A Major Software Update for iPhones: The Next Generation of Operating Systems: iOS 26, iPadOS 26, MacOS, AirPods, and Beyond
Apple’s keynote at the Worldwide Developer Conference had a lot of new updates. During the event, the company showed off the sleek design refresh coming to its operating systems, as well as a mix of new features for the iPhone, iPad, Mac, AirPods, and more.
The new version numbers that Apple gives to each of its operating systems correspond with the year after their release, rather than the version number. The new names are iOS 26, iPadOS 26, macOS 26, watchOS 26, tvOS 26, and visionOS 26. They’ll be coming out in late 2025, but still, it’s easier to remember that than iOS 19, watchOS 12, and macOS 16.
Apple is updating the design of its operating systems. Now they will have a new Liquid Glass theme that adds more transparency to buttons, switches, sliders, text, and media controls throughout their interfaces.
The date, time, notification previews of the lockscreen will adopt a new look in order to allow a clear view of your wallpaper behind the text.
Apple just announced the next major software update for iPhones: iOS 26 (a jump from what, until recently, was expected to be called iOS 19), and it’s packed with a whole bunch of new features for your phone. The biggest change is a new design, but there are a lot of smaller improvements and additions that could change how you use your phone.
The Phone app is getting an upgrade, as well, as it will now have a layout that combines favorites, recents, and voicemails into one panel, while calls, contacts, and keypad remain on the bottom of the app.
Apple is making multitasking easier with a major update to iPadOS 26. New windowing features will allow you to open more windows at once, place app windows around your display, and expand the size of your screen. It has also added a menu bar and a more precise mouse pointer that you can use to view options and commands. It all looks a lot like a Mac.
When you use Apple’s Messages, you will be able to change the background of chats and create polls. Some of the updates include typing indicators for group chats and the ability to screen messages from unknown senders which will appear in a seperate folder than your main list.
Games from Apple: Updates to PSone and PSone’s Virtual Reality Sense Controllers for MacOS and Other iodine Apps
The Games app from Apple will make it easy to keep track of your games on your phone. The Home tab shows things that happened in your games. You can browse the Apple Arcade games on the service. You can see all of the App Store games on the Library tab. The Play Together tab gives you a glimpse of what your friends are up to.
The next software update for macOS will include an upgrade to Spotlight that will allow you to search for specific files and messages in your own way, with personalization and filtering options. It also adds the ability to take actions like sending an email or creating a note.
PSone’s Virtual Reality 2 Sense controllers will allow you to play a wider variety of virtual-reality games with the Apple Vision Pro. It’s also adding a new scrolling feature that lets users navigate apps by looking up or down, in addition to spatial widgets that integrate “seamlessly into a user’s space and reappearing every time they put on Apple Vision Pro.”
The Apple Intelligence feature will allow you to use the same buttons you would use to take a photo. If you have more questions about what you see on the screen, you can ask them from there.
Along with the Liquid Glass design language, Apple is bringing a new “wrist flick” gesture to watchOS 26 that you can use to dismiss notifications. The new Apple Watches will have a new artificial intelligence (AI) system that can give personalized advice and encouragement.
What can you expect from iOS 26 when it reaches the October 31st release of the AirPods? A little bit information on what you can expect from Apple
Apple is building AI-powered live translation into the Messages, FaceTime, and Phone apps. You can hear the translated text on the Phone app, but you cannot translate the speech on the Messages app. In FaceTime, Apple will display translated live captions while you listen to your conversation partner.
Apple previewed an update that will let users take a photo with their iPhone or iPad by tapping the stem of their AirPods. It is working on a new feature that would allow users to record studio quality vocals in noisy areas with voice isolation. The features will come to the AirPods 4, AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation, and AirPods Pro 2.
Apple announced during its keynote that it will let third party app developers use the large language model used by Apple Intelligence to create their own tools.
Here’s a bit more detail on what you can expect from iOS 26 when it releases for everyone this fall. It’s a good idea to try it early since Apple will give you a public test sometime in July.
It seems like changes from Liquid Glass will touch just about every part of the operating system, including apps, buttons, sliders, the Control Center, and your homescreen. Tab bars will change as you scroll up and down, because of Liquid Glass.
Inspired Apple Features: Towards a User Experience with Face Recognition and Hand Assisting a Call Screening Feature
Apple is taking some cues from Google by adding a call screening feature and a “Hold Assist” feature that can wait on a call for you. The company is adding a new unified layout option that lets users combine Favorites, Recents and Voicemails into one view.
Even though we’re still waiting for Apple to announce when it will actually release its delayed improvements to Siri, iOS 26 will include some new Apple Intelligence-powered features. You can useVisual Intelligence to do searches about what you see on your screen. You will be able to combine two symbols into one. And Shortcuts will be able to use Apple Intelligence models to improve your workflows.