WWDC 2025: everything important you need to know
Recently, we’ve scooped up expectations from WWDC 2025 (and summed up the history of the event, check out the post if you’re interested). Now, this year’s WWDC is more than two weeks behind us, so it is safe to not just collect the off-the-stove red-hot news, but take a closer look at what has actually transpired, and what was left unsaid. Here’s our take on what this event – undoubtedly, one of the most important on Apple's calendar – gave us, the public, and what we should expect from the company in the not-so-distant future.
WWDC 2025: the key announcements
Liquid Glass UI redesign
First things first. Liquid Glass is the first major cross-platform design refresh since iOS 7, and it really is a big one. The effort affects the entire Apple ecosystem, all the devices and operating systems. The goal, it seems, is to bring it all closer to each other, making life with Apple an even more seamless experience. The fact that conceptually, the new looks of Apple’s interfaces echo Vision Pro’s operating system kind of hints where the company sees the future of its products.
Unified OS naming and versioning
Some would say: “finally.” Apple decided to abandon the practice of numbering its assorted operating systems sequentially, and now it all boils down to the year the next version is released in. The change takes effect with the next release cycle: 2026, what would have been iOS 19, iPadOS 19, and tvOS 19 will instead be iOS 26, iPadOS 26, tvOS 26, watchOS 26, and visionOS 26 (yup, skipping a couple dozen). macOS will still have a California location in the name: Tahoe 26.
Assorted Apple Intelligence updates
Several new features were announced:
- Live translation, a system-level function that enables real-time translation of phone calls, conversations (including via AirPods), and messages.
- Generative shortcuts, a natural-language automation tool that helps build complex sequences of triggers and actions without complicated interactions or block juggling. AI-powered and complete with generated pictures.
- Mixmoji, a simple feature that allows blending two emojis into a new, custom genmoji.
The new Games app
Game Center is being retired and replaced with the new Games app, which unifies the Apple Arcade library, achievements, and group features. What’s probably more important, this app is integrated with iMessage and FaceTime, which adds a new layer to the gaming experience.
WWDC 2025: the unexpected
Arguably, the biggest surprise of WWDC 2025 is the lack of some major announcements related to Apple’s efforts in the field of large language models. Mark Gurman, one of the most respected experts on the giant from Cupertino, said that overall, the event was smaller-scale than in previous years, and Apple’s AI ambitions seem to have hit a major speed bump.
Considering the general trends in the realm of artificial intelligence, which are the opposite of slowing down, this is probably the most unexpected news from this year’s developer conference. On the other hand, Apple, while considered to be a revolutionary by the masses, has actually never been eager to pioneer anything: neither mouse nor touchscreen phone were invented by the company, but it was the genius of its founder that made them (and a dozen other things) ubiquitous and shoveling in outrageous amounts of money. So, all things considered, we just may be in for a similar ride with AI, when Apple moves sluggishly at the outset, and then delivers game-changers, wrapped and ready for easy consumption.
