Apple debuted its next set of operating systems — iOS 26, iPadOS 26, watchOS 26, macOS 26 Tahoe, tvOS 26, and visionOS 26 — at WWDC 2025 today, and they’re available for developer beta testing now.
Let’s recap all the ways iOS 26 and watchOS 26 copied Android 16 and Wear OS 6 at WWDC this year.
Wrist flick is just the Samsung Galaxy Watch 7’s Shake to Dismiss With watchOS 26, Apple is introducing a new way to dismiss Apple Watch notifications.
While the wrist flick will probably come in handy for Apple Watch users, it’s nothing new for Wear OS users.
It’s such a handy feature that Android users might be shocked to learn it wasn’t already available on iPhone before WWDC 2025.
At WWDC 2025 today, Apple unveiled its upcoming operating systems, which are currently available for developer beta testing: iOS 26, iPadOS 26, watchOS 26, macOS 26 Tahoe, tvOS 26, and visionOS 26. The enhancements and modifications include some features that appear to have been influenced by Wear OS and Android. In certain instances, Apple didn’t even bother to rename the feature that they had stolen from Samsung and Google.
Watching Apple provide iPhone users with features that those who regularly use the best Android phones have had for years is always gratifying. If you’re interested in that, the keynote address at WWDC 2025 was excellent. Apple “borrowed” a few concepts from popular Android tools such as Circle to Search, Gemini Live, and many others. At WWDC this year, let’s review all the ways that iOS 26 and watchOS 26 imitated Wear OS 6 and Android 16.
Visual Intelligence resembles Circle to Search and Gemini Live.
Apple’s live video streaming version of Gemini Live, Visual Intelligence, is currently accessible with iOS 18. The feature, however, is restricted to using the camera and cannot access the user’s iPhone screen. With iOS 26, that is going to change. Visual Intelligence will be able to see what’s on an iPhone user’s screen and act accordingly. It can use the information on their screen to locate items online or add an event to their calendar.
Does this sound familiar? It should, as Gemini Live’s screen-sharing capability and Circle to Search are exactly what Android already provides. Android users have been able to gain more information about a section of their screen by circling it for well over a year. They have had the ability to share their whole screen with Gemini Live and engage in a natural language discussion about it for months.
The best part is that Google Chrome and Gemini apps on iOS have made these same features available to iPhone users. Regardless of your point of view, Google was first, and Apple is only now preparing to incorporate these features into the iPhone with iOS 26.
The backgrounds of iMessage are obviously influenced by WhatsApp.
You may encounter resistance if you suggest that an iPhone user download WhatsApp. Fans of iOS will find it more difficult to defend that now that iMessage has stolen a widely used WhatsApp feature. Users can customize the background of their iMessage conversations with iOS 26. Using Image Playground, the app will also enable users to create unique backgrounds using AI. Notably, Android phones account for 73% of WhatsApp users.
WhatsApp has been providing chat wallpapers and themes for iOS and Android chats for years. WhatsApp users can change the color of their conversation bubbles to match their backgrounds, which makes it still superior to what’s available on iOS 26. No matter what color background they select in iOS 26, users of iMessage still have to contend with those annoying blue and green bubbles.
Thus, perhaps WhatsApp wasn’t inherently a bad messaging app?
The Pixel Call Screen is obviously being imitated by Call Screening.
There are instances when Apple makes no effort to conceal the fact that it is stealing a useful Android feature. The company is introducing two “new” tools for phone calls with iOS 26: Hold Assist and Call Screening. In order to save you time from scammers and spam calls, they will filter unknown calls for you. Additionally, iOS 26 will hold calls for you and alert you when it’s time to take over again.
Call Screening on Google Pixel phones is essentially Apple’s version of Call Screen, even down to the nearly identical names. This feature has been available on Pixels since the Pixel 4 in 2019 for those who keep track at home. For almost as long, Pixels have had Hold for Me, a feature that performs the exact same function as Hold Assist in iOS 26. With iOS 26, Apple is actually introducing features that Google Pixel owners have enjoyed for the past five years.
Material 3 Expressive’s opposite is Liquid Glass.
Going into 2026, Apple’s software products, including iOS 26, will use the new design language known as Liquid Glass. This year, however, Apple wasn’t the first to release a radical new mobile operating system user interface. Google accomplished this earlier with Material 3 Expressive, an Android 16 user interface that is vivid, bold, and colorful and is intended to meet users where they are. Materials 3 Expressive is not only aesthetically pleasing, but also more user-friendly, according to the company’s research.
The timing is intriguing even though the Liquid Glass aesthetic of iOS 26 is not mistaken for the Material 3 Expressive look of Android 16. Apple and Google are attempting to accomplish the same goal with their new user interface, but they are approaching it entirely differently. Nevertheless, Google receives some recognition for revealing its future mobile user interface design vision ahead of Apple.
The Samsung Galaxy Watch 7’s Shake to Dismiss feature is simply the wrist flick.
A new method for turning off Apple Watch notifications is being introduced by Apple with watchOS 26. But in reality, it’s not that novel. On the Galaxy Watch 7, Samsung provides a comparable tool called Shake to Dismiss. Technically speaking, the Galaxy Watch 7 version is more flexible than Apple’s upcoming “wrist flick” tool because it can also be used to turn off other devices, such as alarms.
Actually, the Samsung Galaxy Watch 7’s gesture capabilities are so much better than those of its Apple Watch rivals. To turn down an incoming call, you can also twist your wrist twice in addition to shaking to dismiss. Wear OS users are accustomed to the wrist flick, but Apple Watch users will likely find it useful.
The Visited Places feature on Apple Maps is a clone of Google Maps Timeline.
Another cool feature that is new to iPhone users is Apple Maps’ Visited Places feature. By employing end-to-end encryption and Apple Intelligence to recognize routines and daily routes, it will be able to recall the locations you have visited. You can see, for example, how many times you’ve been to your favorite city or restaurant.
Users of Google Maps have had this feature for years, but it sounds intriguing enough if you use Apple Maps. Google refers to the Google Maps Timeline, which is located on the opposite side of the walled garden, as “a personal map that helps you remember routes and trips you’ve taken and places you’ve been based on your Location History.”. Additionally, it is compatible with Android Auto on the Android side.
Only a few letters from Live Translate were altered by Live Translation.
Finally, real-time translation of calls, messages, songs, and other content is now available to iOS 26 users. Given how useful it is, Android users may be surprised to hear that, prior to WWDC 2025, the iPhone did not have this feature. Both Google and Samsung have their own Live Translate features. With the Galaxy S24 and later models, Galaxy phones can translate 13 languages in real time.
It coincides with the intriguing addition of the ability to make Google Translate your default translation app in iOS 18.
Google would be wise to steal a few things from Apple, of course. At WWDC 2025, iPadOS 26 gained productivity and window management features similar to those of macOS, and it continues to improve. At this rate, the top Android tablets are unlikely to overtake the iPad.
However, it’s always worthwhile to examine which features Apple is just now introducing to iOS 26 and watchOS 26, while users of Android and Wear OS have been using for years.
