There are 13 biggest announcements by Apple
Overview of Apple’s 2016 Worldwide Developer Conference: New OS Updates, Multitasking, Chats, and Messages in iOS 26
There were many major updates in Apple’s annual Worldwide Developer Conference keynote. The company showed off a sleek design refresh for its operating systems, along with a mix of new features for the Apple products.
The new version numbers for each operating systems are aligned with the year after their release, rather than the version number. The new names are iOS 26, iPadOS 26, macOS 26, watchOS 26, tvOS 26, and visionOS 26. They’ll be coming out in late 2025, but still, it’s easier to remember that than iOS 19, watchOS 12, and macOS 16.
Apple is redesigning the design of its operating systems. Now they will have a new Liquid Glass theme that adds more transparency to buttons, switches, sliders, text, and media controls throughout their interfaces.
The notification previews in the lockscreen will also be changed to adopt the new look, allowing you to see your wallpaper behind all the text.
As part of its broader redesign, Apple revealed revamps for some of its core apps in iOS 26. Now, your whole screen will be taken up by webpages inSafari. The Camera app also has a simplified layout that shows you two main options — photo and video — and you can swipe on the tool bar to reveal other modes, such as Slow-Mo and Cinematic.
The phone app will be getting a layout change to combine voicemail, favorites, and recents into a single panel, while calls, contacts, and keyboard remain on the bottom of the app.
A major update to iPad OS 26 will make multitasking easier. New windowing capabilities will let you resize app windows, place them around your display, and open more windows at once. It’s also adding a more precise mouse pointer and a new menu bar, allowing you to swipe down on an app to view various options and commands. All of it looks a lot like a Mac.
In Messages, iOS 26 is adding a lot of updates that could significantly improve group chats. It is possible to change the background of the chat to give it more personality. Polls can help make group decisions or get an opinion on something. It has been a long time since Apple added typing indicators to group chats.
Games, Games, and Other Features for Apple Vision Pro and the Next Mac OS Software Update: Spotlight, Width flick, and Workout Buddy
Apple revealed a new Games app that will let you access all of your Apple Arcade games and discover new ones from a single spot. The Play Together option is available to challenge friends, as well as the Library tab, where you can view the games you’ve downloaded from the App Store.
The next macOS software update will introduce an upgrade to Spotlight that will make your search results more relevant with personalization and filtering options to help you search for specific files, folders, apps, and messages. It also allows you to send an email or make a note.
The Apple Vision Pro will support PlayStation’s VR2 Sense controllers in visionOS 26, which will let you play a wider variety of virtual-reality games. A scrolling feature that lets users navigate apps by looking up or down is one of the new features that Apple is bringing to Apple Vision Pro.
You can use the same buttons you would use to take a picture in the new Apple Intelligence feature. You can ask questions about what you are looking at on your screen with the assistance of a chatGpt or search for similar images on the internet.
Along with the Liquid Glass design language, Apple is bringing a new “wrist flick” gesture to watchOS 26 that you can use to dismiss notifications. The Apple Watch will also have a new work out Buddy which will give you personalized advice.
What You Can Expect from Apple 26: Expectations for Later Releases of iOS AI–Powered Apps and a Glass Liquid Glass
Apple is adding an Apple Intelligence-powered feature that can translate text on your screen and translate speech back and forth in the middle of a phone call. The company is building the feature into Messages, FaceTime, and the Phone app, and Apple says its models for Live Translation run entirely on your device for privacy.
Users of the device will be able to take a photo using the stem of their earbuds, Apple said at the time. It’s also working on a new feature that lets users record “studio-quality” vocals in noisy areas with voice isolation. The features will come to the AirPods 4, AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation, and AirPods Pro 2.
Though Apple’s keynote was a bit light on AI news, the company announced that it will let third-party app developers access the on-device large language model used by Apple Intelligence, allowing them to create tools of their own.
Here’s a bit more detail on what you can expect from iOS 26 when it releases for everyone this fall. If you want to try it out before the public, Apple launched a developer alpha and will make a public alpha available in July.
It seems like Liquid Glass will bring changes to your operating system, from your home screen to the Control Center. Tab bars shrink and expand as you scroll up and down because of Liquid Glass.
A Look at Apple Intelligence: Call Screening, Hold Assist, and Layout Mixing in the Pre-S Siri Era
Apple is taking some cues from Google by adding a call screening feature and a “Hold Assist” feature that can wait on a call for you. The company is also adding a new unified layout option that combines Favorites, Recents, and Voicemails all into one view.
Even though we are still waiting for Apple to say when it will release its delayed improvements to Siri, Apple Intelligence will include some new features. You can use visual intelligence to do searches and take action on things you see. You can combine two items into one with Genmoji. And Shortcuts will be able to use Apple Intelligence models to improve your workflows.
