At WWDC 2025, Apple just announced iOS 26, a rebranded new version of the software powering the iPhone. It is due to ship in the fall (likely with new iPhone 17 models), but Apple developers will have access to the developer beta today; a public beta is expected in July.
Apple has determined that the future of iPhone is brighter and more translucent with the announcement of the next version of iOS, with a new look called Liquid Glass that takes on visual characteristics of glass similar to the VisionOS interface on Vision Pro. And how do we know it’s the future? Because the next iPhone system is now iOS 26, renamed to coincide with next year as part of a lineup-wide rebranding to bring symmetry to the system names, such as MacOS 26 and WatchOS 26.
After more than a decade of a flat, clean user interface — a revamp introduced in iOS 7 when former Apple chief design officer Jony Ive took over the design of software as well as hardware — the iPhone is getting a new look. The new design extends throughout the Apple product lineup, from iOS to WatchOS, TVOS and iPadOS.
Translucency is the defining characteristic of Liquid Glass, behaving like glass in the real world in the way it deals with light and color of objects behind and near controls. But it’s not just a glassy look: The «liquid» part of Liquid Glass refers to how controls can merge and adapt — dynamically morphing, in Apple’s words. The dock and widgets are now rounded, glassy panels that float above the background.
The Liquid Glass interface also now enables a third way to view app icons on the iPhone home screen. Not content with Light and Dark modes, iOS 26 now features an All Clear look — every icon is clear glass with no color. Lock screens can also have an enhanced 3D effect using spatial scenes, which uses machine learning to give depth to your background photos.
Camera and Photos apps go even more minimal
The Camera app is getting a new, simplified interface. You could argue that the current Camera app is pretty minimal, designed to make it quick to frame a shot and hit the big shutter button. But the moment you get into the periphery, it becomes a weird mix of hidden controls and unintuitive icons.
Now, the Camera app in iOS 26 features a «new more intuitive design» that take minimalism to the extreme. The streamlined design shows just two controls: Video or Camera. Swipe left or right to choose modes. Swipe up for settings such as aspect ratio and timers, and tap for additional preferences.
With the updated Photos app, viewing the pictures you capture should be a better experience — a welcome change that customers have clamored for since iOS 18’s cluttered attempt. Instead of a long, difficult-to-discover scrolling interface, Photos regains a Liquid Glass menu at the bottom of the screen.
The Phone app gets a revamp
The Phone app has kept more closely than others to the look of its source: a spare interface with large buttons as if you’re holding an old-fashioned headset or pre-smartphone cellular phone. iOS 26 finally updates that look not just with the new overall interface but in a unified layout that takes advantage of the larger screen real estate on today’s iPhone models.
It’s not just looks that are different, though. The Phone app is trying to be more useful for dealing with actual calls — the ones you want to take. The Call Screening feature automatically answers calls from unknown numbers, and your phone rings only when the caller shares their name and reason for calling.
Or what about all the time wasted on hold? Hold Assist automatically detects hold music, and can mute the music but keep the call connected. Once a live agent becomes available, the phone rings and lets the agent know you’ll be available shortly.
Messages updates
The Messages app is probably one of the most-used apps on the iPhone, and for iOS 26 Apple is making it a more colorful experience. You can add backgrounds to the chat window, including dynamic backgrounds that show off the new Liquid Glass interface.
In addition to the new look, group texts in Messages can incorporate polls for everyone in the group to reply to — no more scrolling back to find out which restaurant Brett suggested for lunch that you missed. Other members in the chat can also add their own items to a poll.
More useful is a feature to better detect spam texts and screen unknown numbers, so the messages you see in the app are the ones you want to see and not the ones that distract you.
Safari gets out of its own way
In the Safari app, the Liquid Glass design floats the tab bar above the web page (although that looks right where your thumb is going to be, so it will be interesting to see if you can move the bar to the top of the screen). As you scroll, the tab bar shrinks.
FaceTime focuses on calls, not controls
FaceTime also get the minimal look, with controls in the lower-right corner that disappear during the call to get out of the way. On the FaceTime landing page, posters of your contacts, including video clips of previous calls, are designed to make the app more appealing.
New Games app is a reminder that yes, people game on iPhone
The iPhone doesn’t get the same kind of gaming affection as Nintendo’s Switch or Valve’s Steam Deck, but the truth is that the iPhone and Android phones are used extensively for gaming — Apple says half a billion people play games on iPhone.
Trying to capitalize on that, a new Games app acts as a specific portal to Apple Arcade and other games. Yes, you can get to those from the App Store app, but the Games app is designed to remove a layer of friction so you can get right to the gaming action.
Live translation enhances calls and texts
Although not specific to iOS, Apple’s new live translation feature is ideal on the iPhone when you’re communicating with others. It uses Apple Intelligence to dynamically enable you to talk to someone who speaks a different language in near-real time. It’s available in the Messages, FaceTime and Phone apps and shows live translated captions during a conversation.
What about Apple Intelligence?
Although last year’s WWDC featured Apple Intelligence features heavily, improvements to the AI tech were less prominent, folded into the announcements during the WWDC keynote.
As an alternative to creating Genmoji from scratch, you can combine existing emojis — «like a sloth and a light bulb when you’re the last one in the group chat to get the joke,» to use Apple’s example. You can also change expressions in Genmoji of people you know that you’ve used to create the image.
Image Playground adds the ability to tap into ChatGPT’s image generation tools to go beyond the app’s animation or sketch styles.
Visual Intelligence can already use the camera to try to decipher what’s in front of the lens. Now the technology works on the content on the iPhone’s screen, too. It does this by taking a screenshot (press the sleep and volume up buttons) and then including a new Image Search option in that interface to find results across the web or in other apps such as Etsy.
This is also a way to add event details from images you come across, like posters for concerts or large gatherings. (Perhaps this could work for QR codes as well?) In the screenshot interface, Visual Intelligence can parse the text and create an event in the Calendar app.
iOS 26 availability
The finished version of iOS 26 will be released in September or October with new iPhone 17 models. In the meantime, developers will get access to the first developer betas starting today, with an initial public beta arriving within in July. (Don’t forget to go into any beta software with open eyes and clear expectations.)
Follow the WWDC 2025 live blog for details about Apple’s announcements.
This is a developing story.
