WWDC 2026 Impressions: State of the Undo
Forget everything you heard about Apple Intelligence and Liquid Glass
At CommunityKit, an event where developers and others at the Renaissance Inn Hotel in Cupertino watched the WWDC 2026 keynote, it was completely different from how I've watched these for 20 years, because I was there too. Some features got claps, some got complete silence, and others received loud groans. But after the past two years, these reactions made total sense.
I sat through both the WWDC 2026 keynote and the Platforms State of the Union address on June 8 - another talk where Apple goes further into detail about features and frameworks better tailored to developers. It was great to hear first-hand just how some of the announcements would either improve their apps or potentially 'Sherlock' them.
Apple Intelligence and Liquid Glass are arguably two of Apple's biggest misses in recent years. That may raise eyebrows from some, but to those outside of the Applesphere, many have refused to upgrade to iOS 26 simply because they don't like the new look. Apple Intelligence still has a huge 'So what?' hanging over its cloud. Which is why this year's keynote felt like a soft reset of Apple wanting to make you forget much of what was announced at WWDC 2024 and 2025.
Forget about the past two years
Instead of a jokey, upbeat tone, it felt more serious this time. Once the keynote began with outgoing-CEO Tim Cook, Senior VP of Software Engineering Craig Federighi got into the fun of what macOS 27 would be called - Golden Gate. Then, for the next 20 minutes, it was an overview of refinements and features across all of Apple's operating systems. The 'Our team really appreciates your feedback' line made me feel that the company listened to the justified complaints of last year's updates, but also from certain teams within the company.
Liquid Glass can now be Liquid Plastic thanks to a new slider. If you want your apps to be more glassy or more tinted, it's up to you. The subsequent betas have also revealed redesigned app icons that look sharper, with fewer blur effects, and feeling snappier overall.
But it was macOS Golden Gate that was rightly given more airtime, with plenty of reverse maneuvers - from toolbars and sidebars now being more in line with pre-macOS 26, to icons being better suited to Macs, and borders finally being fixed in all windows. Plenty of claps were made in this segment, and rightly so.
But there were a few new features to note. In visionOS, panoramic photos can now be used as environments and spatial scenes. Screen Time has been redesigned to better support child accounts with useful limitations and time allowances, although some of it felt like a reaction to governments wanting more safeguards in this area.
When it came to the Platforms State of the Union keynote, I sensed plenty of developers in the room being almost cautious about Agents in Xcode, faster startup times, and more. Again, the focus leaned more towards refinements than new features, with the serious tone still being carried through from the main keynote, albeit with some rare jokes at times.
Overall, these updates feel like the true follow-up to Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard and iOS 12 - plenty of refinements, from the design to the speed of how apps launch and even when a device switches from cellular to Wi-Fi. But it's also telling to me how Apple's press releases barely feature screenshots of macOS Golden Gate. Perhaps we're going to see even more changes for the Mac's operating system as we lead up to release day than we think, set to come out later this year.
For the users who have no clue of WWDC and everything else announced this week, I already feel this year will be remembered fondly - a nice change from previous years. However, I can't say the same for what took over much of the keynote.
Still lacking Intelligence
Apple Intelligence also felt like a do-over on June 8. Siri is now powered by Google's Gemini LLM (Large Language Model), but its frameworks are completely created by Apple, meaning you're getting a different experience here. The new name for Apple's assistant surprised me - simply calling it what it is - Siri AI. After spending so long at WWDC 2024 avoiding the AI name, the company is embracing it.
Instead of a colourful border on your iPhone, the Dynamic Island will expand into an oval shape, letting you ask Siri AI multiple questions, and as the keynote showed in real-time, every answer was rapid and accurate - a breath of fresh air.
But that wasn't all. New Apple Intelligence features, like detecting what happens in a captured video from a HomeKit-compatible camera, got some audible approvals in the room, along with gasps, with a new Photo feature that lets you change the angle of a photo. With Shortcuts, Apple's almost-forgotten app to help users create automations and ways of cutting down certain tasks, can now be made by simply asking what extension you want.
All of this was fine - Apple had to re-announce their stance on what Apple Intelligence is after all, but what I found interesting was that two different on-device models will be available for certain products. The more powerful one, which features better dictations and other benefits, will be coming to the latest iPhones, iPads, and M3 Macs and above. This only reminded me again of the misleading 'Ready for Apple Intelligence' ad campaign for iPhone 16.
The Rumour Problem
But, you may be asking - what about the redesigned Camera app with widgets that you can place anywhere? Surely that was showcased?
No, it wasn't. Instead, the app has seen some small refinements, but nothing as huge as Mark Gurman at Bloomberg described and tried to show with mocked-up screenshots. It's disappointing - but we're only at Beta 1 - we could still see some improvements, but I'm not expecting something as big as widgets to appear.
But these rumours are something that we, as journalists, need to be careful of. Articles that have 'revealed' in their headlines and mockups for readers give extreme false hope to all kinds of Apple fans and users. We're now in a moment where certain outlets simply look silly, and to have a defence of 'it was only a rumour' isn't enough anymore. Perhaps it'd be best to avoid this perspective going forward if we want to keep building trust with readers in the age of NoAI.
Overall, it was a muted WWDC keynote, but it had to be. Apple had gotten too comfortable, airing strange ads like Mother Nature and trying to convince you that spatial experiences were going to be the new standard, all whilst it missed the mark on the software available now.
Being at CommunityKit made the two keynotes land better for me, by way of parsing what the developers responded to with certain announcements. Instead of going straight to social media, asking people what they thought on both June 8 and 9 at certain events felt very refreshing.
This was a more serious, straight-to-the-point keynote that strongly attempted to let you know that your feedback is being heard and changes are being made. But it may be too little, too late for some who are already looking at ways to escape Apple's ecosystem.
With WWDC 2026 still going on, if you'd like to chat to me about an app you're working on or improving upon due to these announcements, or even sponsorship opportunities, get in touch.
