Instead of jumping right into headlines about a revamped, AI-powered Siri, Apple’s Senior Vice President of Software Engineering, Craig Federighi, used the first part of the keynote to showcase a series of improvements and bug fixes.
Over the past two years, Apple has been trying to catch up in the field of AI, while frustrations with the company’s core software have been mounting: a design overhaul that many users disliked, a search function that barely worked, a file-sharing feature that regularly failed, and a Health app that didn’t adequately address the needs of half its user base. Apple did not directly address these issues on Monday. But the structure of the WWDC presentation conveyed exactly that message: First, bugs were fixed; then, new features were introduced. Siri was presented as just one item on a long list of improvements, rather than as the main event. At the very least, this order suggests that Apple believes it must first strengthen the foundation before users can trust the company on a topic as important as AI.
“Instead of simply introducing a host of new features, we’re also improving the features you already rely on, because we believe that the best operating systems aren’t built on major breakthroughs alone, but on attention to detail,” Federighi said. For most companies, such a statement would go unnoticed. Coming from Apple, however, it came as close as possible to an admission of shortcomings. After all, critics had accused the company of having lost precisely this attention to detail.
Federighi didn’t have to wait long to drive this point home. The first item on the agenda was the controversial “Liquid Glass” design language, which was introduced with iOS 26 and immediately drew criticism regarding readability and usability.
Although Liquid Glass is visually impressive, the glass-like design made some on-screen elements harder to recognize. Users pointed out numerous shortcomings, particularly on the Mac, and called for options to revert to a more matte appearance.
Apple handled the issue cautiously, stating that it greatly valued the user feedback on the Liquid Glass design received over the past year.
“While we think this is a great new default design, we also know that some users would like Liquid Glass to be even clearer, while others prefer a more tinted look,” said Shubham Kedia, Apple’s Director of Human Interface Design, during the keynote. (To clarify: Hardly anyone is actually asking for even more transparency.)
Apple had already adjusted the design before the event and now allows users to tone down the effect—all the way to a fully tinted display—using a new slider.
This was followed by other minor but significant changes. Apple introduced a “more unified” toolbar in macOS that better distinguishes controls and text from the content beneath them. App icons were also redesigned to appear sharper and clearer, even in transparent mode.
The focus then shifted to performance improvements. Apps on the iPhone and iPad now launch 30 percent faster, new photos appear in the Photos library up to 70 percent faster, and files can be transferred via AirDrop—a notoriously unreliable file-sharing system—up to 80 percent faster.
In a subtle acknowledgment that many people are now using their smartphones for longer periods, Apple also stated that these performance improvements will be available for all models dating back to the 2019 iPhone 11.
Apple also eliminated several long-standing annoyances: smoother transitions between Wi-Fi and cellular networks, a new indicator that alerts users when messages take longer to deliver due to low bandwidth or large file attachments, and a completely redesigned search function that Apple says is “more stable, efficient, and comprehensive.” New content is indexed almost instantly, and a new ranking system in Mail is designed to display the most relevant results first. The fact that this was necessary at all highlights just how far behind the competition Apple’s search function had fallen.
The Health app also received important updates. After years of neglecting the needs of a large portion of its user base, it now supports tracking perimenopause and menopause. This long-overdue addition comes at a time when the market for menopause health services is growing rapidly. Earlier this year, the telemedicine startup Midi Health surpassed a valuation of $1 billion, and investments in this sector totaled over $294 million between 2022 and last year.
Shared iCloud photo albums can now also include contributions from Android and Windows users, making the feature significantly more useful for group trips and events.
Apple also introduced improved Screen Time controls for parents before the main event began: the announcement of the AI-enhanced Siri.
This order was deliberately chosen. By highlighting a long list of minor improvements, Apple framed the Siri update as part of a broader modernization effort rather than presenting it as the pivotal AI moment the entire industry had been waiting for.
This strategy likely makes sense. Siri will be released later this year, initially as a beta version for consumers—though not in the EU or in China, where Apple still has to overcome regulatory hurdles. For a feature that was supposed to define Apple’s AI strategy, “beta, coming later, not available everywhere” is a remarkably cautious positioning.
Apple also introduced additional AI features: Apple Intelligence can organize browser tabs, analyze web pages, check for changes, and much more. In the future, it will even be possible to spontaneously create custom Safari extensions using AI.
Passwords and Safari now work together to automatically suggest and apply stronger passwords. Apple Intelligence also offers intelligent reply suggestions in Messages based on the context of the conversation. For example, if someone asks for photos, the AI can suggest relevant images. The Calendar app can now create events from naturally phrased voice commands—a feature that third-party apps like Fantastical have been offering for years.
AI can also highlight important information during phone calls, such as a confirmation code when contacting an airline.
The Home app will also use AI in the future to summarize events. With these features, Apple is catching up to companies like Amazon and Google, which already offer more advanced features such as fire detection and facial recognition. (Apple has so far deliberately steered clear of the latter.)
Image Playground, Apple’s AI image-generation app, finally seems to have made the leap from a gimmick to a genuinely useful tool. Earlier versions often produced cheesy and impractical images. The updated model can now create practical content such as business flyers or cleanly edited photos. In addition, Apple is opening up image generation to developers via an API, turning it into a potential platform.
The AI can now also edit photos much more extensively by removing distracting objects or extending image edges using generative models—similar to Google Photos. Particularly noteworthy is “Spatial Reframing”: This allows the image composition to be altered retrospectively using Apple’s local spatial models. The feature even works with existing photos in the library, so that even images from years ago can be optimized retroactively.
source: https://techcrunch.com/2026/06/08/apple-plays-catch-up-at-wwdc/
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