Tim Cook had already left the stage ahead of today’s much-hyped Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2025 keynote, which saw Apple introduce a major iOS overhaul that is the tenth iteration of the mobile operating system.
The crowning was his unveiling of “Liquid Glass”; Apple’s jaw dropping new design language that would redefine how you experience their software throughout their product matrix.
The keynote, that kicked by at 10:30 PM IST had Cook underlining a “back to the core” philosophy on software improvements. The successor to the iPhone operating system, now officially called iOS 26 (the naming convention has been changed from numbered to date based), introduces its new system of translucent one-thickness layers, and a set of subtle new shine effects and animations, as seen from the interface of the Apple Vision Pro’s visionOS.
The “Liquid Glass” look will penetrate through multiple parts of iOS 26, such as newly revamped app icons and widgets, dynamic toolbars and navigation components. These users expect visuals that can respond and reflect their own actions, for a single, consistent, comprehensive user experience.
The underlying functionality and types of navigation certainly stay true to their device types, but the look and feel will help develop a sense of unity for iPhones, iPads, Macs — and even Apple TV.
In addition to the cosmetic overhaul, Cook went on to describe a few exciting changes to the core iOS apps. The Phone app is also getting a major refresh with a more streamlined, scrollable view that combines favorites, call history, and voicemail.
Safari will adopt the “Liquid Glass” theme with a transparent, glassy address bar, and the Camera app is said to be less cluttered to make shooting more intuitive.
Additional additions are the macOS Preview app finally coming to iOS for better PDF management, annotation and editing. Messages is getting smart translation tools, and the ability for users to further personalize messages that could even include chat backgrounds and polls.
While there was no single, big AI push for Siri, Apple did offer some subtle insights into overall AI improvements that should lead to more natural user interactions across a wide range of apps.
This total interface overhaul in iOS 26 is apparently laying the groundwork for forthcoming hardware changes, with leaks indicating that it paves the way for a 20th-anniversary iPhone in 2027, which is going by the name “Glasswing” inside Apple, and it is said to have an all-glass chassis with rounded edges and a display that stretches nearly to the edges of the device.
As WWDC 2025 progresses, developers will learn more about the new APIs and tools that they can use to bring the “Liquid Glass” design to their own apps.
