Apple expands iOS features with new social tools and player overlays

Apple unveiled the next generation of software for iPhone, iPad, MacBook, Apple Watch, Apple TV, and Vision Pro during its annual WWDC event on June 9th.

The tech giant showcased a wide range of new features and functionalities across its ecosystem. 

From the new Apple Games App to improvements in developer tools and the App Store, here’s a roundup of some of the changes announced during the keynote.

App Store improvements

Aside from the new Games App, now in beta and launching this fall, Game Center itself is receiving updates such as challenges, activities, and multiplayer activities, allowing developers to make gameplay more social. 

There's also a new Game Overlay feature in iOS 26 that lets players adjust settings, connect with friends, and view events without leaving their game. 

Developers can also offer new types of in-app purchase discounts through expanded offer code support and benefit from improved testing tools like biometric authentication, purchase history clearing, and enhanced TestFlight support. 

Apple also announced tools to better protect children, including updated global age ratings and a new Declared Age Range API that helps tailor content to kids while respecting privacy.

New offerings

The iPhone maker has introduced Metal 4, the latest version of its graphics framework, designed to deliver optimal performance on Apple silicon with a streamlined API and improved resource management. 

It also brings native support for machine learning, allowing developers to integrate tensors and run inference operations directly within shaders. Apple also improved Game Porting Toolkit 3 to simplify testing games on Apple devices. 

The new features bring improved graphics with upscaling, visuals with denoising and frame interpolation, and let developers build and fix games on a Mac using Microsoft Visual Studio. 

Apple also made it easier for games to sync saved data across devices so players can continue their progress on any Apple platform.

Developer tools 

Xcode 26 also introduces new tools, including a coding assistant that utilises generative AI and natural language to assist with writing, fixing, or documenting code within the editor. 

Developers can preview non-UI code with the Playground macro and navigate more with a redesigned tab system. 

In addition to those, Instruments now features new tools for optimising performance on Apple silicon, along with a SwiftUI instrument to visualise view updates. 

Icon Composer also lets developers design layered icons with liquid glass effects for all Apple platforms.