Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference keynote unveiled and previewed a host of the company’s latest software projects in a nearly two and a half hour conference. Developers and fans got details on the latest updates for not only the new MacOS Catalina and iOS 13, but Apple also introduced a whole new system for the iPad, called iPad OS.
All the new systems are available starting today as developer betas, while public seeds will be available in July, and official releases will take place in the fall. In the meanwhile, check out some of the software highlights from the WWDC 2019 keynote.
Apple announced tvOS 13 update for the Apple TV with multi-user support among its highlights. Users will have access to their own profiles with personally curated up next and recommendation lists and the ease to switch between different profiles.
Users will also be able to access Apple Music on tvOS, with personalized music lists and lyrics available and synced with the music. With Apple Arcade also on tvOS 13 gamers will be able to connect the latest Xbox One S and PlayStation DualShock 4 controllers to their Apple TV sets.
When Apple TV is not in use, users can enjoy the latest 4K HDR live screensavers of ocean life, shot by the team behind BBC’s “Blue Planet.”
WatchOS 6 includes a host of interesting new tweaks, including a number of new watch faces and new unique notification chimes. Also new on WatchOS 6 is support for audiobooks, voice memos, and calculator apps, with the ability to do tip calculations and splitting checks.
Users will be able to use WatchOS 6 apps independent of an iPhone and access the Apple Store from the wearable — to search for unique watch apps and purchase apps from Apple Watch.
Developers will also be able to use the streaming audio API to create new app features for the Apple Watch.
WatchOS 6 also brings a number of health and fitness updates, including Activity trends, which allows users to compare their workouts, walking, running trends over weeks, months, and years. The feature gives notes and recommendations on peaks and declines in fitness.
The new Noise app helps users monitor an understand the environmental noise around them. The new Cycle tracking app allows women to record and track details of their menstrual cycles on the Apple Watch. The feature is also available on the health app in iOS.
Apple boasted about its latest figures for iOS 12, which include 97 percent customer satisfaction and an 85 percent installation rate, and also introduced iOS 13 as the upcoming system version.
Highlights on iOS 12 include 30 percent improved speeds for Face ID, 50 percent smaller app sizes when downloading and 60 percent smaller system updates when installing. Apple claims these optimizations equate to apps launching two times faster than on the previous iOS version.
Apple has also introduced a Dark Mode on iOS 13, to the delight of many fans. Other system teaks include native keyboard swiping and intelligent sharing.
The tech giant has done a major overhaul of Apple Maps, which will be available by the end of 2019 in a staggered rollout, and for other countries next year. Some main features including 3D view with a swipe gesture to move down the street and to zoom into building/store details.
The new Sign in with Apple stands as a secure login option for new or unfamiliar apps and web services. In this feature, users can opt out of sharing their emails to company or can create random emails that forward to a real email address.
There are many more upgrades within iOS 13. Apple has added more to its camera and photos apps, making more visual improvements to its Portrait Lighting feature. Users can now also rotate videos to a landscape setting. New organization tools help users keep their best shot photos in the forefront of their gallery, filtering out screencaps, duplicates, and other random images. Users can navigate their images by days, months, and years and pinch the screen to zoom in on photo sets to see them more clearly without having to select a single image.
The iOS 13 update also adds heavy customizations to Memoji, including makeup, jewelry, and accessories. Users can create Memoji stickers and sticker packs to add to their keyboards, and to share across other devices and platforms that do not support Memoji animations.
Apple is utilizing its SiriKit developer tool to introduce new features to products such including AirPods and CarPlay. With the iOS 13 update, AirPods will be able to read incoming messages from a connected device, such as an iPhone or Apple Watch. Another upcoming feature is audio sharing, which will allow iPhone share users to share music by tapping two devices together. Overall, the feature will work using Bluetooth.
CarPlay will see Siri updates to its Calendar app and Music app. Apple will also soon allow Siri to work with 3rd party apps on the car system. Using Apple’s Neural text-to-speech mechanism will allow developers to bake Siri into new and updated apps.
After several generations, the iPad will soon have its own operating system, called iPadOS, which will bring many desktop inspired features to the product that has long run under a platform intended for mobile.
Some feature highlights include swipe gestures for easy navigation. Swipe left to pin widgets to the home screen. A feature called Slide Over lets users swipe right to create extra space for a second app — drag an icon from the dock to the second space to load a new program. Users can also so a more detailed multi-window, as well as split view, and app expose to see all open applications.
The new iPadOS also supports column view for files, folder sharing for iCloud, SMD file sharing, SD card support, USB support — meaning users can now attach a mouse accessory to their iPad, and importing from Lightroom. The iPad will also have desktop class browsing for Safari with its new operating system, featuring a download manager, 30 new keyboard shortcuts, custom fonts, and Copy and paste gestures. The software improves latency on the Apple Pencil to 9 milliseconds. Apple’s PencilKit API will also allow developers to create new functions and features for the stylus on the iPad.
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