I wondered what this year would bring with Apple’s developer conference. The pandemic has kept all the developers at home and limited the distance people could actually be around each other. There were many questions heading into the WWDC Keynote this year and I think Apple did a great job.
If you want to watch the WWDC Keynote for 2020, you can watch it here.
The WWDC Keynote
Every year before this, the Keynote had been given on stage by the CEO and head executives before a live audience of developers. Since that wasn’t feasible this year, Apple got to take its time.
Apple CEO Tim Cook came out to start things off and addressed the two giant issues facing everyone in America now: Black Lives Matter and COVID.
Cook said that Apple supported their fellow people of color and pledged money towards helping people of color excel in the tech sphere.
He also touched on how Apple has helped bring people together during the pandemic. All are great points, however, I wish Apple had done a little more to promote minorities within the company here.
After Tim Cook started the WWDC Keynote, he passed the baton and the camera to Craig Federighi, Vice President of Software, who would talk about the updates to whatever product line they were currently showing off. He would then give a demo, or pass the demo to someone that worked on the team.
This Keynote was filled with Apple staff from all areas of the company. There were many more women on camera and people of color than ever before, but despite that, there was still only one black man shown on screen. I feel like it could have gone a little further to promote black people on stage.
But other than that, I think the WWDC Keynote hit many of the highlights that I wanted hit this year.
iOS 14
The actual tech talk started off with iOS 14. iOS and the iPhone are the biggest money makers for the company. It will also be the largest reason for most people to care about this event. The iPhone has the largest mind share of users out there.
While the show was going on, I felt like the changes were very simple but effective. They made me excited to try all of these things out when the betas drop. So let’s get into it.
App Library
The iPhone has been around for a long time now, and the way that we interact with the phone hasn’t really changed in all that time. Apps icons plaster the home screens. They eventually had to introduce folders to help with the organization of apps. Now Apple has added the App Library.
The App Library falls after your last Home Screen page. There, Apple has created a new page that will allow you to search for apps, view your recently used apps, and organized all your other apps.
Apple has even allowed users the ability to hide pages of apps so that you can use the app library to find them. I imagine getting rid of a bunch of the junk apps that I have on my system but that I use every once in a while and depending on the App library to find them quickly.
Apple uses metadata to categorize the apps and it places your most recently used apps at the top of the list.
Widgets
Also coming to the Home Screen are Widgets. For iOS 14, Apple has rethought how widgets work on the iPhone and iPad. While the Today view will still be to the left of your first Home Screen page, but now, you can change the size of the widget. There are now options for widgets that are 2×2 apps icons or 2×4.
Even better than the new sizes, Apple is allowing you to free the widgets from the Today View. Just like I wanted, you can now place widgets on the Home Screens.
These widgets will have multiple sizes, so users will be able to customize much more than ever before. Apple is also bringing out a Smart Stack widget, that will show you information based on time of day and location to provide you with information that it thinks you need. It sounds very much like the Siri watch face on the Apple Watch.
While these are simple changes, I think these two changes alone will change how I use my iPhone. Right now, I have three screens of apps, one with my most used apps, the middle with my other apps, and finally a page of games. When iOS 14 comes out, I can imagine that my home screens will need reworking. I’m already trying to start planning out what I want on my Home Screen, and I can’t wait to see what developers can do with these new tools for iOS 14.
Picture in Picture Video
Another big change in usability coming to the iPhone and iOS 14 is picture-in-picture video. The iPad has had this feature for a while now, and it is finally coming to the iPhone. If you start a video inside an app, on iOS 14 if you swipe out of it, the video will stay on the screen in one of the corners. You can move the video around the screen to get it to the optimal place to view. I’m not sure how much I will use it, but I know many have made the request.
It will make replying to a message much easier than before, that’s for sure.
Don’t Break My Flow
Speaking of making things easier, two of my requests about flow breaking got broken up. Starting with iOS 14, phone calls and Siri will no longer take up the entire screen!
Phone calls will come in as a banner notification. You can accept the call or ignore the call from the banner, but you can swipe up to ignore, or swipe down to see more options.
I found it interesting that Apple made this announcement during the iPad section of the keynote, but they mentioned that it will be coming to iOS 14 too.
Siri will not take over the screen anymore either. Instead, the round Siri image will show up at the bottom of the screen and provide you with your answer, app, or whatever in a notification sized banner.
I can’t wait to see how this works in practice. I know that I’m going to appreciate this more than losing my flow to Siri and phone calls.
Apple is also moving dictation on to the your device instead of sending it off through the internet to get read. This will hopefully speed Siri up and make it more efficient.
Apple has also beefed up Siri’s translation skills. Users can ask Siri to translate and most of it will be done on device. They have also created a new app to help users that speak different languages have a conversation. It’s not something that I’d imagine using too often, but it will be nice to have when I need it.
Messages
The Messages app is getting an update across all of Apple’s ecosystems. Starting with iOS 14, users can pin message threads to the top of the app screen so that they will always be easy to find. I know that I’ve had some threads get lost in all the incoming messages I get.
When conversing in a group, you can now have inline replies so that the thread doesn’t get too messy. You can also mention someone in the thread to really get their attention. Both of these seem like great additions to messages. I’ve been stuck in some groups threads that I’ve muted because it didn’t pertain to me, but it will be nice to have the mentions so I can always be brought back.
There are also new Memoji options. I’m sure there are some out there that will be thrilled.
Maps
Maps got a few new integrations this year. Apple will be bringing in city guides to help you find cool new places to visit (once we get to visit again). These guides will get updated on the backend when things update, so you should be getting up-to-date information on the Map.
Bike routes made a big impact this year, but the cities it will come to first is slim.
Electric vehicles will be getting some love inside maps, provided that your car is compatible. Apple Maps will help you plan your road trip with stops to recharge your vehicle along the way.
Apple is also bringing some technology to the iPhone that will allow it to be your car key. Starting with some BMWs, you will be able to leave your car keys behind and simply use your iPhone to unlock your doors and start your engine. It seems pretty cool, but I wonder how long it will take for the technology to take-off. CarPlay took a long time for most of the car-makers to install them in their systems.
App Clips
Finally, Apple made a way for developers to give just a little bit of an app to users instead of a full app. The best example I think was the scooters. Using your camera, you can scan a code and just a bit of the app needed to rent a scooter will be downloaded to your phone. No longer will you need to download the entire app, set up an account, and do all this other stuff before you can just get off and scoot.
I think these App Clips along with Sign in with Apple and Apple Pay will make it much easier to be an iPhone users out in the world. Things will be much easier to just get up and go.
And if you end up wanting the app, it will be listed in your App Library which will allow you to download the entire app.
That’s it for the iPhone! You can check out everything coming to iOS 14 here.
iPadOS 14
Apple moved on to iPadOS 14 next. iPadOS 14 will get everything that is coming to iOS 14 plus a couple of other additions.
The trending theme with iPadOS 14 felt to me like Apple is trying to bring the iPad closer to the Mac. Sidebars were mentioned coming to Apple’s apps like Photos and Music. Apple is also changing how search on the iPad looks. instead of taking over the entire screen, it will have a more Mac-like spotlight search bar.
Apple Pencil
Most of the iPad refinements seem to be coming to the Apple Pencil. Apple is bring advancements to the stylus that make it much more user friendly.
Users can freehand draw a shape and pause at the end, and Apple will try to match it to a vector shape. It seems pretty neat if you draw.
If you take notes using the Apple pencil, Apple is allowing you to make the handwritten words more like text. In fact, you can write something with the pencil and then copy it over to another app as text. Users can highlight handwriting and change the color and more. It all seems to be pretty cool tech that will make the pencil and note taking experience better.
AirPods
AirPods got a couple of announcements. AirPods will finally auto connect to devices! So if you are listening to music on your iPhone, but then you transfer to a movie on your iPad, you won’t have to do anything to get the AirPods to switch over! I thought this was how the AirPods would work when they were first announced, but it looks like it will finally happen. I can’t wait to try it out.
Also, Apple is allowing the AirPods Pro to have spacial sound when watching a movie. So now, if you are using the Pros to watch a movie, you’ll get surround sound.
Apple Watch
Apple Watch is getting sleep tracking and a few more fitness apps.
Along with that, Apple will finally allow multiple complications on Watch faces from one app. Now developers can develop a couple of different complications inside of one app. Also, if your friend has a watch face that you like, you’ll now be able to share that face, with complications to them. If they don’t have the app with the complication, the watch will recommend they get it. Pretty cool, but I doubt I’ll use it much.
In this COVID world, Apple is also bringing an automatic hand washing timer to the Apple Watch. The watch will detect when you are washing your hands and start a timer. If you don’t wash long enough, it will let you know!
Over all, a mild Apple Watch update. Maybe they are holding some things back for the new Watch coming later in the year.
Home
The Home app seems to be getting some nice updates. Attaching devices to the home app will reportedly become easier, but not much was shown off there. Apple did mention that they are now part of a consortium for Home Tech and they are developing a system with Amazon, Google, and other developers.
Lights inside the Home app will be getting adaptive lighting. Apple called it light that will find the right color for the right time of day. I wonder if this will allow lights to slowly turn on or if it is just a color change. I’m looking forward to finding out.
Cameras inside the Home app will get activity zones and facial recognition. The activity zone allows you to set what part of the view is monitored. If you have a doorbell facing a busy street, you can mark off the street to not set off the alert. While facial recognition will use your photos to identify guests or members of the house.
macOS Big Sur
If iPadOS 14 was making the iPad more like the Mac, macOS Big Sur is making the Mac more like an iPad.
The Mac will be getting another fresh coat of paint. The creative team is bringing more iOS-like features to the Mac. Just like having one code base, I think having one coat of paint for an app could make things easier for developers and make apps more familiar to users. It’s a win-win.
Along with the fresh coat of paint, macOS Big Sur brings more iOS catalyst apps over. Messages and maps have been ported over to the Mac from iOS, bringing feature parity at last! Messages will have animations, Memoji, and all the new stuff at least.
But the biggest news is one that leaked a few weeks ago.
Chip Transition
Apple will be replacing the intel chips inside all their computers with Apple designed silicon. The transition will start later this year and the entire line will be replaced within two years.
Just like the Intel transition, everything that was shown off on a Mac during the WWDC Keynote was actually running on an Apple Silicon computer. While it was all prerecorded, everything ran smoothly. I have no doubt that Apple’s chips will be better than Intel’s in the long run. Apple has been outpacing all the chip developers in the last few years, and I don’t see that stopping any time soon.
What does this mean for users though?
If you have a newer Intel Mac, you’ll be fine for many years. Apple is planning on supporting both systems while the transition happens. If you get one of the new Apple chip computers, you will also be okay because Apple is doing everything they can to make older software work.
The reason this was shown off today was mainly for developers, and not the end user. Developers will need to do some stuff to get their apps optimized to get the best results from the new chips.
Apple also said towards the end of the transition information that all iOS and iPadOS apps will be available on the new systems. This is very intriguing, but they didn’t give much other info. What will happen to apps that have an iPadOS version and a completely different Mac version. Will we be able to use the iPad and Mac versions on one system? There are questions.
Myself, I’m tempted to take my MacBook Air back, even though I love it, and wait for the transition. But there isn’t much to go on, and I only want to do that because I want the new shiny.
Wrap Up
That’s the highlights of everything shown off today. Developer betas are going out this week, and public betas will hit in July, which is only a couple of weeks away. I can’t wait for iOS 14, iPadOS 14, watchOS 7 (which will get its first public beta this year), and macOS Big Sur.
Overall, I was very impressed with the stuff announced today. I think the widgets are my favorite things announced right now, but I’ll have to really see once I get my hands on the system.
Check out what Apple new iPhone features Apple didn’t announce on stage this week!
Finally, there was so much here and I really wanted to get things out quickly, so there might be a few typos or errors.
