At the start of the WWDC26 livestream, Craig Federighi, Apple's senior vice president of software engineering, surprised us with a fascinating talk about the philosophy driving the development of Apple's software systems. He said, "We constantly challenge ourselves to make our products more responsive, more reliable, and more enjoyable to use. Instead of simply introducing entirely new features, we take the features you already rely on and make them significantly better. Because we believe that the best operating systems aren't built on big breakthroughs, but on attention to detail." He then handed the stage over to his colleague, Stacey Ford, senior vice president of operating system program management, who emphasized that attention to detail has always been in Apple's DNA, and that this year, the teams focused on refining the user interface and making it easier to use from the ground up. Within seconds, the large screen was filled with a giant panel showcasing 264 improvements and subtle details in Apple's upcoming operating systems.
The philosophy behind the painting “Attention to Detail”
These small details might seem insignificant to those solely focused on AI breakthroughs and flashy features, but for the everyday user, these are the changes that truly make a difference in the daily experience. Here at Phonegram, we know that a fast, stable, and meticulously polished system far outweighs one filled with unstable experimental features. Since the banner only appeared briefly at the conference, we've broken down and categorized all 264 of these features and improvements so you can browse through them and understand what to expect in Apple's upcoming updates.
Liquid Glass and the new generation of Mac OS 27 Golden Gate
We begin with the new Liquid Glass interface, which has received a complete overhaul with full customization options and updated app icons, giving the system a more vibrant and flexible look. As for the new macOS 27 Golden Gate, Apple focused on addressing the long-standing problems faced by professional users, and the most prominent changes are as follows:
- The window positions are more stable and consistent when using multiple external monitors.
- Supports Mac emulation with ultra-high resolution up to 5K.
- Providing more high-resolution options and high refresh rates for external displays.
- Edge-to-edge side strips and unified toolbars.
- The design features symmetrical corners and colorful sidebar icons to create a colorful and cheerful aesthetic.
- The ability to automatically resize and reset columns (a feature that Mail app users have been waiting for for a long time!).
- Smoother animations in the Mission Control and Spaces window management system.
- The swipe-down-to-refresh feature and the provision of high dynamic range (HDR) for the entire system interface.
A leap forward in the iPhone and iPad interface: iOS 27 and iPadOS 27
iOS 27 brought a great set of improvements aimed at making the iPhone system faster and more agile, especially widgets and interactive activities:
- Providing extra-large widgets and updating their data instantly as soon as the application is opened.
- The ability to adjust the alarm volume completely independently of the system volume (a long-awaited feature!).
- Support for the Live Activities feature in the interactive island in landscape mode.
- The process of unlocking and switching between lock screens has become smoother, faster, and without any noticeable delay.
- The lock screen remains active and awake at all times while browsing and reading notifications.
- Faster performance and greater reliability for the NFC chip reader.
As for the iPad and iPadOS 27, Apple focused on increasing productivity and bringing it one step closer to the flexible and complete Mac experience:
- The ability to display the menu bar consistently and permanently as an optional feature on the iPad.
- The ability to resize iPhone apps to better and more practically fit the iPad screen.
- Display app names in the status bar to make navigation and identifying the active app easier.
- Browse and transfer files much faster within the default file application.
- Undo and reset home screen modifications to prevent unintended errors.
- Extended touch support and responsiveness when using the Sidecar second screen feature.
Wearable devices and smart home: Apple Watch, Vision Pro, and Apple TV
Apple did not exclude its other devices from these magical touches; the Apple Watch watchOS 27 received much better battery efficiency, improvements to the dynamic app grid, higher accuracy for step tracking, in addition to the ability to view your card balance in the Wallet app directly from your wrist, and more efficient and reliable water detection to prevent accidental damage.
The Vision Pro headset's OS 27 now supports panoramic images and 3D scenes as immersive virtual environments, along with multi-tab support in Safari and the ability to look and tap to interact with notifications easily. Apple TV's tvOS 27 features a faster, more responsive Control Center and smart downloads that ensure smooth, uninterrupted playback of your favorite content.
A revolution in cameras, photos, and shared albums
Capturing and sharing photos has received the lion's share of subtle improvements. The camera now starts up and runs more efficiently and consumes less power in low-power mode, and zooming and lens switching in video are incredibly smooth. In the Photos app, you can finally add keywords and star-rated your shots for easier access later, instead of random manual searching.
- Image search has come to understand complex metadata and return amazing results for images of people and pets.
- The shared albums feature via iCloud has received an amazing upgrade that allows sharing photos in full resolution, and even allows users from Android and Windows platforms to share and interact with albums!
- The ability to set an expiration date for shared albums to provide security, privacy, and protect your private memories.
- Save any frame within the video as a separate image with a single click to record perfect moments with pinpoint accuracy.
Daily apps: Messages, Mail, Safari, and Maps
Your daily communication and browsing experience has become more seamless and powerful. The Messages app now features a full-fledged drawing pad, completely synced across all your devices, and automatic resend of messages that failed to send without your intervention. In Safari, Apple has improved the JavaScript processing engine to be faster and ensured that system audio is not interrupted by web audio.
Maps and Mail have also received search improvements; the Maps app now supports natural language search to find routes, and the Mail app now sorts Top Results faster and more accurately with more reliable search indexing that doesn't let you miss any message, no matter how old.
Productivity, health, and new language panels features
Even quick notes have been improved; you can now write and draw notes on your Mac, and copy and paste text as Markdown format for instant posting. The keyboard and languages have also seen significant enhancements, supporting multilingual grammar checking and automatic punctuation suggestions while typing on multilingual keyboards.
The Health app brings comprehensive support and detailed educational research on women’s health and perimenopause symptoms, with faster updates of vital data and improved step synchronization between the Health and Fitness app instantly and continuously to ensure the accuracy of your daily health information.
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