The Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) is one of the biggest events of the year for Apple developers, and this year’s show is no different. With new releases of iOS, MacOS, tvOS, watchOS, iPadOS, and homeOS expected at the show, Apple has a lot riding on WWDC as it seeks to excite developers and users of its many platforms.
We’ll be covering Cook and company’s keynote live, so be sure to keep refreshing this post for our coverage of WWDC 2021, and be sure to visit Digital Trends for all the latest news from Apple.
“Your creativity and groundbreaking apps continue to deliver new and meaningful ways to enrich people’s lives,” Apple CEO Tim Cook addressed developers as he kicked off the WWDC 2021 keynote. “We’ve continued to look for ways to cultivate the next generation of developers, with an emphasis on those underrepresented in technology.”
Cook continued to push Apple’s social responsibility programs, noting that Apple will “continue to be a force for change.”
New for iOS
“For many of us, our iPhones have become indispensable,” Apple’s Craig Federighi said. The newest release of the operating system for the iPhone is iOS 15.
The Apple executive introduced new updates to FaceTime as part of the launch of iOS 15.
“This year, we set out to make FaceTime calls feel more natural, comfortable, and lifelike,” he said, noting that Apple is bringing spatial audio to FaceTime to make it more like you’re face-to-face for a more natural meeting experience.
There are two new microphone features, including voice isolation to block out ambient background nosies and prioritizes your voice to make it more natural. The second feature is wide spectrum, which picks up “a wide symphony of sound.”
For video, there’s grid view to see all your callers. Portrait mode is also coming to video to isolate distracting backgrounds behind you, similar to the portrait mode.
And Apple is bringing FaceTime scheduling, so you can schedule and create links for your friends to join a scheduled call. With the link, friends on the web and Android can now join your FaceTime video chats.
Apple is making FaceTime an even more social experience with SharePlay, allowing you to listen and watch content together. Press play in Apple Music, and you can choose to listen together to songs on the calls on FaceTime, Federighi said. With watch together, you can jump to a streaming app and watch the content together with others on the FaceTime call. And screen sharing is also coming to FaceTime calls as well.
SharePlay is designed to work third-party apps as well with the SharePlay API. Apple announced that partners thus far include Disney Plus, Hulu, HBO Max, Twitch, TikTok, Masterclass, Paramount Plus, and so much more.
Screen sharing brings people together to browse Zillow listings, he added.
Apple Messages is also getting a big update on iOS.
Photos now can be stacked together or shown in a collage, Apple announced. Messages is also more integrated into News. If your friends shared an article with you, it can be surfaced in the Apple News app and see it under the Shared with you section of the app. This integration also happens with other apps, such as Music, Photos, and more. With photo sharing in messages, you can see it side-by-side with your existing library collection.
Apple also introduced a new Focus app to help keep distractions to a minimum.
Focus happens in notifications too with a Notification summary that can be scheduled to be delivered at any time you choose. You can view all your notifications in a summary that’s arranged by priority. Notifications from people won’t get summarized, so you’ll always get your important chat.
With iMessage, you can now set your status automatically with Focus when you turn on do not disturb. This way, others can see that you’re not available to chat.
With Focus, you can carve out time for work or your personal life, so you can choose what apps and people to get notifications from. You can dedicate a page on your home screen to match your focus. This is the closest that we’re getting profiles on iOS for work and personal spaces, and Apple claimed that it is leaning on A.I. to help build your focus spaces.
Apple is also introducing a new feature called Live Text. With this feature, if you take a picture of a white board with the camera, the camera uses OCR to detect text and allows you to select text from your photos to look things up, search, or copy and paste into a message or email. Phone numbers are recognized with a link, and you can automatically tap on phone numbers to make a call. It works with screenshots too, and works across iPhone, iPad, and Mac.
This extends beyond text too. It works with pets — identify a breed of dog, for example — landmarks, and more.
Spotlight gets deeper integration with the Photos app to help you find photos by people and places.
Apple is also updating the Contacts app with rich information, including location and the contact status.
Photos is getting an update with a new Photos Memories upgrade. Now, you can bring Apple Music into Memories with a relevant personalized song to help bring the memory to life, Apple said.
These announcements are breaking, and we’ll continue to update this article as they come in.
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