From June 10 to June 14, developers from around the globe gathered online for a dynamic week of technology and community at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference 2024.

Our full iOS team participated in the sessions to stay up-to-date with the latest advancements. This year's WWDC featured major announcements, including VisionOS 2, macOS 15 Sequoia, and Apple Intelligence. I'm here to fill you in on the details.

Vision Pro

All eyes were looking in the direction of the new Mixed Reality glasses Apple released last year. With the new VisionOS 2.0 update we're getting multiple quality-of-life improvements, such as new control gestures, better spatial photos, improved MacOS screen mirroring in an ultra-wide virtual screen, new polished content and new environments. They're also giving us more control of the Vision Pro with new keyboard and mouse support. Unfortunately, the major updates we were looking for did not come into play. Hopefully we as developers are getting multiple great new features with the new available APIs with your vision.

Handheld Devices

The quality-of-life updates and improvements continue to roll in for the other platforms as well. On the new iOS and iPadOS versions you can customize your home screen even further with tint colors, which should be anticipated by designers and developers. The bigger update is the expansion of the control center. This feature will get multiple pages of handy shortcuts. But most of all: third-party apps can add their own shortcuts to it! This will be a neat addition to the capabilities of widgets.

iPadOS continues to distinguish itself slowly from iOS, with new UI components such as a floating tab bar and SharePlay on your home screen. The bigger update to the iPads is surprising: a native calculator app! Next to some default functionalities, Apple developed a very in-depth, handwritten, Math Notes extension. All your notes will be recognized, evaluated, and auto-completed for most mathematical problems you have. Most of all, this framework will also be available to developers!

MacOS Sequoia

The new operating system for Mac continues to be strong and sturdy. With updates to their Continuity feature, you can now not only mirror your iPhone's screen to your Mac, but also use it as it would be right in your hands. Your phone can be nice and safely locked in your bag to do this. With long-awaited functionality for window snapping and a new Password manager based on the reliable Keychain we are ready for the future.

Where is the AI?

Have you noticed anything yet about AI? Apple deliberately did not do a 140-word count as they did during Google IO a few weeks ago. Apple is making AI personal, focussed on language, images, action and context. They call their partnership with OpenAI "Apple Intelligence". This neat "little" feature will be incorporated in a lot of their native apps, as well as in the OS itself as in Siri! Apple Intelligence uses advanced models and personal information to provide insights that are extremely useful and relevant. By combining these powerful technologies, it can offer personalized suggestions and solutions tailored to your needs. This makes your Apple devices smarter, helping you in your everyday tasks more effectively.

It can proofread your texts, ensuring your work is polished and error-free. If you need a different tone, it can rewrite content to match your desired style. In Messages, Smart Reply suggestions make responding faster and more intuitive. Apple Intelligence can also create new images from your existing photos, enhancing your visual content effortlessly. With personalized voice recognition, it understands and interacts with you on an individual level. It even recognizes important people in your life, like your parents, spouse, or kid, and keeps context over days’ worth of interactions. This level of personalization makes your Apple devices smarter and more responsive to your unique needs.

Privacy

Apple Intelligence prioritizes your privacy, ensuring that your data is kept secure and confidential. It processes information primarily on your device, only utilizing external computing power when absolutely necessary, and even then, it only uses the minimal amount of data required. This commitment to privacy means you can enjoy personalized insights without compromising the security of your personal information.

Developers can benefit from the new Apple Intelligence system as well. SiriKit will get access to lots of powerful features out of the box. You can also utilize a new image generation framework to effortlessly create images on the fly via users' input. Next to these additions, App Intents is getting a powerful integration with Apple Intelligence, so it is now more advisable than ever to make use of this powerful framework.

In a nutshell

In summary, this year's WWDC was brimming with numerous small, yet impactful quality-of-life improvements for all users. One of the standout features unveiled was Apple Intelligence, which promises to bring tremendous benefits across the board. With its cutting-edge capabilities, you're in for a transformative experience. When you have a moment, I highly encourage you to explore these updates yourself—you’ll be amazed at how seamlessly they integrate into your daily life and enhance your overall experience. Don’t miss out on discovering how these innovations can make your Apple devices smarter and more intuitive than ever before!

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