One of my favorite moments from WWDC 2025 was when Apple designer Billy Sorrentino introduced the changes to visual intelligence. The new screenshot features in iOS 26 are already among my favorites, but what really caught my eye was the surprising amount of screen time given to Tapbots’ Ivory.

During this portion of the keynote, we see a reimagined version of the Mastodon client, rebuilt with the new liquid glass design language. It was clearly both a way to subtly show developers what they can do with their own apps, but also read as a sort of endorsement of Mastodon as a social platform. Apple didn’t show Bluesky, Threads, or X. They chose to show a third-party Mastodon client. What I found particularly interesting about this is that Apple effectively gave Mastodon three full minutes during their annual flagship event. I’m sure this was meant to be a crowd-pleaser for developers who happen to be a group that’s quite active on Mastodon. Billy never specifically names what app he is using or what “social” platform it is, but it speaks volumes that they chose to give it as much time as they did during the WWDC keynote.

The message is clear: this is an app Apple wants you to notice.

If you want to watch the segment for yourself, it starts at 38:29.