Last year, leading up to WWDC 2020, we didn’t really know what we were going to get. Lockdown orders and a virus had kept us all indoors. This year, and having four other events in the same pre-recorded vein, we knew a little more what to expect in how the event would unfold, but we didn’t really have too much of a guess as to what Apple would bring for WWDC 2021. For the first time in a while, I was ready to be surprised by what would be announced.

So what did I think about WWDC 2021? There were some things that were interesting, but all in all, I wasn’t left with as much excitement as last year. After watching the event, I felt l like Apple focused more on refinements than big features.

This year, instead of recapping everything that got announced at WWDC 2021, I’m just going to post my first thoughts about it all. If you’d like to watch the entire thing, I’m posting the event and a recap below.

Everything Moving Together

This year, it felt like Apple moved everything together as one. In the past, it felt like a new feature would come to the iPhone and we all knew that next year it would come to the iPad, and then probably the Mac the year after that. This year, it felt like most of the new features announced would be coming to all the systems at the same time. For example, Apple announced new features during the iOS portion of the event but mentioned that all the systems would be getting the FaceTime features too. The same can be said with the Shared with You sections of apps.

It’s nice that all the new features will be coming to all the platforms when things launch in the fall. This way, you don’t get a little taste of it in the iPhone and then have to wait a year to get it on your MacBook Air.

I’m a huge fan of this strategy. I hated feeling jealous of my iPhone when I used my iPad because it didn’t have a feature that the iPhone did. Moving all the platforms forward is going to bring a lot of excitement to all the platforms.

Coolest Demo of WWDC 2021

The coolest demo shown at WWDC 2021 had to be Universal Control. With Universal control, users simply place an iPad or Mac next to another Mac, and the curser can move between the devices. There’s no need for another mouse or keyboard, simply move the mouse from the center Mac to the edge of the screen by the iPad and the mouse will push its way onto the iPad.

While I can’t imagine needing to use this too much, the demo was amazing. It even got pushed further when they brought in another Mac and did the same thing. It’s an interesting way to move between and use multiple Apple devices. I just wonder how much I will use it as a feature. I was pretty excited when Apple introduced Sidecar and I thought that I would use that feature often. I think I’ve used it twice since it came out.

WWDC 2021 All about Communication

Apple really started the event talking about FaceTime and all the improvements that would be coming to it in the fall. Some of these features are very welcomed.

My family is mostly an iPhone family, everyone has an iPhone except for my brother. So when we were under lockdowns and tried to have a family video chat, we had to find other ways to make it happen or we had to leave my brother out of the call. So now, with Apple allowing users to send out a weblink to a FaceTime call, Windows and Android users will be able to join! That’s so great, but Apple didn’t stop there. You can schedule FaceTime calls and more. Bringing the video chatting protocol to a modern state and a viable option to Zoom and Microsoft’s TEAMs.

But I have to wonder, is this too late?

I know the lockdown isn’t over everywhere, and COVID is still running rampant in places, but it feels like we are nearing the end of the pandemic. Lockdown orders in Texas and other places have been gone for weeks/months now. I’m not sure how often we will be using video conferencing going forward. That said, most of my family doesn’t live in the same state anymore, and we only usually see each other around holidays, so we probably will be video conferencing some. Especially when the baby does something cute!

Apple is also allowing users to put their FaceTime calls with multiple people into a grid view instead of the floating squares. I wish this feature was dynamic and could switch if you went from one FaceTime to many and back, but I’ll take the grid view too.

The other FaceTime feature, SharePlay, feels like a mixed bag for me. SharePlay allows users to stream movies, music, or share a screen with your FaceTime calls. I can imagine using the share screen feature to help my parents fix iPhone problems. I can’t imagine sitting down and watching a movie with someone over FaceTime though. Maybe, if I’m traveling and I want to watch something with my son, I might do that, but that is a long way off. I know that kids today do use FaceTime all day, and do things like this, so maybe this feature just isn’t for me. Still, it is a nice feature to have.

But as I mentioned, all of these new features feel a little too late. Had these features come out a year ago, we probably would have used them more. This time though, it feels reactionary and late.

iMessages is also getting some social feature upgrades. When people send multiple pictures, we will get some different views inside the messages app. But more than that, many of the Apple apps are getting a new section inside them called Shared With You. So if someone were to send a link to a webpage, when you opened Safari, that link would be present right there. Or if someone sent you a music track to listen to, the Music App will present that in a Shared with You Row on the Listen Now Tab.

I like these updates, but I’m not really sure how often I’ll skip a link in messages only to try it when I open Safari. I think the music and photos aspect of this will be there best use. Photos will even bring the shared photos over into your library for you, which can be nice!

Spatial Audio Is Everywhere

Another FaceTime feature that I didn’t mention yet is the ability to have your FaceTime calls in Spatial Audio. This technology is pretty cool when watching a movie on your iPad or iPhone. It makes the audio feel spaced out so that when you turn your head with your AirPod Pros in, the audio stays in place. So if a character is speaking to your right in the video, you hear it to the right. If you turned your head, it would sound like the voice was in front of you. It’s pretty cool tech and Apple is bringing it to FaceTime. Now you’ll hear your friends from fixed points around you. It will actually feel like you are standing in a group of people.

But Apple didn’t stop there with Spatial Audio. They are bringing the feature to the Apple TV and Mac for movies, where before this was only for iPhone and iPads.

And they also launched Spatial Audio for Apple Music as well. Having tried out Spatial Audio for Apple Music, I’m personally not sure how much I can heard the difference than normal. The idea is the same as the Spatial Audio for music, although it doesn’t move with you, yet, but to create space. It depends on the mix, but maybe you’ll heard the guitar to the right, while the bass is coming from behind you, and the vocals are coming right at you. To me, I do hear the quality change, but I don’t really notice where the music is coming from. I really don’t understand why someone would want the music to move with their head either, but I’m going to reserve judgement until I can try it out.

Focus Groups

Apple doesn’t want to give users multiple accounts on a device, but they are bringing in Focus to all the platforms. This is Do Not Disturb on steroids. You can set up Focuses like for Work or Night. In that Focus, you can set what apps can send notifications, what apps actually appear on the home screen, and more. Furthermore, you can set your status in iMessages. You can even set these focuses to engage when you get to a certain place or at a certain time.

I can see this being very helpful. I would love to turn my work messages off when I get home. That way, I can focus on things at home and not be bothered by things happening at work. What I worry about is how time intensive these will be to set up. I’m looking forward to using this to see if I can get my life a little more focused during the day.

Another cool thing about Focus, you can set these to effect all your Apple devices. So when I get to work, not just my iPhone and Apple Watch will go into the work focus, but my iMac back at home and my iPad where ever it is will too.

I love that Apple is bring out more granular control of these stuff, but it doesn’t excite me the way that widgets did last year. Still, I can’t wait to get my hands on it.

That’s My Kind of Siri

Siri is getting a bit of an upgrade too. As I’ve asked before, Siri is coming to the device itself, instead of living solely in the cloud. Currently, a Siri request gets sent to the internet and then bounces back to your device with (hopefully) the right response. With iOS 15, iPadOS 15, and MacOS, Siri will do most of the processing on the device, only sending off requests when it can’t do it on the device. So now, asking Siri to skip a track can happen without even an internet connection.

Apple is about to spread Siri around too. For once, they are opening up Siri to third-party device makers. Of course, something like this with Apple can’t be that easy. Users will only be allowed to bring Siri to a third-party device if they already have a HomePod in the home they can route the Siri requests through. Luckily for me, I have four HomePods in my house. It would be nice if Sonos allowed Siri integration, then I could move the HomePod I have in the living room to another room and allow my Sonos system to by my Siri.

Finally, users will be able to ask Siri on a HomePod to play a video on their Apple TV. Users could ask their iPhone or iPad to AirPlay something to their TV, but never to really ask Siri on a HomePod for the TV. This will be interesting to see what verbiage you have to use to get this to work right.

I know many people are down on Siri, but I don’t have many problems using it. These changes are only going to make things better I think.

Not the iPad changes we wanted

The iPad is going to be getting some updates to Multitasking in the fall. Users won’t have to do the dance of opening an app closing the app, opening another app, swiping up, dragging the first app from the section of the dock where recent apps reside and then hoping that the screen splits and doesn’t just put the app into Slide Over. Now we get a button at the top of the screen that allows you to say that you want to multitask. Then the app will slide over and offer up the home screen, allowing you to pick that second app to use. Its still a dance, but not the same one.

I like it better in practice.

The iPad is also getting better widgets like the iPhone. You can place the widgets everywhere on the home screen, and there are even bigger widgets on the iPad now.

The App Library is also coming to the iPad and can reside in your Dock. So now the iPad is even with the iPhone from last year.

We didn’t get new, stronger apps. I think that’s going to come down to the developers really, but it would have been nice for Apple to push the way in.

There’s also no enhanced monitor support, even though the newest iPads can use the Pro XDR display. It will always be mirrored.

So I’m a little sad about the iPad right now. I have found myself really using my MacBook Air more the past few months because the apps on the iPad can’t do what they can do on the Mac. I was definitely hoping for more this year.

Kind of Boring WWDC 2021 – but that’s okay

And that’s about the highlights of WWDC 2021. While we did get some new Health features and a section about the Apple Watch, it wasn’t too exciting and it didn’t seem to bring anything really new to the Apple Watch experience. And these are all fine upgrades to all the systems, but I didn’t leave the presentation feeling excited like I have in the past. Most of these features are interesting but not exciting.

But that’s okay. I think Apple is due a year where they refine things and make aspects better. Nerds always ask for a Snow Leopard like year, where Apple really works on the code in the system to make things better, and I think that is what this year is going to be like.

Still, I’m going to get my hands on the beta at some point this summer to give you a better look at what’s coming.

What were your favorite features announced at WWDC 2021? Let me know in the comments!