Whether you are a casual user, hobbyist, or creative professional, nobody is getting left behind at this year’s Worldwide Developers Conference. While Siri might be hogging the limelight, artists and designers have plenty to look forward to.
After a rocky AI rollout two years ago and a relatively quiet 2025, Apple is finally confident enough to put AI back on the WWDC main stage.
Aside from major operating system updates and that highly anticipated, Gemini-powered, revamped Siri, Apple unveiled a suite of AI-backed photo editing tools.
Image Playground
Image Playground lets you be more creative. | Image by Apple
Apple has announced a new version of the Image Playground app, which was first announced in 2024. With a new image generation model under the hood, the app now lets you make high-quality images in various styles, including photorealistic ones.
You can create images based on those in your album or transform them into new styles. All you have to do is describe what you want. You can even circle certain parts of the image to move or resize them or add new elements, such as candles to a cake.
Apple also lets you choose the dimensions for the images to fit your needs.
You can even use the app to generate Messages backgrounds, Contact Posters, and Home Screen backgrounds. You can generate a picture simply by typing a prompt.
It will even proactively make suggestions for you based on your photos.
Image generation features have a daily cap, but increased access is available with iCloud subscription plans.
New Photos capabilities
New Photos options. | Image by Apple
Apple's helpful, intuitive new AI features have also been embedded into how you capture and edit photos. At the same time, Apple doesn't want them to look too artificial, saying it deeply respects the craft of photography. By bringing AI into the Photos app, the company wants you to be able to enhance photos in ways that respect the original moment.
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Photos can now use the new image models for more powerful editing capabilities.
The Clean Up tool, which removes distractions, is getting better following user complaints that it wasn’t exactly working as intended. Apple promises better quality and more realistic fill, even for complicated photos.
There's a new Extend feature that lets you whip up additional content beyond the original frame or straighten up a crooked scene. For instance, you can snap a close-up photo of a subject, drag the edges outward, and watch AI fill in the surrounding scene.
Apple has also designed a Reframe option that builds on Clean Up and Extend. Based on Apple's expertise in spatial models, this feature lets you adjust the perspective of a photo after pressing the shutter. It's for post-capture regrets, such as poor framing or asymmetry.
The features work on any photo in your album, including older photos or those taken with other cameras.
Stepping up
It's no secret that Apple has been catching up in the AI arena. With today's updates, the company is trying to match the features that make its users seek out rivals, either because similar Apple-branded tools don't exist or because they fall short.
While AI-powered generation and editing may look fun, there is a nagging thought that they strip photos of their authenticity. In a world that's more obsessed with perfection than it needs to, having a feature that, in Apple's words, lets you go back in time and adjust the camera makes you wonder whether companies need to back off a little.
Which of these features do you see yourself using?
All of them; they are fun.
35.71%
None; they are childish.
35.71%
Image Playground.
7.14%
Photos features.
21.43%
14 Votes
Third time’s a charm?
At last year's WWDC, Apple avoided talking much about AI. Emboldened by a partnership with Google and the relentless efforts of its own team, the company is once again trying to be relevant.
While the WWDC presentation was impressive, particularly because of the realistic demos, it didn't contain any groundbreaking features we haven't seen before.
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Anam Hamid is a computer scientist turned tech journalist who has a keen interest in the tech world, with a particular focus on smartphones and tablets. She has previously written for Android Headlines and has also been a ghostwriter for several tech and car publications. Anam is not a tech hoarder and believes in using her gadgets for as long as possible. She is concerned about smartphone addiction and its impact on future generations, but she also appreciates the convenience that phones have brought into our lives. Anam is excited about technological advancements like folding screens and under-display sensors, and she often wonders about the future of technology. She values the overall experience of a device more than its individual specs and admires companies that deliver durable, high-quality products. In her free time, Anam enjoys reading, scrolling through Reddit and Instagram, and occasionally refreshing her programming skills through tutorials.
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