Liquid Glass, refined AI and cross-device continuity outline Apple’s new 26-branded OS

Apple WWDC25

Apple didn’t invent the touchscreen interface, however it arguably perfected it. The mix of the unique 2007 iPhone’s multi-touch 3.5” display (with its 320‑by‑480 pixel decision) with the unique OS 1 marked a paradigm shift in cell units, one that also resonates in the present day. From that second It modified the way in which individuals interacted with screens, large and small, ushering in an period of scrolling, pinching, zooming and swiping.

No matter whether or not there’s a real smartphone killer lurking within the wings, the machine as we all know it’s right here to remain for the foreseeable future. Estimates recommend there are over 6 billion smartphones in use on this planet; not less than one billion of these have been made by Apple.

So any change to the established order goes to attract consideration. June ninth noticed the reveal of iOS 26, a technology skipping OS replace (iPhones at the moment run iOS 18.5) that may roll out to customers this Autumn. Numerous iterations after the unique debuted, iOS has been renewed and reborn as soon as once more, revealed first to the devoted at Apple’s annual World Large Builders Convention at Apple Park in Cupertino.

The viewers consists of the folks who construct the apps and companies that depend on Apple’s ecosystem. Invited – by way of a lottery system – to descend on Cupertino to obtain all the newest intel direct from the supply, 2025’s WWDC (or ‘Dub Dub’ in developer parlance) didn’t disappoint those that made the bodily and non secular return to the mothership.

Tim Cook dinner’s arrival is greeting with fervour, as he introduces per week of ‘bulletins, insights and significant connections’ for the fortunate groups chosen to spend the subsequent few days deep in hands-on workshops with the brand new OS. We have been then handled to a droll skit enjoying on Apple’s upcoming large finances Brad Pitt extravaganza, F1, which forged SVP of Software program Engineering Craig Federighi as a bouffant racing driver powering round a CGI observe atop the huge Foster & Companions constructing earlier than the large bulletins began.

Apple’s followers stay very willingly in Apple’s world, and the large takeaway from WWDC 2025 was the unification of the corporate’s varied working techniques all united by a brand new aesthetic strategy, Liquid Glass. Not solely is there visible parity between iPad, Mac, iPhone, Apple Watch, and so on., however there’s to be new ranges of connectivity and continuity between your units, with Apple Intelligence serving as a layer of glue binding data gathering and show.

The final ‘main’ iOS revamp was iOS 7, revealed at WWDC in June 2013. Since then, the OS has been incrementally, usually radically, up to date 12 months on 12 months, though the core performance remained as earlier than. iOS 7 marked the purpose that Jony Ive started overseeing software program along with {hardware}. It mixed a brand new ‘flat’ design language with sharper, extra vivid colors and types, in addition to new animations.

With Ive lengthy gone, iOS26 is a rebuff of kinds, a transparent transfer away from flat design in direction of a richer, deeper visible language that makes use of intelligent coding to reinforce the notion of depth. That is the place Liquid Glass comes into its component, bringing what Apple’s vp of Human Interface Design Alan Dye describes as ‘moments of magnificence, craft and pleasure that carry our merchandise to life.’

The texture of pinching, sliding, gliding and zooming by the brand new interface is heightened by the brand new tabard, a digital lens of glass (or a droplet of water) that seems to enlarge what’s beneath it. The origins of the Liquid Glass design language emerged out of Apple Imaginative and prescient Professional and the primary iteration of Imaginative and prescient OS, a system that required the layering and overlaying imagery and knowledge to be the first design consideration.

Within the new OS, Taskbars, scrollbars, widgets and icons are all rendered translucent, with curved surfaces refracting and subtly distorting the contents of the display beneath. It’s as if what’s on the machine itself is overlaid by refined slabs of glass, dynamically altering form and place relying on context. That is certainly not a return to conventional skeuomorphism, however as an alternative a refined flex of the immense energy of Apple Silicon, in addition to enhancing the act of partaking with a telephone.

Why would possibly we need to have interaction extra, you would possibly ask? iOS 26 isn’t nearly the feel and appear. Along with the brand new design, there are quite a few purposeful updates, lots of which use Apple Intelligence as a behind-the-scenes interpreter and go-between, making seamless and helpful connections between apps, companies and units.

That continuity was demonstrated throughout the board. Becoming a member of iOS 26 is iPadOS 26, macOS 26 – generally known as Tahoe, watchOS 26, and tvOS 26, in addition to a revitalised interface for Apple CarPlay. Apple rolled out an Aston Martin DBX to reveal CarPlay Extremely, and in addition to trace at simply how widespread this new design language might grow to be as soon as it finds its method into our vehicles as properly.

Additionally on present have been a extra subtle Darkish mode, a brand new all-clear look that provides all the icon pack a translucent really feel (stunning if functionally restricted), new animated wallpapers, in addition to a brand new lock display software of the clock utilizing Apple’s San Francisco typeface. Designed to dynamically scale the clock digits into the accessible house in a private {photograph} or wallpaper, the lock display serves as a showcase for iOS 26, together with new AI-driven 3D results for 2D pictures.

All through the presentation, Apple Park’s many points of interest served as backdrops to the filmed shows, from the oval window within the new Observatory to the ribbons of glass that make up Zeller & Moye and artist Katie Paterson’s Mirage set up. At occasions, Apple’s playfulness can really feel a little bit compelled, particularly when you think about the very actual geopolitical significance the corporate has in a world formed by tech, and the way it’s made, bought and used.

Nonetheless, iOS 26 might be seen as an organization doubling down on the significance of the smartphone, each to its clients and to its backside line, moderately than making grand pronouncements or predictions a couple of future screen-less period.