On June 10, Apple held its annual large-scale developer conference WWDC 2024. The main topic this year was artificial intelligence, the pursuit of which the company previously lagged behind significantly. AIN makes a WWDC 2024 summary of the main news and updates presented by Apple.
VisionOS 2
The new version of VisionOS 2 will allow you to convert 2D photos into 3D photos and share them with your friends in a panoramic format. There are also updates to the interaction with the interface. By moving your hand, you can view settings, time or battery life.
VisionOS 2 makes it easier for developers to create applications. There are new large APIs that allow you to run two applications at the same time, a new developer kit called TabletopKit for games, and new enterprise APIs. In addition, the PC experience will be improved and Canon will offer a new spatial lens for the EOS R7 camera that will allow you to create video with better quality than the iPhone 15 Pro.
VisionOS 2 will be available this fall.
iOS 18
- Desktop. You can place application icons and widgets anywhere on the screen. Change to the Dark Mode. You can change the color and size of icons. iOS can suggest colors based on your wallpaper palette.
- In iOS 18, you can lock individual apps so that anyone who tries to open them must authenticate with a PIN or FaceID. Data from those apps will not show up in search or in other apps. You can also hide the application from prying eyes.
- You can now reply to messages in iMessage with any emoji, rather than a limited set.
- iOS 18 also updates Mail. Apple organizes messages by sender and links them to an app on your phone. You can reorganize emails, archive them, or delete all messages from companies. Categorization will be available later this year.
- You can transfer money by placing smartphones next to each other — the Wallet application lets you exchange money without a recorded number or email.
- Added Gaming Mode, which optimizes smartphone operation for better game quality and slows down background applications.
- Updated Apple Wallet interface for tickets. Journal will display more statistics, show series of entries and other details.
- There are also new changes in the Photo category, which is said to be the biggest redesign in history. The grid with pictures has been placed at the top, and the application functions at the bottom. The update makes it easier to sort screenshots or search for specific photos.
iOS 18 will be available this fall.
Audio & Home
AirPods
Accessing Siri will get easier. Now, instead of answering with your voice (like when someone calls you and you’re wearing headphones), you just have to nod your head “yes” or “no.” AirPods Pro should also get a voice isolation mode for more comfortable conversations in noisy places.
tvOs
Subtitles will appear automatically if you mute the sound. Additionally, it now supports 21:9 video format.
iPadOS 18
The most expected thing was the addition of a calculator (yes, it finally happened). The “Mathematical Notes” feature has been added. This means you can take the Apple Pencil, write down a mathematical expression, click equals, and the calculator should solve it. But this is not just about math, it is also about physics.
Calculator properties will also work in Notes. By the way, the Smart Script feature has been added to Notes. When you add copied text to a handwritten document, it analyzes the handwriting and creates the text in its style. If it is crossed out, it is then deleted, or vice versa.
On the other hand, the interface of popular applications such as Notes has been refined. Remote access to other users’ iPads with their permission has been introduced.
With SharePlay, you can share your screen and draw on someone else’s iPad screen. You can also view their screen, but only after asking permission.
iPadOS 18 will be officially released this fall.
watchOS 11
The updated watchOS includes a new Workout Mode feature. It monitors the intensity of your workout and tracks your progress. Apple uses a new algorithm and data from its sensors to estimate how much effort you put into your workout.
watchOS 11 includes a new Vitals app that lets you check your most important health metrics, including your heart rate. The watch will alert you to abnormal activity, and it will also be possible to monitor the impact of lifestyle on health, such as smoking or drinking alcohol. A new health tracking feature for pregnant women has also been added.
The Smart Stack in watchOS will automatically add new widgets, such as rain alerts. In addition, the Check In security feature will appear, for example, to notify you when you return home. Thanks to a double click, it will be possible to start the distance.
Another update is the dials, which will use machine learning to automatically adjust the style to your photo.
macOS Sequoia
Many of the features we have seen in iOS and iPadOS will also be available in MacOS Sequoia.
A new Continuity application will appear. It lets you mirror the iPhone screen on a MacBook: just click the icon. Notifications from your iPhone will also arrive on your Mac and appear next to your Mac notifications. Clicking on them will instantly open the app in the iPhone mirror. The iPhone can remain locked all the time.
MacOS Sequoia makes it much easier to arrange open windows — in any order on the screen.
Passwords is a new application for storing passwords from across the Apple ecosystem. It works across multiple devices: macOS, iPadOS, visionOS and iOS — and Windows when accessed via iCloud.
The Safari browser is getting a redesign and a number of new features. In particular, it will now be able to help you get more information about a page when viewing it in Reader.
Apple promises that MacBook will now support the highest quality games. Game Porting Toolkit 2 will make it easier for developers to port games to the Mac. It will also improve the porting of large games to iPhone and iPad.
macOS Sequoia will be available this fall.
Apple Intelligence
- Apple Intelligence is coming to MacBook, iPad, and iPhone. Customize personal messages based on your needs. Edit the text you write.
- Create unique photos and sketch illustrations in Notes, Freeform, and Pages.
- Use your voice to perform hundreds of actions. For example, show photos of a familiar person, play podcasts, and more.
- Apple’s artificial intelligence is based on personal information, as it will receive data from the calendar, screen, messages. But they promise that this data will not be used and shared with other companies. Everything will be stored on the phone and the special personalized cloud service Private Cloud Compute.
- Apple Intelligence will be available on the A17 Pro and M family of chips.
- They will use the phone’s performance as much as possible. If the task requires additional resources, they will turn to cloud applications.
- Image Wand is a new tool that will allow you to create notes (such as sketches). It also lets you remove extraneous elements from a photo.
- Apple Intelligence will also help you select photos and videos, create clips based on themes detected in your photos, and add background music and transitions.
- Notes get instant transcription.
- Apple is making it easy for developers to integrate AI. If the developer is using SiriKit, it will be easier to take advantage of Siri AI’s capabilities.
- Generative AI is also coming to Xcode.
Apple Intelligence will be available in iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia this fall.
Siri
Finally, Apple promises to make Siri more “livelike” and improve the user experience. The company promises that the voice assistant will now be able to understand mispronounced words. In addition, requests can now be made not only by voice, but also by writing a message.
You can also ask Siri how to use certain apps and programs. She will display instructions. In addition, the assistant can now interact with on-screen information, such as asking Siri to add an event to your calendar or an address to your map if it was sent to you by an application.
Thanks to Apple Intelligence, Siri will support actions in different applications. You can even ask Siri to extract the text from a photo (passport or driver’s license number) and paste it into the appropriate field.
Siri is also integrated with Mail. You can rewrite emails and get suggestions for different options and styles. Apple Intelligence makes it easier to prepare responses to letters. And your inbox will display a preview of each email with AI-generated summaries. It’s the same with notifications.
Priority notifications will be displayed and summarized at the top, so if you wake up to 100 Whatsapp notifications, you’ll see a condensed summary of the most important one.
Genmoji and Image Playground
Now you can create your own emojis by entering its description.
Apple also adds the option of generative AI — Image Playground, which allows you to instantly generate images in messages. You can also choose a style: animation, sketch or illustration. Images can be created based on your photos.
These features will also be available for KeyNote, FreeForm and Notion.
ChatGPT
ChatGPT has been integrated with Siri. It will also be able to interact with photos, documents or presentations. Can instantly rewrite something in notes or even generate text at your request, instantly generate images in applications.
ChatGPT is free to use and requires no authorization, or you can sign up to access its paid features. Apple promises that the chat will always ask for permission to process information.
ChatGPT will be available on iOS18, padOS18 and macOS Sequoia later this year. Apple also says that access will be available on other operating systems in the future.
