Apple, at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference 2025, unveiled various upgrades to its operating systems on Monday, including the release of iOS 26 as the tech giant decided to change its naming convention.
The tech giant announced the release of its new iOS this fall. Originally, as per the usual sequence name after iOS 18, this year's release would have been called iOS 19.
Why iOS 26? Why not iOS 19?
However, since Apple declared that it is changing its naming convention, saying that its future iOS versions will be numbered on the basis of the year, similar to how car manufacturers name new models, this year's release will be called iOS 26.
"Our releases for the fall that will power us through the coming year 2026 will be version 26," said Craig Federighi, Apple's senior vice president.
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The upcoming latest software versions cross all products of Apple will end with '26' - iOS 26, watchOS 26, macOS 26, visionOS 26, iPadOS 26, tvOS 26.
{{/usCountry}}The upcoming latest software versions cross all products of Apple will end with '26' - iOS 26, watchOS 26, macOS 26, visionOS 26, iPadOS 26, tvOS 26.
{{/usCountry}}Apple also announced a new "Liquid Glass" design language for its software. This will display apps and toggles with a translucent, glass-like shine. The new design will be implemented in buttons, sliders, media controls and larger elements such as tab bars and sidebars, along with matching redesigned toolbars and navigation system.
The tech giant is releasing updated Application Programming Interfaces so that developers can begin adapting their apps ahead of the release of the new design later this year.
The company said that it is also making new additions of Apple Intelligence to its operating system, including Live Translation.
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Image Playground is also getting a new feature boost with the incorporation of OpenAI's ChatGPT.
Apple will also let users learn more about what's on their iPhone screens with the help of Visual Intelligence. Users can search about images on their iPhones across Google, Etsy, and other supported apps.
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If the tool finds out that you are viewing an event, iOS 26 will suggest that you add it to your calendar.
Additionally, the tech giant said that it would add generative AI to its Xcode coding tools that can help developers write code, test it and resolve errors.