During its WWDC 2025 on Monday, Apple announced a range of new features set to debut with iOS 26 this fall across its suite of apps. Notable highlights include Call Screening, enhanced travel tools in the Wallet app, and long-awaited group chat improvements in Messages.
Some of the additions are powered by Apple Intelligence, such as Live Translation, while others—like the return of tabs in the Photos app—focus on improving everyday usability. This post will be updated as more features are revealed.
Mobile
Call Screening allows you to find out the purpose of a call before answering. When an unknown number calls, the feature answers quietly in the background. After the caller states their name and reason for calling, your iPhone will ring, showing their response so you can choose to answer or decline the call.
Hold Assist recognizes hold music and waits on the line until a real person answers. Live Translation enables real-time conversation translation—your speech is translated and spoken aloud using an AI voice for the person on the other end. As they reply in their language, you’ll hear a spoken translation of their response.
Messages
Users in Messages group chats can now create polls to help coordinate plans and make decisions more easily. With Apple Intelligence, suggestions to start a poll may appear when it seems helpful. Additionally, group chats now support custom chat backgrounds, display typing indicators, and allow users to request, send, and receive Apple Cash directly within the conversation.
The app now includes a feature to screen messages from unknown senders. These messages are placed in a separate folder, allowing you to mark the sender as known, request more details, or delete the message. Apple also mentions that such messages will stay silenced until you choose to accept them.
Messages is also getting Live Translation, which will automatically translate your messages as you type and send them in your chosen language. Replies from your conversation partner will be translated for you as well.
Apple’s Music Streaming Service
Apple Music is introducing a Lyrics Translation feature that allows users to understand the meaning of their favorite songs in different languages. Additionally, a new Lyrics Pronunciation tool will show phonetic lyrics, enabling listeners to sing along more easily in another language.
The app is launching a new AudioMix feature that uses time stretching and beat matching to smoothly transition between songs, creating a continuous, DJ-like listening experience. This addition could be seen as a rival to Spotify’s AI DJ feature.
Apple is also rolling out a karaoke function that transforms your iPhone into a handheld microphone for Apple TV. It will amplify your vocals as you sing along, with real-time lyrics and visuals displayed on your TV screen.
Additionally, Apple Music now lets you pin your favorite tracks or albums to the top of your Library for quicker and easier access.
The Apple Maps App
Apple Maps is being improved to better recognize your daily commute. With on-device intelligence, it will now suggest your usual routes when you’re traveling to or from home or work. The app will also alert you to any delays and suggest alternate paths when needed.
Apple Maps is introducing a new Visited Places feature designed to help you keep track of locations you’ve been to. You can opt to have your iPhone recognize when you’re at places like restaurants or stores, and then view a history of these visits within the app. According to Apple, this information is secured with end-to-end encryption, ensuring that even Apple cannot access it.
Apple Wallet
Apple Wallet is adding support for storing a digital version of your passport, known as a Digital ID. While it won’t replace your physical passport, Apple says it can be used in apps that require age or identity verification, as well as at select TSA checkpoints. With Real ID regulations now in place, Digital ID offers an additional option for presenting identification during domestic travel.
Another new feature will allow you to use your driver’s license or state ID stored in Apple Wallet to verify your age and identity on websites, starting with platforms like Chime, Turo, Uber Eats, and U.S. Bank, along with agencies such as the Arizona MVD, Georgia DDS, and Maryland MVA.
Apple is also enhancing the boarding pass experience in Wallet. You’ll now receive real-time flight updates through Live Activities, and you’ll be able to share these updates with others so they can stay informed about your travel status.
You’ll now be able to open Maps directly from your boarding pass in Wallet to help you navigate to the airport. The boarding pass also integrates with Find My, allowing you to track items and report lost luggage, as well as access important airline services like seat upgrades and standby lists.
Additionally, Apple revealed that Wallet now leverages Apple Intelligence to automatically extract and summarize order tracking information from merchant or delivery confirmation emails.
FaceTime
Similar to the Phone and Messages apps, FaceTime will now use Live Translation to help users communicate across different languages. During a call, translated captions will appear on screen, allowing both parties to understand each other in real time.
Photos
Following strong user criticism of the Photos app redesign in iOS 18, Apple is reintroducing a tabbed layout. The Collections section now includes favorites, albums, and a search function for navigating your photo library. Meanwhile, the Library tab offers a simpler way to browse through your most recent photos.
The Photos app now has the capability to convert your 2D images into 3D spatial photos.
Camera
The iPhone’s Camera app will now highlight your two most frequently used capture modes—photo and video—right on the main screen. To access other modes, such as Portrait or Cinematic, simply swipe left or right.
To reach additional settings like flash, timer, aperture, and more, you’ll now swipe up from the bottom of the screen. A single tap also lets you switch formats—making it easy to toggle between HD and 4K or adjust the video frame rate.
Apple Podcasts
Apple Podcasts is introducing a personalized playback experience that lets you adjust the listening speed, with options ranging from 0.5x to 3x. This update aligns Apple Podcasts more closely with Spotify, which already offers variable speed controls for podcast playback.
Apple Podcasts is also adding an “Enhance Dialogue” feature, which uses audio processing and machine learning to improve speech clarity by reducing background noise.
Image Playground
Apple is enhancing Image Playground with ChatGPT integration, allowing users to unlock new artistic styles like vector art and oil painting. By selecting the “Any Style” option, you can describe the image you want, and Image Playground will send your description or photo to ChatGPT to generate a custom image.
Read the original article on: TechCrunch
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