Apple launched its annual conference on world developers on Monday with a range of announcements on new features to come this fall via iOS 26, its last upgrade of the operating system. The management of the pack is a new improvement in the user interface called Liquid Glass.
CEO Tim Cook and other Apple leaders used words like “Beautiful”, “magnificent” and “delicious” to describe changes on the horizon for its devices. And although they highlighted a new user interface and high application features, they also reassured users that the tools would remain familiar and accessible.
Read the rest for more details on the latest bells and whistles to come to the Apple user interface.
iOS 26, iPados 26, MacOS Tahoe 26
Apple adopts a new nomenclature to identify its operating systems, which is simpler than its previous numbering system. Rather than iOS 19, Apple’s next iPhone iPhone will be called iOS 26 to line up in the coming year. IOS 26, with iPados 26, MacOS Tahoe 26, Watchos 26 and TVOS 261, should be published as free updates in September 2025.
In addition to the new elements of detailed design below, iOS 26 will increase the capacities of existing applications, in particular FaceTime, Photos, Safari and Carplay.
There is also a splashing update of the display of the iPhone photo: with iOS 26, users will be able to display 3D images on the photo application, the lock screen and the home screen.
Apple also makes changes to its application of messages. Texters with iOS 26 will be able to change the background, or wallpaper of a cat conversation. The functionality is similar to the “Cat Theme” parameter on WhatsApp but with more options. In group cats, the points seem to indicate who type – something previously reserved for individual cats. Textters can also create and share polls directly in group messages.
SMS and call filtering will also become much easier with new screening feature.
“Unknown shippers appear in a dedicated field where you can decide if you want to mark the number as well known, ask for more information or delete until you accept the messages from unknown sender will remain silenced and will not appear as notifications,” said Darin Adler, Vice-President of Apple.
When you receive a call from an unknown number, Apple will answer the phone in silence, will record the name of the appellant and the reason for his call, then put his answer in a written message for the owner of the phone so that they can decide if they really want to resume.
There is a slight socket to keep in mind: these new iOS26 features will be reserved for iPhone 11 and subsequent models.
Design upgrades, including liquid glass
Alan Dye, vice-president of Apple’s human interface design, calls for the new operating system, the “widest design update of society of all time”.
A characteristic characteristic of the new operating system is Liquid glassDescribed by the company as an “expressive material” intended to imitate the qualities of the glass. The new dynamic interface means that the applications, widgets and documents appear translucent, allowing users to see several layers of their screen at a time.
Liquid glass also creates more movement on your interface by turning into your screen. For example, as messages appear on your home screen, time display begins to shrink to accommodate them. The color of the liquid glass also moves according to the contents of your screen and adapts between clear and dark environments.
Josh Edelson / AFP via Getty Images
“Navigation applications to system experiences such as lock screen notifications and application icons in the control center have been designed with several layers of liquid glass and come to life in clear, colorful, colorful mode, new shades, or a whole new clear look,” said Dye during the business connection on Monday.
Apple Intelligence
Apple has also provided long -awaited updates from Apple Intelligence, the company’s artificial intelligence system which is now integrated into Chatgpt. The features fed by AI arriving this fall include live translation, which automatically translates the messages by being received.
“So, if you make plans with new friends while studying abroad, your message can be translated by typing and delivered to their favorite language, and when they answer, each text can be translated instantly for you,” said Leslie Ikemoto, an engineering director at Apple at the conference on Monday.
Visual Intelligence, another AI tool, allows users to take a screenshot of an image they see online – for example, a cute sweater they meet on one of their applications – then find out where to find a similar design online. They can also ask specific questions for chatgpt on the image, such as, taking into account the example of the sweater, “what material is it done?”
Another feature is based on Apple Broad Selection of Emojis by giving users the power to combine and personalize existing emojis to create their own unique expressions. In their presentation, Apple showed how someone could merge the bulb emoji with lazy emoji to indicate that he was the last to have a joke, for example.
Always linger on Apple’s list to make AI integrations for Siri. Apple introduced updates from the vocal assistant at the conference last year, but the full level of vocal assistant upgrades has not yet taken effect. “We are continuing our work to offer the features that make Siri even more personal,” said the main vice-president of software engineering Craig Federighi on Monday. “This work needs more time to reach our high quality bar, and we are impatient to share more on this subject during the coming year.”
In a research note, Wedbush Tech analyst, Dan Ives, noted that the deployment of Apple Intelligence has been slower than expected, but also estimates that in the coming years, 25% of the world’s population will access AI via an apparatus powered by the apple.
“While many on (Wall) Street are heading for WWDC as disappointing given the slower than expected deployment of the Apple Intelligence, we do not agree with this lower story and strongly believe that this will be the start of the period of monetization of the Apple ecosystem, because the others will continue to set the bases with its new operational system update through Mac, iOS iPad and others with its update.
contributed to this report.