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The WWDC 2025 keynote ran for just over an hour and a half. For those of you who don’t fancy sitting through the whole presentation, we’ve pulled out the key things you need to know from the latest Apple event.
1. Welcome to the 26 club
Apple has unified the version numbers of its platforms, making updates simpler by using the full year they’ll be officially available as the numerical moniker.
It will make it easier to see if you’re running the latest software across all your devices – no more iOS 18 on your iPhone and watchOS 11 on your Apple Watch.
It means Apple’s entire fleet of platforms which were announced during WWDC 20205 will adopt the ’26’ version number, giving us iOS 26, iPadOS 26, macOS 26, watchOS 26, tvOS 26 and visionOS 26.
2. What on earth is Liquid Glass?
With its latest updates, Apple has ushered in its biggest redesign since iOS 7 back in 2013. Yes, we’ve really been looking at the same overall design on Apple devices for more than a decade.
Apple’s new design language is named ‘Liquid Glass’, and as you might guess transparency has been included in the new design which can be seen in the video Tim Cook has posted below.
Elements which appear over the top of what you’re viewing on screen – such as pulling down the notifications bar on iPhone – will create a distorted effect as it rolls down the display, much like it you slide a sheet of glass over the phone.
The new design language is found throughout the operating systems, from lock screens and home screens, to app icons, playback controls and within apps themselves.
3. More Intelligence
New features for Apple Intelligence have been introduced with the new platforms, the first of which is Live Translation.
This allows for real-time translation in a variety of apps. In Messages on iPhone, iPad, Mac and Watch, your texts can be automatically translated into the receiver’s native language, and their responses will be translated back so you can read them.
FaceTime gets live translated subtitles, so you can read what the other person is saying, even if you don’t speak their language. And finally real-time translation is being added in the Phone app for calls, with a digital voice providing a translation of your speech.
The Phone and FaceTime translations initially will be available for one-on-one calls only, in English (UK, U.S.), French (France), German, Portuguese (Brazil), and Spanish (Spain).
Meanwhile, you can now perform intelligent actions in Shortcuts for iPhone, iPad, Mac. You can prompt Apple Intelligence to summarize text, create images, compare your notes to a recording, tap into models to provide responses, and more.
iPhone users will also be treated to a new visual intelligence feature in iOS 26. Take a screenshot and new Apple Intelligence options will appear the the bottom of the screen. It’ll be able to scan the screen for event details and generate a calendar entry, or search the web for that jacket you like in an Instagram post, without having to leave the app you’re currently in.
However, Apple also mentioned the advanced Siri features it announced last year still need more time to be developed. We will apparently find out more about these later this year.
4. Enhanced calling and messaging
The Phone and Messages apps have been given a major overhaul with the new updates, available on iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watch.
New features have been added to the Phone app, including Call Screening which will help to filter out spam calls, and Hold Assist which will keep your place in a call queue, notifying you when you’re at the front.
Meanwhile Messages gets a new screening features which sees messages from unknown contacts removed from your main conversation view and hidden in a separate area, plus you will now be able to add backgrounds to any conversations and create polls in group chats.
5. The biggest iPad update ever
If you own an iPad, then you’re in for a treat as iPadOS 26 is the biggest update Apple has ever released for its line of slates.
There are a raft of new features, including a new multi-tasking windowing system which is similar to that on macOS 26, making it much easier to view multiple applications at once, with the ability to resize windows and move them around the display.
Another macOS style feature which has been added to iPad is the Menu Bar, available at any point by swiping down from the top of your iPad’s display. It will give you quick access to contextual commands and shortcuts.
The Files app has been redesigned (for iPadOS and iOS), making file management far more intuitive. You can choose different colors for folder icons, and even add emoji to them. Meanwhile, Apple’s added the Preview app to iPadOS 26, allowing you to open and edit PDFs.
And some iPads from as far back as 2018 are in line to get the update later this year. If you want to check if your iPad will get the upgrade, here’s the full list of iPadOS 26 supported devices.
6. Spotlight on Mac
On macOS 26 (as known as macOS Tahoe), Spotlight has been given its biggest ever update with Apple Intelligence integration.
This means you’ll be able to perform actions directly from the search bar by typing commands. For example, you’ll be able to compose and send messages from the Spotlight bar, with ‘quick keys’ allowing you to easily initiate a new action. The demo we were shown saw the message composition action enabled simply by typing ‘sm’ into Spotlight.
Also with macOS Tahoe, your clipboard history will be stored in Spotlight, allowing you to easily return to something you copied earlier in the day, or earlier in the week.
7. visionOS gets a memory
Apple’s Vision Pro headset also gets in on the update action with the arrival of visionOS 26. A feature which caught our eye was Widgets, with the ability for you to place a virtual widget – such a clock, calendar, photo or weather tile – somewhere in your physical room.
In the picture above, that’s not a real clock on the wall, it’s a visionOS widget. And what’s more, visionOS 26 will remember your widget placements, so come back to your headset the next day and the widgets will be in the same place around your room.
The new software also lets you setup a workspace with apps and programs in specific places, allowing you to pick up where you left off the day before, without the need to re-open and shift windows around.
8. CarPlay and tvOS also get a makeover
Every aspect of Apple’s software platforms were touched during the WWDC 2025 keynote, and that included CarPlay which gets its own Liquid Glass makeover via the iOS 26 update on iPhone.
Apple’s has also enhanced its CarPlay widgets and added live activities, providing you with more glanceable information while you’re driving.
And finally, Apple TV also gets a refresh with tvOS 26 bringing in the new design language and adding a karaoke mode for the Music app which sees you use your iPhone as the microphone, playing your voice through the TV.
