Apple's WWDC 2026 keynote just wrapped from Apple Park, and I watched the whole thing live. As ever, there's a mix of "finally" and "we'll see about that". Here are my unfiltered first impressions while it's still fresh.
One immediate distraction before we get into announcements: what is going on with Craig Federighi's audio? Over-processed, flat, weirdly distant — like he was broadcasting from a different room to everyone else on stage. Sort it out, Apple.
Design #
Improved Glass has had a proper iteration — you can now control how clear the background is. Better use of the design system, I'll give them that. Still not fully convinced by Glass as a direction, but this is progress.
Vision Pro immersive spatial photos — the demo looked genuinely impressive. The real test is always how it translates when someone else views your content. That's usually where the magic evaporates.
Family #
Kids profiles — more control for parents, more confusion to configure, and more ammunition for teenage negotiations. Sometimes the best parental control is just turning the thing off. Also: how many devices do these kids have‽
Maps #
3D views are getting better. My question, as always: does any of it work in CarPlay? That's where I'll actually use Maps. If it doesn't hold up at 70mph on the motorway, it doesn't really count for me.
Siri and Apple Intelligence #
This was the centrepiece, and rightly so. The headline: Siri has been rebuilt from the ground up. Mike Rockwell confirmed it's now powered by Gemini. Which immediately raises a question that's been rattling around since the LLM era began — when do we get to choose our own models?
The experience does feel more conversational. More natural. But the proof will be in the pudding. Siri has promised a lot before.
A few specifics:
Dedicated Siri app. Finally. History, context, and hopefully the ability to repurpose previous threads. This has been a glaring omission for too long.
Visual intelligence looks promising. Reserving judgement until I can actually use it.
Write with Siri — native feels right. Third party, we'll see. The fact it's already live in Slack, Outlook and Teams is a personal win though. That's where I actually work.
Brand new voice experience with customisable pace and expressivity. Slow Northern English, please. Take your time.
Built into keyboard, CarPlay and AirPods. This is where Siri will live in my day-to-day — dog walks, commuting, hands completely full. Not a gimmick. A genuine use case.
Swipe down for Siri. Swipe down further for the app. Neat UX. Simple and exactly right.
Now in macOS Spotlight by default, plus a Siri field in the context menu. They've covered an impressive number of entry points in one go. That alone feels promising.
Siri mode in camera — so no more temporary images cluttering the camera roll just because you tried to search for something. I hope.
Screenshot straight to Siri on macOS. Is this in iOS too? Would be odd if not.
Calendar events from an image. That's my kind of use case. Photo of a gig poster, event in the calendar. Done.
VisionOS Siri orb — looks delightful. Almost Pixar-designed. A rare Apple UI moment that makes you smile before you've even used it.
WatchOS Siri is here too. Let's go Knight Rider. The new app grid is welcome — whether the tap hit ratio has actually improved is the perennial question.
Productivity #
Tab topic management in Safari — save for later, notify me. Plenty of potential but it's not addressing the root problem. Too much information, not enough hours. Still, I'll use it.
Custom browser extensions described in natural language — with a pointed security dig at other browsers. Points for confidence.
Automatic password fixes via agentic background operations. What could possibly go wrong? Cautiously optimistic.
Message action suggestions. Happy wife, happy life.
Natural language calendar events. Something for PETALS to think about with scheduling.
Home #
Home assistant with camera integration. You'd need quite a setup around the house for this to really sing. Possibly a few cameras too many.
Shortcuts #
Describe to create or tweak a shortcut. I'll believe it when I see it handling the edge cases — there's still core functionality that's been missing for years. But the direction is right.
Image Playground #
Will anyone actually use this beyond the first play? Possibly not. If it's using on-device compute though, at least the energy cost is lower than cloud-based generation. New API access is an interesting move — opens it up for third-party apps in a way that might unlock more creative use cases.
Spatial reframing closes the show. Technically impressive, ethically murky. Fake news in the making.
More than any WWDC in recent memory, this one felt like Apple both catching up and genuinely pushing forward. Siri as a proper platform — context-aware, deeply integrated, available everywhere — is something we've been waiting years for. Whether the execution matches the demo is the question it always is.
The real test starts now.