On Monday, Apple kicked off the Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC). With it, we got a peek at Apple’s upcoming improvements to their operating systems and the AirPods. The conference is a week long, and is primarily to help developers learn all the new features of the upcoming operating systems. However, Apple kicks it off with a flashier presentation, showing many of the things consumers can get excited about too.
This year, we saw some cute intro ideas and some moderate updates to all of Apple’s software. While they’ll be convenient and helpful, the clear goal this year was small iterations, little items that will certainly be delightful, but won’t drive people to upgrade as soon as they can. This won’t be the large upgrade driver that widgets were, although, for the iPad it will be!
Increasingly, we’re seeing updates across platforms. Where iOS gets something, iPadOS, macOS, and tvOS get it as well. This is a new trend that could mean Apple plans to focus more on features in the future, not necessarily where those features are.
In This Article:
FaceTime
Cross-Platform
Apple rolled out new features for FaceTime. I know, your reaction may be similar to mine initially was. Who cares? I mean, what good are group calling if you can only call people who have Apple devices? I can’t replace Discord or Zoom with something only for Apple devices!
Well, that’s all over.
FaceTime has gone cross-platform.
Now you can share a FaceTime link, which anyone with an iPhone, iPad, Mac, OR, PC desktop, laptop, or Android device can click. They’ll get the same end to end encrypted FaceTime experience, including most of the new advancements to FaceTime below. Some will obviously be Apple hardware only, and even then, some only for the M1 Macs, but others will be great for everyone.
Content Sharing and Syncing Through SharePlay API
One of the things that kept me slightly sane during the pandemic was movie/TV show night with my friends. We’d pick a movie to watch or a TV show to binge and then load it up. We had to make sure that the movies we picked were on platforms we had access to, load up a video chat (usually Discord), and then time our pressing of the play button. Between episodes we had to make sure that it autoplayed for everyone at the same time. Amazon had watch rooms that weren’t too bad, as does Hulu, but most left quite a bit to be desired.
FaceTime is here to fix that… just as we’ve started hanging out in person because we’re all fully vaccinated.
FaceTime is bringing a new SharePlay API to third party developers, as well as integrating screen sharing directly into FaceTime. With iOS 15, macOS Monterey, iPadOS 15, and even tvOS, you’ll be able to share a stream during your FaceTime videos.
Yes, tvOS is getting in on the fun. You’ll be able to watch your content or the shared display on your Apple TV while using your other device to continue the video call.
Portrait Mode
Zoom recently allowed users to blur their background. FaceTime’s getting in on that too. However, it seems to use portrait mode on the front facing camera. That means it requires an iPhone with an A12 Bionic chip or better or a Mac with the M1 processor.
Spatial Audio
Spatial Audio is a fun experience. In a movie, it makes your audio sound like it’s coming from one direction. Even as you turn your head or move around, you’ll still hear sound seemingly coming from one location. Currently, this is only available in movies and now through Apple Music on an iPhone or iPad. However, Spatial Audio will now work with FaceTime on a recent iOS device. You’ll feel like the people talking to you are in the room with you.
New Grid View
Apple’s bringing a new grid video to help you see all of your friends at once. It’ll still highlight who’s speaking, but will otherwise show everyone on the screen at once. This is the view I prefer. So much of communication is non-verbal, and a glance, a laugh, all makes it feel more like you’re hanging out with a group of people instead of a video call.
Messages
Apple always makes a few improvements to messages (the iMessage app). In this one, expect some easier scrolling. Have you ever sent someone a few images and then immediately felt guilty because they now have to scroll through them all if trying to go back for any reason? You likely have social anxiety but you’re also a lot like me. And therefore you may get really excited when you see Apple’s new photo handling in iMessage. Now images will stack, either as a collage for a few shots or a stack of images for a larger collection. Plus, you’ll be able to find any images sent to you in the Photos app, so you don’t even have to page through all of them immediately.
Begone, multi-photo anxiety!
Improving Your Focus
Our devices have helped bolster a crisis of focus. Notifications, distractions, bright colors, things to do for work and play all in one device. You can open your phone to answer a Slack message and notice your Discord blowing up and go message friends instead. It’s so easy to become distracted and, especially those with ADHD, your phone can be a distraction landmine. Now Apple’s introducing Focus across their devices to help users focus on the work they need to do, then put it aside at the end of the day.
Notification Summaries
Sometimes you go away from your phone for a while, either for work or sleep, and when you get back, you find hundreds of notifications. With your new Notification Summary, available in iOS 15 and iPadOS 15, you’ll see highlights, like stories shared with you or apps you frequently open. Notifications from people will always appear at the top, with app notifications below those. That way you’ll never miss a message.
Notifications also have a new look, more like individual widgets. You’ll see a larger app icon or a person’s profile photo, making it easier to tell if you should check your notifications now or if you can wait a bit later.
Focus
Focus is a new feature allowing you to carve out time during your day for particular activities. iOS will intelligently respond during the rime of day to help you along. For example, during work time, you won’t see apps that are games or social networks. Instead, your suggested apps will just be work apps. All but your most important notifications will be sent to notification summaries.
Sometimes you want to make sure people know you’re focusing. This can allow you to set modes that tell other users, through iMessage, for example, that you’re busy and not receiving notifications. However, if they need to, for example, due to an emergency, they can still push through a message that you’ll get. It’s a great way to make sure someone knows to only contact you in case of an emergency, and offers peace of mind to focus mode and do not disturb modes.
Smart AI
iOS, iPadOS, macOS, even tvOS are getting a lot smarter this year. They’ll include things like suggestions from friends in the apps where it matters. For example, I have a friend who makes frequent music recommendations. However, I’m not always in the mood to listen when I receive the message. But, the next time I launch Apple Music in iOS 15, it would show me his suggestions along with others. This extends to the Appel TV, iPad, and even Mac. It’s not just Apple Music either. TV show and movie recommendations, and even shared photos, will all show up where they belong.
Siri, Disconnected
Siri has always required an internet connection to work. This is frustrating, as sometimes, you just want to set a timer. You shouldn’t need the internet to set a timer hands-free! Well, with Apple’s updates, you’ll be able to talk to Siri, even without an internet connection. Perfect for home automation, simple math, or, yes, setting a timer.
Smarter Photos
One of the coolest features of Google Lens is the ability to pull text directly from images. Now, Apple’s built-in camera app will be able to do the same. It’ll even detect text that has meaningful importance, like phone numbers, allowing you to simply tap on a phone number you’ve selected in an image and make a phone call. Apple calls this Live Text, and it understands 7 languages and works wherever you have photos.
You can also identify objects and animals in photos. A photo of a dog may tell you its breed. A photo of a book will show the book’s information online. This makes searching for photos easier as well, with Siri being smarter than ever at sorting out your photos based on search terms.
iOS 15
Have you ever noticed how sometimes, a song just perfectly lines up with what’s happening in a movie or TV show? Have you ever thought to yourself, man, I wish I could do that, but for the photos in my photo album? If you have, wow, that’s… oddly specific. Still, I have great news for you, person with that weirdly specific request!
The Photos app in iOS 15 can use Apple Music to find a soundtrack for your photos slideshows. It works extraordinarily well, timing photo transitions to the beat of the music. It’ll be a fun way to review your own photos, or perhaps share memories with friends and family.
Apple’s wallet will soon let you into your office building, house, and even store your drivers license. That’s because Apple’s bringing more than car keys to your iPhone, but card keys and smartlock keys as well. Apple is also working with states to digitize your ID, so you can provide proof of your ID without needing to carry a card. They’re also working with the TSA to provide all the documents you need for boarding in one convenient place.
Apple acquired Dark Sky, and with it their hyper-accurate weather predictions. These use a network of iPhones, which have barometers in them, to generate weather data down to the minute. Apple’s bringing that along with an intelligent UI that adapts to what you want to see. Is it going to rain in 5 minutes? Then rainfall for the rest of the day will be the top item in the app. Perhaps it’ll be unseasonably hot and air quality will be poor? That’ll be front and center. Plus the app has new HD displays that take into account your time, the weather, and your location, to give you a great idea of what it would look like if you looked out the window.
Just in time to return to the office! It’ll be a nice reminder for when you had a little bit more freedom at work, like being able to go outside, or at least stare out the windows.
iPadOS 15
Last year, Apple fans collectively shouted, “Wait, what about the iPad?” as Apple introduced widgets for your iOS home screen, but not your iPad. Well, this year, the iPad is playing catch-up. iPadOS 15 is getting the most popular features from iOS 14, including home screen widgets, hiding and showing app pages, and the App Library, which makes it easy to find your apps on one scrolling page, either through search, alphabetically, or via smart collections.
Improved Multitasking
Multitasking on iPadOS leaves a bit to be desired. It can be frustrating dragging windows and apps around, waiting for the system to recognize what you’re trying to do and make the requested changes. Finally, Apple has a solution: buttons. Yes, it turns out, all along, what we really needed… were things to tap. Brilliant!
Now at the top of windows you’ll find three small dots. You can still drag windows around by this, even pop-out windows, like those from Mail, but you can also tap them. This will bring up a quick option to put the app on one side or the other. You can then get a full screen view of your apps with the selected app off to the side, so you can find the app to multitask with. Tap it, and you’ll have two apps side-by-side. No awkward dragging and dropping or waiting for iPadOS to realize what you want. Just three quick taps.
Oh, and there will be keyboard shortcuts for all of that as well.
Apple’s also introducing a “shelf.” This will hold the windows for your apps. So, if you have multiple Safari windows open, for example, you can minimize them to the shelf, close them selectively, or pull them out for multitasking.
Multitasking on the touch interface of the iPad hasn’t been easy, but iPadOS 15 is going to make it a lot better.
Quick Notes
iPads have always had a tool for taking notes on the lock screen. A quick double tap on the lock screen with an Apple Pencil will bring up a single note. This allows users to quickly jot something down for later, without having to unlock their iPad and find the notes app.
Quick Notes is like that, but everywhere. Simply drag in from a corner and you can quickly take notes over any app. You can even copy information from whatever apps are on the screen at the time, like URLs and other information.
Split View for Translate
Apple’s adding a new split view for translate that can help you practice your writing in other languages or carry on conversations. The new view will automatically detect who is talking and what language they’re speaking in. Then it will translate and display the translation on the screen. Carrying around an iPad may seem like a strange translation tool, but it is easier to put an iPad in a bag than a translator.
No, like the person.
They’re quite large, and require oxygen to function. I wouldn’t put them in a bag.
You will be able to translate anywhere there’s text, including in photos. You’ll also be able to download languages directly to your iPad, so it’ll work without an internet connection.
***Swift Playgrounds and on-iPad App Creation***
This is a huge item for developers. With Apple’s update to Swift Playgrounds, it’ll become more like Xcode Lite. The app was initially for teaching users how to program in Swift using an easy to follow guide that can help someone with no programming experience learn. Now, however, it’ll allow developers to use SwiftUI to make iPhone and iPad apps. Builds are done in the cloud using Xcode Cloud (more on that in a bit), and projects can be exported directly to Xcode.
This won’t replace Macs for developers, but it could let them make changes or build a simple app entirely from an iPad. It won’t be long before we have apps coded entirely on an iPad, and that’s going to be very cool for the platform. Engineers won’t be tossing aside their Macs, but it’ll be interesting to see when some developers start pulling out iPads for work.
macOS Monterey
Apple revealed the next version of macOS: Monterey. Most of the new features discussed, from FaceTime, Shareplay, messaging, suggestions, Focus, Siri, etc, are coming over to macOS. These help make the Mac feel like a more complete part of the tightly woven Apple ecosystem. Many features for one of Apple’s devices has a version on another device. Even Shortcuts from iOS will slowly start phasing out Automator on macOS, and your Mac will be able to act as a display for other AirPlay content.
One of the most impressive things Apple showed off was their new “Universal Control.” This, like Continuity and Sidecar in the past, allows your iPad to work as a second display for your Mac. But it’s not quite that simple. Your iPad will still be running and displaying iPadOS. You can drag a photo, for example, from your iPad app, back over to your Mac, and even over to a second Mac. It uses a combination of services and only works on newer Macs (though it does work on Intel Macs). With it, you can just prop your iPad up next to your Mac, move the cursor over, and it’ll hop over to your iPad. You can use the same keyboard and mouse across these separate devices through your Mac. It’s truly a revolutionary display of interplay.
AirPods
AirPods are getting some accessibility improvements. Those with mild hearing impairments, or who have trouble picking out voices in a noisy environment will appreciate “conversation boost.” This mode will use beam forming to boost the voice of the person you’re looking at. With AirPods Pro, this also can come with noise cancellation, blocking out background noise while elevating the voices you want to hear. It can also simply tone down ambient noise, without completely blocking it.
Siri will also be able to read out all of your notifications, not just messages, if you want. It’s sometimes nice, and makes it feel kind of like you’re living in the future when a message is read to you and you can dictate a reply immediately.
The AirPods Pro and AirPods Max will also get AirTags-like finding. This will let them use the Find My network, and even point you to exactly where they’re hiding on your iPhone. You won’t lose your AirPods so easily either, as your phone will alert you if you left them behind.
Finally, Apple had some Spatial Audio announcements. Beginning today, Spatial Audio is available on Dolby Atomos tracks on Apple Music. Furthermore, M1-powered Macs and the new 4K Apple TV will be able to do Spatial Audio with the AirPods Pro and AirPods Max this fall.
Safari
Along with these new operating systems comes a completely redesigned Safari. Now, the tab bar and the URL/search bar have become one. Each tab is the search bar. Clicking on it will make it a text field you can edit, but clicking outside of it or scrolling will show it as a tab. Other extensions have been pushed into a menu.
Speaking of extensions, they’re hopping from macOS over to iPadOS and iOS. Developers will be able to easily bring their extensions from the Mac to Apple’s other platforms.
Apple has also introduced tab groups. Think of these like a group of bookmarks that you open at once, like your favorite news websites, shopping, or social networks.
Oh, and Apple’s moving the tab bar to the bottom on iOS. I suppose they finally realized that when they’re selling 6.7-inch tablets as “phones,” it’s best to put the items users have to interact with near the bottom, not half a foot away from their hand.
Privacy
App Privacy Report
Safari has a privacy report that tells you what trackers it has blocked. However, what about your apps? In iOS 15, you’ll be able to view an app privacy report. This will tell you what data apps are collecting, and which third party services or trackers they’re using and potentially sharing that data with.
I have a feeling this is going to be another update Facebook desperately wants to keep their users away from.
Mail Improvements
Apple Mail is finally getting tracking pixel blocking. When an email contains some HTML content, it forces your mail app to load a single pixel or an image in the email from a server. From there, they know that you opened the email, and even at what time you opened it. Spammers use these to make sure an email account is active before trying phishing attacks or other scams. Mail will block these tracking attempts.
iCloud+
Apple’s also introducing iCloud+. It’ll live on top of existing iCloud storage subscriptions. Instead of storage, it adds privacy features. First is “Private Relay,” which sounds a lot like a standard VPN. Traffic is encrypted and sent through another server so the receiving site doesn’t know where it came from. Then there’s a Firefox Relay-like feature (yes, many relays). This allows users to create an infinite (Firefox limits it to 5 for free) number of automatically generated email addresses to protect your privacy. These email aliases can keep websites from tracking you over the web via your email address.
Finally, users can connect more cameras and store video data in iCloud, separate from their standard iCloud storage, so they won’t run out.
iCloud Account Recovery
If you lose access to your iCloud account, or pass away, you can ensure that a family member can vouch for you or take ownership of your content. This will prevent your photos and videos, emails, and other information from becoming inaccessible zombie data after you pass away. Loved ones would likely appreciate this, so they can find pieces of your life to hold on to. Besides, what will you have to be embarrassed about at that point?
watchOS 8
I love my Apple Watch, I do. But every year I hope for more customizable watch faces, maybe even Siri suggested complications. But every year, I just end up disappointed by the watchOS presentation. This year we will be getting a new mindfulness app. This will include the Breathe app the Apple watch has had for years now, only with a new animation. It’ll also feature Reflect, which will give you a suggestion to focus on while you meditate. Perhaps love, forgiveness, a happy memory, etc.
The Apple Watch will also start tracking your respiratory rate while you sleep. Respiratory rate is quite static, it doesn’t change much night to night. Therefore, if changes or a trend of changes shows up, your Apple Watch can inform you that you may want to talk to a doctor.
Apple’s also adding portrait watch faces. These are just portrait photos from your phone with a simple digital clock. Yes, another watch face that is just a simple digital clock. But this one has a portrait photo with it!
…
Okay, maybe I’m a cynic, but I’ve never loved someone enough that I wanted to look at them every time I, well, looked at the time. Usually when I look at my watch these days I want to know the weather, my appointments, if I have a text, the date, and, sometimes even the time.
Damn it, Apple, I just want a section of my watch face to switch to the calendar when I have meetings coming up, and weather when I don’t! I want more info out of my screen, not less! I want Siri suggested complications! Why are there so many simple watch faces when most users just use the Infograph watch faces?
Anyway, watchOS will also improve messaging from your wrist, in case you’re nowhere near your phone. The Digital Crown will function as a cursor for moving through text, and you can use scribble along with dictation to type out your messages. There’s also a new emoji selector, because what message is complete without some emoji? 🙃
There was one thing that Apple didn’t discuss, but was on their slide for watchOS.
Do you see it?
MULTIPLE TIMERS.
Finally!
Maps
Apple Maps are getting a bit of a makeover. We’re seeing new 3D models of landmarks and buildings that you can’t help but describe as “cute.” They’re almost bubbly, like if Pixar made a map. Maps will feature a globe view, tours, and more.
If you’ve ever taken transit in an unfamiliar city, especially if it’s underground, it can be a bit disorienting to come up to the surface. With Apple Maps, you can simply point your phone at the buildings around you, and it’ll figure out where you are, what direction you’re facing, and give you augmented reality directions to your destination.
Driving? Apple Maps will better show 3D effects and details for overpasses and complicated exchanges. They’ll also highlight on the view which roads are for buses, taxis, HOV lanes, or, most importantly, bike lanes.
HomeKit
Siri will finally be available on third party devices! To protect privacy, these commands will still go through Apple’s servers for processing, but the power of Siri can now power other gadgets in your home.
The HomePod and Apple TV are getting tighter integration as well. You’ll be able to ask your HomePod to play certain items on your Apple TV. I can sometimes get my iPhone to do this, but it’s not perfect. If Apple can smooth out the rough edges, it’ll be a cool way to allow you to just plop down on your couch, call out the show you want to watch, and get into it.
Other small improvements are coming as well. Your keys can live inside the iOS Wallet app, you can get package detection in iCloud-enabled cameras, and when viewing a camera, you’ll have controls for nearby accessories on screen.
Apple TV
Among the updates for tvOS, like suggestions from your friends showing up in the TV app, you’ll also find suggestions based on who’s watching. This takes in the interests and age of the users on the Apple TV. You select who’s watching, and the Apple TV will suggest shows or movies everyone will like. It’s called “For All of You,” and it likely would have saved families from more than a few arguments during quarantine.
The Apple TV will be able to use Spatial Audio this fall, but it will also be able to set your audio output to your HomePod Minis. One HomePod mini can fill a room with sound, but two can give you a fantastic stereo setup with dynamic, almost surround sound. But you can use more than that. Because HomePod Minis know their location in a space relative to other units, you’ll feel like you’re surrounded by the sound of your favorite movies with speakers that are aware of the output required to match other speakers in the space, wherever they are.
Health
Apple’s adding trends to Apple Health. This takes the standard measurements from your iPhone or Apple Watch and finds patterns. For example, if a user suddenly stops moving as much throughout the day, their walking patterns or gait changes abruptly, or their respiratory rate during sleep changes, it can be a sign of something more serious. Now Apple Health will detect these changes so you can bring them to a doctor.
And you can literally bring them to a doctor. With these updates, you’ll be able to share your Apple Health data with your doctor. They can look at the trends themselves, and figure out what treatment, if any, is best for you.
Users can also share their health with a loved one. It’s a great way to monitor or check in on elderly family members. With trend reporting, it can be a way for family or caretakers to get an early warning sign of trouble, before something bad happens.
Developer Technologies
Finally, there’s the ‘D’ in WWDC. Developer. Apple is introducing a heap (pun intended) of new APIs. One of the more interesting ones is an object capture API for macOS. This will use photos from your iPhone or iPad to compile photorealistic 3D renders of objects. It takes the act of creating 3D models from physical objects, something that is typically very difficult and expensive, and brings it down to just taking a few pictures.
Apple is also introducing native concurrency to Swift. While watching it, it looks similar to Kotlin’s Coroutines, at least in its simplicity. It takes the normally convoluted code necessary for setting up background threads for data processing or internet access and makes them simple to set up as either async, await, or actor code blocks.
The App Store is getting a small refresh. Developers will be able to A/B test different App Store pages and even different app icons. They’ll be able to provide different icons, screenshots, and descriptions of apps, to test which ones will lead to more downloads.
Finally, Apple introduced Xcode Cloud. If you’ve worked with CI/CD environments, especially Jenkins, much of this will sound familiar. Developers will be able to push their code to Xcode Cloud, perhaps after merge. Xcode Cloud will then build it, run tests, delete the source code on its servers, and make the apps available for testing. You can choose to upload them to TestFlight or directly to the App Store from there. Beta access will start this week, and extend into the fall, with the full release coming next year.
Go Play Today
As usual, the developer betas are out today. Public betas will start next month, and the full release of iOS and iPadOS 15, macOS Monterey, watchOS, and tvOS will be this fall.
And, no, we didn’t get to see a new MacBook or Beats Solo Buds. Maybe some other day.
If you want even more details, you can find them on Apple’s website: