Apple’s WWDC 2026 occasion kicked off yesterday at Apple Park, beginning per week filled with reveals about Siri AI, iOS 27, Apple Intelligence, and extra, together with developer occasions and demos as Apple appears to reassert itself with customers and builders who haven’t been impressed with their releases throughout the wildly aggressive AI area. It additionally marks CEO Tim Cook dinner’s final WWCD with the corporate, after announcing he’s handing things off to Senior Vice President of Hardware Engineering John Ternus on September 1.
Did they succeed? Preserve tabs on this web page, and the remainder of our ongoing protection, to search out out!
TL;DR — Apple spent WWDC 2026 catching up
That is removed from our shopper information editor Sarah Perez’s first WWDC, and with all that context in thoughts, she provides the subtext on much of what was being showcased.
For the previous two years, Apple has been racing to catch up in AI whereas frustrations with its core software program quietly added up: a design overhaul customers hated, a search perform that hardly labored, a file-sharing characteristic that routinely failed, and a Well being app that didn’t focus sufficient on half its consumer base. Apple didn’t say any of that on Monday. However the construction of its WWDC keynote stated it for them, main with fixes earlier than options, and framing a greater Siri as one merchandise on a protracted checklist of enhancements reasonably than the primary occasion.
Apple reveals Siri AI
As anticipated, Apple made the case for an improved expertise with its long-standing Siri assistant, which it admitted faces larger expectations from customers within the age of AI. With Google Gemini beneath the hood, Apple claims that the brand new Siri updates will make it extra succesful, conversational, and suitable with visible intelligence, and it is going to be housed in a stand-alone app along with working throughout present apps. You can get a full rundown of all the new Siri AI updates right here.
Earlier than rolling out the enhancements and options, Apple was adamant about its privacy-centric method to AI. “We consider privateness in AI is non-negotiable,” Apple senior vice chairman Craig Federighi stated in the course of the stream, going as far as to say that “information is barely used to execute your request, and out of doors specialists can proceed to confirm this promise at any time.”
A possible foldable iPhone tease
No, Apple didn’t make such a giant reveal throughout WWDC, however researcher @M1Astra dug through files within the iOS 27 developer beta and located references to issues like “foldState,” “angleDegrees,” and different issues that allude to the states a foldable system will be put into. And it’s not like there hasn’t been a bounty of foldable iPhone rumors over the previous few years. Keep tuned for Apple’s annual iPhone occasion in September to see if we do get a proper reveal, except Ternus actually will likely be altering issues up within the post-Cook dinner period.
The following technology of Apple Intelligence
To associate with its new Siri AI overhaul, the tech large introduced a slew of recent Apple Intelligence updates throughout its apps, together with tab administration for Safari, one-tap password updating, cross-app context consciousness, and extra. Moreover, Messages is getting AI-powered reply strategies, whereas the Cellphone app can now pull context from different apps like Mail and Messages mid-call.
Apple stated it collaborated with Google and the Gemini household of fashions to develop the subsequent technology of Apple Basis Fashions that energy its built-in Apple Intelligence experiences.
Liquid Glass will get some opt-in rollbacks
If you’re amongst those that aren’t precisely eager on final yr’s Liquid Glass design updates, you aren’t alone. And whereas Apple isn’t switching to a brand new aesthetic, you will be able to dial back some of its elements, or actually spotlight them should you’re vibing with it. And for the app icon critics out there fresh from Spotify’s disco ball update, Apple confirmed off a brand new, layered method to Liquid Glass inside its apps.
All the things else coming to iOS 27
As is the case yearly, plenty of small tweaks and updates arriving with the upcoming iOS replace didn’t get their time within the solar throughout Apple’s broadcast, however that doesn’t imply they’re not noteworthy. Ivan Mehta brought together several of them right here, together with:
- Full-screen homepage widgets.
- Separate quantity controls for alarms, timers, alerts, and so forth.
- Design tweaks for the climate app, with highlights on notable upcoming occasions.
Picture Playground will get one other probability
The AI image-generating app Picture Playground hasn’t precisely taken the world by storm, which relying in your view on AI slop could also be an excellent factor. Nevertheless, Apple rolled out a renewed pitch for customers to really begin producing photos, with a deal with its doable makes use of throughout many options of your units, with an exclusion set on any coaching based mostly on pictures generated utilizing the app. That, plus efficiency updates coming alongside Apple Intelligence upgrades, would possibly not less than take it out of the “suck” category for TechCrunch senior writer Amanda Silberling.
iOS 27 is stretching again to the iPhone 11
Claiming that its upcoming replace will likely be “accessible to extra customers than any iOS launch ever,” Apple revealed that every one units from the iPhone 11 onward will likely be eligible for his or her upcoming software program replace. And that replace comes with a flurry of efficiency enhancements it’s touting throughout plenty of its OS releases this yr, with Apple claiming that new pictures will seem 70% extra swiftly, AirDrop transfers will likely be 80% sooner, and CPU schedulers will likely be improved to assist multitasking.
New parental controls for iPhones
Apple spent a big quantity of the WWDC occasion showcasing a set of instruments for fogeys searching for larger management over what their youngsters’s units can and might’t do. Dad and mom will have the ability to decide who their child can name on the telephone and what apps and web sites they will entry, with Apple making strategies about how these restrictions can change over time. By default, although, its “Ask to Browse” characteristic limits entry, and “Ask to Purchase” for App Retailer and in-app purchases will likely be set as a default for units arrange for youngsters youthful than 13. You can get more parental control details right here.
Search will get an overhaul
Annoyed with looking by your iPhone for, effectively, just about something? Search acquired a devoted session throughout WWDC to tout a collection of enhancements, which you can learn more about here.
“We’ve all had that second the place you seek for one thing you already know is there, nevertheless it simply gained’t present up,” Stacey Ford, vice chairman of OS Program Administration stated. “So on iOS, iPadOS, and macOS, we’ve rebuilt the inspiration of search that powers Highlight, Pictures, and Mail.
To tackle fashionable AI photo-editing apps, Apple is bringing new AI options to its Photos app. A brand new spatial “Reframe” characteristic will allow you to use AI to regulate the attitude of a picture as should you had repositioned the digicam within the unique scene. The brand new “Lengthen” software expands photos to regulate the facet ratio or add extra to a scene. The app’s fashionable “Cleanup” software can be getting an improve so customers can take away distractions with higher high quality and extra life like infill with generative AI.
Apple takes on AI dictation apps
Apple is launching a brand new systemwide dictation experience that’s constructed into the keyboard on iOS 27 and might appropriate spellings, punctuation, and capitalization. The replace comes as AI dictation apps like Wispr Circulate and Willow have been gaining reputation. These apps clear up filler phrases like “ums” and “ahs” and format the textual content after transcribing based mostly on context.
Subscription bundles are headed to the App Retailer
For the primary time, developers will be able to partner with each other to provide access to different subscriptions, for a decrease bundled worth. It’s not an unusual follow for anybody who’s been pitched by numerous streaming companies trying to find subscriber development, nevertheless it’s the primary time that is accessible for issues like productiveness or images apps within the App Retailer.
The App Retailer will begin giving customized suggestions
And if a bundled supply isn’t compelling sufficient, your pursuits and conduct will energy a brand new technique of discovery for builders: personalized recommendations that will appear across several App Store locations. These suggestions will embody “App Notes” that element why they’re showing amongst different apps.
Shortcuts provides pure language creation
Apple is utilizing AI to make its visual-scripting software, Shortcuts, simpler to make use of in iOS 27. The updated experience will enable customers to write down a immediate and easily describe what they need to do. The AI replace makes the Shortcuts app extra approachable and expands what non-technical individuals can do.
Well being will get perimenopause insights
Apple’s Well being app is including perimenopause and menopause help to its present cycle-tracking characteristic. The replace embraces a subject that has gone mainstream, giving Apple a brand new product alternative in a quickly increasing market, as digital well being instruments focusing on this demographic have attracted vital funding lately.
Tim Cook dinner says farewell
On the finish of the keynote, Tim Cook dinner had a farewell message reflecting on his time as CEO:
Through the years, you’ve got helped individuals join, create, study, and expertise the world in extraordinary new methods, and with the unimaginable capabilities we introduce right this moment, and so many extra nonetheless to come back, I actually consider the very best continues to be forward at Apple. Getting the very best merchandise on the planet to ship experiences that enrich individuals’s lives has all the time been our North Star. It’s been the honour of a lifetime to assist advance that mission with groups whose creativity, care, and conviction proceed to make a long-lasting distinction in individuals’s lives.
Compensate for the remainder of WWDC 2026’s reveals right here
Miss out on WWDC? You may all the time atone for the archive of the total occasion through the stream above or on Apple’s YouTube page right here.
Whenever you buy by hyperlinks in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This doesn’t have an effect on our editorial independence.