WWDC is set to start on Monday, June 8, and ahead of the keynote event, Apple has announced the winners of its annual Apple Design Awards. The Apple Design Awards recognize apps and games for their innovation, ingenuity, and technical achievement. Apple chose one app and one game for each of the six award categories. Delight and Fun - Grug (App) and Is This Seat Taken? (Game) Innovation - NBA: Live Games and Scores (App) and Blue Prince (Game) Interaction - Moonlitt: Moon Phase Tracker (App) and Sago Mini Jinja's Garden (Game) Inclusivity - Guitar Wiz (App) and Pine Hearts (Game) Social Impact - Primary: News in Depth (App) and Consume Me (Game) Visuals and Graphics - Tide Guide: Charts and Tables (App) and Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition (Game) More details on the winning apps and games and the developers behind them can be found on Apple's website . Apple also has a selection of apps and games that were selected as finalists before the winners were chosen. WWDC will begin on Monday, June 8 at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time. Related Roundup: WWDC 2026 Tags: App Store , Apple Design Awards Related Forum: Apple, Inc and Tech Industry This article, " Apple Announces This Year's App Design Award Winners Ahead of WWDC 2026 " first appeared on MacRumors.com Discuss this article in our forums
Every year heading into WWDC , one thought on many Mac fans' minds is what Apple will choose as the name for the next version of macOS. The tradition dates all the way back to the beginning of Mac OS X with big cat names like Leopard, and Apple eventually shifted to California-themed names with the unveiling of OS X Mavericks. Apple has yet to announce the name for macOS 27, but macOS Emerald and macOS Big Bear have emerged as two speculative possibilities. While it will have a new Siri app and other Apple Intelligence enhancements, macOS 27 will reportedly be focused on bug fixes and stability improvements. In other words, it will be a refined version of macOS Tahoe. For this reason, macOS Emerald could be a fitting name for macOS 27, given that Emerald Bay is part of Lake Tahoe. This would be similar to how macOS High Sierra was a refined version of macOS Sierra. macOS Big Bear is another speculated name, as MacRumors contributor Aaron Perris discovered that the filename for Apple's WWDC 2026 hashtag graphic on X mentions "Project Big Bear." macOS Big Bear would refer to Big Bear Lake in California. However, the filename could obviously end up being unrelated to macOS 27 naming. Back in 2014, we discovered more than 20 California-themed trademark applications filed by various limited-liability companies, which were all but certain to be shell companies created by Apple to hide its identity. Over time, some of the trademarks like Yosemite, Sierra, Mojave, Monterey, Mojave, Ventura, Sonoma, and Sequoia were indeed used as macOS names, while trademark applications for other names were abandoned. Apple has still proceeded to use some of the names with abandoned trademark filings as macOS names, such as Big Sur in 2020. So, there is still a possibility that macOS 27 will use one of the names that Apple had filed to protect many years ago. Here is a list of the remaining words that Apple had filed: California Condor Diablo Farallon Grizzly Mammoth Miramar Pacific Redtail Redwood Rincon Shasta Skyline Tiburon Of course, there is no guarantee that Apple will ever use any of these names. It is simply fun to think about the possibilities each year. Apple will unveil macOS 27 during its WWDC 2026 keynote on Monday, June 8. Related Roundups: macOS 27 , WWDC 2026 Related Forum: Apple, Inc and Tech Industry This article, " macOS Emerald to macOS Big Bear: What Will Apple Name macOS 27? " first appeared on MacRumors.com Discuss this article in our forums