WWDC26 was Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference that starting on June 8, 2026, where the company unveiled iOS 27, iPadOS 27, macOS 27, watchOS 27, tvOS 27 and visionOS 27.
The conference put a heavy emphasis on artificial intelligence. The biggest announcement was Siri AI, a rebuilt version of Siri that can understand on-screen content, perform more complex tasks and work across apps.
Apple also expanded Apple Intelligence throughout its operating systems, introduced new AI tools for Photos, Safari and Shortcuts, improved parental controls, refined the Liquid Glass interface and released new developer frameworks that let third-party apps tap into Apple’s AI models.
As with most WWDC keynotes, the focus was on software rather than new hardware, with public releases for the new operating system versions scheduled for fall 2026.
macOS 27 comes packed with features that will make your daily life on the Mac all the better. From an enhanced user interface to super-charged search, the new operating system delivers upgrades that should please every Mac user.
While Apple Intelligence and Siri AI dominated Apple’s WWDC26 keynote last week, and much of the fervor focused on improvements coming to iOS 27, the Mac is getting some great new features as well.
Here are the 10 best “hidden” features coming to macOS Golden Gate 27.
This week on the Cult of Mac podcast: For once, Siri doesn’t leave us exasperated! After a week of WWDC26 surprises, we’re genuinely stoked about the promise of Siri AI.
Also on the Cult of Mac podcast:
Listen to this week’s episode of the Cult of Mac podcast in the Podcasts app or your favorite podcast app. (Be sure to subscribe and leave us a review if you like it!) Or watch the video live stream, embedded below.
Apple Mail’s search has been broken for years, and everyone knows it. But iOS 27 should fix that.
When it arrives later this year, it will bring a completely rebuilt Mail search with features such as a new on-device index, relevance ranking and the ability to reindex old emails. The emails you know exist but can never find? Your iPhone will finally be able to surface them.
Apple spent the majority of WWDC26’s opening keynote talking about Siri AI, Apple Intelligence upgrades, Liquid Glass refinements and performance enhancements. But iOS 27 packs much more than that. There are several smaller changes that Apple did not talk about onstage.
Here are some of the best hidden iOS 27 features you might have missed.
If you ever accidentally hit the microphone button in the Message app and started recording your voice, Apple finally fixed that problem in iOS 27. Justin Bieber publicly complained about it last year, and as it turns out, Apple was paying attention.
With iOS 27, Apple is not only ending the dictation button problem but also adding some new features to the Messages app. You’ll also get AI-powered smart suggestions, a new drawing tool, improved child safety features and performance fixes.
Once a bit of a sketchy upstart, Apple Maps has become one of the best iPhone navigation apps. And upcoming iOS 27 — previewed at WWDC 2026 this week — pushes it even further. Here’s every notable Apple Maps upgrade in iOS 27.
Apple Music will receive one of its biggest overhauls in years with iOS 27, and the changes go deeper than you might expect.
The update covers almost all aspects of the Apple Music app: interface changes, expanded lyrics tools, improved AI-powered mixing, and quality-of-life changes that make the app feel faster. It sounds like a big update for anyone who uses the app daily.
WWDC26 drew plenty of attention for the rebuilt Siri and the relatively substantial iOS 27 overhaul. But buried beneath those headlines lies Apple’s biggest push yet to turn the Home app into a genuinely capable smart home platform. iOS 27 and tvOS 27 updates make your home smarter, from AI-powered security cameras to a more reliable wireless backbone.
Apple’s tvOS 27 brings a few new features, but it also will leave two Apple TV models behind. According to Apple’s developer website, the tvOS 27 beta is compatible with “Apple TV 4K (2nd generation or later).”
That would mean the Apple TV HD and the Apple TV 4K (1st generation) won’t get the update. If you own either of those set-top boxes, you’re probably stuck on tvOS 26, with no new features coming.
At the WWDC26 keynote, Apple announced the next versions of all its operating systems with a swath of AI features. There are tweaks to the Liquid Glass design, a wide array of tiny quality-of-life and performance improvements, draconian parental controls and limits, and AI in every corner of the operating system.
It was an unusual WWDC keynote that disposed of the typical platform-by-platform format, and a relatively brisk runtime. But if you don’t have 76 minutes to spare, you can get the gist in just 90 seconds.
watchOS 27 will bring the new Siri AI, a smarter Workout Buddy and other useful new features to Apple Watch. While the wearable didn’t receive much attention during the WWDC26 keynote on Monday, Apple said watchOS will get AI-powered upgrades like the rest of its platforms.
“You can start chatting with Siri on your iPhone, pick up where you left off on your iPad, and wrap up on your Mac,” said Mike Rockwell, Apple’s VP of Siri engineering, during the keynote. “We’re also tailoring Siri AI for watchOS. So you can ask questions and take action right on your wrist. And you can also tap into the Siri app using the new app grid on Apple Watch.”
Before Apple even started talking about new features, it devoted a significant chunk of Monday’s WWDC26 keynote to talking up improvements to performance and stability coming to all its operating systems this fall, including macOS 27, iOS 27 and iPadOS 27.
It’s surely welcome news to Apple users that their devices with run faster, with fewer bugs. And that’s includes a significant performance improvement especially for older iPhone models.
At the Platforms State of the Union, Apple covered the nitty gritty on the new Siri AI and Apple Intelligence features, improved Liquid Glass design, Device Hub and more tools announced today.
Much nerdier than the morning keynote, this event covers the technical details of how developers are supposed to use and adopt the new features inside their apps with the latest developer tools.
You can watch the Platforms State of the Union on YouTube, in the Apple Developer app or on the web. Read on to see our live coverage of the event.
While Siri got a complete redesign to include a dedicated chatbot app, on-screen awareness and deeper integration with third-party tools, that’s not the only AI upgrade cited by Apple in Monday’s WWDC26 keynote. A bunch of new Apple Intelligence features are set to upgrade your life, too.
“Truly helpful AI must be centered on our users’ needs, deeply integrated into the products they rely on every day, grounded in personal context, and built with privacy at every step. That is our vision for Apple Intelligence,” said Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of software engineering.
“With useful features for browsing the web, expressing creativity, editing photos and so much more, today marks a big step forward on our journey to integrate powerful AI into the core of our platforms and make our products even more personal and useful,” he added.
The new features will become available with the release of iOS 27 and other OS updates coming in September 2026.
At WWDC26, Apple previewed visionOS 27, the next major software update coming to its Vision Pro headset. The biggest new change is the introduction of Siri AI and the suite of new Apple Intelligence features, as is the case for all of Apple’s announcements today.
But there are other great quality of life features coming to the headset. You can turn your own panoramas into immersive environments, view 3D models from your Mac, and use apps with curved windows. visionOS 27 features another redesigned Control Center, a new virtual environment, improved notifications, faster Wi-Fi connectivity, faster Messages sync and much more.
visionOS 27 is available now as a developer beta, with a public release expected in September.
iPad users got their first look at iPadOS 27 on Monday, with Apple using the keynote address of WWDC26 to tout improvements to stability and performance before taking a deep dive into new AI-related features.
There are a great many enhancements for tablet users. Here are the standouts.
Apple reinvented its smart assistant Siri as “Siri AI,” with a new range of advanced capabilities and its own dedicated app, the company said Monday during its WWDC26 keynote.
Siri, Apple’s long-maligned smart assistant that was often not terribly smart, gets a new architecture that better understands personal context and can perform a wide range of actions across devices.
“We couldn’t be happier to bring you Siri AI, our new version of Siri, powered by Apple Intelligence,” said Apple’s software chief Craig Federighi during the keynote. “It’s more intelligent, knowledgeable and capable.”
Apple took the wraps off macOS 27 Golden Gate, the next major release of its Mac operating system, during the opening keynote of WWDC26 on Monday.
It brings Liquid Glass refinements and performance improvements along with an enhanced Siri and deeper Apple Intelligence integration.
Apple showcased iOS 27, iPadOS 27, watchOS 27 and macOS 27 at WWDC26’s opening keynote Monday. The updates refine last year’s Liquid Glass redesign, add several new Apple Intelligence features, and introduce a host of quality-of-life improvements across the company’s devices.
Before you get excited about trying the new features, you’ll want to make sure your device is supported. Below, we rounded up the full compatibility lists for iOS 27, iPadOS 27, watchOS 27 and macOS 27.
The much-anticipated iOS 27 update for iPhone showcased at the Worldwide Developers Conference rebuilds the Siri voice assistant from the ground up as Siri AI, improves Apple Visual Intelligence, offers an improved Camera app, fixes myriad bugs and more, Apple said Monday. It turned out to be quite the consequential update.
“We’re excited to bring a wide range of improvements to each of our platforms, making them even more useful and delightful,” said CEO Tim Cook as he began to close out the keynote presentation. It’s expected to be his last before he steps down from the role on September 1.
Apple CEO Tim Cook’s chipper “good morning!” from many, many events got the quasi-royal treatment Monday in a video he shared on X.com filled with celebrities saying the phrase just hours before WWDC26 kicks off.
For Cook, who remains CEO until John Ternus takes over September 1, today’s keynote might be the last opportunity to say it on such a big stage.
And it begs the question: What will be Ternus use as a catchphrase, anyway?
How can you watch the Apple event at WWDC26? You can stream the keynote on YouTube, on the apple.com website or on your smart TV. It starts at 10 a.m. Pacific time on Monday, June 8.
Each spring at its Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple unveils all the software updates that will ship later in the year — typically in September. Apple will show us what the headlining new features will be in iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, tvOS and visionOS 27.
This year, we can expect Apple Intelligence to take center stage. The company failed to deliver on its 2024 promise of a smarter Siri, but rumors indicate that the upgraded assistant is finally coming. Also rumored are a new, customizable Camera app and tweaks to the design of macOS.
Here’s how you can watch it all live, whether you’re watching at home, secretly at work or in person at Apple Park.
This week on the Cult of Mac podcast: As per tradition, we match wits with our predictions about what we’ll see at Apple’s WWDC26 keynote. Griffin and I are joined by two special guests, Charlie Sorrel and Graham Bower, for this year’s installment of the WWDC prediction game.
What will the new Siri do? Will Apple unveil new hardware? And who, exactly, will get how much screen time?
We chisel our answers into digital stone on 10 tricky questions (which also serve as a jumping-off point to discuss Apple’s future and strategies). And, as always, you can play along! Just be sure to submit your answers (via this Google Docs form) before Monday’s WWDC26 keynote.
Also on the Cult of Mac podcast:
Listen to this week’s episode of the Cult of Mac podcast in the Podcasts app or your favorite podcast app. (Be sure to subscribe and leave us a review if you like it!) Or watch the video live stream, embedded below.
Everybody expects Apple’s Siri voice assistant to get a big AI-powered makeover Monday at WWDC26. But there’s more to the picture, in that Apple Intelligence and Visual Intelligence will see a bunch of separate new features, too, according to rumors rounded up in a new report Friday.
With Apple’s WWDC26 keynote just days away, the latest iPadOS 27 rumors should give iPad owners plenty of reasons to pay close attention. Beyond the new artificial intelligence features for all Apple devices, tablet users can look forward to Monday’s keynote unveiling of iPadOS 27 enhancements that should make tablets easier to use in multiple ways.
Here are four reasons for iPad users to be eager for these announcements, whether you use your tablet for writing, creative projects or daily multitasking.