The first day of Apple's WWDC 2025 showcase was a massive livestreaming story, attracting thousands of viewers as fans tuned in to catch the updates. The event is available entirely online and is free for all developers, aiming to spotlight the latest advancements in the tech giant's software.
Day 1 of Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference 2025 on June 9 allowed developers and students to attend a special in-person event at Apple Park. The Keynote turned out to be quite the occasion, with various major updates ensuring that it ended as one of the top livestreaming events across platforms over the past week.
Monday's official broadcast on Apple's official YouTube channel pulled 824,687 Peak Viewers (PV), topping the charts across livestreaming services between June 3 and 9. Interestingly, it was joined by two other industry showcases on the podium, as tech and video game events take over the online discourse this month.
The 2024 iteration of the developers conference has now surpassed every other WWDC event from Apple by PV, apart from the 2023 one, which ended its run with just over a million live viewers. This June 9 livestream also attracted 700,356 Average Viewers (AV), showing just how consistently it was followed across its almost two hours of runtime.
What really helped kick it into top gear were the updates that audiences got, including a new Liquid Glass design and updated operating systems for all Apple devices. The former was the most talked-about announcement, as this new design system, inspired by VisionOS, brings back more pervasive translucency for the OS elements.
The Silicon Valley company called Liquid Glass its "broadest" design update yet; it contains semi-translucent features like redesigned widgets and notifications. Billed as more dynamic than the previous design language, it will serve as a way to bring even more consistency across all operating systems, including iOS, iPadOS, and macOS, i.e., unify the version numbers for the OSes.
Apple also announced the new operating system, iOS 26, a new unified layout for communications that will integrate Phone and FaceTime. Consisting of a clean look and feel, lots of overlapping elements, rounded corners, and more, it will work without giving users issues in identifying key apps like the Phone, Messages, or FaceTime.
Thanks to such high-quality announcements, WWDC 2025 ranked among the top ten by peak concurrent viewership among all Apple events held over the years. Crucially, the showcase is set to run until June 13, and with numerous events and sessions scheduled over the next four days, there is a good chance it could climb this table and end among the most popular ones of the year.
When looking at all the video game and tech showcases held this year, Apple's WWDC 2025 is among the seven most popular ones when counting the cumulative peak live viewers. However, if we count only tech conferences, it sits atop the pile, leading other industry-leading events such as the Samsung Galaxy Unpacked.
Overall, it was a successful start to almost a week of announcements, developer meet-ups, and seminars, with the WWDC 2025 reiterating once again why it remains one of the tech industry's top annual events. Fans can catch the livestreams on Apple's official channel on YouTube, while those looking for a deeper dive into statistics for such events can reach out to us directly.
