Apple’s WWDC (World Wide Developer’s Conference) Keynote took place last night where Apple announced a slew of new products.
Here’s a roundup of some of the biggest software announcements:
iOS 11
As expected, Apple officially announced the newest iteration of its mobile operating system, iOS 11.
The new version of iOS has quite a few updates such as improved speech for Siri, as well the the ability to translate sentences into a variety of languages. Thanks to machine learning, you’ll also get suggested actions based on what you do on your iPhone or iPad.
There’s a new control center which relies quite heavily on 3D Touch. It moves most of the controls onto the lower half of your display.
iMessage has been moved to iCloud, which means that any synchronised conversations you have can be deleted from any device you own that is registered under the same account. Another new feature is the ability to send and receive payments from your contacts via iMessage.
WatchOS 4
WatchOS, the operating system which powers the Apple Watch, is coming is getting an update and brings with it new faces which display different types of information such as Siri reminders. There are also new Toy Story watch faces, similar to the Mickey Mouse ones which are currently available.
The fitness aspect of the wearable is also getting an update and will bring monthly challenges to encourage you to be more active and an NFC-enabled data sharing feature which lets you tap your Apple Watch on gym equipment to pair the two, thereby sharing the most accurate calorie burn and activity information from your workout.
The Music app is also getting an update which makes finding and playing music on Apple Watch more visual.
MacOS High Sierra
The new version of macOS will be called High Sierra. Yes, you read that correctly. It includes new features such as a new tracking feature for Safari which blocks site trackers and stops videos from autoplaying. There are also new photo-editing tools and better filtering tools to sort images by keywords or faces.
Apple’s new file system (APFS ) will be the default in the new MacOS, already being used in iOS as part of the 10.3 update, AFPS promises superior performance and robustness to Mac.
In terms of graphics, Apple’s 3D API – Metal – is being updated to version 2 which brings a performance boost as well as provide included support for external GPU connected via Thunderbolt 3. A first for Apple is the support for VR, with Unity, the Unreal engine and Steam VR Steam VR supported.
ARKit
Apple is finally getting into the augmented reality space with its newly announced tool called ARKit.
ARKit is set to bring advanced augmented reality capabilities on iOS, which Craig Federighi says is “the largest AR platform in the world.”
On stage, Apple demoed a basic version of ARKit: a flat surface was mapped and a cup was placed on it with fairly realistic perspective.
This follows Apple’s statement that ARKit allows for “fast and stable motion tracking” which makes objects look like they’re being placed in real space, instead of hovering over it the way they did in Pokemon Go.
To further demo ARKit’s capabilities, Sir Peter Jackson’s studio Wingnut AR appeared on stage with an augmented reality landscape created in Unreal Engine. Apple says that the demo will be released as a game “later this year.”
If you’re more interested in the hardware that Apple announced at WWDC 2017, click here.
