WWDC25—Rough and Tumble Thoughts
I watched the WWDC 25 keynote yesterday. I'd promised myself I wouldn't, but curiosity got the best of me. I found some of it interesting, some of it boring, but one aspect was clear regardless of content: the pre-packaged format isn't much fun anymore. There's no danger, no feedback, no audience-meter to gauge genuine excitement. It's also very address from the king's chamber to his subjects. Standing in front of a crowd implies accountability. Human interaction that can't be fixed in post. This has become bland, and no amount of glitz can fill the void.
Speaking of packaging: opening a developer conference with a (long) pitch for the F1 movie? It bugged me. It just felt cheap. As for that closing musical performance: ok. It seems a lot of folks enjoyed it, but I just sat there slack jawed. Given the state of current developer relations and Apple's ongoing court problems, a cringey song about "the apps we love" rings fairly hollow. And context matters: Apple announcing any meaningful improvements to the App Store during the presentation—rules, payment splits, beta versions, anything from an increasingly long wish list—would've elevated this into an actual celebration instead of...whatever that was. Not addressing their AI issues in any meaningful way wasn’t a huge confidence builder either.
These are rough and tumble impressions of what stood out for me.
Liquid Glass
There might be a drinking game waiting to be played with this particular keynote—Liquid Glass! Seriously though, from the pre-conference buzz I was expecting a lot more. But I think this deserves to be experienced first hand. Despite repeated mantras about the depth and importance of the visual overhaul, nothing really wowed me. At first glance, anyway. John Gruber mentions the following about Liquid Glass in the new iOS beta:
For example, the iOS contextual menu for text selections — the one with Cut/Copy/Paste. For years now there have been a lot of other useful commands in there, including “Share…” at the very end. But to get to the extra commands, you had to tediously swipe, swipe, swipe. Now, with one tap you can expand the whole thing into a vertical menu. Elegant.
This sounds like a thoughtful and much needed rethinking of UX. iOS 7 was a long time ago in computing years, and we've since greatly expanded how we use all of these apps and devices. So I'm hoping Liquid Glass is a unifier beyond translucent paint and reflections—I think it will be.
iPadOS
It's a Mac! But in a very good way. This challenges the core nature of the device without destroying its concept, and without forcing everyone to change. iPadOS 26 still allows an iPad to work exactly as it does now, but finally offers features that justify the hardware it runs on. Audio input control is a game changer. Ditto for windowing and proper external display support. Folders in the Dock, a menubar, the Preview app...all that's missing is a (proper) Finder icon.
macOS
It's Raycast! Seriously, the new supercharged Spotlight looks amazing: a clipboard manager, a new app launcher, quick keys commands, huge improvements to results with categories, media etc.
The Mac also gets the requisite one-year-later iPadOS visual customizations. Plus: colour folders? My God, it's Classic Mac OS! Not being able to natively assign colours to folders has annoyed me since the very first (pirated) OS X alpha version I installed on a Power Computing clone. Weird that it took so long to bring the feature back. Dance of joy.
Shortcuts
The addition of Apple Intelligence actions is obviously linked to the abilities of that technology. None of the examples do it for me right now, especially with Sky looming. Shortcut automations are coming to the Mac and Folder actions to the iPad. Hopefully those automations will actually work consistently now? I've always had issues with date and time triggers. No word on Shortcuts improvements in terms of general usability.
The Journal app: now on Mac and iPad.
A year late but... good. Additional details grabbed from a keynote screenshot mention multiple journals and view your posts on a map, both of which may give Day One a run for its money now that Journal is no longer restricted to the iPhone.
But "lifestyle" Apple apps typically include a Hotel California disclaimer: you can check in anytime you want but... With a journaling app, being able to leave is pretty important. You never know where life will take you. I'll be curious to see what—if any—export options are available. I don't plan on moving out of Bear anytime soon.
…
Overall I'm left with a sinking feeling: Apple are lost, and struggling to find their way. The gags feel old, the self-promotion flirts with bad taste, the Vision Pro is a stunning yet perfectly pointless achievement. And while I care very little about AI, there's no hiding how fully fucked they are on that front. Pretending otherwise makes them look a bit dim. Or sad. Anyway, I don't see myself jumping on the public betas this year. I'm curious about iPadOS and the Mac, but it's rarely a good idea to upgrade a subset of devices so I’ll likely steer clear.
I'll simply enjoy summer. Besides, we’re redoing the deck—good timing ;)
