Apple WWDC25: Keynote recap

Photo by Jen Kaplan

It's that time of year again — Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) is here! Each year, Apple announces exciting upcoming features across their ecosystem. Available this fall, the Apple ecosystem gets its broadest design update ever, with Liquid Glass offering an adaptive and dynamic experience that interacts seamlessly with the user interface. Apple Intelligence extends its reach with real-time voice and text translation and other context-aware capabilities. Collaboration and communication tools get improvements too, with polls in group chats, Hold Assist, and call and message screening. Working on iPad is easier than ever, with new multitasking features and a menu bar.

Whether you use Apple for work or for pleasure, there are updates coming your way. Read on for a recap of the latest news from Apple.

• Apple Intelligence
• New design
• iOS 26
• watchOS 26
• tvOS 26
• macOS Tahoe 26
• visionOS 26
• iPadOS 26

Apple Intelligence

Apple Intelligence released to some regions in late 2024. This year promises some powerful upgrades on multiple device types. Live Translation translates phone calls, FaceTime calls and messages in real time for international communication. Visual Intelligence on iOS now helps you learn more about what you see on your screen. Shortcuts gets smarter by allowing you to use a Private Cloud Compute model. You can enhance your messages with custom emoji combinations using text or multiple emoji. And developers can build on the Apple Intelligence on-device foundation model for secure integration with their apps.

Apple Intelligence will be available to more languages this year: Danish, Dutch, Norwegian, Portuguese (Portugal), Swedish, Turkish, Chinese (traditional) and Vietnamese.

New design

Apple introduced a redesign across each of their platforms, their broadest design update ever. Liquid Glass is a new design feature that will bring hardware and software closer than ever. This design, universal across all products, offers harmony as it dynamically adapts to device context.

iOS 26

Communication enhancements

With iOS 26, it's easier to communicate with friends and family — or to ignore those you don't want to talk to. A new unified layout combines your favorites, recents and voicemails (including summaries) on one page. Your contacts and keypad are a press away.

Call Screening responds to potential spam calls, automatically answering unknown numbers on your behalf. If the call is legitimate, your phone will ring for you to answer. And Hold Assist detects hold music and stays on the line for you, muting the music. Once a representative is available, your phone will notify you.

Messages got an enhancement as well, with backgrounds, polls and screening tools. Unknown senders will require approval — unless they're time sensitive like verification codes.

Live Translation, powered by Apple Intelligence, works in Messages, FaceTime and Phone apps. This feature translates between languages for simpler communication. Translation occurs on device, so your conversations remain secure.

Visual intelligence

Visual intelligence helps you quickly learn about the places and objects around you. This now extends to things you see on your device. Screenshots offer visual intelligence tools so you can find parts of your screenshot on the web or specific apps. You can also screenshot event posters and automatically add them to your calendar, or even ask ChatGPT about your discoveries.

CarPlay

The new redesign extends to CarPlay and CarPlay Ultra, keeping distractions away from drivers while offering a convenient interface. A compact design prevents interruptions by showing notifications without exiting your active app. Widgets, pinned messages and live activities provide important information or allow for easy communication at quick touch.

watchOS 26

Workout Buddy

Based on Apple Intelligence, your new Workout Buddy offers encouragement tailored to your workouts and fitness history. With customizable voices, Workout Buddy gives you specific details about your workout, like your average heart rate or mile time.

Messages and notifications

Messages on Watch share similar updates to iPhone, like Live Translation, conversation backgrounds and suggestions, like sharing your location when someone asks.

Notification noise now adapts to your ambient noise to minimize disruptions. Have your hands full? Among other actions, you can dismiss your notifications using a new wrist flick gesture.

tvOS 26

Apple TV gets the Liquid Glass enhancement too, seamlessly blending into your favorite shows or movies. Now, the Apple TV+ app includes profiles, so everyone can keep track of their viewing history.

For other forms of entertainment, you can sing along with songs from Apple Music right on your TV. Use your iPhone as a responsive microphone and jam with your friends too!

macOS Tahoe 26

Design enhancements

The upcoming version of macOS includes a transparent menu bar for a seamless screen and glimmers of Liquid Glass throughout. The menu bar and control center offer numerous new customizations to fit the experience to your workflows.

Speaking of customization, organize your files with folder colors and emoji and set a cohesive color theme and background for your device.

Continuity

The barrier between your Mac and iPhone continues to blur with new Continuity features. Live Activities, new on Mac, appear in the menu bar. Click on the activity to see full details mirrored from your iPhone.

Make phone calls from your Mac with the new Phone app, sporting the familiar features from iPhone.

Spotlight

Spotlight was first announced at WWDC in 2004, quickly becoming the simplest way to search your Mac. This year, it gets its biggest update ever with intelligent searches and actions. Spotlight uses context to suggest files based on your behavior or search for features in your current feature-heavy app. You can also take action using plain text, like taking a screenshot or sending an email.

Create Quick Keys to streamline common actions or launch apps that are only on iPhone with iPhone Mirroring. Want to paste something from many command-c's ago? Spotlight now has a clipboard history for more flexible pasting.

visionOS 26

Apple Vision Pro continues to “blend digital content with physical world.” Supporting 180°, 360° and wide field-of-view content from Insta360, GoPro and Canon, you can relive your thrilling experience all over again. Personas got an upgrade too as they look more true to life.

Enterprises benefit from collaboration and security tools and Enterprise APIs. Employees can easily share Vision Pro devices and save their credentials on their iPhones to quickly log in and customize their experience. Workers in the same room can collaborate with shared spatial experiences, and spatial accessories like a spatial pen open the door for new workflows. And with the Protected Content API, confidential info stays locked away.

iPadOS 26

It’s easier to record high-quality audio and video from your iPad. Select your audio input from a new input selector, use voice isolation from any app or record studio-quality vocals with your AirPods.

Use local capture to record your audio and video from any video conferencing app for the highest quality recording.

Computational-heavy tasks like video export can run in the background. Keep track of its progress with a Live Activity.

Conclusion

WWDC tends to showcase new features that improve the user experience with powerful tooling — this year was no exception. Built with privacy and security in mind, these upcoming features are set to improve the way we work and collaborate.

Keep an eye on our blog for more WWDC updates for education and commercial organizations!