Apple announced new ‘Liquid Glass’ software design and AI updates at WWDC

• Annual event: Apple unveiled major software updates for its products at the Worldwide Developers Conference.

• “Liquid Glass”: The iPhone’s new software design interface will feature see-through visuals that appear to have a glossy surface.

• Apple Intelligence updates: Apple is bringing language translation to phone calls and messages. The tech giant has faced delays on AI innovation while rivals have charged ahead.

• Photos and camera app: Apple is cleaning up its Photos app following an unpopular redesign last year.

• Apple users will soon be able to screen out spam texts: The company said users would be able to screen out new senders in its messaging app.

The new software updates that Apple announced today showed that the iPhone maker is keeping pace with AI tools that currently exist. But it didn’t show anything new that feels like its own fresh take on how AI can change the way people use their devics.

Remember: The annual Worldwide Developers Conference today came at a crucial time when the tech giant is under a lot of pressure to compete on AI. Apple has struggled to convince consumers and Wall Street that it’s a leader in the crucial technology, which is promised by tech executives to overhaul the way people work, communicate and find information online.

Apple announced new features today like translation of calls and messages, phone call screening, and the ability to search for items in images on your phone’s screen.

But these were some of the earliest applications of AI that arrived on Android, particularly from Google and Samsung. And while Apple is keeping pace, competitors continue to barrel ahead with new AI tools and services.

Most of the announcements Apple made on Monday won’t reach users’ devices for a few months.

Apple’s new software updates will be available in the fall, although users enrolled in Apple’s beta program can try an early version next month.

Apple is making it easier to work across multiple windows on iPad.

Now, users will be able to resize windows, and they’ll maintain that size if a user closes and reopens them. A “tiling” layout will also let users flick windows to the sides or corners of their screen, and automatically resize multiple windows at once based on what app they’re currently using. And app windows on iPad will now have recognizable icons to minimize, enlarge or close them.

Like on Mac, folders on iPad can be customized with colors or emojis. And users will now be able to select which app they want to open a file with.

The changes will make it easier for people to use iPads more like a replacement for their laptop computers.

And for content creators, iPad will also let users start and stop video recordings from a distance with their AirPods, and control voice recording quality with features such as ambient sound blocking across all apps.

Apple unveiled its latest update for its Vision Pro headset on Monday. Headset users will now have access to a new widgets app that offers useful information, such as the time or weather, at a glance. The new app will also include music and photos.

“Vision OS will also remember where you put your apps, so you can arrange your space with digital content that will be there every time you put on Vision Pro, even if you restart it,” said Mike Rockwell, Apple’s head of vision products.

Vision Pro users will also have access to apps from other companies, like Logitech and Adobe.

The headset will also have new gaming and entertainment features, including the ability for Vision Pro users to watch movies together.

PlayStation VR2 Sense controllers will also be able to sync with Vision Pro.

“Games for Vision OS, like Pickle Pro, can take advantage of the full motion tracking performance for more engaging gameplay,” Rockwell said.

Apple wants to make it easier to use your Apple Watch without having to touch its screen. The flick of your wrist could tell your Apple Watch that you want to address a notification later, mute incoming calls, silence timers and alarms or close the stack of smart widgets.

Apple Watch will also automatically note the noise in a user’s ambient environment to adjust the volume of notifications.

The messages app on the Watch will incorporate the Apple Intelligence live translation.

One of the new Apple TV features announced Monday lets users turn their TVs into a karaoke machine.

“Apple Music Sing” will allow users to sing into their iPhones, along with song lyrics being shown on their TV.

“Your iPhone becomes the mic, amplifying your voice through the TV,” said Justin Washington, a product manager at Apple. “When you’re with friends, everyone can join in using their own iPhone to add songs to the cue, react with onscreen emoji, or take a turn and sing along with their favorite artist.”

Like Apple’s other devices, MacOS is getting a “liquid glass” redesign, with a transparent upper menu bar, see-through lower apps bar and clear widgets. Users can also customize folders on the home screen with different colors and emojis.

Apple’s Phone app is coming to Mac, along with live translation and hold assist, so users can more easily work across their devices.

And Apple Intelligence is coming to Shortcuts on Mac, so users can more easily automate tasks. Now, for instance, users can set up a shortcut to automatically compare notes from a meeting to an audio recording, and add important details.

Mac’s Spotlight feature will also be able to take more actions on behalf of users across various Mac apps, such as sending an email without ever leaving the home screen.

Taken together, the Shortcuts and Spotlight updates appear to be Apple’s answer to “AI agent” offerings released by rival companies, that promise to automate more complex actions on users’ behalf.

Apple Watch is getting a new, AI-enhanced “Workout Buddy” feature.

The tool will analyze users’ exercise and fitness data, such as activity types, miles logged and pace, to make personalized recommendations.

In a demo shown during the event, a runner received personalized motivation from Workout Buddy letting them know about their average heart rate during each mile, and how many miles they’d run that year. But the company said the feature will work across various types of exercise.

Apple’s “Visual Intelligence” already let users search the web for information about images through the Camera app. But with iOS 26, visual intelligence will also let users search based on images they see on their screen.

Now, for example, if a user wants to find out about a pair of shoes they see on social media, they can tap the same buttons they would to take a screenshot, but then tap the visual intelligence icon to find information about or shop similar products online.

Visual intelligence can also automatically extract information from an online post about an event to create an event on a users’ calendar.

It seems like Apple’s alternative to Google’s Circle to Search for Android, which lets users search for an item on their phone’s screen by drawing a circle around it.

Apple is launching a Games app.

It will notify users about updates or events in games they are actively playing and recommend relevant games available.

In Apple Arcade, “subscribers can access the whole catalog and the latest updates and releases,” said Ann Thai, senior director of marketplace platforms and technologies.

The games can be played in landscape or portrait mode, and the app works with a controller.

Users can also play with their friends.

The Apple Maps new “Visited Places” feature will track which shops, restaurants, parks and other locations users have visited and let them view and search the full list, so they can remember where they’ve been.

Users will have to turn on Visited Places to use the feature, which Apple says will be end-to-end encrypted so the company won’t be able to view where users have been.

Apple Maps will also now better understand users’ preferred routes — for example, if they often stop a certain coffee shop on the way to work — and recommend those directions, alongside the quickest possible routes.

Apple announced a solution for pesky spam text messages at WWDC on Monday.

The company said users would be able to screen out new senders in its messaging app.

“Unknown senders appear in a dedicated area where you can decide if you want to mark the numbers as known, ask for more information, or delete,” said Darin Adler, a vice president at Apple. “Until you accept, messages from unknown senders will remain silenced and won’t appear as notifications.”

Apple also announced several other new messaging features, including customizable backgrounds and the capability to create in-message polls.

Apple also announced a new update that will make it easier to converse with people who speak different languages: Live translation.

“Live translation can translate conversations on the fly. It’s integrated into messages, FaceTime and phone,” said Leslie Ikemoto, an engineering director at Apple.

The new features could help Apple’s messaging platform stay competitive with those from Meta and Google. The search giant, for example, recently updated its spam text detection technology, while Meta’s WhatsApp lets users conduct polls and customize their backgrounds.

Apple users can do more than turning text description into a genmoji — they can mix together two emojis to create something new.

Genmojis are getting more customization features: changing expression, hairstyles, and others.

Users can now also make images using ChatGPT.

“Nothing is shared with ChatGPT without your permission,” said Leslie Ikemoto, Apple ‘s director of input experience.

Apple is putting users’ favorite contacts, recent calls and voicemails all on one page, along with AI-voicemail summaries, “so your most used features are right at your fingertips without having to switch views.”

The company is also improving call screening to help users gauge when a call from an unknown number may be a scammer or telemarketer. The tool will automatically answer calls from unknown numbers and obtain the caller’s name and reason for the call, and show their response in text when the phone rings.

iPhone users will also get hold assist — where the phone app will hold a users’ place in line until a live agent comes on, without requiring them to listen to annoying hold music. Google already offers similar technology.

Apple’s phone app will also be able to translate voice and FaceTime calls during conversations, following in Samsung’s footsteps.

Apple’s CarPlay is getting a refresh.

The design will be more compact while driving. There will be widgets for “quick and glanceable” information while driving, said Emily Schubert, director of car experience engineering.

Drivers can use CarPlay in light or dark mode.

All of these updates will be in “CarPlay Ultra,” which can choose the layout and design of the most important features on the screen in front of the driver, as well as controls like the internal climate control system.

With iOS 26, Apple is simplifying the Camera app.

Now, when users open the camera app, they’ll see only the two most popular modes — camera and video — although they can swipe to see panoramic or cinematic modes. And users can swipe up to see additional controls, such as camera timers.

Apple is also cleaning up its Photos app, following an unpopular redesign last year. There will now be separate tabs for users’ full camera library and their albums, instead of having them together on one long, scrolling page.

Apple is unifying the software version numbers across all its platforms.

“Our releases for the fall that will power us through the coming year 2026 will be version 26,” according to Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of software engineering.

What this means: The upcoming latest versions ofsoftware across all Apple products willend with number 26. So it will be iOS 26, watchOS 26, tvOS 26, macOS 26, visionOS 26 and iPadOS 26. That gives Apple’s software more consistency across platforms, potentially making it easier for consumers to understand whether their products are running the latest software.

Apple announced its software would be getting a makeover at WWDC on Monday.

“Today marks an exciting and beautiful new chapter for our design, one that sets the stage for our next era of our products and how you interact with them,” Alan Dye, Apple’s vice president of human interface design, said.

Apple is calling its new software design interface “Liquid Glass.” The new design will feature see-through visuals that appear to have a glossy surface.

“It beautifully retracts light and dynamically reacts to your movement with specular highlights,” Dye said.

This is the largest software design overhaul for Apple since it launched iOS 7 in 2013, Dye said.

At last year’s WWDC, Apple announced a smarter, more useful, artificial intelligence-enhanced version of Siri. But it later indefinitely delayed the launch of that new-and-improved Siri.

Now, Apple’s Senior Vice President of Software Engineering Craig Federighi says more information about the Siri upgrade is coming later this year.

“As we’ve shared, we’re continuing our work to deliver the features that make Siri even more personal,” Federighi said. “This work needed more time to reach our high quality bar, and we look forward to sharing more about it in the coming year.”

While the new Siri may not be coming right away, Apple is now opening up its on-device AI model to third-party app developers. That will mean iOS users could see more AI-enabled features on apps like Kahoot or AllTrails.

The Apple Worldwide Developers Conference is underway in the tech giant’s headquarters in Cupertino, California. The annual event is where the company announces updates to the software that runs on billions of Apple devices used worldwide.

The iPhone maker is expected to announce relatively modest updates to its Apple Intelligence suite of AI features, such as new translation capabilities, as well as changes that will affect iPhones, AirPods, Apple Watches and more.

Why this matters: Rivals have surged ahead on AI. Google, for example, announced a flurry of updates last month, including more advanced AI search, shopping and productivity capabilities. And steep AI competition aside, Apple is still having a rough year, with ongoing slow iPhone sales growth and a trade war threatening to force the company to raise prices.