Apple WWDC: Everything Apple announced including Liquid Glass

Tech giant Apple announced a slew of platform operating system updates with a makeover of its software design interface called “Liquid Glass”.

Apple announced updates for iOS 26, macOS Tahoe 26, tvOS 26, watchOS 26, visionOS 26, and more.

Pressure was on Apple to show it hasn’t lost its magic despite broken promises to ramp up iPhones with generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) as rivals race ahead with the technology.

The Cupertino company on Monday showcased plans for its coveted devices and the software powering them at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in Silicon Valley.

However, most of the announcements Apple made won’t reach users’ devices for a few months.

Liquid Glass

Alan Dye, Apple’s vice president of human interface design, announced that the company’s software would be getting a makeover.

“Today marks an exciting and beautiful new chapter for our design, one that sets the stage for our next era of our products and how you interact with them.”

A feature of the new OS is Liquid Glass, described by the company as an “expressive material” meant to mimic the qualities of glass.

The dynamic new interface makes apps, widgets, and docs appear translucent, allowing users to see multiple layers of their screen at once.

 “It beautifully retracts light and dynamically reacts to your movement with specular highlights. This is the largest software design overhaul for Apple since it launched iOS 7 in 2013,” Dye said.

“From navigating apps to system experiences like the lock screen notifications and control centre app icons have been crafted with multiple layers of Liquid Glass and come to life in light mode, dark mode, colourful, new tints, or an all-new clear look,” said Dye.

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Siri

Apple CEO Tim Cook briefly mentioned that Siri’s AI makeover was still under development and “needed more time to meet our high quality bar,” which includes Apple’s standards on privacy and data security.

“We are making progress, and we look forward to getting these features into customers’ hands,” he added.

Apple Intelligence

The biggest AI announcement was the company confirming plans to open the Apple Intelligence foundation models to developers.

This will allow app creators to write their own software and features using the underlying Apple Intelligence technology.

Apple also rolled out live call translation and the ability to merge two existing emojis into a new image in Apple’s Genmoji feature.

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Games

Apple said more than half a billion people play games on the iPhone. To serve its fan base, the company redesigned the game experience in a new app called, simply, Games.

The iPhone received a revamped Phone app that integrates voicemails, recent calls and favourite contacts in one view.

watch OS

Apple previewed watchOS 26, offering a new look. A new design with Liquid Glass makes features like the Smart Stack, Control Center, the Photos watch face, and in-app navigation and controls more expressive, while maintaining the instant familiarity of watchOS.

tvOS

Apple’s Liquid Glass also comes to Apple TV. The most striking change is a glassy, see-through menu that lets you change settings without blocking as much of the on-screen visuals.

visionOS

Apple still thinks people really do want to wear its bulky, heavy headset around their homes. It was a fad at one time until the reality of how ridiculous it looked making gestures in the air while crossing the street.

It’s now spatial widgets — virtual objects like digital photos, calendars, and “Now Playing” Apple Music cards that you can plonk onto your real-world surroundings.

MacOS

Apple’s new desktop operating system is called macOS Tahoe. It also incorporates the Liquid Glass aesthetic, with a completely free-floating menu bar at the top of the screen.

There are some fun enhancements. Live Activities is a new menu-bar shortcut that can sync with apps running on desktop or your phone, alerting you to upcoming meetings or keeping track of your incoming Uber Eats orders.

Maps

Apple is also introducing a number of features that have long been available in competitors like Google Maps. A “Visited Places” feature in maps keeps track of the places you’ve been, complete with photos taken there.

This is entirely opt-in, so you have to turn it on, and your location history stays encrypted on your device. It’s basically Google Maps’ Timeline feature but just for Apple people, Wired reported.

CarPlay

Some additional updates to Apple’s CarPlay software were announced today. The next CarPlay adds customisable widgets and better screening for incoming calls. You can also tap a button to respond to texts with emoji while you’re driving.

Users first saw some CarPlay updates last month when Apple partnered with Aston Martin. These updates come at a time when carmakers are starting to embrace physical buttons again, given that lots of people seem to hate the touchscreens in their cars.

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