Apple kicked off its annual Worldwide Developer Conference yet again, but virtually like it did last year. The Keynote introduced tons of new stuff starting from iOS to macOS. You might have missed the event or didn’t catch up on the whole keynote. Let’s summarise the complete WWDC 2021 keynote for you. Without further ado, Let’s start with iOS 15.
iOS 15
Apple introduced the iOS 15 which added many new software changes which are quite useful. Talk about everything one by one.
FaceTime
Spatial audio: Spatial audio in Facetime will make it seem more like your friends’ voices are coming from their on-screen position.
Voice isolation: Voice isolation from a loud environment.
Portrait mode: Natural Background blurring in Facetime video calling
FaceTime links: Now we will be able to generate shareable FaceTime links to let others (including desktop and Android users via the browser!) join FaceTime scheduled calls.
SharePlay: Shared audio/video streams to allow you to listen to music, watch videos (and control apps in sync with friends.
Focus mode: You will now be able to shift your phone into different customizable modes for work, personal, Sleep, and much more.
Notification Summary: Notifications will have a new classification setting, ranging from low to critical.
Live Text: You can now recognize text in photos using camera and make it selectable, searchable, copy/paste-able, etc.
Safari: The Safari browser is getting a UI revamp with more modern sleek design and new gestures to use it.
Apple Wallet
Apple is incorporating home, office, and hotel keys into Apple Wallet, allowing you to unlock compatible doors in those places with your phone. They are also working with TSA to add an encrypted copy of your state driver’s license.
Apple Maps
Apple Maps is getting a detailed revamp, with the addition of 3D elevation maps, 3D rendered landmarks, crosswalks, bike lanes, etc. They are also making navigation more precise by using the camera to scan nearby buildings to figure out which direction you have to go.
AirPods
Conversation mode: AirPods Pro will now allow you to boost the volume of voices and control the volume of ambient noise around you during a call.
Find My: AirPods will now work with the Find My app.
Spatial Audio
Spatial audio is coming to tvOS and M1-powered Macs.
iPadOS 15
iPadOS is getting new home screen widgets. They are similar to the iOS counterpart but have a bigger widget option.
App Library is also introduced to iPadOS, which was previously seen in iOS.
A new multitasking menu is introduced to simplify multitasking in iPadOS with some new gestures.
Notes: The Notes app will now let you @ mention someone in a shared note and highlight changes. Quick Notes is also added to let you create a new note anywhere by swiping up from the bottom right corner of the screen.
Translate: iPadOS will get a system-wide text translation option with real-time translation options.
Swift Playgrounds: It will let you build apps on the iPad for iOS and iPadOS and later submit those on App Store.
Safari: The Safari browser is getting a UI revamp with a more modern sleek design and tabs are being made smaller. They are also adding tab groups to keep tabs organized. These will also automatically sync between iCloud devices.
Security and Privacy
The Mail app will now automatically obscure your IP address/location from those invisible tracking pixels marketers love to tuck into emails.
The App Privacy Report option in settings will now summarize all app that how often they access your location, photos, etc.
Siri’s speech recognition will now happen on-device and without an internet connection.
Apple is adding a new recovery contacts option to your iCloud account, which will allow you to select family members or friends who can help you get back into your iCloud account if you get locked out.
Apple Health
iPhone will now be able to analyze your gait, step timing, and much more to analyze walking steadiness to flag if your fall risk is increasing over time.
A Trends is added in the health app will summarize patterns in your step counts, heart rate, and more.
Health sharing is also introduced to securely share health data with other people like parents or doctors.
watchOS 8
watchOS 8 was introduced in WWDC 2021.
watchOS will now be able to help track your respiratory rate and analyze how you might breathe throughout the day. They are also adding some new workout modes to the activity tracking.
A new Portraits watch-face is introduced in watchOS 8 which will use portrait-mode photos to create a clean layered-looking clock layout.
Siri
Siri will now be available to third-party devices. This will create a better Siri-powered ecosystem.
macOS 12 Monterey
The next major release of macOS will be called macOS Monterey.
SharePlay: Shared audio/video streams to allow you to listen to music, watch videos (and control apps in sync with friends.
Universal control: It will let you use one keyboard/mouse setup to control multiple macs and iPads, automatically recognizing when a new compatible device is placed nearby.
AirPlay: This will be allowing you to send AirPlay content to your Mac just like AppleTV
Shortcuts: This is an automation system that will allow you to quickly do things easily with just one click or drag and drop.
Safari: The Safari browser is getting a major UI revamp with a more modern sleek design approach and tabs are being made smaller. They are also adding tab groups to keep tabs organized. These will also automatically sync between iCloud devices.
These are the stuff announced yesterday on WWDC 2021. We hope you have successfully caught up with the new innovations by Apple this year.
