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These 3 iOS Updates Are a Bigger Deal than Liquid Glass

Commentary: Stop dwelling on clear app icons and start talking about robots butting into our phone calls.

Headshot of Bridget Carey
Headshot of Bridget Carey
Bridget Carey Editor at Large
Bridget Carey is an award-winning reporter who helps you level-up your life -- while having a good time geeking out. Her exclusive CNET videos get you behind the scenes as she covers new trends, experiences and quirky gadgets. Her weekly video show, "One More Thing," explores what's new in the world of Apple and what's to come. She started as a reporter at The Miami Herald with syndicated newspaper columns for product reviews and social media advice. Now she's a mom who also stays on top of toy industry trends and robots. (Kids love robots.)
Expertise Consumer technology | Apple | Google | Samsung | Microsoft | Amazon | Meta | Social media | Mobile | Robots | Future tech | Immersive technology | Toys | Culture Credentials
  • Bridget has spent over 18 years as a consumer tech reporter, hosting daily tech news shows and writing syndicated newspaper columns. She's often a guest on national radio and television stations, including ABC, CBS, CNBC and NBC.
Bridget Carey

Ever since downloading an early developer beta preview of iOS 26, my iPhone has more bounce, warble and bloop about it. The design changes coming to Apple gadgets have been a hot topic on social media. The new operating systems are adopting an interface style called Liquid Glass, revealed this week at the Worldwide Developers Conference, which transforms menus, apps and buttons into something of translucent jelly... with spunk.

But if you can see past the clear icons, there are other updates coming to iOS 26 that matter more to our day-to-day lives. Taking a screenshot of a party invite can instantly put it in your calendar. Maps can suggest route changes without you asking for driving directions. And robots can intercept phone calls -- or jump into the conversation as a live language translator. 

In this week's episode of One More Thing, which you can watch in the video embedded above, I take an early poke at some of these new features and share questions I have about how it will perform when released to the public. Apple is still months away from finalizing the software, but perhaps I'm most curious about how folks will embrace the assistive tools (and if they will be accurate).

Or maybe we'll just be too distracted by clear bouncy buttons to notice.

If you're looking for more One More Thing, subscribe to our YouTube page to catch Bridget Carey breaking down the latest Apple news and issues every week.