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Yesterday, Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) took place in San Jose, California. This event, which takes place annually, showcases Apple's newest software and technology. We will be discussing some newest features which were announced yesterday by Apple that will be released in autumn this year.
Firstly, we have the added features available on the AirPods. They will now be able to read your incoming messages as soon as they arrive, and you will be able to instantly respond to them. Another new feature is Audio Sharing, which allows you to instantly share a film or a song to another user.
Privacy concerns regarding our smartphones and other tech, especially in terms of access to our personal information, have been a huge controversy in recent years. Apple's answer to this on iOS 13 is Apple Sign-In as an alternative to giving companies access to your personal information on your social media accounts. Instead of having to use a social media account login, you now have the option to use Apple Sign-In, which can be authenticated using Face ID. With this feature, you will be able to login without revealing any new personal information.
Dark mode inverts the usual white background and black text to a black background with white text. It looks visually appealing, and it is designed to reduce the strain that a bright white screen can have on your eyes, particularly during the night time. It is a bit of a fad at the moment, however it is a feature which many Apple device users are likely to be happy to have as an option.
Apple's Find My Friends has been updated, and will now simply be called Find My. It is a combination of Find My iPhone and Find My Friends. A notable feature of Find My is that it can now locate Apple devices that are offline.
Activity Trends will be introduced on Watch OS6, which provides a long-term view of users' fitness progress. Activity Trends is able to compare the progress of users' last 90 days with their last 365 days. Apple have also added a menstrual cycle feature to their Health app, which allows women to keep track of the timing of their periods and their fertility window.
iTunes as we have always known it is going to be replaced with three separate Apple apps: Apple Music, Apple Podcasts and Apple TV.
There is now the option to 'hand off' your music from your iPhone to your HomePod. Simply bring your iPhone close to your HomePod to hand off music, podcasts or even a phone call. You can then put it back on to your iPhone when you have finished using the HomePod in the same way.
Apple have added some improvements to their Maps app. In the upper-right hand corner, there will be a binoculars button, which will take you to a 3D high-definition perspective: Apple's answer to Google Street View.
The new Audiobooks app, Voice Memos, Calculator and the App Store will all become available on the Apple Watch. Notably, it is now possible to create apps that run independently on the watch, without requiring the use of a companion iPhone app.
Apple seem to have been focusing on improving the performance of their devices, especially given that many consumers are now opting to keep hold of their current models for longer. Apple claim that unlocking the Face ID will be 30% faster, downloads will be 50% smaller, and updates will be 60% smaller.
There will also be a quick swipe keyboard called QuickPath. It enables you to swipe your finger from one letter to another without having to lift a finger (literally). This makes one-handed typing a lot easier.
Apple have created an OS specifically for iPads called iPadOS. It comes with an array of improvements, allowing users to optimise the use of their screens and use new gesture controls. iPadOS can now view two notes side by side, and you can have Icon View, List View and Column View. You can also use Slide Over to switch between multiple apps.
You might be wondering if your iPad will be able to support iPadOS. The iPad models listed in the image below are those which will have iPadOS-capability.
While Apple have succeeded in bringing some much-needed features to iOS 13 and to their new iPadOS, one could argue that there is no revolutionary technology here, as a lot of these features can be found on Android devices. For instance, Apple's swipe-to-type feature has been available on Android for a few years now. It is a shame to see what was one a disruptor in the tech industry now following the trends which have been set by its competitors. However, it remains to be seen how these new operating systems will fare when they come out in the autumn, alongside the highly anticipated iPhone 11.
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