Apple made two significant design tools available as betas this week: Icon Composer 2 and SF Symbols 8. Both downloads appeared on the company's Design Resources portal following Monday's WWDC keynote, where iOS 27, iPadOS 27, and macOS 27 Golden Gate were previewed. The tools support the new Liquid Glass aesthetic that will define apps across Apple's ecosystem this fall.

SF Symbols 8 expands the icon library to over 7,000 symbols, incorporating assets for iOS 27, iPadOS 27, macOS 27, watchOS 27, tvOS 27, and visionOS 27. All symbols include animation capabilities, visual effects, and variable rendering options that debuted in previous versions. Designers can access the complete collection through the beta download link.

Icon Composer 2 introduces three major features for creating Liquid Glass app icons. Refraction simulates light bending through transparent layers, picking up colors and shapes from background elements. New specular highlights add crisp, contrast-preserving accents that can align inside or outside each layer. Extended Preview shows how icons render on both current and previous operating systems.

These beta releases give developers and designers a head start on preparing their apps for the major OS updates arriving this fall. The tools directly support Apple's Liquid Glass design language, which emphasizes translucency and depth across the entire ecosystem.