WWDC 2020: Keynote Highlights
iOS 14, macOS Big Sur, Apple Silicon, and so much more.
As many of you know, Apple held its annual developer conference on June 22nd, which was the first completely digital- prerecorded WWDC. This year was largely focused on the idea of new software for its products and privacy. Here are some key highlights from yesterday’s packed event.
iOS 14
Apple started the keynote off with a bang, having the senior vice president of software engineering, Craig Federighi, take us through the new operating system. Although many of Apple’s “new” features were already done by their competitors years ago, it’s good to see them start to catch up.
The first update we are finally getting to iPhones is Widgets. Widgets have been on iPhone since iOS 8 but they were only limited to today’s view which if you are like me, rarely go to. But finally, Widgets will be allowed on the home screen freely ranging from stock applications like Maps and Weather to as we saw in the demo Nike Run Club and Words With Friends. There is also a Widget called “Smart Stack” which can consist of different widgets and can either change periodically throughout the day or manually with a swipe.
The second big update coming is App Library. Taking a page out of Samsung, Apple finally gave us a way to hide applications and pages we barely go to. Just enter jiggle mode deselect the pages you don’t want active or shown and you’re done. For any reason, you need to find any application from those pages just swipe left and the App Library appears which converts all your applications into their appropriate category. But if that makes it too hard to find your app, just swipe down in the App Library where the search appears with a list view of all your applications.
And finally, iPhones can now use Picture in Picture. From watching a Netflix movie to being on a Facetime call, all you need to do is just go back to your home screen and it becomes a small video playing in the corner. Now you don’t need to pause on that Facetime call just to send a text.
Siri finally gets a new UI redesign that is much more compact than the despised full-screen layout. Call and Facetime notifications will also be much more compact and come in as a notification instead of interrupting and taking up the whole screen.
Apple’s new Translate app looks promising but I feel like it would lack against Google Translate that has been around for over a decade.
Messages in iOS 14 are going to have many new fancy features starting with Pinned Conversations. Apple will allow up to nine conversations to be pinned to the top. But it takes time getting used to the in-app notifications they get because they are more minimized and subtle badges. Memojis gets more variations with new hairstyles and headwears and more ages to choose from. Memoji will also allow you to add a face covering to your sticker. The most important Message updates come to iMessage group chats, starting with Inline Replies. If there are too many texts coming through or if you are confused about a text just simply double tap and click reply to start a thread. The next update is Mentions, simply write a person’s name before the text and they will get notified about the Mention. You can also make notifications only for when you are mentioned. And you can finally add a photo as the group’s picture kind of like Whatsapp.
Maps also get cool new features like Guides and EV Routing.EV Routing will allow you to plug in what car type you have and monitor how long you can drive on a single charge while add charging stations in your drive if you need one. EV Routing will only be available with BMW and Ford when iOS 14 releases but Apple should be adding on in the coming months. Maps also finally allow for cycling directions in the application but will only be rolling out in a few major cities around the world, which Google Maps has already done for years but you can use the cycling feature worldwide. For the earth-conscious, Apple has taken out Congestion and Green Zones so you can see how polluted an area is in order to avoid it and how long it would take between the two routes.
Carplay gets a fresh look with new supported wallpapers and new integrated apps called Parking, EV Routing, and Quick Food Ordering. Digital Keys caught the eye of almost everyone when Apple announced them during the keynote. The first car Digital Keys will work with is the new BMW Series 5 coming out later this year. Using Digital Keys is like using Apple Pay, you tap the phone on the car’s door handle, place on the charging pad, and press the start button. You can even share the Digital Keys with people and able to place restrictions on teen drivers.
App Clips is Apple’s competitor to Android’s Instant Apps. Allowing you to only get to the portion of the application you need via messages, maps, NFC tags, and new QR- like codes only for App Clips. In order for ease of use, you can only use the sign in with Apple and Apple Pay which for the people who don’t use either option have their hands tied to get the full app and waste storage or use Apple proprietary log in and payment.
iPadOS 14
iPadOS 14 has all of the new features in iOS 14 but with more to add on like a new search (kind of like the macOS search). The Sidebar will allow you to gain more content in your apps, and the new music application for iPad has ambient lighting that coordinates with the album cover, controls, and lyrics all in the same location. The main update coming to iPadOS is Scribble. Scribble allows you to write in the textbox and converts it to typed text, like Microsoft Surfaced. Scribble can also pick up on phone numbers and addresses to call or open directions. Scribble features also include shape recognition, smart selection, and scratch to delete.
Airpods
Airpods gain the ability to automatically switch between your devices. You can go from listening to your favorite podcast on your iPhone to watching a show on your iPad in seconds. It does save time instead of going manually in settings but how would this hold up when you’re near all of your devices.
Airpods Pro allow for Spatial Audio. Using a special algorithm combined with an accelerometer and gyroscope enables the audio effect. For now, both Airpod updates seem good but we won’t know until they’ve been put to the test.
watchOS
This year’s watchOS update was more fitness-related starting off with new support in the Workout app for dance, functional strength training, core training, and cool down. Using movement from our arms and lower body combined with our heart rate data. The paired Activity app will also get a refreshed look and will now be called Fitness.
You can now use multiple complications on one watch face. As you see above, the watch face is full of Nike Run Club complications from trend lines to your achievements and the start button. While you can always mix and match complications, you can now also share the watch faces using iMessage by simply going to the watch app on your phone, choosing the watch face you’d like to share, and the option should be in the top right corner. But I don't know how this would work with special or limited edition watched like the Nike or Hermes edition watches. Would we be allowed to gain access to those watch faces or will those be blocked?
You can finally Sleep Track directly in your Apple Watch instead of downloading third-party applications. To tie in with the new long-awaited sleep tracking feature, Apple also introduced Wind Down which is meant to help you go to sleep by the time you've chosen and reach your wakeup time. Wind down makes use of the lower brightness feature, with do not disturb and slowly getting accustomed to your customized routine while waking you up to peaceful noises and information about the day ahead.
As a little bonus during the pandemic, Apple added a Handwashing tracking support using time and sound to track how long and well you've been washing your hands. And like they are using machine learning to track your sleep, they use the exact technology to track your handwashing skills.
Privacy
Apple launched Sign in with Apple last year but they really pushed it during the privacy section of this year’s keynote. This was Apple’s solution to having too much data stored on us and in order to allow us, the customer, control. But in case you already have a login with an application that is not Sign in with Apple, Apple has allowed a feature that can give customers the freedom to switch logins without the hassle of creating a new account and losing their past data.
Along with Sign in with Apple, Apple also announced new location settings that allow you to choose when to give off precise locations and when to only send in your approximate location data.
A big thing this year was telling us when something of ours was being used, so they created a Recording Indicator and Privacy Card in the App Store. Recording Indicators are used for any application that uses your camera or microphone so whenever any of the two are in use a green or orange dot will appear at the top of the screen. Privacy Cards were made for us to know what we are downloading and what permissions the app needs which the Play Store has been doing since the beginning but it’s good Apple is now starting to do small things like this to help us understand even though they could've been done in operating systems before.
Home and tvOS
tvOS wasn’t as widely touched as the other operating systems were but they did have a few new characteristics. Starting off with allowing for multi-user support for Apple Arcade, allowing for everyone to have their own account instead of your games being interfered with by a younger sibling. In order to switch accounts, Apple has added a Control Center to tvOS 14 that allows for easier access to different accounts, Airplay, Home, and search.
Home has gotten more support starting off with allowing for homekit to be open-sourced which is very nice coming from a company like Apple because it allows for more companies to become integrated into one place which makes it easier to control your home electronics instead of having thousands of apps. Leaning into the Home announcements, Apple also released Adaptive Lighting, which allows for the smart lights in your home to change automatically in order to either increase productivity during the day and help you sleep better at night. Smart cameras now allow for Activity Zones, which you can set up points where you want notifications from and Facial Recognition that uses your Photos to recognize people. If you have a Homepod, using the Facial Recognition you can also get doorbell announcements to know whos at the door.
macOS Big Sur
MacOS was one of the operating systems that had the biggest update during this keynote starting off with a new redesign. From new icons to match with the iPhone and iPad and sound effects to vibrant colors and translucent Sidebar and Menu Bar. Many of the redesign or updates to Mac was really to tie it back into the iPadOS 14 designs. We also get a Control Center in Mac while getting a redesigned Notification Center finally able to get grouped notifications and the same iOS 14 widgets on Big Sur.
Messages gains support for search, better photos integration, Memoji, and effects. Messages will also gain new features such as pinned messages and new group functionality that also come to iOS 14. Apple Maps will also gain all the new features on iOS 14 to Big Sur including seeing friend’s ETA and Lookout. The reason why Messages and Maps have all the same features finally across all Apple devices is because of Catalyst. Catalyst was officially released to us at WWDC2019 where developers could take the foundation of one app and use it to create the exact app for other Apple products instead of creating them all over again saving developers time. Apple used the same technology this year with Messages and Maps to show the pros of Catalyst and push it to developers more.
Safari was another application in Big Sur that gains more functions such as Intelligent Tracking Prevention that will allow users to see how previous websites they visited treats their privacy. Saved passwords will also be monitored heavily for any data breaches. And with the whole redesign, Safari gained a new start page, tabs, and will have integrated translation features (just as Chrome).
Apple Silicon
Now even though talking about hardware changes isn’t my expertise, Apple changing their processors to ARM is a big deal and has been rumored for a very long time. With over 10 generations of iPhones, iPad, and Watch, Apple had done 2 million SoCs. Having the same foundation for all their devices allows native apps to run fully on macOS using Xcode for these new chips. So we won't know the real secret behind these new processors until they are put into new Macs but in order for Intel apps to still work on Apple Silicon, there are three new tools: Universal 2, Rosetta Stone 2, and Virtualization. First is Universal 2, which allows for single binaries to work on both processors. Rosetta Stone 2 will translate existing apps automatically during install which allows transparency for the users and Virtualization which allows for Linux run on the system. Another plus for using ARM processors is that you can use iPhone and iPad applications on the Mac natively due to optimization for the chips. Developers will be allowed to get their hands on development kits that will include a Mac Mini with documentation and private forums. Developers will be getting the kits as soon as this week in order to get started on native apps. Even though Apple said the first release will be at the end of this year, the transition could take up to two years but Apple said they are not stopping support for Intel chips for years to come.
