WWDC 2025 is just one week away, with Apple's opening keynote scheduled to begin on Monday, June 9 at 10 a.m. Pacific Time.
Apple will announce its latest software updates, including iOS 26, iPadOS 26, macOS 26, tvOS 26, watchOS 26, and visionOS 26, which are all rumored to feature a sleek new glass-like design. There might not be any hardware announcements, however, as Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said that Apple has no major new devices ready to ship.
Below, we recap key iOS 26 rumors to know about as the developer conference nears.
The first beta of iOS 26 should be seeded to developers immediately after the WWDC keynote, and the update is expected to be released in September.
New Design With Floating Tab Bar
iOS 26 is expected to introduce a new design that looks more like the visionOS operating system on the Apple Vision Pro headset.
According to Front Page Tech's Jon Prosser, iOS 26 will have a glass-like appearance, with added translucency for menus, buttons, and more. He also expects a new floating tab bar to be shown at the bottom of some of Apple's built-in apps.
Bloomberg's Mark Gurman also expects iOS 26 to have a visionOS-like design, and he said the design changes would be the biggest since iOS 7.
The design changes should extend to iPadOS 26, macOS 26, watchOS 26, and tvOS 26.
Stage Manager for iPhones
In April, a leaker known as Majin Bu claimed that iOS 26 will enable support for at least a limited version of Stage Manager on iPhone models with a USB-C port.
In a blog post citing sources, the leaker said that when an iPhone with a USB-C port is connected to an external display, users will be able to take advantage of a Stage Manager-like interface with multiple apps open at once on the screen. However, he said that there might be more limitations compared to Stage Manager on iPads.
iPhone models with a USB-C port include all iPhone 15 models and newer.
iPhones with both Lightning and USB-C ports can already be connected to external displays, but only for basic screen mirroring.
New Battery Mode
iOS 26 will include a new AI-powered battery management mode for all iPhone models that are compatible with the software update, according to Gurman. He said this enhancement will "analyze how a person uses their device and make adjustments to conserve energy," paving the way for longer battery life.
End-to-End Encryption for RCS
In March, Apple said that it plans to add support for end-to-end encrypted RCS messages to the Messages app in future iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and watchOS software updates. That likely means iOS 26, macOS 26, and other corresponding updates.
Apple promising end-to-end encryption for RCS messages indirectly confirms that it will be adopting the RCS Universal Profile 3.0 specification, which also includes several iMessage-like enhancements that were originally introduced in version 2.7 of the specification. iOS 18 supports RCS Universal Profile 2.4.
Here are five new capabilities to expect for RCS conversations on iOS 26:
- End-to-end encryption, which will prevent Apple and any other third party from being able to read messages and attachments while they are being sent between devices
- In-line replies
- Edit messages
- Unsend messages
- Full-fledged Tapback support for RCS messages, ensuring they always work
iMessage conversations with blue bubbles have supported end-to-end encryption by default since iOS 5. In addition, iMessage has supported in-line replies since iOS 14, while the options to edit and unsend iMessages were introduced with iOS 16.
Apple has not indicated which iOS version will upgrade RCS, but iOS 26 or a follow-up update like iOS 26.1 or iOS 26.2 seems like a safe bet.
New Accessibility Features
Last month, Apple previewed new accessibility features that are expected to debut across iOS 26 and other software updates.
An overview of some of the new features:
- Accessibility Nutrition Labels in the App Store, which will highlight accessibility features within apps and games.
- Apple is expanding its Magnifier app to the Mac, allowing users to connect an iPhone or USB camera to zoom in and read text on objects around them.
- Vehicle Motion Cues are expanding to the Mac, to reduce motion sickness in a vehicle.
- A new system-wide Accessibility Reader tool on the iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Vision Pro will make text easier to read for users with low vision or dyslexia. The feature will give users new ways to customize text and focus on content they want to read, with extensive options for font, color, and spacing.
- Live Captions are coming to the Apple Watch, allowing users to read a transcription of what their iPhone hears on their wrist.
- An enhanced Zoom feature on the Apple Vision Pro will allow users to magnify everything in view, including their surroundings, using the device's main camera.
- Braille Access will turn the iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Vision Pro into a full-featured braille note taker.
- Personal Voice will become faster and easier to use, thanks to advancements in on-device machine learning and artificial intelligence. Apple says the feature will be able to create a smoother, more natural-sounding replication of your voice in less than a minute, using only 10 recorded phrases.
- CarPlay will support the Large Text option, and Sound Recognition will be able to identify a crying baby and sirens passing by.
Live Translate With AirPods
At least some AirPods models will be getting a new live translation feature with iOS 26 and an accompanying firmware update, according to Gurman.
Here is how that feature will work, according to his report:
The capability will work like this: If an English speaker is hearing someone talk in Spanish, the iPhone will translate the speech and relay it to the user's AirPods in English. The English speaker's words, meanwhile, will be translated into Spanish and played back by the iPhone.
Google already offers a similar Live Translate feature.
He also said that iOS 26 will have bolstered translation capabilities, which likely means improvements are coming to the Apple Translate app.
