Another Apple WWDC — and this one felt different

Andrew Fox — Co-Founder & CTO, DigitalOrigins | June 2026

I've been watching Apple's WWDC keynote for nearly twenty years now. This one felt different. This one was different.

In previous years we would be taken through the platform changes one by one — big lists, big screens full of big (and small) features. Bingo games were had, bingo games were lost. Heady times indeed.

If you had your bingo card at the ready this year, you might have been somewhat disappointed unless every box was filled with “Siri AI”.

I'm hearing good things about Apple's AI implementation, by the way. Remarkably good things. From Apple lovers and haters alike. 2024's underwhelming Apple Intelligence debut dented a lot of people's confidence in Apple's AI ambitions — this is looking like a full turnabout.

And Apple is in a unique position when it comes to AI. They and they alone have access to all of your personal data on your iPhone. No one else gets a look in. By design. And this ultimately is what people want from AI — that it knows all about us, not to sell us ads, not to fill a broker's database to be traded, but to know about us, to help us in our day-to-day activities, to improve our lives. Scheduled in Calendar and messaged to all of our friends. This is really good stuff.

This is integration not only into all of Apple's own apps but across all their devices — seamlessly, remembering and sharing across every screen you put in front of your face. And it's private. It's personal. It's secure. And again, it's apparently really, really good.

I’ll wait until I’ve played with it more before giving a fuller personal account, but even the promise of it is generating seriously positive signals.  Apple have taken two years to get this right, and they may just end up getting ahead.  Can Anthropic get Claude on every device? Can OpenAI? Can they get that level of access to your personal details, your apps, your daily life? Apple can, and it seems Siri now does.  Personal and private AI just became a daily reality to every person in Apple’s ecosystem. 2026 really is turning out to be quite a year. 

A NOTE FOR IOS APP OWNERS

Behind the scenes, something else deserves your attention. The old pre-Liquid Glass UI is finally going away for good. Developers had a year's grace period to get their apps looking fresh and current, but the code that allowed us to wait, no longer works when building apps using the new Xcode.  Apps that haven't been updated are starting to show cracks — either not working correctly or becoming unusable when built for iOS 26 and 27.

Most updates are quick and straightforward. But every codebase is different, and the countdown to September's release is most certainly ticking. If your app hasn't been looked at in a while, now is the time to find out exactly where it stands.

TWO WAYS TO GET CLARITY

iOS Compatibility Assessment

A focused review covering iOS 26 compatibility, App Store compliance and code quality.

Full App MOT

A comprehensive review, giving you a complete picture of your app's technical health including indicative costs for any recommended remediation work.

Both services are fixed fee and completed with read-only access — your code and live app remain untouched throughout.

Get in touch at info@digitalorigins.co.uk for a free quotation and to find out more.