From the Liquid Glass redesign (who’s excited for a transparent menu bar?!) to a more advanced Spotlight search to new Continuity iPhone features that work more seamlessly on Macs, macOS 26 Tahoe is chock full of small upgrades that tighten up the whole operating system. But one thing you should know is that it’s the last version of macOS that will support Intel-based Macs. Macs with an Intel processor will still get three years of security updates after, but they won’t get macOS 27 and newer. If you’ve got one of these ancient machines, you’re gonna need to get with it and switch to Apple silicon to get the new new. —Raymond Wong

Apple Intelligence didn’t get any huge updates, but among the most useful features is Visual Intelligence, which can see what you’re doing on your iPhone and then take some actions for you. On one hand, it’s a little creepy (though Apple says its AI is processed on-device, which should assuage some privacy concerns), and on the other, it’s a little ho-hum—Google’s Gemini already has a similar feature for shopping and for search.

Either way, Visual Intelligence might also be pretty useful. If agentic AI makes navigating menus or shopping less annoying, then I’m here for it. —James Pero

Apple Intelligence Can Now Creep on Your iPhone Screen

Other than jumping straight to version 26 like the rest of Apple’s software, watchOS got a few updates today, including a new AI health coach that could either be motivational or annoying, depending on your attitude toward AI. Additionally, watchOS is bringing live translation and an update to the Workout app that adds several new buttons. Not a huge day for watchOS, but definitely not a total snub, either.

My favorite new thing is something I already mentioned earlier in the live blog: a wrist gesture that lets you shake away annoying notifications. It uses a combination of the gyroscope and machine learning, according to Apple, which gives me confidence that it won’t end up shaking away important notifications by accident. —James Pero

Apple’s watchOS Adds a New Wrist Gesture to Ignore Annoying Notifications

Today’s M3- and M4-powered Macs may be powerful enough for gaming, but Apple still can’t seem to comprehend the specific demands of gamers. The Apple Games app helps put all your titles in one place for easily accessing your Apple Arcade titles, but beyond leaderboards and achievements, it doesn’t add much to the iPhone gaming experience. As for Macs, Apple decided to offer gamers a special overlay that lacks basic functionality PC and console gamers expect to see, like an FPS counter. Apple needs more games to make gaming on Mac more accessible, but it needs to open itself up more to outside game launchers like Epic Games Store or Steam. — Kyle Barr

Is This Really Apple’s Big Plan to Make Gaming Stick?

There you have it: If you’re itching to try out all of Apple’s new software versions and all their new Liquid Glass glory (just remember there will be bugs, probably lots of bugs), you can download the developer betas today. Tim Cook said the public betas will be available next month in July, followed by the final official release in the fall.

As always, make sure to back up your devices before installing any beta software. There’s always a chance you’ll experience data loss. Be safe out there! —Raymond Wong

Holy sh*t! Apple just gave iPad users exactly what we’ve been asking for years: proper app windows with close, minimize, and resize buttons. There’s also a macOS-like menu bar that sits at the top—YES! Other macOS-ish features include Exposé for managing apps; apps even minimize into their app dock icons just like on macOS. Craig also says the mouse pointer is “pointier” for more precision. The Files app is getting an upgrade to be more versatile—again, more like managing files in Finder on macOS —Raymond Wong

There are a few upgrades coming to visionOS 26, but one is meant to quash all those people still laughing about the dead-eyed “Personas” that first launched with the Vision Pro early last year. The next update should make Personas look far more human than before. The new versions should have less of a putty look to human skin, and it should take into account the silhouette of your face far better than before.

Alongside this update, the Vision Pro should get better at remembering where you left your various windows around the room. You can also use custom new widgets to inset a calendar or picture into a wall, as if that old family photo of yours is staring back at you from the other side of a wall. — Kyle Barr

Apple Didn’t Design Controllers for the Vision Pro, but It Gave Us the Next Best Thing

Would you look at that? Sony’s PSVR2 controllers are now supported for games on Apple Vision Pro. Feels like a missed opportunity for Apple to design its own controllers, but okay. —Raymond Wong

Alongside the push to make all its software look similar with the new “Liquid Glass” aesthetic, Apple is pushing macOS 26 to work even better with iPhones. Alongside the Apple Games app—which now comes with a Mac-specific game bar to adjust brightness or controller connection—there’s a new Phone app that drags your calls from your iPhone directly to your desktop. This lets you take and make video or audio calls, and it should work with other new features like live translation.

The new makes the menu bar completely transparent, and the Dock will sport a glassier look. The other big feature introduced with macOS 26 is an update to Spotlight. Hitting the CMD+Space shortcut for Spotlight will highlight more context-sensitive apps and functions for users. There are a few more power user capabilities with shortcuts on Spotlight. — Kyle Barr

Welcome to the New Mac, Now With More ‘Windows’

CNET’s Scott Stein is using a pair of Xreal smart glasses connected to his laptop for presumably a virtual display while the keynote is happening. I also kid you not… the guy next to me is also using a pair connected to his laptop (update: it’s the Spacetop LOL). The irony is that Apple is talking about the new visionOS 26 features. Is this the new reality? —Raymond Wong

Like iOS 26 and watchOS 26, tvOS 26 is getting the Liquid Glass treatment. Apple says playback controls that sit on top of content will refract the light when they’re selected. Overdesigned? Yes. Unnecessary? You betcha. But damn it if it doesn’t look cool AF and makes me forget how bad Apple Intelligence is. —Raymond Wong

Apple Watch’s watchOS is getting a new gesture that lets you dismiss calls and notifications by just flicking your wrist. On one hand, that sounds useful—I love silencing unwanted calls. On the other hand, however, I hope it isn’t too sensitive. I could see this gesture accidentally ignoring notifications if it’s not deployed right. —James Pero

Visual Intelligence is an AI update that leverages multimodal capabilities in a similar vein to Gemini from Google. While previously, Visual Intelligence was used via the iPhone camera, it can now read your screen and interact with what you’re looking at.

Per Apple:

“Users can ask ChatGPT questions about what they’re looking at on their screen to learn more, as well as search Google, Etsy, or other supported apps to find similar images and products. If there’s an object a user is especially interested in, like a lamp, they can highlight it to search for that specific item or similar objects online.”

It’s not the most original application of AI, but it’s keeping pace with competitors like Samsung and Google. —James Pero

Beyond Apple Arcade, the big new push for gaming on iPhone is the Apple Games app. This new pre-installed app collates all the games on your device and puts them all in one place. Beyond that, it will include leaderboards based on Game Center data and lists of your people in your Contacts who are also playing the same games. — Kyle Barr

Apple’s big push for live translation extends to Apple Music. The big update this time around is in the lyrics view. Now, any song being sung in a language other than English will receive automatic translations so you can finally understand what that French song you love is about. It may also help you perform karaoke by providing the lyrics written in English characters to help you sound out that K-pop song that’s stuck in your head. — Kyle Barr

A new AI-powered live translation feature is being integrated into Messages and calls. The call aspect in particular looks interesting to me and displays text on the screen that is generated in real-time. How well it works is anyone’s guess, but effective real-time translation has been a Holy Grail not just for Apple but basically every phone company for quite some time. Maybe some AI infusion can actually make that vision a reality for iPhone users. —James Pero

We’re all inundated with routine spam and scam calls, and if you’re like me you never pick up your phone until you get the voicemail. Apple’s revised Phone app may help by taking those scam calls without ever ringing your phone. The AI assistant will take the caller’s name and reason for bothering you, and then offer a quick summary in a notification. The system should be able to parse between telemarketers and people you actually need to talk to.

Similarly, in Messages, Apple will parse out “Unknown Senders” for people sending you scam texts. You’ll still see time-sensitive messages like a verification code to help you sign in, but maybe it will cut down on the number of scam texts I get from people pretending to be E-Z Pass trying to get me to send them money. — Kyle Barr

Ever wanted polls and custom backgrounds in WhatsApp? iOS 26 is giving you just that. For the latter, you can choose your own background for group chats or… use Apple Intelligence to generate a background. The Messages app is also getting typing indicators in group chats so you can see who is typing. —Raymond Wong

Everything, from iOS 26 to iPadOS 26 down to watchOS 26, will sport a new UI that’s supposed to be more “dynamic” and clear—literally. This is all encompassed in what Apple calls “Liquid Glass.” This aesthetic stretches from the app icons down to the lock and menu screens. App widgets and notifications will be able to flex as if they were made of a flexible, fluid-like material. This allows for more themes on users’ devices. On iPhones, Apple fans should be able to use a semi-transparent “Clear” look for their apps that may blend in better with users’ wallpapers.

Apple also showed how the lock screen wallpapers should be better at expanding or resizing the clock to show the best aspects of users’ images. The design is more subtle than it first appears. App icons look a little more rounded, and there’s a subtle effect around various menus to create a subtle depth off the screen. —Kyle Barr

Apple says that any app can now tap into on-device AI with the Foundation Models framework, which is basically a new API that incorporates Apple Intelligence. Per Apple:

“… app developers can easily access the Apple Intelligence model with as few as three lines of code. Guided generation, tool calling, and more are all built into the framework, making it easier than ever to implement generative capabilities right into a developer’s existing app.”

One example it used is AllTrails, so I guess hikers should prepare for more AI in their hikes? —James Pero

After walking in with his big F1 helmet and failing to do any parkour stunts from previous years’ WWDC conferences, Apple senior VP of software Craig Federighi first tried to stress all the great things its AI has done for Apple devices, such as genmojis or ChatGPT integration with Siri. However, the full capabilities of the company’s AI won’t arrive today.

“This work needed more time to reach our high-quality bar,” Federighi said. We’ll have to wait until “later this year” before we might see an AI-enhanced Siri. —Kyle Barr

Apple CEO Tim Cook took to the stage to kick off the keynote. After handing things off to software chief Craig Federighi, an attendee tried to disrupt the event. He shouted into the crowd before security escorted him out. Not sure what he was protesting, though. He wasn’t very audible over the promo video of Craig in an F1 car “racing” on top of Apple Park. —Raymond Wong

Like previous years, WWDC is a hybrid indoor/outdoor event at Apple Park. VIPs and broadcast are upfront and shaded. Us media are melting in the California sun. —Raymond Wong

I’ve got this obsession with the food situation at tech events. Compared to the food at Google I/O last month, Apple’s breakfast for media is a 10/10. They did not need to go this hard with the Apple logo latte art, but it’s a cute touch. The small bites were delicious—better than the mini vegan burritos at I/O.—Raymond Wong

I’m excited for a few things this WWDC, but one of the biggest items I have my eye on is Apple’s rumored vibe shift—a new design ethos that is supposed to affect the look of every corner of Apple software. While we can’t say for sure, it looks like Apple may introduce a “clear” aesthetic that makes app icons and other key UI elements see-through.

First we had skeumorphism, then neumorphism, and now we’re at the dawning of the age of glassmorphism—or, as Apple may put it, Liquid Glass. Apple didn’t invent glassmorphism, to be clear, but it might be the tech company to really popularize it. It’s hard to say what Apple’s designers have in store for us, but if it looks anything like this mockup, I’m here for it. —James Pero

The dawn of new aesthetics. pic.twitter.com/H3EjiNCQFU

— Wojciech Zieliński (@zielinskiwoj) June 9, 2025

Just picked up my media badge at Apple Park. Need to go find coffee! —Raymond Wong

Apple’s annual developer conference, WWDC, is almost here, so we’re ready, and naturally, so is Tim Cook. The keynote starts at 10 a.m. PT / 1 p.m. ET and should be pretty packed as far as software updates go. I’d say take a shot every time Apple doesn’t mention Siri, but it’s Monday and a little early for tying one on, so maybe stick to orange juice for now. After all, it’s shaping up to be a long show, and you wouldn’t want to miss Apple’s rumored redesign of iOS. —James Pero

See you soon #WWDC25! pic.twitter.com/xna3JqcGvp

— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) June 9, 2025

If you’re looking for some spoilers…. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman shared in his PowerOn newsletter that Apple will reportedly call the big UI revamp for all of its platforms “Liquid Glass.” As we’ve been hearing for months, the interface is supposed to be modeled after visionOS (pictured) and make use of “transparency and shine effects in all of Apple’s tool bars, in-app interfaces and controls.”

In the same newsletter, Gurman also claims Apple is working on a 20th anniversary iPhone for 2027 (codenamed “Glasswing”) that will have “extraordinarily slim bezels and no cutout section” and “curved glass sides around the entire phone, even at the edges.” It sounds… expensive! —Raymond Wong

There’s a light at the end of the long, long tunnel. Apple will finally let us peep its next slate of software updates. If the rumors are to be believed, every OS is jumping to “26,” and instead of iOS 19 or macOS 16, we’ll get iOS 26 and macOS 26. The new naming convention hints that Apple may try to unify the design of all its software, which is supposedly inspired by the Vision Pro’s glassy visionOS.

The Mac menu bar, your iPhone’s app icons, and widgets will also have a glassy appearance. Beyond the changes to the UI, Apple may introduce a few more features, like a Preview-type app for iPhone and iPad. We may also see a section on gaming with an all-new “Gaming” app for mobile. Just don’t expect too much in the way of “Apple Intelligence” updates save for new live translation features for phone calls and texts. —Kyle Barr

Everything We Expect Apple to Announce at WWDC25 on June 9

Simultaneously, one of the biggest but also the most superficial changes at WWDC 2025 could be with Apple’s naming conventions. As reported by Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, all of Apple’s software—that’s iOS, macOS, iPadOS, watchOS, and visionOS—may jump from their respective numbers, 18, 16, 18, 11, and 2, respectively, to… 26. That shift changes the year-over-year system from chronological numbers to the year it’s released plus one, like a Toyota or whatever.

In a way, it won’t really mean much of anything, but in another way, it signifies a big change and might actually match the major vibe shift we’re expecting with the new version of iOS. It’ll make things simpler, I suppose, but poor visionOS might have some whiplash. —James Pero

Apple Reportedly Says ‘Screw It’ and Jumps From iOS 19 to iOS 26

Apple announced Apple Intelligence at last year’s WWDC. Generative AI features like Genmoji, notification summaries, and writing tools rolled out, but the big one—a revamped Siri with on-screen awareness and agentic functionality to help do things on your behalf—failed to materialize even after months of delay. Reports have claimed that the new Siri features were fictitious and Apple’s marketing had pushed for them to be shown off before the Siri team had even gotten them working.

Our Senior Writer James Pero thinks Monday is going to be looked upon as Apple’s make-or-break AI—it’ll be largely about optics. Will Apple emerge as an innovator or a laggard? —Raymond Wong

Apple Has a Huge Siri Problem That WWDC 2025 Probably Won’t Fix