Apple brings OpenAI into Image Playground app

Apple has added a machine learning feature that can turn down the vocals in an Apple Music song, making it good for singalongs and karaoke.

This year, the Apple TV device is coming a lot closer to becoming a full-fledged karaoke machine.

Users can still turn down the vocals in the Apple Music app on TV, but now they can also replace them with their own vocals, using their iPhone as a microphone, as the lyrics play on the screen. — Kif Leswing

Apple’s announcements so far have been light on AI features, but the company did update Visual Intelligence, its feature that uses the iPhone’s camera to identify objects and events.

The company said that Visual Intelligence provides an “ask” button that will enable users to query ChatGPT about what’s on their screen — the example Apple offered was to be able to search similar lamps from the internet in apps like Etsy.

Apple also said that it can take dates and times in text inside an app and add it to the user’s calendar automatically.

Visual Intelligence can also search inside apps from photos the user takes — for example, if you see a cool item in a cafe. — Kif Leswing

Apple said it’s enhancing the Image Playground tool it announced last year for the next version of iOS with help from OpenAI’s ChatGPT

In iOS 26, people can ask the app to turn a contact’s poster into different styles so it shows up that way during calls and in text chats. You can describe the style you want, and ChatGPT will do the necessary work to adjust the image.

Nothing will be shared with OpenAI without the permission of the customer.

Third-party developers will be able to draw on the feature in their own apps with the upgraded Image Playground application programming interface.

The effort is an example of how Apple is leaning on OpenAI to upgrade its device capabilities after a partnership announced a year ago that led to an integration with Apple’s Siri assistant.

Not everyone will be able to use the Image Playground app. It will only work for iPhone models with Apple Intelligence enabled, and that requires the latest version of iOS. Apple Intelligence isn’t available in every language or country, either, Apple says on its website. —Jordan Novet

Apple announced a new app called Games. The new games app pulls all the games a user has downloaded into a single list.

The new app also has some social features, including lists of what your friends are playing, the ability to send a message to a friend to challenge them to a game, and high-score leader boards.

Apple has maintained a games-focused social feature called Game Center since 2010.

Games are one of the most profitable parts of the App Store, but Apple has never embraced gaming as a major part of its business. The company has also clashed with developers like Epic Games over its App Store fees. — Kif Leswing

Apple said it’s bringing lyrics translation to it Apple Music service to help users around the world sing, despite language barriers.

The company also announced a new DJ-like feature called Automix that uses artificial intelligence to meet users’ music tastes. Users can also now pin favorite albums, playlists and artists to their library.

— Samantha Subin

Apple is also bringing new updates to its CarPlay offering, including an updated widget interface.

The update includes a new design allowing users to see directions and other features when a call comes through.

— Samantha Subin

Apple is changing the style of its names of operating systems for all of its devices.

To reflect the majority of the year when these software updates will be available to customers, the company will release iOS 26, watchOS 26, tvOS 26, macOS 26, visionOS 26 and iPadOS 26, Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of software engineering, said at WWDC.

The unification will address the difference in operating system names that has persisted for years. Today, Apple provides iOS 18 to the iPhone, iPadOS 18 to the iPad, watchOS 11 to its wrist wearable, tvOS 18 for the Apple TV, macOS 15 for the Mac computers and visionOS 2 for the first-generation Vision Pro. —Jordan Novet

Apple just announced a new operating system that features its first major iOS redesign since 2013.

Alan Dye, Apple’s vice president of human interface, said the new operating system is inspired by the Vision Pro. The company is calling the new look “Liquid Glass”

— Samantha Subin

Over 225,000 people were waiting to join Apple’s livestream of its WWDC event on YouTube.

That makes the conference a smaller draw than the iPhone maker’s September hardware events in 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024.

After the stream began and CEO Tim Cook stopped talking, the audience surged past the 600,000 mark. —Jordan Novet

We’re here at Apple Park, the company’s campus, alongside thousands of developers, to see what Apple is planning for its next operating systems.

The campus is set up like it has been for the past few years: Big movie screens are set up in one of the company’s four-story atriums. This means that the presentation will likely be pre-recorded, as it has been since the pandemic. Apple CEO Tim Cook is expected to give some remarks before the video starts. — Kif Leswing