Apple WWDC 2025: iOS 26, macOS Tahoe 26 And More Announced With Liquid Glass Design, Live Translation, Other Apple Intelligence Features

Apple Inc. AAPL is back with its annual developer conference, where the company announced a major design overhaul and new Apple Intelligence features with the iOS 26, macOS Tahoe 26, iPadOS 26 and more.

What Happened: At the ongoing Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), Apple announced Liquid Glass, its new material design. The Cupertino giant also revealed a major overhaul to its applications, CarPlay and more.

Here’s What’s New With iOS 26

Liquid Glass

Liquid Glass is the Cupertino Giant's new design language, which dynamically reacts to movement and offers a translucent material effect. It refracts to its surroundings, aimed at offering better focus on content.

It combines the optical qualities of glass with a fluidity only Apple can achieve, as it transforms depending on your content or context. It lays the foundation for new experiences in the future and, ultimately, it makes even the simplest of interactions more fun and magical," said Alan Dye, Apple's vice president of Human Interface Design.

The Liquid Glass design extends from elements like the buttons, media controls, and sliders to larger functions such as the lock screen, home screen and the control centre.

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App Design

Apple has also overhauled the app design, redesigning controls, toolbars and even navigation within the apps.

The new phone app offers a combined layout for recent and voicemails.

Apple also announced call screening, a much-awaited feature for iOS. Automated Screening will automatically answer calls from unknown numbers and ask for their name and the reason for calling, before passing the call to the user.

Messages has also received its share of updates, allowing you to add custom backgrounds to convos. Group Chats have received the ability to hold polls, with AI also stepping in and suggesting polls when needed.

Group Chats have also received features such as typing indicators and the ability to send and request Apple Cash.

You will be able to create new emojis by merging two emojis with Genmoji and Image Playground will let you make images with OpenAI's ChatGPT.

Live Translation

Apple is also adding live translation powered by Apple Intelligence with iOS 26. This can translate conversations on the go, using on-device models. It can translate conversations in FaceTime Calls, phone or messages.

Developers will be able to add Live Translation to their apps using an API.

CarPlay

iOS 26 brings widgets with Apple CarPlay. The widgets developed for the iPhone now also work with CarPlay and CarPlay Ultra. CarPlay Ultra, which is currently limited to select Aston Martin cars, brings car controls to the CarPlay experience.

Maps, Music And Wallet

In addition to Live Translate, iOS 26 also brings Lyrics Translation and Lyrics Pronunciation.

Apple Maps comes with a new Visited Places feature that helps users remember places they have been to. Users will be able to enable this feature, allowing Maps to detect when they visit a restaurant or a cafe and add it.

Wallet will soon get the ability to add car keys from over 20 brands. Users will also be able to pay with rewards or in installments when making in-store purchases with Apple Pay using an iPhone.

The Wallet app also brings a major update for travellers, allowing them to add their boarding pass to get real-time updates on Live Activities.

iPhones That Will Get The iOS 26 Update

• iPhone 16e
• iPhone 16 and 16 Plus
• iPhone 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max
• iPhone 15 and 15 Plus
• iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max
• iPhone 14 and 14 Plus
• iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max
• iPhone 13 and 13 mini
• iPhone 13 Pro and 13 Pro Max
• iPhone 12 and 12 mini
• iPhone 12 Pro and 12 Pro Max
• iPhone 11
• iPhone 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max
• iPhone SE (2nd gen and later)

The Developer Beta for iOS 26 will be available today, with a public launch this fall.

macOS Tahoe 26

To begin with, the macOS Tahoe 26 brings in the new Liquid Glass UI elements, offering new app icons in the dock, new control centre and more.

macOS Tahoe 26 brings the phone app to the Mac for the first time, allowing users to access contacts, voicemails and recent calls right from the Mac.

Spotlight Search has been revamped, offering results from files, apps, folders and more into a single combined view for easier access.

Live Activities, such as flight tracking from your iPhone, will now also be visible on your Mac with the new update.

Live Translation will be available in messages, phone and FaceTime with the macOS Tahoe 26.

For gamers, the new Games app will offer a place to view all your current games and track your friends' gaming progress. The update also brings a new overlay while gaming, allowing users access to chat and settings without having to leave the screen.

iPadOS 26

Apple has also announced iPadOS 26, the new software for its iPad. While iOS 26 gets the bulk of the features, iPadOS 26 has received its fair share of updates.

iPadOS 26 also brings the new Liquid Glass design, offering a similar experience to the iPhone.

iPadOS 26 comes with a new windowing system, which allows users to easily switch between app windows. This allows users to resize app windows, open multiple app windows at once, and even resize app windows.

In a first for the iPad, iPadOS 26 brings a new Menu bar, allowing users to access the commands available in an app by swiping down from the top of the display.

The Live Translation feature will be available in messages, phone and FaceTime with iPadOS 26.

iPad OS 26 is now available in developer beta, with the public launch this fall.

iPad Models That Will Get The iOS 26 update

• iPad Pro (M4)
• iPad Pro 12.9-inch (3rd gen and later)
• iPad Pro 11-inch (1st gen and later)
• iPad Air (M2 and later)
• iPad Air (3rd gen and later)
• iPad (A16)
• iPad (8th gen and later)
• iPad mini (5th gen and later)

watchOS 26

The watchOS 26 comes with the Liquid Glass Design and a new flagship feature, the Workout Buddy, an Apple Intelligence-powered fitness feature.

Workout Buddy incorporates the user's data and fitness history to generate personalized insights during the session, utilizing data such as heart rate, pace, distance, fitness milestones, and more. In addition to insights, Workout Buddy will also provide motivation to users in the form of pep talks.

One example of a pep talk the Workout Buddy will give is "Way to get out for your run this Wednesday morning. You're 18 minutes away from closing your Exercise ring. So far this week, you've run 6 miles. You're going to add to that today." 

The update also brings a revamp to the layout and navigation, offering four new buttons in the corner of the workout app, allowing user to quickly get to their selected workout.

The Messages app gets Live Translation support, allowing users to quickly translate incoming messages into their preferred language.

Apple also announced tvOS 26 and visionOS 26 at WWDC 2025.

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