It’s time for WWDC keywords! Every year, Apple launches its global developer conference with several hours of consecutive messaging, ranging from iOS to watchOS to – sometimes! – new hardware.
Didn’t have time to tune in? We got it! We have gathered all the most important news in an easy-to-view digest.
iOS 16
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- The locked screen receives major repairs. This will allow more customization, plus support for widgets – including widgets for third-party applications. Notifications will now “enter” from the bottom of the screen, while the Live Activities API will allow developers to update real-time notifications (consider tracking sports results.) Read more about the new lock screen here >>
- You’ll be able to edit or “undo” recent messages in iMessage – or mark a thread as unread.
- SharePlay (which allows you to, for example, stream a movie in sync with a friend) will now work in iMessage, not just FaceTime.
Image Credits: Apple
- Live Text will be able to translate and replace the text it finds in a photo, allowing you to more easily read something like a menu in a language you don’t know. You can read more about it here >>
- Apple starts buying now, pay later; Apple Pay Later will allow you to split an Apple Pay purchase into four zero-interest payments; Apple says it will work wherever Apple Pay works.
- Apple Maps’ major renovations are coming to a host of new locations this year, including “France, Switzerland, New Zealand, Belgium, Israel, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, the Palestinian Territories, Saudi Arabia and the Netherlands.” It also receives improved support for routes with many stops.
- Apple News will now allow you to follow news specifically focused on your favorite sports / teams.
- If you use Family Sharing to limit the time on your children’s iPad screen, these children will now be able to request more time via iMessage.
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- You can now share a library with your family; when you take a photo, you can switch whether the photo goes to the shared library or only to your personal library.
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- Apple says it has rethought the Home app “from scratch.” All your different devices in different rooms are gathered on one screen, including a side-scroll view of all your HomeKit-enabled cameras.
Image Credits: Apple
- CarPlay is also getting a huge overhaul – Apple is basically trying to take over the entire tool cluster of your car. It will support things like speed reading, fuel gauges, AC control, etc .; what works where, of course, will depend on what the car manufacturer allows. Apple says it expects more news here “at the end of next year.”
- Shareplay will now have deeper game support, making it easier to start matches / battles directly with friends.
Image Credits: Apple
- iPadOS will get a new desktop-style window management feature called Stage Manager, which allows you to run multiple applications with windows / overlays on the screen at the same time. Read more about iPadOS 16 here >>
Apple Watch
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- Four new dials: Astronomy, Lunar, Play time and Metropolitan.
- The new “banner” notifications will keep you informed without always taking over the entire screen.
- Apple Watch will be able to track several new running indicators, including vertical fluctuations (“how much you move up and down” while running), stride length and ground contact time.
- The Fitness app on iOS will now be activated even for those who do not have an Apple Watch, so anyone can close these rings.
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- Sleep Tracking will use your heart rate monitor and accelerometer to determine how much time you have spent in four different stages of sleep (REM / Core / Deep) while trying to catch some Zzz.
- Apple Watch will be able to track your “A-fib history” to help doctors monitor cardiac arrhythmia and determine if treatment is helping.
M2
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Apple has rocked the industry with the introduction of its custom M1 chipset, which combines incredible performance with wild energy efficiency – it’s remarkably fast, but somehow your laptop’s battery life will last all day.
It now returns with the appropriate name M2. Apple says the M2 processor is 18% faster than the M1, while the GPU is 35% faster.
New MacBook
New MacBook Airs and pros! They are abandoning the typical Air wedge shape of cheese, opting for a more standard flat design – albeit only 11.3 mm thick.
As everyone makes more video calls than ever, Apple took the time to call out the MacBook Air’s built-in camera, promising twice the resolution (at 1080p) and much improved performance in low light.
It has a 13.6-inch liquid retina display, TouchID, built-in keyboard and MagSafe support. Apple says it will offer a slim charger with 2 USB-C ports and that the new MacBook Airs will support fast charging to increase battery life by up to 50% with 30 minutes of charging. Starting at $ 1,199, delivery “next month”. Read more about the new M2 MacBook Air here >>
Image Credits: Apple
Not to be missed, the 13-inch MacBook Pro also gets M2 processing, with Apple promising a CPU gain of up to 40% over the MacBook Pro M1. The Pro will start at $ 1299 and will also ship “next month”. Read more about the new M2 MacBook Pro here >>
macOS
The next big version of macOS will be called “macOS Ventura”. Here’s what Apple emphasized about Ventura:
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- The aforementioned Stage Manager also comes in macOS, offered as a way to focus on one or two applications at once. You can “group” running applications together; touching a group will minimize other applications, while placing the selected group in front and in the center.
- Spotlight is reviewed a bit; will be able to download rich results in a new scroll view and allow you to do things like a quick preview of a found file without actually opening it.
- The Mail app receives support for cancellation, scheduled delivery and time reminders. Mail Search gets smarter, automatically corrects spelling mistakes, and knows how to search for synonyms. Read more about the new Mail app here >>
- Safari will now be able to use “passwords” instead of passwords – a system built with Google and Microsoft to allow you to access websites and applications with biometric data (such as fingerprint sensors or face recognition) without any text passwords in stir.
- Apple’s Metal API, focused on game development, is learning some new tricks, including scaling up and loading resources faster.
Image Credits: Apple
- Continuity Camera: Your iPhone’s camera is almost certainly much better than the one built into your laptop – so Apple will allow you to use your iPhone’s camera for video calls in macOS. Attaching the iPhone to your laptop seems a little crazy, but the impact on quality is probably worth the important calls. There’s also a wild “desk view” feature that uses the iPhone’s wide-angle lens combined with some sophisticated image manipulation to capture what you’re doing on your desk in a simulated top view. Read more here >>
Image Credits: Apple
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