Apple's 2026 operating systems will be unified and see a major visual upgrade called the Liquid Glass design language.

After all, the experience has stayed consistent between the updates. Over time, of course, Apple started offering a few exclusive features on the most recent models, such as Apple Music Sing functionality.

Steve Jobs might have loved Liquid Glass; the battle to keep the iPad from turning into a Mac seems to be over; and other takeaways from a keynote that wasn’t so short on news after all.

Liquid Glass design, Apple Intelligence APIs, and visionOS 26 tools highlight Apple’s 2025 State of the Union for developers.

Apple kicked off WWDC 2025 with its keynote presentation at its annual World Wide Developer’s conference, and it was a bumper affair. We were treated to a raft of updates across all of the firm’s software platforms, as we were introduced to iOS 26, iPadOS 26, watchOS 26, macOS 26, tvOS 26 and visionOS 26.

On The Vergecast: the present, and future, of Apple’s software across all your devices. Siri not included. The tech world is full of cycles. Things are always bundling and unbundling, going from minimalist to maximalist, embracing nostalgia before diving head-first into the future. And right now, it appears, we’re doing glassy again.

On top of looking pretty, Apple says that it’s also functional. Liquid Glass UI elements will be able to expand and contract with nice-looking animations to adapt to what the app needs it to do. It also works with light and dark modes along with Apple’s new clear mode, which makes all of your icons look like glass.

Apple will highlight its AI strategy at Monday's WWDC 2025 keynote, with its much-talked-about "Liquid Glass" software redesign playing