Apple Intelligence and Siri AI are dominating the WWDC 2026 headlines, and understandably so. But there were three pillars to this year's keynote — and the one that might have the most positive day-to-day impact for all of us is getting the least attention: platform improvements.
Apple showed a slide (at the 6:22 mark) during the keynote illustrating just how focused they are on making their platforms better across the board. Hundreds of improvements, spanning iOS 27, iPadOS 27, macOS 27, watchOS 27, tvOS 27, and visionOS 27.
I had Claude transcribe the screen shot I took during the keynote and organize it by app, OS, or functional area. Here's the breakdown:
Apple Watch
- Better battery efficiency on Apple Watch
- More accurate step tracking on Apple Watch
- Sort by completed Fitness+ workouts
- Guest key in watchOS
- Tap gesture on Apple Watch
- Dynamic app grid in watchOS
- Transit cards and IDs in Smart Stack in watchOS
- View card balance in Wallet in watchOS
- Faster Rapid Return to Service
- New Smart Stack suggestions in watchOS
- More efficient water detection on Apple Watch
- Faster app extension launch in watchOS
- Faster media playback in watchOS
- Faster shortcuts and actions indexing in Spotlight
- Consolidated Find My app in watchOS
- Improved distance accuracy during treadmill workouts
Apple TV / tvOS
- Smart downloads on Apple TV
- AppleCare coverage details in Settings in tvOS
- Redesigned Podcasts app for tvOS
- More responsive Control Center in tvOS
- Larger text sizes in tvOS
- Smoother animations and app launches in tvOS
- Updated video podcasts experience in macOS
Calendar
- Modify multiple Calendar events
- Streamlined Calendar event details
- Holiday-aware alarms in China
- Alternate calendars for India support current time zone while traveling
Camera
- Faster Camera launch in Low Power Mode
- Camera uses less power in Low Power Mode
- Easier-to-reach Camera experience
- Support for 4K camera recordings in the Home app
CarPlay
- Audio scrubbing in CarPlay Now Playing
- Improved navigation heading and GPS accuracy in CarPlay
- Improved wireless CarPlay reliability
- Audio MiniPlayer in CarPlay
FaceTime
- Dual camera in FaceTime
- Improved FaceTime quality on poor connections
- FaceTime Live Captions for Traditional Chinese
Files
- Faster browsing and transfers in Files in iPadOS
Find My
- More flexible sharing options in Find My
- Find My UI enhancements
Fitness / Health
- Perimenopause and menopause symptom logging in the Health app
- Perimenopause and menopause education in the Health app
- Perimenopause and menopause support in the Health app
- Fitness+ workouts for perimenopause and menopause
- Faster data updates in the Health app
- Synced step count in the Health and Fitness apps
- More accurate route maps in the Fitness app after workouts
- Support for time zone changes in Sleep
Freeform
- Faster board previews in Freeform
- Smoother Freeform board performance
- Dark Mode adaptive canvas in Freeform
- More reliable right-to-left text editing in Freeform
- Drawing in Freeform in macOS
- Collaborative folders in Freeform
Home
- View streams from compatible cameras simultaneously in the Home app
- Faster HomeKit accessory pairing
- More reliable HomeKit camera storage
- Improved connectivity for Thread home accessories
- Faster smart home accessory updates
iCloud
- iCloud sync status for Journal entries
- Full-resolution photos and videos in iCloud Shared Albums
- More easily accessible share link for iCloud collaboration
- Option to prioritize syncing to iCloud Photos
- Faster to start uploading to iCloud Photos
- Faster access to shared content on iCloud.com
- Expire your Shared Albums
- Participate in iCloud Shared Albums from Android and Windows
- Additional participant permissions in Shared Albums
- Easier to invite others in Shared Albums
- Richer iCloud collaboration link previews
- Access requests for items shared via iCloud
iPhone Mirroring / Sidecar
- Control Center access in iPhone Mirroring
- DRM video support in iPhone Mirroring
- App resizing in iPhone Mirroring
- Expanded touch support in Sidecar
- Support for Mac mirroring in 5K resolution
Journal
- Increased attachment limits in Journal
- More intuitive journaling streaks
- Time stamps for Journal entries
- Improved Top Results in Mail
- Faster message loading in Mail
- More reliable search indexing in Mail
- Improved list formatting in Mail
- Improved unread badge accuracy in Mail
Maps
- More accurate Visited Places in Maps
- Enhanced Flyover in Maps
- Guides in Maps available in more places
- Natural language search for routing in Maps
- Visited Places in Maps available in more markets
- Maps Parked Car widget in Smart Stack
Messages
- Improved Messages syncing across devices
- Find offloaded media in Messages
- Failed messages automatically retry sending
- Continuous sending of photos, videos, and texts in Messages
- Consolidated notifications for multiple Tabbacks in Messages
- Thumbnails displayed for offloaded media in Messages
- Search for conversations in Messages by phone number or a contact's nickname
- Drawing app in Messages
- Faster to add recent camera captures in Messages
Music / Podcasts
- Refreshed artist pages in Apple Music
- Improved reliability of Apple Music streaming
- New AutoMix transitions
- Faster Apple Music playback start
- Search within shows in Podcasts
Notes
- Drawing in Notes in macOS
- Copy and paste as Markdown in Notes
- Section links in Notes
- Divider lines in Notes
News / Stocks
- Improved performance in Apple News
- Smoother animations in News and Stocks articles
- News+ audio support in iPadOS
Photos
- Filter photos and videos in Shared Albums
- Add keywords to photos and videos in Photos
- Album organization improvements in Photos
- Captured by Me collection in Photos
- Save any slideshow as a video in Photos
- Faster loading of new captures in Photos
- Choose a specific pet in Photo Shuffle
- Search returns more pleasing photos of people and pets in Photos
- Easier to save photos from Shared Albums
- Option to include photos of yourself in Photo Shuffle
- Faster rendering of Collections tab in Photos
- Selection view in Photos
- Identity Documents collection in Photos
- Customize slideshows in Photos
- Star ratings in Photos
- Faster Text Recognition in photos and documents
- Search for photos and videos using additional metadata
- Save a video frame as a photo
Reminders
- Grocery List in Reminders language expansion
- Expanded language support for autocategorization in Reminders
Safari
- Faster start page content loading in Safari
- Faster web application performance in Safari
- Smoother animations and graphics in Safari
- Smoother scrolling in Safari in macOS
- Smoother start page resizing in Safari
- Enhanced power efficiency for Safari in iOS and macOS
- Faster handling of JavaScript in Safari
Shortcuts
- Else if support in Shortcuts
- Group conversation support in Shortcuts
- Expanded Get What's On Screen capabilities in Shortcuts
- Store data in Shortcuts
- Screenshot and notification automations in Shortcuts
- Redesigned Shortcuts editor
Spotlight
- More relevant Spotlight search suggestions
- Faster shortcuts and actions indexing in Spotlight
Wallet / Apple Pay
- Easier card selection and payment management with Apple Pay
- Wallet Order Tracking support in Australia and Canada
- Proactive car key setup
Weather
- Updated hourly and 10-day views in Weather
iOS / iPadOS
- New UI language for English (Canada) and English (Philippines)
- Undo and redo Home Screen edits in iPadOS
- Extra-large widgets in Today view in iPadOS
- Extra-large widgets in iOS
- iPhone app resizing in iPadOS
- App names in iPad status bar
- Faster window switching in iPadOS
- Smoother paging between Home Screen pages
- Updated app icons
- Updated menu bar icons
- Swipe down to refresh in macOS
- Live Activities in Dynamic Island in landscape
- Optional persistent menu bar on iPad
- Faster to open full-screen view from Photos widget
- Real-time updates for widgets when app is open
- Smoother scrolling in the widget gallery
macOS
- Faster window closing in iPadOS
- More consistent window positioning persistence across external displays
- More distinct active windows
- Show Borders for macOS accessibility
- HDR for macOS system UI
- Uniform toolbars
- Edge-to-edge sidebars
- Faster app launches
- Optimized CPU scheduler
- Faster user account creation in macOS
- Ethernet status in menu bar in macOS
- Faster network file browsing
- Faster PDF saving
- More document formats in Preview
- Autosize and reset columns
- Consistent corner radii
visionOS
- Use your panoramas for Environments in visionOS
- Extra-small widget option in visionOS
- New windows with curvature in visionOS
- Look and tap to view and respond to notifications in visionOS
- Spatial scene support for panoramas in visionOS
- Faster boot and connect to Wi-Fi in visionOS
- Widget for Mac Virtual Display in visionOS
- Multiple tab views in Safari in visionOS
- Smoother animations in Mission Control and Spaces
Accessibility
- Easier reading and editing of PDFs using VoiceOver
- Streamlined Assistive Access setup
- Faster entry and exit from Assistive Access and Guided Access modes
- Streamlined setup for Touch Accommodations in iOS and iPadOS
- Faster and more reliable NFC reading
AirDrop
- Faster AirDrop transfers
- Faster AirDrop recipient discovery
AirPlay
- Faster AirPlay connections to Apple TV and HomePod
AirPods
- AirPods Custom EQ
- GymKit on iPhone and AirPods Pro 3
- Pairing and handoff improvements for MFi hearing devices
Apple Account / Security
- Password help accessible from the Lock Screen
- Easier to access recovery codes for Apple Accounts
- Quick Start with a recovery contact
- Lock Screen consistently stays awake while scrolling notifications
Battery & Performance
- Improved battery insights
- Improved Bluetooth power management
Connectivity & Networking
- Improved Wi-Fi connectivity in watchOS
- More seamless transitions between Wi-Fi and cellular networks
Gaming
- Improved game controller settings
- Improved navigation in Game Overlay
- Improved PlayStation Access controller support
Input & Keyboards
- New keyboard layout for Slovenian and Estonian
- Automatic punctuation when typing on multilingual keyboards
- New keyboards for languages including Afrikaans, Basque, Baybayin, English (Philippines), Galician, Guarani, Luxembourgish, Xhosa, and Zulu
- New keyboards for Indigenous languages, including Blackfoot, Comanche, Cree, Kiowa, and Tsuu'tina
- Punctuation suggestions as you type in Chinese
- QuickPath and typing suggestions for Vietnamese VNI keyboard
- Multilingual grammar checking
- Smart language and keyboard configuration suggestions
- Faster loading of emoji and sticker keyboards
- Scribble support for Hindi and Marathi with Apple Pencil
- Chāizi typing
- Onscreen context for more relevant typing suggestions for Chinese and Japanese
- Improved conversion from phonetic scripts like Pinyin and Kana when typing in Simplified Chinese and Japanese
- Faster multilingual text processing for handwriting in multiple languages
- Natural language time formats for Chinese and Hindi
Sharing & Collaboration
- Content-based recipient suggestions for sharing photos and links
- Support for media sharing from third-party apps
Voicemail & Call Recording
- Call Recording transcriptions support for Traditional Chinese, Japanese, and Brazilian Portuguese
- Live Voicemail transcription for English (Singapore) and Japanese
- Switch between two iPhone devices with the same phone number
Audio
- Web audio no longer interrupts system audio
- Independent alarm volume
Emergency & Safety
- More efficient emergency alert monitoring