Apple's annual developer conference has come to a close for 2025, and WWDC was packed with announcements right from the start of Monday's keynote. As expected, we got a unified numbering scheme across Apple's platforms, as well as a redesign that makes for a more cohesive experience.
Alongside the redesigns, all of Apple's operating systems are also seeing a host of feature additions and improvements, and developers are able to access beta versions now to help get their apps ready for a public release of the new operating system versions later this year. Read on below for a high-level overview of Apple's WWDC announcements!
Everything Apple Announced at WWDC 2025 in 10 Minutes
At this week's WWDC 2025 keynote event, Apple unveiled a new design that will inform the next decade of iOS, iPadOS, and macOS development, so needless to say, it was a busy day. Apple also unveiled a ton of new features for the iPhone, an overhauled Spotlight interface for the Mac, and a ton of updates that make the iPad more like a Mac than ever before.
Apple's event lasted for an hour and a half, but we've recapped all of the announcements in a 10-minute video, just in case you don't want to sit through the entire spiel. We've also rounded up all of our coverage from the day, so you can dive deeper into any of the new features, while Dan and Hartley sat down with Kevin Nether at Apple Park for an on-location episode of The MacRumors Show discussing Apple's announcements.
Apple Announces iOS 26 With 'Liquid Glass' Design, Live Translation, Overhauled Phone App, and More
Apple at WWDC announced iOS 26, introducing a comprehensive visual redesign built around its new "Liquid Glass" concept, alongside expanded Apple Intelligence capabilities, updates to core communication apps, and more.
Liquid Glass is a translucent material that reflects and refracts surroundings to create dynamic, responsive interface elements, according to Apple. The new design language transforms the Lock Screen, where the time fluidly adapts to available space in wallpapers, and spatial scenes add 3D effects when users move their iPhone. Meanwhile, app icons and widgets gain new customization options, including a striking clear appearance.
Apple Unveils macOS Tahoe With Liquid Glass Design, Phone App, Live Translation, and More
Apple this week announced macOS Tahoe 26 at WWDC 2025, introducing a striking visual redesign alongside expanded Apple Intelligence capabilities and new Continuity features that further integrate Mac and iPhone workflows.
Similar to iOS 26, macOS Tahoe updates center around what Apple calls a "gorgeous new design" built with Liquid Glass, a translucent material that reflects surrounding elements. The Dock, sidebars, and toolbars have been refined to emphasize content, while a completely transparent menu bar makes displays feel larger. Users gain extensive personalization options, including colorful app icon tints, customizable folder colors with emoji symbols, and enhanced Control Center layouts.
Apple Announces watchOS 26 With Liquid Glass Design, Workout Buddy, and Smart Stack Intelligence
Apple announced watchOS 26 at WWDC, carrying over the "Liquid Glass" design language from iOS 26 to the wrist while delivering a new AI-powered fitness feature called Workout Buddy and updated Smart Stack functionality.
Liquid Glass uses real-time rendering to create translucent interface elements that reflect and refract content. The design appears across Smart Stack widgets, Control Center, notifications, and in-app navigation. The Photos watch face also receives numerals made of Liquid Glass, showing more of users' photos through the display.
Workout Buddy uses Apple Intelligence to analyze workout data and fitness history, providing spoken motivation during exercise sessions, while the Smart Stack adds a hints feature using contextual data, sensor information, and routine patterns for actionable suggestions. These appear as visual prompts on the display, such as Backtrack in remote locations or workout suggestions when arriving at fitness locations.
tvOS 26 Adds These New Features to Your Apple TV
Apple this week announced tvOS 26, which is now available in developer beta. The upcoming software update includes a handful of new features for the Apple TV, although some of the changes are only available on newer models.
The most obvious change is the new Liquid Glass design, which was also introduced across iOS 26, iPadOS 26, macOS 26, and watchOS 26. The new design language includes shimmery app icons, and translucent elements that reflect colors. The new design is only visible on the Apple TV 4K (2nd generation) and Apple TV 4K (3rd generation).
Other new features in tvOS 26 include an optional new user profile selection screen at wake-up, the ability to use an iPhone as a microphone for Apple Music Sing, FaceTime improvements, new Aerial screen savers, and more.
visionOS 26 Announced With Spatial Widgets, Shared Experiences, Enhanced Personas, and More
Apple at WWDC announced visionOS 26, bringing spatial widgets, dramatically improved Personas, and new collaborative experiences to Apple Vision Pro users.
Apple says the update transforms widgets into spatial objects that integrate seamlessly into users' physical environments. These customizable widgets — including Clock, Weather, Music, and Photos — offer unique interactions and persist in space each time users don Vision Pro. Users can decorate their surroundings with panoramas, spatial photos, distinctive clock faces, and quick access to Apple Music playlists. The new Widgets app helps discover compatible widgets from iOS and iPadOS apps, according to Apple.
Elsewhere, Personas receive their most significant upgrade yet, leveraging volumetric rendering and machine learning for striking expressivity and sharpness. The enhanced avatars now display full side profiles with remarkably accurate hair, lashes, and complexion details.
MacRumors Newsletter
Each week, we publish an email newsletter like this highlighting the top Apple stories, making it a great way to get a bite-sized recap of the week hitting all of the major topics we've covered and tying together related stories for a big-picture view.
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Top Rated Comments
Tim Cook has somehow managed to reverse the roles of Android and iOS. While Android evolves and becomes simpler to use — sometimes even offering fewer options than iOS — iOS keeps getting more complex. This is all driven by Cook’s “features, features, features” approach.
I want to go back, strip away the bloat, and make iOS dead simple to use again. Most of these features could be provided by third-party apps, allowing us to have a lean and efficient core OS that focuses on stability and usability.
But that won’t happen until Tim steps down.
Neither the notifications nor the chat screen are actually readable. They want to force users to use Siri^H^HApple Intelligence to read them the text?
Or I guess we should all just express ourselves with stickers. Those seem to still be readable. Unless they make them translucent in the final version.
First, on the lock screen where the background shines through blurred, is a huge problem if the background happens to be pretty white. White text on a white (even blurred) background, will not be visible. You have to darken the background at least somewhat to compensate for the possibility of a very white background (although they do do that in macOS, generally), and they are not doing that here.
Second, the app icons being essentially black and white + transparency, loses a ton of very important visual information to easily identify apps, and will require more inspection when a user is attempting to identify the app they wish to launch. Black and white was dropped a long time ago for a very good reason, and we shouldn't return to that.
Transparency inherently looks nice (Microsoft tried it in Windows Vista/7), but there are many problems with it, and it's always a tremendous resource hog compared to an opaque background. Ill-advised, and definitely form over function.
??
I don't mind what they do as long as there is a way to turn it off.