WWDC 2025 - Perfectly Whelmed
Issue 23
Tech Vitals
WWDC 25 Wraps
The WWDC25 Keynote concluded this week and Apple showed off an entirely revamped operating system lineup.
Here’s my takeaways:
They lead with Apple Intelligence:
Which still has underwhelming features, but FINALLY mentioned on stage that Siri needed more time to be great. At least they acknowledged the problem.
They leaned into on-device LLMs, this is the developer conference after all, and there is a new foundation models framework for devs to use these on-device models
Apple again leans into privacy, on-device, data not sent to the cloud, avoids privacy concerns, training nightmares, and maybe most importantly costs for both users and developers.
Cloud models are expensive AF, both for operators and users. So keeping these on-device is a unique take on AI that no one else is really doing at the moment.
New design:
They say it is universal across all systems. They’ve revamped the naming convention so all platforms are on the same version…26. If you were expecting iOS19 this fall, you will be getting iOS26.
The new design is called Liquid Glass, I don’t hate it, but my first thoughts are that it seems distracting and in the way at times.
I might be getting old when I think, there was nothing wrong with the existing interface, why change it?
Loved that they did not change the icons, they look slightly more squircley to me than square, but at least they are not circles.
iPhone
A lot of spam related stuff.
New AI phone screening, which Google/Android has had for awhile, will let callers identify themselves and give you a notification and let you decide to pick up or not.
I keep phone notifications off, block unknown callers and business verification on and still get a ton of spam calls and voicemails, it is annoying
You can now also put people on hold, that have you on hold. The irony is rich. The phone will detect wait music and notify you when the operator actually picks up, telling them you will be right to the phone. This then triggers a notification so you can pick up where you left off.
All new Games app
I love that Apple is starting to lean into gaming.
The hardware is super capable, while not being as traditionally gamer friendly as a dedicated PC with discrete GPU, these lightweight, efficient computers I think now pack enough power.
If developers start to focus on Apple we could see another key player in the gaming space up there with Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo.
Apple Notes
Apple Notes will now be on Apple Watch!
This is going to be great for me as a new parent, needing to use dictation to take notes and get ideas captured while my hands are full. I see myself using this all the time!
They also apparently subtly added that you will be able to export from apple note to a markdown format! I can’t wait to see what else they add in the coming months leading up to the big fall release!
Workout Buddy
Apple is introducing a workout partner, I’m also glad to see them continue to lean into fitness with the Apple Watch and iPhone.
We will have to test it out and see if it can beat the current staples that do this same thing like Athlytic, Gentler Streak and Bezel.
Journal App
If you were not paying attention to the fine print you would have missed it like I did.
Journal is coming to the Mac and iPad, with Apple Pencil support on the iPad! This could be great for people like me who keep a haphazard journal in Apple Notes, since their journal app was only on iPhone and not very useful.
Spotlight search gets an upgrade
Spotlight search is getting slightly closer to Raycast with features like Clipboard history and quick shortcuts.
I don’t think it is unseating Raycast anytime soon, which runs my window management, I use the aliases to launch all kinds of stuff, plus you get to pick what AI model you want to process your information and quick actions, but I won’t judge the new spotlight search too hard without using it first.
Wrapping up
Overall it was a good presentation, some neat things, but still a lot missing.
I think expectations were high after the Siri fumbles I’d love for apple to focus more on their default apps and getting that experience more seamless, squashing some of the annoyances that the everyday user has.
Alas this was the developer conference though so there was a big focus on new APIs and the design that will impact everyone making apps within the apple ecosystem, so I understand the focus of the presentation.
What’s coming up
There is no perfect notes app
New short form series for Apple tips and tricks
Connect and Engage