WWDC 2026: macOS 27 Icon Refinements →

Linked By Jonathan Reed

During this year’s WWDC keynote, Apple announced improvements to icons for all of its first-party apps. The company says that by “integrating additional layers of Liquid Glass directly into the icon artwork itself,” icons now “appear sharper and more defined.”

It’s certainly a noticeable improvement, and unsurprisingly, Basic Apple Guy is all over the changes with an excellent side-by-side comparison of all the icon changes in macOS Golden Gate. (Many of these icons carry over to other platforms, of course.)

The clarity and legibility of almost all the icons have improved significantly, with icons like Photos packing a real visual punch. Additionally, viewing the icons at this size, you can see the nice refraction effects of the glass-like elements.

Image: Basic Apple Guy.

The one that really stood out for me, though, was the new Finder icon, which not only looks cleaner but also has a subtle change to the nose and the curve of the divide, bringing it much closer to the classic Finder icon from the pre-Liquid Glass days.

The Finder icon evolution, pre-macOS 26.

What can I say? I’m a stickler for classic design.

You can follow all of our WWDC coverage through our WWDC 2026 hub or subscribe to the dedicated WWDC 2026 RSS feed.

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WWDC 2026: By the Numbers

By Jonathan Reed

Every WWDC keynote announcement contains a multitude of statistics that often fly by. Something percent faster this, another percent faster that – it’s a lot to take in. Well, we’ve combed through the keynote, press releases, and website to pick out all the important points, along with the various device, language, and regional availability details for the latest features.

Let’s get nerdy.

visionOS 27: The MacStories Overview

By Devon Dundee

Source: Apple.

Siri AI is coming to spatial computing, but that’s not all Apple announced for visionOS 27 during yesterday’s WWDC keynote. Vision Pro users have new capabilities and platform improvements to look forward to this fall, too, and we’re going to dive into all of it.

Let’s start with Siri AI, which exists as a floating, semi-translucent orb that you can place anywhere within your environment. It’s the strongest taste of the Liquid Glass style we’ve gotten so far in visionOS, and it makes for some fascinating interaction methods. Rather than using a trigger phrase or a gesture, you can activate Siri simply by looking at it and talking. As on Apple’s other platforms, you can have back-and-forth conversations with Siri and make use of its personal context awareness, world knowledge, and app actions.

Apple Highlights New Services Features Coming This Fall →

Linked By Devon Dundee

Source: Apple.

As much as I love the keynote, one of the parts of WWDC I look forward to the most each year is Apple’s roundup of features and changes coming to its services alongside the fall’s OS updates. The company delivered on my hopes this morning with quite a long list of changes.

Speaking of these enhancements, Apple’s senior vice president of Services, Eddy Cue, said:

“We’re excited to bring powerful new features and intelligence to hundreds of millions of users across Apple services, making their experiences even more useful and fun. From new exploration tools with Flyover and Local Lists in Maps, to more convenient ways to pay and get paid in Apple Wallet, to the continued expansion of video podcasts in Apple Podcasts on Mac and in tvOS, and so much more — these updates reflect our commitment to creating experiences that truly make a difference in people’s lives.”

watchOS 27: The MacStories Overview

By Jonathan Reed

Source: Apple.

During yesterday’s WWDC keynote, Apple introduced the latest software for the Apple Watch, watchOS 27. As with the other Apple platforms, much of the focus this year was on Siri AI, but there are plenty of quality-of-life improvements to look forward to as well.

Let’s dive in.

macOS 27 Golden Gate: The MacStories Overview

By Devon Dundee

Source: Apple.

Apple’s crack marketing team has once again put their heads together and come up with another California landmark to use as the namesake for the latest version of macOS. During the WWDC keynote, we were introduced to macOS 27 Golden Gate.

As with all of Apple’s platforms this year, the main features of Golden Gate are Siri AI and new Apple Intelligence capabilities. You can check out our overview of those announcements for all the details, but there are some Mac-specific elements worth digging into here, as well as non-AI enhancements coming to macOS this fall that you’ll want to get excited for. Let’s dive in.

The Third Generation of Apple’s Foundation Models and AFM Core Advanced →

Linked By Federico Viticci

I just came back to my hotel room after a long day at Apple Park (I documented most of it in my Instagram stories, including a very cool shot), and, like everyone else here in Cupertino, I’m still processing the information overload from the past 12 hours. The MacStories team already covered iOS and iPadOS 27, plus Siri AI and Apple Intelligence, and we have more coming tomorrow.

Before I call it a day though, I wanted to link the first thing I read on my way back: Apple’s latest article on the Machine Learning blog about the new Apple Foundation Models that were announced today – three cloud-based models, and two on-device ones.

iOS and iPadOS 27: The MacStories Overview

By Jonathan Reed

Source: Apple.

During today’s WWDC keynote, Apple unveiled updates across its family of OSes. The keynote itself was very different in structure from previous years, with a lot of the focus on Siri and Apple Intelligence, which, for the most part, are fully cross-platform. (For more on those announcements, check out Devon’s coverage.)

Nevertheless, there were plenty of new features announced for iOS and iPadOS, along with a slew of child safety tools. Let’s take a look.

Siri AI and the Latest in Apple Intelligence: The MacStories Overview

By Devon Dundee

Source: Apple.

The big question coming into today’s WWDC keynote was what Apple would have to offer in terms of AI – or, as the company refers to it, Apple Intelligence. Given Apple’s behind-the-scenes struggles, delayed features, and partnership with Google to re-architect its Foundation Models based on Gemini, expectations were high, and the company delivered with the announcement of a whole new Siri and a slew of Apple Intelligence features baked into its upcoming operating systems.

Siri AI, the all-new version of Apple’s virtual assistant, was the star of the show and got plenty of time in the spotlight, including several real-time demos on the iPhone and Mac. But the company also announced updates to Visual Intelligence, new photo editing tools, a Shortcuts builder, and additional Apple Intelligence features.

Source: Apple.

It all starts with the latest Foundation Models based on a new architecture developed by Apple in collaboration with Google’s Gemini models. Coming in both local and Private Cloud Compute variations, these models work across Apple devices using a combination of user input (via text, voice, or images), personal context, on-screen awareness, app actions, and world knowledge in conjunction with the new system orchestrator to power conversations and actions taken by Siri AI as well as Apple Intelligence features baked into each OS. Of course, Apple touts that these features are secure and protect user privacy whether they are run on-device or in Private Cloud Compute.

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