Apple Revolutionizes User Experience with iOS 26: From AI Assistance to Karaoke Feature

At WWDC 2025, Apple unveiled an impressive array of new features for iOS 26, which will be available to users this fall. Among the most significant innovations are the Call Screening feature, which brings useful updates to the Wallet app, as well as long-awaited group chat features in Messages. Call Screening promises to give users more control over incoming calls: unknown callers are answered in the background by the automatic function, allowing the user to see the reason for the call in advance. Another innovation is Hold Assist, which automatically recognizes music on hold and waits until a real agent is available. Apple Intelligence receives updates like real-time translations, ensuring seamless communication in both calls and messages. In group chats, polls can now be created, making it easier to plan group activities. Apple Music is expanding with a lyrics translation feature, allowing music lovers to better understand the lyrics of their favorite songs in different languages. A karaoke feature turns the iPhone into a microphone, which can be synchronized with Apple TV for a true party atmosphere. Apple Maps, thanks to on-device intelligence, learns the users' daily routes better and suggests preferred paths or alternatives. New is also the “Visited Places” feature, which enhances the memory of already frequented locations. The Apple Wallet app is being expanded to include the ability to digitally store a digital passport, as well as driver's licenses and IDs for identity and age verification in supported apps. FaceTime will expand its translation capabilities to facilitate conversations in different languages with subtitled translations. The Photos app brings back the tab-based interface and also offers the ability to transform 2D photos into 3D. Apple Podcasts will be updated with new playback speeds and a function to enhance dialogue clarity, to better compete with Spotify. Additionally, the new ChatGPT integration will enrich the Image Playground feature with new art styles and creative options to create unique images.