Apple’s WWDC 2024 keynote was even more rapid-fire than usual, so much so that an Assassin’s Creed game demo was the most relaxing part after the initial 90-second skydiving gag. It’s tough—Apple presentations typically focus on a hardware product or three, but because WWDC is all about software, the company has to figure out which of the many new features merit a mention or demo. All too often, the presenter would introduce a feature, talk about it for a few seconds, and then switch gears entirely, just as I expected more detail or another feature in the same app.
In part, Apple’s hurry came from trying to get through six different platforms before devoting a hefty chunk of time to Apple Intelligence, the company’s name for a collection of AI features that will be rolling out over the next year. Apple said Apple Intelligence features would start being available “this summer,” which probably means during the public betas of the operating systems starting in July, and would be broadly available in beta “this fall,” or likely mid-September. However, Apple’s footnotes acknowledged that “some features, software platforms, and additional languages will come over the course of the next year,” probably well into 2025. Apple Intelligence will also require recent Apple silicon—it will run only on the iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, and iPads and Macs with M1 or later chips. Apologies to our international friends, but Apple Intelligence will require Siri and the device language to be set to US English in the early releases.
The company hasn’t said exactly why it is limiting its Apple Intelligence features to the newest, and most expensive, hardware, though industry experts surmise that less-powerful chips would possibly create a less-performant AI and that Apple would draw the line at a lackluster tool. But whether this limitation is a technical requirement or a product-differentiation strategy, it might be Apple’s best shot at convincing customers to upgrade to newer iPhones this fall.
It’s clear from today’s presentation that Apple is positioning itself as taking a different approach to AI than the rest of the industry. The company is putting generative models at the core of its devices while seeking to stay true to its principles. And that starts with privacy.
As presented in the keynote, Image Playground feeds off the context it is surrounded by. In Messages, Apple highlighted that this could mean an animation-style image of a friend surrounded by balloons and a cake when you wish them a happy birthday. Image Playground can also take what it knows about how the people in your life look and depict artsy versions of them in various settings, with different accessories, or amid new locations.
Apple will let you record and transcribe phone calls in iOS 18. The company announced the feature during its Worldwide Developers Conference on Monday and says it will automatically tell call participants that they’re being recorded.
Genmoji is an Apple Intelligence-powered feature that enables you to have new emoji created for your use. All you have to do is type in what you’re looking for, and iOS 18 will present you with a newly-created emoji for your use.
The ChatGPT integration extends the free Apple Intelligence functionality built into the OS. For example, if you ask Siri a question that it can’t answer, it could hand off to ChatGPT instead to respond to the query.
Users can take advantage of the usual free quotas for ChatGPT usage, or connect their paid subscriptions to use their ChatGPT Plus benefits instead.
In its WWDC keynote today, Apple stressed that the new "Apple Intelligence" system it's integrating into its products will use a new "Private Cloud Compute" to ensure any data processed on its cloud servers is protected in a transparent and verifiable way.
The move could well strengthen the Apple ecosystem—but if the technology exhibits even some of the failures typical of nearly every major rollout over the past two years, it could also be another sort of Trojan horse, bringing down the walled garden from within.
Unsurprisingly, my negativity is nearly all focused at generative image slop. The examples they showed were akin to the results of image generators from four years ago. The appeal, that these models would personally understand us, and our relationships, made it all the more alienating when applied to generative AI, and not schedules, or directions.
During the interview, Federighi specifically referenced Apple’s hopes to eventually let users choose between different models to use with Apple Intelligence. While ChatGPT from OpenAI is the only option right now, Federighi suggested that Google Gemini could come as an option down the line.
But AI-related improvements aren’t the only new features Apple announced today. From a renewed focus on Home Screen customization and redesigned Control Center to a new design for tab bars on iPad and expanded Tapbacks in Messages, Apple has showed that, while they can follow the rest of the tech industry in rethinking how AI can enhance how we use our devices, they can continue shipping other functionalities for iPhone and iPad, too. Or, at the very least, they certainly can for the iPhone and iOS.
The company says the new design will lead to less time searching for photos as it puts everything you need within easy reach. One major change involves how the app has been unified into a single view with the photo grid at the top and the library, organized by theme, below.
But Apple isn’t just stretching the iPhone’s Calculator to fill the large canvas. Instead, it’s also bringing some advanced capabilities to it, which will turn it into an invaluable asset for students and other users. These include powerful features, most notably the all-new Math Notes features that supercharge the Apple Pencil with advanced capabilities.
It was already possible to add or remove specific toggles in the Control Center. However, with iOS 18, users can better reorganize these toggles and even change their size. But the biggest news here is the new Controls API, which lets developers create Control Center toggles for third-party apps. These toggles will let users control in-app actions without having to open them.
Interestingly, the same API also works for the Lock Screen, so you can replace the default flashlight and camera buttons with actions of your choice.
During the announcement Monday during the WWDC keynote, Craig Federighi, SVP President of Software Engineering, demonstrated the new feature by positioning the icons around a dog’s face in the wallpaper image.
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And that’s not the end of the Home screen personalization options. iOS and iPadOS let users tint all the app icons so they either match the wallpaper or contrast the color. Or pick a hue you like.
If someone is using your phone and you've locked an app, when they try to open that app, they'll see a popup that says it can't be accessed without secondary authentication. Locking an app can be done by long pressing on it and selecting the Require Face ID option (or Touch ID on the iPhone SE).
As the name suggests, Tap to Cash lets users pay for things simply by tapping two iPhones together.
Available only on the iPhone 14 or later, this feature will do exactly what it sounds like: enable sending messages over a satellite connection.
RCS will give your green bubble chats many of the best of features of iMessage, like high-resolution image and video attachments, typing indicators, read receipts and more.
The new features include enhancements across multiple native apps, an impressive new iPhone mirroring integration, and even some overdue window management features for the Mac.
One of the first features coming to the OS is iPhone mirroring, which lets you control your phone from your Mac. You’ll get phone notifications on the Mac as well as audio passthrough. Finally, a non-touchscreen interface for your phone!
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Apple also updated Safari with a bunch of new features, including highlights — which use machine learning to detect interesting things on the page, and additions to Reader mode, including summaries and tables of contents, presumably also generated with machine learning. It also has Viewer mode for on-page video content.
The Passwords app replaces iCloud Keychain, which is currently only accessible via a menu in Settings. Now, passwords are available directly via a standalone app for markedly quicker access, bringing it more in line with rival services.
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Passwords is also compatible with Windows via the iCloud for Windows app, extending its utility to users who operate across different platforms.
With the new Passwords app in iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia, there's a feature that is designed to allow websites and apps to upgrade existing accounts to passkeys automatically.
But breaking the service out into its own app is still an important act. Because the problem Apple is trying to solve isn’t really about passwords at all – it’s about identity.
Last week I sat down with Steve Won, the chief product officer of 1Password, a password manager app with a long pedigree on Apple’s platforms. “The way that we manage digital identity is just screwed up,” Won said. “Effectively, I don’t have an identity at all: there are just random databases all across the world with my information. My credit card information, my bank information, my university probably still has my information, and so forth.”
While there is nothing major in this new release of watchOS, there are several welcome touches that will be notable to users. Suggesting widgets based on current conditions like the weather is a nice addition, as are Live Activities. However, the really interesting progress lies with fitness additions such as the Vitals app and training load, which are, in some ways, pro training features.
watchOS 11 will finally enable taking a rest day with your Activity rings without losing track of an important streak. In the past, even if you had to take a day off because of an illness or some other factor outside your control, you would lose your Activity ring completion streak.
You can now also set custom activity ring goals for different days of the week. So you can push for higher goals on days you know you’ll be able to do more, and set more realistic goals for others.
Vision Pro users hoping for multiple virtual Mac monitors will be disappointed that's not planned this time around, but Apple plans to add the next-best thing: Users will be able to take advantage of a larger and higher-resolution single virtual display, including a huge, wraparound ultrawide monitor mode that Apple says is equivalent to two 4K monitors.
One of the most notable upgrades coming to visionOS 2 is the ability to transform regular, 2D images into spatial ones. Similar to the existing Spatial Video feature, this would detect subjects and add a 3D effect to them—making the viewing experience more realistic when using a Vision Pro.
With the new version of tvOS, subtitles will also be enabled automatically at relevant moments, like when the volume of the movie is muted or you skip back ten seconds to replay the scene.
tvOS 18 will also feature an upgraded set of screensavers, including a new animated Snoopy screensaver, and an option that features scenes from Apple TV+ shows.
A new InSight feature for Apple TV Plus will show details about the actors as well as the show’s soundtrack, so you can add tracks to Apple Music right from the remote. The feature will also work with the iPhone as a TV remote. However, InSight is limited to Apple TV Plus original shows and movies.
You can soon use your AirPods to control Siri in new ways, including shaking your head yes or no to respond without needing to use your voice.
Voice isolation is coming to the AirPods Pro. It removes the background noise around you to improve call quality. There’s also new personalized spatial audio that now supports games.
Earlier today, I got the very first live demo of Swift Assist, one of the many developer tools introduced today by Apple. I also saw code completion in action. It was an impressive demo, and although the tools seem like magic and will undoubtedly be valuable to developers, they do have their limitations, which are worth exploring.
International Day of Yoga is set to take place on Friday, June 21, and Apple is celebrating with an Activity Challenge that will let Apple Watch users earn a yoga badge and a set of animated yoga stickers.
Theater will let you experience the theatrical cinema release feeling (even if the original Star Wars film isn’t showing at your local movie chain). Want to watch a movie at the same time with friends or family who can’t be together in person? Spatial FaceTime makes that possible in Theater.
Apple has a great track record of supporting its devices with software updates for many, many years after their release. It's not uncommon for Apple to supply iPhones, iPads, and Macs with updates for well over five years. However, as the years go by, some devices end up being too old to be supported and Apple drops them from the software update cycle.
When it comes to updates for the 2024 iterations of iOS, watchOS, macOS, and iPadOS, it's a bit of a mixed bag.
It feels like we’re descending into a morass of miscommunication, with examples from companies large and small, including Slack, Bartender, and Adobe.
Out of the four Apple devices that I am using regularly, only one of them will qualify for Apple Intelligence. The way I see it, I don't need Apple Intelligence for now. Maybe I will change my mind later, but it is a nice-to-have thing that doesn't really help too much on the things I do.
Also, out of the four Apple devices that I am using regularly, one of them will not qualify for this round of OS updates: the 10.5-inch iPad Pro from 2017. I have used this iPad for many things over the years, but currently, it is really for me to watch television and play Arcade games. So, I am probably not in a hurry to buy a new iPad anytime soon.
My next buying decision, I guess, will be when new iPhones or new iPad minis are announced. (I am guessing new iPhones will arrive earlier.) Unless something bad happens to my existing devices -- touch wood.
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After I've written the above paragraphs, I went on to watch snippets of the keynote video again to check on some other things, and I happened to rewatch the iPadOS handwriting stuff, and I started to think maybe I should get one of those new iPads...
And then I remember how I can't remember the last time I wrote anything using my handwriting.
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I will be moving all my app icons on my iPhone to the bottom of the screen. I am unsure what I will do to the widgets on my iPhone's homescreen yet. The two widgets, currently at the top of the screen, is purely read-only. I don't even tap on them at all, so there is no need to move them downwards for easier tapping with my thumb.
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It feels wrong to write about Apple's AI. Whether you meant Apple's Apple Intelligence, or Apple's artificial intelligence.
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Thanks for reading.