Today was the start Apple’s World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC) that was held in San Jose, California this morning. The conference goes all week but starts out with the Monday morning keynote, which is given by CEO Tim Cook, among a plethora of other Apple staff members and special guests.
For starters, iOS 12 was at the main stage of this year’s keynote, giving it many new features and enhancements. Cook announced that iOS 11 is currently on over 80 percent of iOS devices, whereas the newest available version of Android is only at six percent.
iOS 12’s main mission is to make the performance better for both newer and older devices. It comes during a time when Apple’s iOS 11 has had a year of many bugs and software issues.
Apple announced that iOS 12 would be made available for every single Apple device released since 2013, which makes it so that even the iPhone 5S can receive the update. According to Apple, apps are going to launch 50 percent faster and opening the camera from the lock screen is going open 70 percent faster.
Even though the company did not say the reason for this, one could assume that this is due to how Apple in years past has been purposely slowing down older iPhone models for battery and power problems. This could be a way for them to make up for that.
Siri, intelligence-wise, was not highly improved like users have been wanting them to do for years, but instead has a new ability called “Siri Shortcuts,” which allows for Siri to have more access to your apps, suggestions and you as the user can say things like “find my keys” and the Tile app will automatically be opened by Siri in order to find your lost keys.
AR has also been improved with a new file format called “USDZ” that will be used for sharing AR animations and files. ARKit2 was also announced that allows users to experience what they are doing in a better and more visual way than ever before.
When it comes to apps and services, iBooks is now called Apple Books and has a brand new redesign too. The Apple News app has some new features to it and is also going to be coming to the Stocks app, which will give readers not only access to their stocks, but give them business-oriented news articles. Stocks is coming to the iPad, as well.
CarPlay is now going to be allowing for third-party navigation apps such as Waze and Google Maps to be used on dashboards. Currently, the only navigation app that can be used on CarPlay is Apple Maps.
Parental controls are coming to iOS 12, which will give parents the ability to give their kids time limits on using a device like an iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad, iTunes/App Store allowances and allow them to block certain content from being used or seen on the device.
Another feature that is making it’s way to iOS 12 is granting iPhone users the ability to have a new feature called “Do Not Disturb During Bedtime.” Your device will essentially serve as a clock and show current weather conditions. The goal is to hide your notifications so that they do not give you anxiety or forbid you from getting back to sleep.
Notifications for iOS 12 overall will come in a grouped format. This means that iMessages, Twitter, Facebook and emails will be grouped in their own separate way in Notification Center so that the notifications are not messy or unorganized.
Speaking of iMessage, there are now new Animmojis and a new Memoji. The Memoji allows you to create your own personal emoji for yourself that can speak via voice when using iMessage. On top of that, the Animejoi’s tongues can stick out now.
FaceTime is going to be able to have up to 32 people in a video call. It could be a way how Apple is now competing with apps and services like Houseparty that have the same function.
For the Apple Watch, the smartwatch is getting new Activity competitions and awards, and getting new types of workout choices. It’s also getting its own Apple Podcasts app, which will allow for users to listen to their podcasts and make changes (volumes, switch podcasts, etc) directly from their Apple Watch.
Another first that is coming to the Apple Watch is to be able to read links from iMessage and other apps right from the watch. If someone sends you an article from FOX News, you’ll be able to read it from your Apple Watch in the Reader View.
Users will be able to use a new Walkie-Talkie feature that will work so that Apple Watch users can get ahold of other users immediately without texting or making a phone call.
Lastly, college students at select universities will be able to put their student ID cards in the Wallet app and can have them scanned for going to lunch (meal plans), class attendance and for other college events. It will enable students to also see how much extra cash (Dining Dollars, FLEX, etc) they have left on their cards directly from the app.
However, the new watchOS 5 will be the first update that users of the original Apple Watch will not be able to get. The reason for this has not been said by Apple, but it can be assumed that the smartwatch is too old now and has parts inside that can no longer handle the newest version of watchOS.
Apple TV got some great updates too for tvOS 12. Apple announced that the company has the most 4K movies available on iTunes and that Dolby Atmos support will be available in tvOS 12.
However, what stood out is that although Apple announced last year that they had Single Sign-On so that users could type in their TV provider’s credentials in once and immediately have access to all of the channel’s apps that were available to them for no additional fee.
To change it up this year, they have progressed and are making it so that there is no sign-on needed. Instead, it will go based off what WiFi network you are on. Whatever the company is there, you will immediately get access to the channels you can get with your package. This is being done since most people who have cable or satellite TV tend to also their internet packaged with their TV provider.
Another goal of the company is to get rid of those ugly and clunky cable/satellite TV boxes, with the Apple TV being the only box the consumer needs to access their content. Charter Spectrum is set to be the first partner with more internet and TV providers soon to come later this year.
More aerial screensavers are coming too! This will mean that there are more locations coming, as well as users being given the ability to change locations by simply swiping on the Siri Remote.
Speaking of remotes, tvOS 12 will enable users to use third-party remotes. This means that you will be able to use more than just the Siri Remote to control your Apple TV.
Lastly, macOS got quite a big upgrade as well. The first update is that the name of the newest version is macOS Mojave. Users will now be able to use Dark Mode on their Mac, which makes it so that those white and gray bars one would normally find in apps like the Finder and Pages will be a in a darker shade of gray, and be better on your eyes.
When putting items on your desktop, they will be organized in stacks. This is done to fix those cluttered desktops with pictures and files everywhere across the screen, and to appreciate those Apple wallpapers even more.
QuickLook got a tiny update. In Mojave, the feature will be able to do functions like signatures and trimming video right from the app.
Screenshots are now set to be just like iOS, where when you take one, it shows up in the bottom-left-corner of the desktop. From there, users can make changes such as putting captions on or make other modifications.
Apple News is making its way to the Mac for the first time this fall, along with the Stocks app. Stocks, like in the new iOS version, will have Apple News embedded in it as well.
Security was also shown off. Apple showed in apps like Safari on how they are protecting your data. Data has been a recent problem throughout society since the recent issues with Facebook’s misuse of customer data. There will be blocking of certain data from websites and also make it so that they cannot get your fingerprint data either (MacBook Pro with TouchBar users).
The Mac App Store has also gotten a makeover. The redesign of the app will be very similar to the iOS version of the App Store. Microsoft Office will also be making its way to the Mac App Store this fall too.
Finally, Apple announced that they are NOT merging macOS and iOS anytime soon.
iOS 12, watchOS 5, tvOS 12 and macOS Mojave will be free software updates that are expected to come sometime this fall, with the timing being around September-October 2018.
