Apple’s WWDC 2026 occasion kicked off yesterday at Apple Park, beginning per week filled with reveals about Siri AI, iOS 27, Apple Intelligence, and extra, together with developer occasions and demos as Apple seems to be to reassert itself with customers and builders who haven’t been impressed with their releases inside the wildly aggressive AI area. It additionally marks CEO Tim Prepare dinner’s final WWCD with the corporate, after announcing he’s handing things off to Senior Vice President of Hardware Engineering John Ternus on September 1.
Did they succeed? Hold tabs on this web page, and the remainder of our ongoing protection, to seek out out!
TL;DR — Apple spent WWDC 2026 catching up
That is removed from our shopper information editor Sarah Perez’s first WWDC, and with all that context in thoughts, she provides the subtext on much of what was being showcased.
For the previous two years, Apple has been racing to catch up in AI whereas frustrations with its core software program quietly added up: a design overhaul customers hated, a search operate that hardly labored, a file-sharing characteristic that routinely failed, and a Well being app that didn’t focus sufficient on half its consumer base. Apple didn’t say any of that on Monday. However the construction of its WWDC keynote mentioned it for them, main with fixes earlier than options, and framing a greater Siri as one merchandise on an extended record of enhancements relatively than the primary occasion.
Apple reveals Siri AI

As anticipated, Apple made the case for an improved expertise with its long-standing Siri assistant, which it admitted faces higher expectations from customers within the age of AI. With Google Gemini underneath the hood, Apple claims that the brand new Siri updates will make it extra succesful, conversational, and appropriate with visible intelligence, and it will likely be housed in a stand-alone app along with working throughout current apps. You can get a full rundown of all the new Siri AI updates right here.
Earlier than rolling out the enhancements and options, Apple was adamant about its privacy-centric strategy to AI. “We consider privateness in AI is non-negotiable,” Apple senior vp Craig Federighi mentioned in the course of the stream, going as far as to say that “knowledge is simply used to execute your request, and out of doors specialists can proceed to confirm this promise at any time.”
A possible foldable iPhone tease
No, Apple didn’t make such a giant reveal throughout WWDC, however researcher @M1Astra dug through files within the iOS 27 developer beta and located references to issues like “foldState,” “angleDegrees,” and different issues that allude to the states a foldable machine might be put into. And it’s not like there hasn’t been a bounty of foldable iPhone rumors over the previous few years. Keep tuned for Apple’s annual iPhone occasion in September to see if we do get a proper reveal, except Ternus actually will probably be altering issues up within the post-Prepare dinner period.
The following technology of Apple Intelligence

To go together with its new Siri AI overhaul, the tech large introduced a slew of latest Apple Intelligence updates throughout its apps, together with tab administration for Safari, one-tap password updating, cross-app context consciousness, and extra. Moreover, Messages is getting AI-powered reply strategies, whereas the Telephone app can now pull context from different apps like Mail and Messages mid-call.
Apple mentioned it collaborated with Google and the Gemini household of fashions to develop the subsequent technology of Apple Basis Fashions that energy its built-in Apple Intelligence experiences.
Liquid Glass will get some opt-in rollbacks

In case you are amongst those that aren’t precisely eager on final yr’s Liquid Glass design updates, you aren’t alone. And whereas Apple isn’t switching to a brand new aesthetic, you will be able to dial back some of its elements, or actually spotlight them when you’re vibing with it. And for the app icon critics out there fresh from Spotify’s disco ball update, Apple confirmed off a brand new, layered strategy to Liquid Glass inside its apps.
The whole lot else coming to iOS 27
As is the case yearly, a lot of small tweaks and updates arriving with the upcoming iOS replace didn’t get their time within the solar throughout Apple’s broadcast, however that doesn’t imply they’re not noteworthy. Ivan Mehta brought together several of them right here, together with:
- Full-screen homepage widgets.
- Separate quantity controls for alarms, timers, alerts, and so forth.
- Design tweaks for the climate app, with highlights on notable upcoming occasions.
Picture Playground will get one other likelihood

The AI image-generating app Picture Playground hasn’t precisely taken the world by storm, which relying on you view on slop could also be a superb factor, however Apple rolled out a renewed pitch for customers to really begin producing photographs, with a deal with its doable makes use of throughout many options of your units, with an exclusion set on any coaching primarily based on images generated utilizing the app. That, plus efficiency updates coming alongside Apple Intelligence upgrades, may at the least take it out of the “suck” category for our own Senior Writer Amanda Silberling.
iOS 27 is stretching again to the iPhone 11

Claiming that its upcoming replace will probably be “accessible to extra customers than any iOS launch ever,” Apple revealed that each one units from the iPhone 11 onward will probably be eligible for his or her upcoming software program replace. And that replace comes with a flurry of efficiency enhancements it’s touting throughout a lot of its OS releases this yr, with Apple claiming that new images will seem 70 p.c extra swiftly, AirDrop transfers will probably be 80 p.c quicker and CPU schedulers will probably be improved to assist multitasking.
New parental controls for iPhones

Apple spent a major quantity of the WWDC occasion showcases a collection of instruments for fogeys in search of higher management over what their kids’s units can and may’t do. Mother and father will be capable of decide who their child can name on the telephone, what apps and web sites they will entry, with Apple making strategies about how these restrictions can change over time. By default although, its “Ask to Browse” characteristic limiting entry, and “Ask to Purchase” for app retailer and in-app purchases, will probably be set as a default for units arrange for youngsters youthful than 13. You can get more parental control details right here.
Search will get an overhaul
Annoyed with looking out by way of your iPhone for…properly…just about something? Search acquired a devoted session throughout WWDC to tout a sequence of enhancements, which you can learn more about here.
“We’ve all had that second the place you seek for one thing is there, nevertheless it simply gained’t present up,” Stacey Ford, vp of OS Program Administration mentioned. “So on iOS, iPadOS and macOS, we’ve rebuilt the muse of search that powers Highlight, Pictures, and Mail.

To tackle widespread AI picture modifying apps, Apple is bringing new AI options to its Photos app. A brand new spatial “Reframe” characteristic will let customers use AI to regulate the angle of a picture as if they’d repositioned the digital camera within the authentic scene. The brand new “Lengthen” device expands photographs alter the facet ratio of a picture or add extra to a scene. The app’s widespread “Cleanup” device can be getting an improve so customers can take away distractions with higher high quality and extra reasonable infill with generative AI.
Apple takes on AI dictation apps
Apple is launching a brand new systemwide dictation experience that’s constructed into the keyboard on iOS 27 and may appropriate spellings, punctuation, and capitalization. The replace comes as AI dictation apps like Wispr Stream and Willow have been gaining reputation. These apps clear up filler phrases like “ums” and “Ahs” and format the textual content after transcribing primarily based on context.
Subscription bundles are headed to the App Retailer
For the primary time, developers will be able to partner with each other to provide access to different subscriptions, for a decrease bundled value. It’s not an unusual follow for anybody who’s been pitched by varied streaming companies looking for subscriber development, nevertheless it’s the primary time that is accessible for issues like productiveness or pictures apps within the App Retailer.
The App Retailer will begin giving personalised suggestions
And if a bundled provide isn’t compelling sufficient, your pursuits and habits will energy a brand new technique of discovery for builders: personalized recommendations that will appear across several App Store locations. These suggestions will embody “App Notes,” that element why they’re showing amongst different apps.
Shortcuts provides pure language creation

Apple is utilizing AI to make its visual-scripting device, Shortcuts, simpler to make use of in iOS 27. The updated experience will enable customers to jot down a immediate and easily describe what they need to do. The AI replace makes the Shortcuts app extra approachable and expands what non-technical folks can do.
Well being will get perimenopause insights

Apple’s Well being app is including perimenopause and menopause help to its current cycle monitoring characteristic. The replace embraces a subject that has gone mainstream, giving Apple a brand new product alternative in a quickly increasing market, as digital well being instruments focusing on this demographic have attracted vital funding lately.
Tim Prepare dinner says farewell
On the finish of the keynote, Tim Prepare dinner has a farewell message reflecting on his time as CEO.
“Over time, you’ve got helped folks join, create, study, and expertise the world in extraordinary new methods, and with the unbelievable capabilities we introduce right now, and so many extra nonetheless to return, I actually consider the perfect remains to be forward at Apple, Prepare dinner mentioned. “Getting the perfect merchandise on this planet to ship experiences that enrich folks’s lives has all the time been our North Star. It’s been the respect of a lifetime to assist advance that mission with groups whose creativity, care, and conviction proceed to make an enduring distinction in folks’s lives.”
Make amends for the remainder of WWDC 2026’s reveals right here
Miss out on WWDC? You possibly can all the time make amends for the arhive of the total occasion through the stream above or on Apple’s YouTube page right here.
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- TL;DR — Apple spent WWDC 2026 catching up
- Apple reveals Siri AI
- A possible foldable iPhone tease
- The following technology of Apple Intelligence
- Liquid Glass will get some opt-in rollbacks
- The whole lot else coming to iOS 27
- Picture Playground will get one other likelihood
- iOS 27 is stretching again to the iPhone 11
- New parental controls for iPhones
- Search will get an overhaul
- Apple takes on AI dictation apps
- Subscription bundles are headed to the App Retailer
- The App Retailer will begin giving personalised suggestions
- Shortcuts provides pure language creation
- Well being will get perimenopause insights
- Tim Prepare dinner says farewell
- Make amends for the remainder of WWDC 2026’s reveals right here

