Liquid Glass, AI Hype, and other WWDC 2025 stories

Every June, Apple hosts WWDC, its big software showcase for the year. As a product designer, watching the live stream and digging into the details isn’t just a habit; it’s part of the job. And this year, Apple didn’t just tweak a few things. It overhauled nearly everything.

Before we dive into the big reveals, here’s a quiet but essential change: Apple is now aligning the version numbers across all its platforms. From now on, it’ll simply use the last two digits of the year. So this year, we get iOS 26, iPadOS 26, macOS Tahoe 26, watchOS 26, and so on. It’s tidy, consistent, and long overdue.

Liquid Glass: A bold new look for everything

Let’s start with the star of the show: Liquid Glass.

This new design language is more than just visual flair. It marks Apple’s most cohesive aesthetic move in years, bringing the depth and fluidity of visionOS to everything from iPhone to CarPlay. As a product designer, this is massive. The translucency, dynamic blur, and motion-driven interactions offer a whole new design vocabulary. I’m already thinking about how Todoist might embrace this, especially with richer widget animations and immersive UI moments.

The update reaches far and wide. Camera and Photos feel fresh and current. Widgets now animate in ways that feel both practical and joyful. It genuinely feels like we’ve entered a new phase in Apple’s visual storytelling.

iOS 26: Smarter Messages, cooler calls, and a few question marks

Messages finally got polls, which will breathe new life into group chats. But the real showstoppers were Live Translation, Hold Assist, and Call Screening. You can translate a conversation in real time, have your phone wait on hold for you, or screen unknown callers with auto-generated responses. It all looked brilliant in the demos.

Here’s the catch: many of these features won’t be available everywhere. I’m still waiting on iPhone Mirroring in my region, so I’m cautiously optimistic. Until more features roll out globally, it’s tough to fully buy into the magic.

Photos introduced a new way to create 3D "pop-out" wallpapers, which is surprisingly fun. There’s also a new Games app that brings together Arcade titles, leaderboards, and social elements in one place. It’s a nice consolidation, if not exactly groundbreaking.

macOS Tahoe 26: Spotlight steals the show

The Mac finally joins the Liquid Glass club. macOS Tahoe feels cleaner, more fluid, and a lot more unified. The menu bar gently fades into the wallpaper, windows have that extra bit of depth, and everything just feels more polished.

But the real standout is Spotlight. It’s now faster, context-aware, and a whole lot more capable. If it reminded you of Raycast, you're not alone. I couldn't help but think: why hasn’t Apple just acquired Raycast at this point? It feels like the natural evolution of what Spotlight wants to be. Still, for now, I’ll be sticking with Raycast—it’s still the obvious choice for power users.

Siri also got a bump in usefulness, and while it’s not mind-blowing, the combination of visual and functional improvements makes the Mac feel fresher than it has in years.

iPadOS 26: Multitasking, meet Mac thinking

iPadOS 26 is the closest thing we’ve had to a true leap forward in years. The new Multitasking experience is a genuine game changer. It’s smoother, more intuitive, and finally feels like it was designed with power users in mind.

Even more interesting is the new File menu, complete with traffic light buttons. Yes, the red-yellow-green window buttons have made their way to the iPad. It’s a small detail that signals a big shift. With each release, the iPad edges closer to Mac territory—and at this point, the line between them is getting seriously blurry.

If you use an iPad for work, this update will likely reshape how you interact with apps and manage your space. For me, this was one of the most exciting updates of the entire keynote.

watchOS 12: Hands-free control and workouts that coach back

Apple Watch got a subtle but futuristic upgrade. New gesture controls let you flick your wrist or pinch your fingers to interact with the watch. No screen taps needed. It feels intuitive and effortless.

Workout Buddy is a new AI-powered coach that can adapt to your pace, play motivating songs, and even prompt you to recover when you’re done. It’s Fitness+ reimagined for your wrist. That said, I couldn't help but laugh—Fitness+ still isn’t available to my Greek Apple ID, despite being an Apple One subscriber for years. Some things truly remain timeless.

Finally, there’s a Notes app, along with accessibility improvements like Live Captions and remote listening support.

CarPlay, tvOS, and visionOS: Small features that make a big impact

CarPlay adds widgets, message pinning, and Tapbacks. Thanks to the new design language, it looks sharper and behaves more like the rest of the Apple ecosystem.

tvOS 26 introduces karaoke mode (yes, really), richer user profiles, and iPhone-as-a-mic functionality.

Then there’s visionOS 26, which adds persistent spatial widgets and support for PSVR2 controllers. I’m not a Vision Pro user (yet... 🤔), but one new feature genuinely piqued my interest. Seamless switching now allows multiple users to share the same headset and instantly jump into their own personalized setup—apps, settings, environments, the works. This could be a real turning point for Vision Pro’s practicality, especially if it becomes a shared device in households.

Apple Intelligence: A promising direction, but not quite there yet

Apple’s full-court press on AI is branded as Apple Intelligence. It’s everywhere: suggesting replies, summarizing content, organizing your files, and even helping with coding. The best part? It’s all on-device, so your data stays private.

But let’s be real. It’s early days. While the features looked polished on stage, I’m not convinced they’ll feel indispensable right away. That said, Apple opening its language model to developers is a huge deal. It’s the kind of move that could lead to smarter, privacy-respecting features across the app ecosystem. In the AI arms race, this might just be Apple’s quiet power play.

Should you care?

This wasn’t just another round of minor updates. Apple redefined the look and feel of its entire ecosystem, and that’s exciting. The design shift is not only beautiful, it’s meaningful. The AI ambitions may still be finding their footing, but empowering developers to build on it is a step in the right direction.

Public betas are coming next month. I won’t be installing them on my main devices (hard lessons learned), but I’ve got a few test units waiting in the wings. Maybe I’ll do a follow-up article on that.

In the meantime, I’ll be keeping a close eye on what unfolds. WWDC 2025 didn’t just give us new features. It gave us a glimpse of where Apple wants to take the entire experience next.