Apple's Liquid Glass interface announced at the 2025 WWDC. Apple
Apple's Liquid Glass interface announced at the 2025 WWDC. Apple
Apple's Liquid Glass interface announced at the 2025 WWDC. Apple
Apple's Liquid Glass interface announced at the 2025 WWDC. Apple

Apple WWDC: Liquid Glass, iPad changes and iOS 26 impress, but no major Siri AI overhaul


Cody Combs
  • English
  • Arabic

Apple on Monday unveiled a new operating system interface called Liquid Glass that will be coming to iPhones, iPads and other devices this autumn.

Apple designers at the Worldwide Developers Conference in Apple Park, California, said the design of iOS 26 will “refract light” and “dynamically respond to touch”, creating a more lively experience.

Liquid Glass's “unified design language” will change how hundreds of millions of iPhone users interact with their devices. It also plays to Apple's strengths, going back to the original Macintosh introduced in 1984, with interfaces that, in theory, make things easier for users.

Apple said Liquid Glass is the most significant iOS redesign since iOS 7.

Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference in Cupertino, California. AFP
Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference in Cupertino, California. AFP

“Our new design blurs the lines between hardware and software to create an experience that's more delightful than ever. While still familiar and easy to use,” said Alan Dye, Apple vice president of human interfaces.

Through the new interface, Apple said there will be more lock-screen and home-screen personalisation options, and camera app settings will be simpler.

Apple announced upgrades to its AI system. AFP
Apple announced upgrades to its AI system. AFP

As the conference opened, Apple addressed its failure to deliver an improved Siri voice assistant, which was promised at last year's WWDC.

“This work needed more time to reach our high quality bar, and we look forward to sharing more about it later in the year,” said Craig Federighi, Apple's senior vice president of software engineering.

As was widely speculated before the conference, Apple said it would be changing how it numbers its iOS updates.

The names will correspond to the years in which they are released, meaning the next version due to be released this year will be iOS 26.

Apple also promoted changes to its messaging app, providing more options for personalising group chats.

Background pictures can be picked and assigned to various group chats, polls can be generated in the conversation when appropriate, and there will be enhancements that allow the Apple Cash transfer app to be used within the groups.

The company also enhancing its Genmoji offerings, bringing more emoji customisation features for users.

Live Translation

The company also introduced Live Translation, which will be integrated into the iPhone's Messages, Phone and FaceTime video conferencing iOS apps on the release of iOS 26.

With the help of Apple Intelligence, it allows for conversations to be translated in real time.

According to Apple, Live Translation in Messages will be available in Chinese (Simplified), English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese and Spanish.

Live Translation in Phone and FaceTime will be available in Chinese, English, French, German, Portuguese and Spanish.

Apple demonstrated Live Translation for FaceTime, showing someone speaking in one language with a live caption of the translation presented on screen.

Apple said it would also allow for developers to implement Live Translation into their apps through a new API.

The Live Translation offering is expected to be available when iOS 26 is released.

Apple Intelligence

At its previous WWDC, Apple introduced its generative AI service, Apple Intelligence,

Some of the company's promoted AI features at the time – particularly the writing and image-generation tools, and the optional implementation of integration of OpenAI's ChatGPT – came to fruition, but the much-promised overhaul of Siri, its voice-based digital assistant, was plagued with problems, causing Apple to delay a much-needed update.

Apple hinted at small improvements to Siri, but the larger overhaul would take more time. Mr Federighi announced that the company would be opening up access to the Apple Intelligence generative AI models to outside developers.

“Large language model at the core of Apple intelligence with a new foundation models framework, this gives developers direct access to intelligence that's powerful, fast, built with privacy and available even when you're offline,” he said.

iPad OS window system

Apple also confirmed a long-rumoured overhaul to the iPad's interface, giving users the choice to make it more like a desktop or laptop Mac OS experience, with overlapping and movable windows.

The iPad OS also gives users the option to choose tiled window options that cleanly show the different apps and files open on an iPad in an automatically spaced-out format. The iPad is also getting a menu bar that appears near the top of the screen.

Apple announced a new design language for its operating systems, called Liquid Glass. AFP
Apple announced a new design language for its operating systems, called Liquid Glass. AFP

Although it will always be available to users, it disappears when not in use to prevent clutter on the screen.

“It's a massive update to the way you work on multiple apps at once,” Mr Ferdaghi said.

Apple emphasised that users can continue to use iPads without the window interface as well.

Apple's WWDC style, compared with Google

Inevitably, expectations were high for Apple, which many felt was put on the defensive by Google's I/O conference several weeks ago when the search-giant did live demonstrations of the company's new AI tools.

Apple's WWDC was recorded and shown on screens to the hundreds of thousands of developers who went to Cupertino for the week-long event.

Although he appeared in the first several minutes of Apple's WWDC, chief executive Tim Cook largely deferred Mr Federighi and other Apple executives to display the company's coming offerings.

The WWDC focused on design and user-interface options, while Google focused on AI integration across its tools, including Gmail and Google Docs.

It is likely that Apple did not satisfy critics who have long complained that it has not been able to deliver a cohesive corporate vision for its AI offerings.

However, it is also clear that Apple is playing for an audience that has not necessarily indicated it wants so much AI technology in smartphones, but cares more about how smartphones make us feel when we use them, in large part because of the design.

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Labour dispute

The insured employee may still file an ILOE claim even if a labour dispute is ongoing post termination, but the insurer may suspend or reject payment, until the courts resolve the dispute, especially if the reason for termination is contested. The outcome of the labour court proceedings can directly affect eligibility.


- Abdullah Ishnaneh, Partner, BSA Law 

Dust and sand storms compared

Sand storm

  • Particle size: Larger, heavier sand grains
  • Visibility: Often dramatic with thick "walls" of sand
  • Duration: Short-lived, typically localised
  • Travel distance: Limited 
  • Source: Open desert areas with strong winds

Dust storm

  • Particle size: Much finer, lightweight particles
  • Visibility: Hazy skies but less intense
  • Duration: Can linger for days
  • Travel distance: Long-range, up to thousands of kilometres
  • Source: Can be carried from distant regions
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Some of Darwish's last words

"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008

His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.

Updated: June 09, 2025, 8:37 PM`