WWDC 2025 live updates: iOS 26, Liquid Glass, Apple Intelligence updates, and everything else revealed

tvOS is getting a karaoke-like feature

Apple’s new tvOS update comes with a surprise for karaoke lovers. When you stream Apple Music via tvOS, the lyrics to the song you’re playing will appear onscreen, and using your phone as a microphone, your vocals will be amplified on top of the track. You and your friends can add songs to the queue, making for an impromptu karaoke night. 

Apple Maps will now remember where you’ve been

In iOS 26, Apple Maps is getting an update to remember your commute and destinations you’ve visited. If there’s traffic on a common route you take, your iPhone will proactively alert you. Users can also see a list of the restaurants and shops they’ve visited in their Maps library.

Apple Intelligence comes to the iPhone screen

Apple said it’s bringing Visual Intelligence, its AI-powered image analysis tech, to the iPhone screen in iOS 26. For example, if you see a gray jacket on social media, you can use Visual Intelligence — which can be accessed by pressing the same button you use to take a screenshot — to do an image search for the jacket in Google Search and other apps you use frequently.

With ‘Liquid Glass,’ the iOS Home Screen and Lock Screen get a visual refresh

On iOS 26, Apple is giving the Home Screen and Lock Screen a bit of a new look. The Lock Screen adds a dynamic time widget, which uses a custom typeface that can stretch to fill up the appropriate space on various different backgrounds. That way, if you set a photo of your dog with the sky in the background as your Lock Screen, the time will appear on top of the sky, and not your dog’s face. And with a 3D effect, you can also set that Lock Screen to make your dog appear to come out of the frame, moving from left to right as you move your phone in your hand.

On the Home Screen, the Liquid Glass redesign brings a new “all clear” look to app icons. Apple’s native app icons have been slightly tweaked to better accommodate changing between light and dark mode, as well as any custom displays. 

Apple introduces Live Translation

Apple is launching Live Translation across Messages, FaceTime, and Phone calls, powered by Apple Intelligence. Users will be able to see a translation happen before their eyes as they type a text message, or read subtitles in their own language when FaceTiming with someone who is speaking another language.

For Phone calls, Apple’s Live Translation feature will also translate words as you talk, with the recipient hearing a translation spoken out loud in their language.

CarPlay gets tapbacks, widgets, and more

CarPlay is getting an update with iOS 26. Not only will it have a new Liquid Glass look, but Apple is adding some new functionality. That includes widgets, message tapbacks, and the ability to pin conversations. 

Thankfully, Apple is also ditching one of its most obtrusive UI elements. Incoming phone calls will no longer take over the full screen. Instead, Apple showed an incoming call UI that stayed at the bottom of the screen — meaning a phone call won’t hide navigation anymore.

iOS 26 gets a ChatGPT-powered image-generation feature

Apple added ChatGPT-powered image generation to its image playground app. The company said that it will add new styles, like “oil painting.” You can also describe a style and send it to ChatGPT to let it create an image. 

Apple’s Messages app gets new features, including polls

Apple is updating its Messages app with a number of new features, including the ability to set a personalized background, which can be one of the built-in options or something from your new photos. With Apple Intelligence, you can also generate a new background with Image Playground.

Group chats will be improved with the addition of a long-awaited feature — polls. Plus, Apple Intelligence will be able to smartly suggest when a poll could be a good option, based on the conversation, and group chats will finally get typing indicators so you know who’s about to say something. 

You’ll also be able to screen unknown senders in a dedicated area where you can mark the number as known, ask for more information, or delete the message. These unknown senders will be silenced and won’t appear as notifications, helping you to hide from annoying spam. But you’ll still receive those urgent messages from unknown senders, like verification codes.

Goodbye, iOS 19 — hello, iOS 26

Apple has officially changed how it will name its operating systems, now introducing iOS 26, iPadOS 26, macOS 26, tvOS 26, watchOS 26, and visionOS 26. 

By incorporating the year into the names, Apple aims to simplify the naming process and help users easily recognize the latest updates.

iOS 26 can screen calls and hold your place in call center queues

Apple is introducing new AI-powered call screening and “hold assist” features in its latest mobile operating system, iOS 26.

In iOS 26, when you receive a call from an unknown number, call screening will automatically answer silently in the background once the caller shares their name and the reason for their call. Your iPhone will ring, and you can view their response before deciding whether to pick up or ignore the call.

The new hold assist feature in iOS 26, meanwhile, can keep your spot in line while you wait for a live agent next time you’re stuck waiting for a call center agent. The phone app will automatically detect hold music and ask if you want it to wait for you. When you tap “hold,” the music will stop, but the call will stay connected, so you can keep using your iPhone or put it away and go about your daily routines. Once a live agent becomes available, you’ll get a notification to return to the call.

Apple stocks falls off a cliff

Apple’s stock price took a plunge during its WWDC 2025 keynote. Roughly 20 minutes into the presentation, Apple’s share price fell as much as 1.6%. Seems like investors aren’t excited about Liquid Glass.

Apple debuts simplified, intuitive design for Camera

Apple is debuting a new simplified redesign for Camera to elevate two capture modes: Photo and Video. To reveal additional modes, like cinematic or portrait mode, users will be able to swipe their finger left or right. 

The Photos app will also now have separate tabs for Library and Collections.