Maps also learns the places you frequently visit and saves these to a private list called ‘Visited Places’. It makes it easy to quickly navigate to these places and discover more information about them. This happens on device and is not shared with Apple to keep things private.
On the subject of Maps, in the Wallet app, Apple has built in detailed airport maps when you add a boarding pass to Wallet. Boarding passes can even offer up Live Activities now to help you stay on track with flight information.
The Wallet app also received the option to add a ‘Digital Passport’ for US users. You can expect that this is a feature that will take a while for mainstream adoption, similar to driving licenses which have yet to expand outside of the US. But it’s a nice step in the right direction.
CarPlay has also received some great updates. Firstly it receives the same Liquid Glass treatment as the rest of iOS 26. But for the first time it also brings widgets and live activities to CarPlay and CarPlay Ultra. There’s even support now for messages tapbacks and access to your messages pins. In supported vehicles, multitouch support has also been added, meaning you can now zoom in and out on maps for example with a pinch gesture. Just like on your iPhone.
Music and Gaming 🎶
Apple Music has received a few nice updates this year. First up is lyrics translation, building on other translation features across iOS 26 like live call translations. It’s a nice quality of life feature that will help to differentiate Apple Music from competing services.
Another nice new feature is Auto-Mix which seamlessly blends songs together using Apple Intelligence. It’s a bit like having a DJ built into your iPhone. While there has been a cross fade feature for a couple of years now, this goes one step further by actually blending the end of one song into the start of another. Early examples seem to be really effective!
Shifting gears towards gaming, this year Apple has added an all new app called ‘Games’. It aggregates both App Store titles and Apple Arcade titles into a single user experience. It also shows leaderboards and offers up in game community challenges. You’ll also find recommendations for new games that you might like to check out. Apple wanted to provide a distinct experience separate from the App Store, tailored just for games. It replaces much of the functionality found in the now defunct Game Centre from a few years ago but aims to improve discoverability.
Tidbits 📋
- Battery settings now display daily usage comparisons and suggest Adaptive Power Mode to prolong battery life
- Photos restores Library/Collections tab layout, introduces spatial parallax “3D photo” effects as dynamic wallpapers
- AirPods receive a nice update with iOS 26, enabling supported models (AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4) to record studio quality audio using their built in microphones
- iOS 26 require an iPhone 11 or later. iPhone XS, XR and XS Max are no longer supported.
- Apple Intelligence features like Genmoji and AI actions require A17 Pro or newer
- Beta & Release Timeline: Developer beta live; public beta arrives July 2025; general release expected in September 2025
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