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

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.

“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.

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.

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.