What WWDC 2025 Means for Your App

Every year, Apple hosts WWDC (Worldwide Developer Conference) in June, where it reveals what's coming next across all its devices. From new features that change how we interact with products to new designs and technical updates, WWDC sets the direction for the year ahead.

Here is a breakdown of what Apple announced this year and what it means for your apps, your users and the opportunities ahead: 

What's new in iOS 26?

• Apple has now moved to year-based versioning, so this year we will get iOS 26. 

• Liquid Glass Design 

• Apple made a big refresh to its design with Liquid Glass. It features translucent layers, smooth animations and a more fluid feel across the system. While the look is subtle, it affects how the user interface feels. 

• We will be updating our apps to keep up with the trends. 

• As exciting and smooth as this new update sounds,  it also raises some concerns. Most of us identify apps by their app icons and the colours. It is what comes naturally to us. The new translucent layers could make it harder to locate apps quickly and view notifications at a glance. This change may also introduce accessibility challenges, especially around contrast and visibility. 

• We will be taking extra steps when designing our apps to make sure we provide a seamless user experience to all users. 

• Smart Communication Tools 

• Live Translation 

• Live translation is now built into Messages and FaceTime, offering users real-time translation as they talk and type. With this, we also get a new Call Translation API that can be used to enable voice translation in custom apps that offer voice support or live interactions.

• Call Screening & Hold Assist 

• With Call Screening & Hold Assist, everyday communication is about to get smarter. 

• Call Screening automatically picks up phone calls from unknown callers silently and provides a transcript before ringing.

• Another pain point that we all have dealt with is being put on hold. Hold assist can now wait on hold for you, and when a real human answers the call, the phone rings back, bringing you back into the call. 

• With the new CallKit Framework and screening API, this feature can be added to apps where communication often happens with unknown numbers(service numbers). This could give us the options based on the call content without having to go through the call. 

• Apple Intelligence

• Apple’s biggest theme this year has been on-device intelligence. Unlike most AI tools that rely on the cloud, Apple’s AI models work entirely on the device, which means better privacy and faster response times. 

• This opens up possibilities for apps to get real-time recommendations or assistance that won't rely on internet access. Apple now lets us tap into these models with the new Foundation Models API. These models can help us provide a personalised app experience based on what the users are doing and how they are using the app.

• For example, for an e-commerce app, we could fetch the results of products based on the content the user has viewed in the past.

• These AI features will only be available to Apple Silicon devices, ensuring secure computation. 

• At Swipe & Tap, we will be exploring how to bring Apple Intelligence into the apps we build in a way that feels more natural and useful. It's not about adding AI for the sake of it, it’s about making everyday tasks easier, faster and more personal to users. 

• Xcode 26 

• Xcode is Apple’s official development tool to help build iOS applications. This year, the biggest addition to Xcode is the integration of ChatGPT. 

• ChatGPT now seamlessly sits inside Xcode and provides faster debugging and intelligent fixing of errors, code writing, creating documentation, and even suggests new features. 

• While the integration makes development faster, it also raises some security concerns. 

• Using ChatGPT within Xcode could risk exposing sensitive data. It raises questions about how the data is stored, used for training, and protected from unauthorised access. This risk can be reduced by linking our ChatGPT accounts and making sure they have the appropriate permissions and settings to not share the data or use it for training purposes. 

• When dealing with sensitive data like medical or financial records, we must ensure that the correct security permissions are set. 

• We at Swipe & Tap are always security first. While using the new Xcode for development is essential for innovation, we are committed to taking steps to safeguard the data and privacy of all our clients.  

• Framework Updates 

• This section is a bit more technical. Apple provides frameworks like SwiftUI, UIKit, and AppKit, which form the foundation of how we build apps. With Xcode 26, these frameworks will automatically support the new liquid glass design. 

• It will be as simple as compiling our existing code base with the new Xcode and seeing what it brings out. We would then have a chance to refine any areas that don't feel right. 

• With the beta version of Xcode 26 already out, we can get a head start on testing our existing apps and be ready for the new iOS release this September. 
  
  

As a developer, I’m personally excited to work with the new Liquid Glass design and the Foundation Models API. Since Liquid Glass is the future of Apple UI, we at Swipe & Tap will be focusing on creating interfaces that not only look good but are also easy to use and accessible for everyone.

Apple has confirmed that the new iOS 26 version will be available to all devices from September this year. However, they have not released the exact compatibility list. Based on previous trends, this new update will be supported by devices that are about 3-4 years old and run the silicon chip. 

The announcements have made one thing clear: we are entering into an era of intelligent and personalised design with AI across all Apple platforms. All the features coming to your device offer users more control and ease of use. At Swipe & Tap, we are already working to update ourselves and adopt these new changes in our apps to ensure that our apps are compatible with the new trends. Our goal is simple - Build secure apps that are easy to use and ready for the future. We are excited to explore what is possible with iOS 26, and we’re here to help our clients take full advantage of it. Let’s build the future together.