What Apple Announced at WWDC25: New Look, Smarter Features, and More Games
What Apple Announced at WWDC25: New Look, Smarter Features, and More Games
Apple held its annual developer conference on June 9, 2025. The company showed off three major changes coming to iPhones, iPads, Macs, Apple Watches, and other devices: a new visual design called Liquid Glass, expanded AI-powered features across all devices, and updates to iOS 26 that include a new games app.
The conference runs online through June 13, with videos available on the Apple Developer portal.
Liquid Glass: Everything Looks Different
Apple is redesigning how all of its software looks across every device. The new design is called Liquid Glass. Think of it as a fresh coat of paint on all your Apple products at once.
The design uses more see-through elements and lighting effects. Instead of flat, solid colors, buttons and windows now look like they have depth and shine — like glass catching light. Your device's graphics processor handles this in real time, making things feel smooth and responsive.
This matters because app makers will need to update their apps to match the new look. The good news is that Apple has provided tools to help them. This has happened before: in 2013, Apple switched from a detailed, textured look to flat design, and it took about a year for most apps to catch up. Liquid Glass may follow a similar timeline.
Apple Intelligence Reaches More Devices
Apple Intelligence is the company's name for AI-powered features that live on your device. These features already work on iPhones, iPads, and Macs. Now they are coming to Apple Watches and Vision Pro headsets too.
Apple uses a two-part system for this. Simpler tasks run directly on your device — writing suggestions, basic searches, and voice commands. More complex requests send your data to Apple's private servers (called Private Cloud Compute), which handle heavier lifting while protecting your privacy.
The new features include smarter writing tools, image generation, a more aware Siri assistant, and actions that work across multiple apps. For example, Siri can now understand what you are doing in one app and take action in another — like seeing an address in your email and adding it to your calendar. Whether this works smoothly on your device or needs Apple's servers to help will determine how fast it responds.
Having watched my own children use voice assistants over the years — from early Siri to Alexa and Google Assistant — I know that "smarter" announcements do not always match real-world performance. Apple's approach, where everything stays private and works tightly with the hardware, addresses some of the reasons earlier assistants disappointed. But the real test comes when millions of people actually use it.
iOS 26 and New Features for iPhone
iOS 26 is the new iPhone operating system. The version number now matches the year it comes out, which makes it easier to track.
The update includes improvements to the car experience (CarPlay), Maps, and payment features (Wallet). Your iPhone will connect more deeply with your car's controls and screens.
A new feature for game players is the Apple Games app — a single place to find games, see your achievements, and play with friends. Apple had a games feature before, but it never worked as well as similar hubs on PlayStation or Xbox. Apple Games looks like a real attempt to fix that.
What Comes Next
For most people, these changes will be automatic. When you update your iPhone or iPad later this year, you will get the new Liquid Glass design, expanded Apple Intelligence, and access to the new games app. Apps will gradually update to look better with the new design.
For developers and tech professionals, the message is clear: test everything early. The Liquid Glass redesign in particular is the kind of change where getting it right early helps an app stand out, and waiting too long means looking outdated by winter.
The full schedule and technical details are available at developer.apple.com/videos/wwdc2025/.
