WWDC 2026: The Update Apple's Software Has Needed for Years

I have been watching WWDC for a long time, and yesterday’s keynote felt different to recent years. Not because it was lacking new features, because there were plenty, but because of what sat underneath almost everything Apple announced.

Apple literally framed the keynote around three big areas it wanted to address across all platforms: Platform Improvements, Trust and Safety, and Apple Intelligence and Siri. That is important, because this was an across-the-board software year, covering iOS, iPadOS, visionOS, tvOS, watchOS, and macOS, with macOS 27 getting the name Golden Gate.

And that pretty much tells you what kind of WWDC this was.

This was not Apple trying to blow everyone away with one single new thing. It felt more like Apple saying, “these are the areas we know need work, and here is what we are doing about them.”

In practice, especially on the platform improvements side, that meant better performance, more reliability, improved consistency, stronger search, and fixing things that have quietly annoyed people for years.

If you were a Mac user back in 2009, this will feel familiar. Mac OS X Snow Leopard was Apple’s famous “no new features” release. It was basically an entire operating system update focused on making everything faster, more stable, and more refined.

This year is not exactly the same as Snow Leopard, because Apple did announce plenty of new features across its platforms. But the platform improvement side of this year’s updates definitely has that same feeling. A lot of the foundations Apple has been building over the last few years now feel like they are being pushed much closer to full fruition.

That is what makes this WWDC interesting to me. Not the most exciting one on paper, but probably one of the most important for a while. The foundations needed attention, and Apple has clearly given them it.

Here is my roundup of what was announced, and what I actually think about it.

The headline: Siri AI

Let us get this one out of the way. Apple has finally, properly rebuilt Siri.

The new Siri AI is more conversational, understands context across your apps, and can take actions on your behalf across the system. It can understand what is on your screen, use personal context, and actually do things across apps rather than just giving you a half-useful web result and calling it a day.

Is it late? Yes. Has it been embarrassing watching Samsung and Google run laps around Siri for the last couple of years? Also yes.

But what matters now is whether it works. From what Apple showed, this looks like a meaningful step forward rather than another tiny Siri update dressed up as something bigger.

The availability side is where it gets a bit messy. For UK users, we should be fine, because Apple says Siri AI will not initially be available in the EU on iPhone and iPad because of regulatory issues, and the UK is obviously no longer in the EU. That said, Apple does sometimes treat the UK as part of the wider European rollout, so it is still something to keep an eye on.

Device support is also worth mentioning. Siri AI and Apple Intelligence in iOS 27 will support iPhone 16 models or later, as well as iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max. iPad users will need an iPad mini with A17 Pro or an iPad with M1 or later, and Mac users will need an M1 Mac or later.

So it is not as bad as it could have been, but it does show how quickly Apple’s biggest software features are becoming tied to newer hardware. To be fair, we are only on beta one, so things can still change before September, but Siri AI is clearly the thing everyone will be watching.

Platform improvements

This is the update I have been waiting for.

Apple has clearly spent a lot of time trying to make its platforms feel faster, more responsive, and more reliable. That includes faster app launches, faster AirDrop discovery and transfers, faster photo loading, smarter switching between Wi-Fi and mobile data, and improvements to how the system behaves in everyday use.

None of that sounds glamorous, but it is exactly what the software needed. These are the sorts of changes that do not necessarily make a great headline, but they are the things you actually notice every day when you use your devices.

The key point is that this is happening across the board, not just on one device. Apple is clearly trying to make the whole ecosystem feel more consistent, more stable, and more joined up.

The smaller visual changes matter too. The corner radius refinements, Liquid Glass improvements, sidebar padding fixes, and general consistency work all add up. Apple’s software has picked up a lot of little inconsistencies over the last few years, and it is good to see them actually taking that seriously.

Liquid Glass also feels like it is heading in the right direction now. Anyone who remembers the old Aqua interface from Mac OS X will probably see where Apple is going with it, but this feels more refined, more cohesive, and less like a first attempt.

Search, finally

This might end up being one of the most useful changes in the whole update.

Apple has rebuilt the foundation of search across Spotlight, Mail, and Photos so that it is more stable, more efficient, and quicker to index new files.

And honestly, good, because Spotlight not finding obvious things has been annoying for years. Mail search has been hit and miss for far too long, and Photos search can be brilliant one minute and completely useless the next.

If this actually works properly, it will make a real difference day to day. It is not the sort of feature that gets people clapping in a keynote, but it is the sort of thing that makes the whole system feel better.

Messages and sharing

Messages gets a small but very sensible update. Large messages and attachments now have their own sending indicator, and you can carry on chatting while big files upload in the background.

It is small, obvious, and probably should have been there years ago, but it is still very welcome.

Shared Albums is getting a proper upgrade too, with full-resolution photo sharing coming alongside better Android and Windows support. Cross-platform photo sharing between iPhone and Android users has always been more painful than it should be, so this is a sensible fix. Not exciting, but genuinely useful.

Trust and safety

Apple gave parental controls and child safety features a decent amount of time in the keynote, and I think that is important. This clearly fits into the Trust and Safety section Apple talked about.

There is more pressure than ever on tech companies when it comes to children, devices, and social media, so parents need better tools and Apple is right to take that seriously.

The key thing here is balance. Parents need more control, but Apple also has to keep privacy and trust at the centre of it. From what was shown, this feels like Apple accepting that child safety is now a major part of the platform, not just a few settings hidden away in Screen Time.

macOS Golden Gate

macOS 27 is called Golden Gate, and I love the name. It just sounds right for a Mac release.

The same general themes come to the Mac: better performance, Siri AI, Liquid Glass refinements, more consistency across the system, and all the wider platform work Apple talked about during the keynote.

Visual Intelligence is also coming to desktop, which could be really useful if Apple gets it right.

Developer betas are available now, with the full release expected in the autumn.

I know the name is only a small thing, but Golden Gate feels like a proper macOS name. Much better than some of the recent ones.

Apple Home Secure Video

Apple is making a bigger push into smart home security with Apple Home Secure Video.

The idea is to link Apple Intelligence with security cameras, giving you more detailed descriptions of events, natural language search through footage, and 4K video storage through iCloud Plus.

That could be really useful, because being able to search your camera footage for something like “delivery driver at the front door yesterday afternoon” is exactly the kind of AI feature people will immediately understand.

The problem is still hardware. There just are not enough HomeKit-compatible cameras compared with Ring and Nest, so if Apple wants this to become a serious smart home feature, it needs more camera makers on board.

Tim Cook’s send-off

Tim Cook closed the keynote with a personal note, saying that some of the greatest highlights of his time as CEO have been events like WWDC, and that he truly believes the best is still ahead.

It felt significant, especially with all the conversation around Apple’s leadership and what comes next.

John Ternus did not appear on stage, and I think that was the right call. September feels like his moment. This one belonged to Tim.

My overall take

This was a good WWDC. Not jaw-dropping, and not one of those keynotes where everyone is talking about one massive new product, but genuinely solid.

The platform improvements alone make this year’s updates worth installing in the autumn. Siri AI is very late, but if it works properly, it could finally make Siri feel useful again.

More than anything, this felt like Apple taking the foundations it has been building over the last few years and finally pushing them into something more complete. Search needed work, Siri needed work, performance needed work, visual consistency needed work, and the wider ecosystem needed to feel more joined up.

And to be fair, Apple seems to have done the work.

That might not make for the flashiest keynote, but it could make for a much better year of software across Apple’s whole ecosystem.

Software updates are expected in September alongside the new iPhone. Developer betas are available now.