WWDC 2025: A New Design, Fitness Buddies, and Mixed Reactions

Is Apple getting left behind?

Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) 2025 brought the usual flurry of software updates. Still, this year felt different in a few key ways, eliciting a mix of excitement from those interested in the visuals and disappointment from those interested in new capabilities. A significant shift is the unification of operating system version numbers, now all aligning with the calendar year 2026 following the release. This move, similar to what other tech companies have done, aims to simplify things after years of disparate versioning across iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, tvOS, and visionOS.

Perhaps the most visually striking announcement across all platforms is the introduction of “Liquid Glass.” Apple describes this as a transparent, layered aesthetic inspired by VisionOS, designed to make UI elements feel as though they float on a fluid, reflective surface, adapting to content and context. While Apple touts it as “beautiful” and “expressive”, my initial impressions tempered admiration of the beauty with concern about readability in situations like text over varied backgrounds. On platforms like tvOS, the effects are barely noticeable. In contrast, on iOS, they are pretty apparent, applied to elements such as Control Center and even the Unlock screen.

For Apple Watch users, watchOS 26 brings several updates, continuing the trend in recent years of fitness features being a focus at WWDC – I’ve already had my first run with it. The headline feature is “Workout Buddy,” which probably leverages Apple Intelligence from iOS rather than on the Watch (which has no neural engine) to provide personalised, audible motivation during workouts. This feature analyses your fitness history and real-time workout data (like pace, distance, and personal records) to offer encouraging messages and celebrate workout or fitness milestones. The voice is customisable, but all voices are modelled after the “encouraging” style of Apple Fitness+ trainers. Workout Buddy supports various activity types, including running, walking, cycling, HIIT, and strength training, launching initially in English. However, the reception is mixed; while presented positively by Apple, some Redditors and tech reviewers expressed disappointment, with one coining the phrase “uncanny AI voice junk”. There’s also a question about how Apple will balance helpfulness with potential annoyance during strenuous efforts – ultimately, a niche group of people will love the cheerleader approach, the rest of us will have to put up with it or turn it off. Apple isn’t going to change its tone.

Beyond Workout Buddy, the Workout app itself gets what Apple call the “biggest update to its layout and navigation” since its introduction. This translates to a moderately revamped UI with four corner buttons for quicker access to features like Custom Workout and Race Route. Apple Music integration is enhanced, automatically suggesting playlists based on workout type and personal taste.

watchOS 26 also introduces other significant enhancements:

• The Smart Stack is becoming more proactive with improved prediction algorithms that learn your routines and location data to offer timely “hints” for useful apps or actions, such as suggesting the Workout app upon arriving at the gym or Backtrack when in an area with no signal. The latter might be helpful.
• A new wrist flick gesture enables users to dismiss notifications easily, silence calls or alarms, or close the Smart Stack with a quick wrist rotation, joining the existing double-tap gesture for one-handed interactions. This feature is available on newer models (Series 9+, Ultra 2) due to hardware capabilities; there’s no need for the older Watch brigade to get riled about this. Apple is not changing software update policies.
• Automatic volume adjustment for notifications, calls, and Siri will adapt to ambient noise levels, becoming quieter in quiet environments and louder in noisy ones.
• The Notes app has finally arrived on Apple Watch, allowing users to view, pin, unlock, and create notes via Siri, dictation, or the keyboard. This was a positively received addition.
• Enhancements to the Messages app include Live Translation (available on supported models with an AI-enabled iPhone), smart actions based on conversation context (such as suggesting location sharing), and support for customisable backgrounds on iPhone.
• Call features like Hold Assist (waiting on hold for a live agent and notifying you) and Call Screening (screening unknown numbers in the background) are also coming to the Phone app on watchOS when an iPhone is nearby.
• For accessibility, Live Listen will now provide real-time captions on the watch for audio picked up by a paired iPhone.

watchOS 26 will be compatible with Apple Watch Series 6 and later, Apple Watch SE (2nd generation), and all Apple Watch Ultra models, requiring an iPhone 11 or later running iOS 26. Apple Intelligence features are specifically compatible with iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, or iPhone 16 models or later that have Apple Intelligence capabilities at the hardware level. Developer betas are available now (I have them), with the final release expected in September. New APIs are also available for developers to integrate their apps with the latest design, Smart Stack, and Control Centre.

Beyond watchOS, other platforms received significant updates, including a major overhaul of multitasking and windowing on iPadOS 26, allowing for more flexible resizing, tiling, and window management, along with the addition of a menu bar and the Preview app. This update, deemed a “game changer” by some, addresses long-standing user requests. macOS 26 saw improvements to Spotlight, making it a more powerful productivity tool with faster search, app actions, and access to clipboard history. iOS 26 also gained features like Call Screening, Hold Assist, Live Translation, a redesigned Camera app, and Visual Intelligence for interacting with screen content. visionOS 26 received spatial widgets, improved Personas, and support for external accessories.

Overall, WWDC 2025 unveiled a range of updates with a strong emphasis on a unified design language and deeper integration of Apple Intelligence across the ecosystem. While the Liquid Glass design has sparked visual interest, features like Workout Buddy and other watchOS updates appear underwhelming to most. However, the significant strides in iPadOS multitasking and macOS Spotlight were highlighted as genuinely impactful changes.

Take Out

I like the baby steps forward with a better-looking UI and consistently numbered software platforms. Even the sports-related features are nice enough, although far from revolutionary.

There seem to be some clever goodies here that I’m impressed with, but will likely rarely use, such as live translations and AI-like call holding improvements. These are now a reality, where 10 years ago they would have been in the realms of science fiction.