With the iPhone 17 series launching sometime in September, Apple has made available its upcoming software updates for developer testing. The iOS 26 is set to release alongside the iPhone 17 for consumers. At its annual WWDC 2025 keynote, Apple unveiled software updates for all of its other device portfolio i.e. MacBooks, iPads, Apple TV, and even its Apple Watch models. The tech giant even changed its numbering system for more uniformity and consistency. macOS 26 gets a big Spotlight search update and Apple Watch users get a new hint feature that could prove to be very useful. Here are the top five important things announced at WWDC 2025.
New software update brings Liquid Glass design for Apple’s portfolio
Apple unveiled the ‘Liquid Glass’ design – a user interface that will be introduced to all of Apple’s supported devices via the upcoming software updates. The new update is said to change colour and behave according to surrounding content and even adapts between light and dark environments. Liquid Glass uses real-time rendering and dynamically reacts to movement with specular highlights. This new UI is said to bring changes to small elements like buttons, switches, sliders, text, and media controls and even to larger elements like tab bars and sidebars for navigating apps. Lock Screen, Home Screen, notifications, Control Center will also see a revamp. In-built apps such as Camera, Photos, Safari, FaceTime, Apple Music, Apple News, and Apple Podcasts have also been redesigned to be more uniform across devices and prioritise content. Apple's SVP of Software Engineering Craig Federighi called it the biggest redesign since the iOS 7.
macOS Tahoe 26 brings big Spotlight update
macOS Tahoe 26 also comes with the new Liquid Glass design but it also brings a big update for Spotlight. This new updates aims to make finding things way more easier. With Spotlight, search results — including files, folders, events, apps, messages, and more — are now listed together and ranked intelligently based on relevance to the user. There are new filtering options like PDFs or Mail messages to narrow it down further. Spotlight can also surface results for documents stored on third-party cloud drives. Spotlight will allow taking actions — like sending an email, creating a note, or playing a podcast — without jumping between apps.
Apple Watch models get Smart Stack hints with watchOS 26
In watchOS 26, the updated Smart Stack hints offer a proactive prompt for actionable suggestions that are immediately useful. For example, a hint for Backtrack may appear when a user is in a remote location with no connectivity or a hint for a Pilates workout may show up when a user arrives at a studio location at their usual time. Other features added with watchOS 26 include the new design, Workout Buddy with Apple Intelligence, personalized music suggestions in the Workout app, and more.
watchOS 26 will be available this fall for Apple Watch Series 6 or later, Apple Watch SE (2nd generation), and all Apple Watch Ultra models, paired with iPhone 11 or later, running iOS 26. The Apple Intelligence features will roll out for iPhone 16 models, iPhone 15 Pro, and iPhone 15 Pro Max that have Apple Intelligence enabled and Siri and device language set to the same supported language.
Apple ditches old numbering system for new year-based scheme
Apple has decided to switch to a new naming strategy for all its software updates in order to push for uniformity and consistency. All of the updates in the future will be named after the last two digits of the upcoming year. To this effect, Apple announced iOS 26, iPadOS 26, watchOS 26, visionOS 26, tvOS26, and macOS Tahoe 26.
AirPods get studio-quality audio recording and camera remote features
Apple today previewed studio-quality audio recording and camera remote features for AirPods 4, AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation (ANC), and AirPods Pro 2 are slated to get two new features - studio-quality audio recording and camera remote. This will be a big boost for content creators who often record videos, helping them achieve better audio output. These new features aim to enable creators to record studio-quality vocals on the go, and start or stop video recordings from a distance with a simple press of the AirPods stem. These features will be available this fall as a free firmware update with iOS 26, iPadOS 26, and macOS Tahoe 26.
