Orifinal post. One of the unwritten maxims of LinkedIn is that if you ever get to take selfies at an official Apple event, you absolutely should. So here we go: some observations from the WWDC 25 recap event held in Stockholm last week (thanks for the opportunity to join Annikki Laine). TLDR: if you have an app, you should care about iOS 26.

Suddenly, native apps are becoming interesting again. While the dominant narrative – at least in Finland – continues to be about cutting costs and gaining flexibility by moving to cross-platform solutions, new arguments are emerging.

One reason to favor native technologies is system-level AI. Apple showed off some neat things you can do with just a single line of code that taps into the new on-device LLM capabilities. The other big reason, especially on iOS, is the new design language – so difficult to replicate that non-native UI components will likely stick out like a sore thumb.

Apple’s message in Stockholm was loud and clear: build native apps. And when you do, use native UI widgets.

They didn’t say “or else,” but my brain sort of autocompleted it. Companies with custom UIs may be facing a tough transition as Liquid Glass rolls in.

It’s also worth noting that even if you don’t use native UI components, your app icon will be updated with iOS 26. If you don’t design a new one, Apple will glassify it for you.

There were also a few interesting updates about the App Store, including improved analytics that are starting to resemble a lightweight business intelligence dashboard. As long as you integrate your app properly, of course.

I hope to carve out some time for a proper write-up now that I’m heading into vacation mode. In the meantime, if you’re curious what iOS 26 means for your app, feel free to reach out.