The day has come. At its World Wide Developer Conference, Apple revealed not only Apple Vision Pro, its augmented reality headset but also its plans for all of its operating systems and new Macs and set the groundwork for the rest of the year.
WWDC is always a fun event that excites me about what Apple has planned for all its devices. So what did I think about WWDC23? Let’s go through it!
New Macs
Tim Cook and Company shocked me by announcing three new Macs today! Most of these Macs aren’t for me, but that doesn’t stop me from being excited!
15-inch MacBook Air
Apple started by introducing the 15-inch MacBook Air. The 15-inch MacBook Air brings all the features of the 13-inch M2 MacBook Air into a bigger size. It has all of the features and specs of the 13-inch Air but bigger.
The 13-inch MacBook Air got a price drop to $1099, and this one slots in nicely right behind it at $1299. This will do well for users who want a big screen in an affordable laptop.
M2 Max and M2 Ultra MacStudios
The MacStudio got a spec bump. The M2 Max and Ultra chips are included. The new Studio Macs can run faster and supports more monitors. It seems like a good deal, and I’m glad this thing is sticking around. As my site grows and I need more computing power, I would look at this with a couple of Studio Displays or something similar.
Mac Pro Has Finally Entered the Chat
If you want the power of the MacStudio but want to expand it with PCI cards, this is the Mac for you. The exterior design doesn’t look any different than the last Mac Pro, but there is some real power here.
The Mac Pro has the M2 Ultra as the only processor choice, but you can install up to 192GB of RAM.
These are great updates to the Mac line, but these just got us started.
iOS 17
Craig Federighi took over to introduce all the Operating System upgrades, starting with iOS 17. iOS 17 isn’t getting as many flashy features as in years past, but what’s there is excellent.
Contacts Makeover
Craig spent a lot of time talking about the new contact cards. Users can design and send their updated contact card that looks much newer. Now, you can pick a picture or Memoji, text font, and colors to show up on your card. When you call someone, this will show up on their phone.
They even make it easier than ever to share your contact with NameDrop. Bring your phone close to another phone, and it will send over via AirDrop.
Voice/Face messages
Apple is bringing some cool message systems to the Phone app and FaceTime regarding messages. If you FaceTime someone and they don’t answer, you can leave a video message.
On the phone side, when you get a call that goes to voicemail, you’ll now get live transcripts of the message. If you realize you need to take the call, you can press a button, and it will connect you to the caller! Pretty slick.
New Stickers
Apple created a new place to house stickers this year. So instead of scrolling through all those Messages apps to find the one you want, all your stickers will be collected in one spot.
Taking it one step further, Apple took the technology they introduced last year at WWDC22 to isolate a subject in a picture, pop it out, and added it to the stickers section. So now, you can make stickers from your pictures.
FaceTime on Apple TV
Now, Apple is bringing FaceTime to the Apple TV. Apple will bring the FaceTime App to Apple TV so you can start a FaceTime from your TV. You can also begin FaceTime from another device and Hand Off to the Apple TV. You can then use your iPhone as the camera, which will use Center Stage to pan and zoom to include everyone in the room.
All of these communication features are fun and add some polish to iOS.
StandBy
It seems like we need to start stocking up on MagSafe iPhone Docks. If you use FaceTime on an Apple TV, a stand will be helpful to keep your phone in place. But Apple also announced StandBy mode at WWDC23. Much like Google’s new Pixel Tablet, when you place your iPhone horizontally on the charging stand instead of just seeing your lock screen, you’ll see a digital clock, HomeKit data, Live Activities, or any other widget you choose. You can swipe through these as well.
I like this feature and would love to see this come to the iPad. I only charge my phone at night and don’t need this while I sleep. Still, it’s a cool feature to have. I’m interested to see if I use it. This feature sets the stage for a HomePod device with a screen I’d like to have in my Smart Home.
Journaling and Wellness
The other major announcement was a journaling app called… Journal. This app will pull in data, pictures, and more to help you reflect on your day and gauge your mental health.
It seems like a big deal for mental health, and I’ll try it out, but I’ve never been someone that’s kept a journal. Apple also created an API for other developers to connect to get the same data Apple offers in the Journal app.
There’s more that Apple announced on the WWDC23 video coming to the iPhone, but these were the major ones. You can check out everything on Apple’s iOS page
iPad
Just like the last few iterations, the iPad is getting some of the features the iPhone received the previous year. It’s also getting refinements that will make the tablet even stronger.
A New Lock Screen
The iPad Lock Screen is getting a revision. Widgets and customization make an appearance on the tablet’s Lock Screen. You’ll have the same customization options with the time font and color as on the iPhone Lock Screen.
But that’s not all! The live pictures you use as wallpapers come alive when the device wakes. Apple used a wave crashing as it opened the iPad, which looked awesome.
Shared Passwords
Apple has added the ability to share your iCloud passwords and passkeys with groups of people. I’ll be excited to see how this works once it’s available.
Extra Monitors and Stage Manager
iPadOS will feature a cleaned-up Stage Manager. The windows won’t snap to particular sizes like before, resizing should be pretty smooth, and you can place the windows where you want.
If you plug your iPad into an external monitor with a webcam, the iPad can use that one.
Same as the iPhone
All the stuff like FaceTime mail and contact cards also comes to the iPad. So it’s nice that iPad users won’t have to wait a year to get them all.
Both systems will also be getting updates to the notes app. Users will be able to link between notes now. And the iPad will get a better system for PDF files inside Notes.
You can check out all the new features on Apple’s iPadOS 17 page.
iPad Thoughts
I don’t think these are major groundbreaking things like the iPhone, but they add to the iPad experience. Cleaning up Stage Manager and bringing more power to the external displays will help power iPad users. The other stuff provides some nice perks to casual iPad users.
I’m still bullish on the iPad. I think the modular computer has a strong future.
Will it be enough before Apple Vision takes over, though?
macOS Sonoma
Apple will call the next version of macOS Sonoma, and it will get many of the features of iOS 17 and iPadOS 17. While the Mac doesn’t get the live pictures the iPad gets, it will get some cool screensavers that transition into your desktop.
Better Widgets
The most useful feature coming to macOS Sonoma has to be the improvement of widgets. These improvements come in two ways:
Widgets on the Desktop: Now, you can place widgets on the desktop instead of having them live in the notification pane. I think this will make widgets much more usable!
iPhone Widgets: You can also add iPhone widgets to your Mac without having the app on the Mac. Your iPhone and Mac must be close to each other and on the same network.
Better Web Apps
Safari for Mac will bring web apps to the Mac too. That isn’t to say you couldn’t before, but now you’ll be able to make an icon for them, add them to the dock, and even get their notifications.
Mac Thoughts
While the Mac gets most of the other stuff from the iPhone and iPad, this feels like a quiet year. I do love the changes that they are making. I can’t wait to add widgets to my desktop. I’ve only used a few web apps, and I’ve been fine just bookmarking them in Safari. I made a web app for NovelPadon my iPhone and iPad when I was using it to write my novel (spoiler, no novel has made it far yet).
Check out all the features coming to macOS Sonoma
watchOS 10
I’m going to blow through watchOS 10 because they spent a long time on things that didn’t mean much to me.
I like the “redesign” watch faces. Now, if you turn the crown on your watch on any page, you’ll get access to an intelligent stack of complications. If you start a timer and don’t have the timer complication on your watch face, you can scroll the crown, the watch face will scroll up, and you’ll see your notifications and the timer. It looks like the Siri Watch Face. You can customize it, and it will be smart enough to add things you might need (like a timer).
I would rather have a Siri-type complication that changes with what you’re doing, but I’m excited to try this out.
Apps are also getting a makeover. Now apps will be redesigned to take up the entire watch face. I’m excited to see how these look, but again, not a groundbreaking thing.
The other Watch stuff includes biking, hiking, and mental fitness. Things I haven’t spent much time doing.
Of course, there is more coming to the watch. You can see what is coming to watchOS 10 on Apple’s site
Watch Thoughts
These are pretty solid upgrades, but not what I would expect for a 10th software version. But the watch does most of what I need it to do anyway.
Vision Pro
Okay, so the star of the show finally showed up. Apple announced Vision Pro, its new spatial computer.
Apple has created Vision Pro to enter the augmented reality headset world. The demos that Apple showed off made great use of virtual space in the real world, but I didn’t see much else to get excited about.
Users can turn a dial to control how much of the real world gets streamed through the goggles. During the presentation, Apple repeated that people would use it around others and not be isolated from the real world.
But the presentation didn’t blow me away like the iPhone did. I also don’t think people will pick up on it like they did on the iPhone. It was a cool tech demo, but it doesn’t change how you interact with a device. The iPhone made it so simple to use that this doesn’t seem as easy.
I’ll have more to say on Vision Pro in the coming days as more comes out. For now, I want to get my hands on it, but I don’t want to pay that much for it. Still, I could see a future where Vision Pro replaces my iPad and Macs.
Overall Thoughts
Overall, I thought the WWDC23 presentation went well. It was a little long, but that happens when you have 5-6 operating systems to show off and a new device to unveil.
I think the updates to core apps like phone and messages are great, and I like the updates to the macOS, watchOS, and iPadOS. I wouldn’t have changed anything other than some of the Vision stuff I didn’t care about.
