Apple launched iOS 26 and its companion operating systems at the 2025 Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC25), all unified under a new naming structure, alongside a radical new design language called Liquid Glass.
This is the most interesting visual change since iOS 7, but this time, Apple has integrated the new aesthetic across every platform, iPhone, iPad, Mac, Watch, Vision Pro, and Apple TV, creating a seamless, glass-like experience that adapts dynamically to user interaction and surroundings.
Apple describes Liquid Glass as translucent, reactive, and context-aware. For example, tap an alert, and it expands fluidly from your finger’s location.
Scroll through menus, and the interface shimmers like real glass catching the light. The colours of the UI change in real time depending on background content and lighting conditions.
The lock screen and home screen shows this transformation, with effects that mirror physical properties of glass, not for spectacle, but for functionality.
Apple has been under pressure lately with legal cases around App Store control, an AI race it’s losing, and growing developer dissatisfaction have left the company needing to regain trust.
This update is a strategic correction.
Goodbye Numbers, Hello Years
A second major change revealed at the WWDC25 event is in how Apple names its operating systems. iOS 26 is not the 26th version, but the 2026 edition, the year is now part of the name.
This applies across the board: iPadOS 26, watchOS 26, tvOS 26, visionOS 26, and macOS 26, the latter keeping its tradition with a location-based codename: Tahoe.
The Games App: Apple’s New Social Hub
Another revelation from WWDC25 was the launch of the Games app, Apple’s first serious attempt at centralising gaming experiences across its platforms.
It acts as a hub, combining your game library, achievements, and friend activity. One new feature, “Play Together”, lets users challenge friends or join real-time sessions. “Challenges” bring competition into otherwise solo titles.
Apple says gaming on its devices is no longer a secondary experience.
iOS 26: Intelligence and Intuition
iOS 26 introduces smarter communication features, like Call Screening, which waits for a caller to speak before deciding whether to ring through. Hold Assist keeps you connected on long holds and notifies you once someone returns to the line. Every element, even emoji, is more expressive, letting users build custom icons through Genmoji combinations.
There’s also a live translation feature for calls across language barriers, and improvements in messages including shared backgrounds, group polls, and Apple Cash transactions in group chats.
MacOS Tahoe and iPadOS 26:
MacOS Tahoe brings the same Liquid Glass visual overhaul, but more importantly, it makes macOS feel alive. Quick Keys, intelligent Shortcuts, and a clipboard history bring subtle but powerful quality-of-life improvements. The Phone app now runs natively on Mac, complete with call history and new call management tools.
On the iPad side, Apple continues to erase the line between tablet and desktop. A new windowing system lets users resize, flick, and tile apps. The persistent menu bar now mirrors desktop systems. Preview, previously mac-only, now arrives on iPad, complete with markup and export options.
If you’ve ever wanted your iPad to behave like a Mac, now it does.
Apple Watch, TV and Vision Pro: Smart Upgrades
WatchOS 26 introduces Workout Buddy, a personalised fitness coach powered by your own workout history. With smarter notifications that adapt volume based on ambient sound, and a new wrist-flick gesture to interact with alerts, Apple is bolstering the wearable experience without bloating it.
TVOS 26 follows the Liquid Glass theme and adds profile-based logins and a karaoke feature using your iPhone as a mic. You wake the device, pick your profile, and return to exactly where you left off, useful in a multi-user household.
VisionOS 26 deepens the mixed-reality playbook. Users can now personalise widgets, maintain window placements, and experience spatial photo views. New accessories include Logitech’s Muse stylus and compatibility with the PSVR2 Sense controller, both signs Apple is finally taking spatial interaction seriously.
Small Upgrades, Big Implications
AirPods are getting studio-quality recording and camera remote functionality. CarPlay now supports widgets, live activities, and tapback message replies. Apple Maps has learned your commute habits, while Apple Wallet now handles digital IDs for travel, excluding flights, and supports reward redemption and instalments.
These show Apple is addressing real-world use cases with intent.
With the Liquid Glass interface, new naming format, and overhaul of gaming, communication, and productivity tools revealed at the WWDC25, Apple is building a unified, intelligent system where the lines between devices blur.
An Apple executive said, “It’s the biggest shift in how our users experience their devices since we launched the first iPhone.”
