Get ready for a fresh update across your Apple devices this fall!. WWDC, Apple’s yearly developer event was live streamed globally this Monday, June 22nd and we’ve got a lot of news. The event covered up on all major updates coming up across all Apple devices and their respective OS’s this upcoming fall. For the sake of this article, we’ll only cover a few aspects of the conference, those being: iOS 14, WatchOS 7, AirPods and Privacy.
iOS 14
Apple has kept a simple and fresh design right from the start, which has helped drawn and retained attention and loyalty from it’s users. Making a few changes and adjustments along the way to keep those characteristics and features even simpler, fresher and better, facilitating a better experience for the consumer over time. iOS got a major refresh back in the day, and coming this September, we’ll see a few minor yet very significant and long awaited updates to this environment that helps us on our daily lives.
- New home screen and widgets adjustments and redesign and compact UI.
For the longest time, the iPhone home screen has remained very much the same and it is all very familiar to us users, however, we have also been asking for a bit more control over it and to have the ability to customize it a bit more. Apple has listened and delivered. The home screen will be an entirely new experience from now on, keeping all the familiarity we all love of course, only now we will be able to add new widgets to the home screen (not only the widget screen), broadening the entire experience to a new level. Not only that, we will also be able to customize the size of those icons to our liking, giving with it the ability to give priority to those widgets and apps we consider to be more important to us, of which we may want more information visible to us on the go. From now on you could say that the home screen will be a more cohesive, all in one experience. If that were not enough for you Apple has enabled a smart widget selector to display on top of the screen, that will show you the most relevant widget information, depending on the time of the day and your usage of the device over time. Apple is also introducing “App Library”, a new, yet familiar way to stack up similar apps and organize them into categories for easier access. This will also included multiple icon sizes to show those most frequently used.
- Picture in picture
One of the new features im most exited about is picture in picture. Apple is introducing the ability to experience your iPhone’s entire screen to the maximum by allowing you to have a picture in picture view so that you don’t have to switch between apps or interrupt one for another. Say you are watching a YouTube video or you are on a call and you want to take notes of that video you were watching or call you are on, or you want to do a quick search on the web of certain reference while watching a movie or any other scenarios you can possibly think of; well, it will all be a reality soon. For me particularly this is really exiting; I use my iPhone for virtually everything, most of the time I write my articles and reviews on the go from my phone, and I watch series and movies on it too and sometimes I like to take notes from them as I watch, so this will be most useful indeed, not having to switch between apps and losing my idea or train of thought. With this new feature you will also be able to play around with the size of the other screen in question and even set it completely aside and still be able to hear the sound and pull it back up later on.
- Messages
iMessage is getting some major new features that were long over due, this are all very familiar as you probably already use them on other apps such as WhatsApp, telegram or whichever you may use, but if you like me are hesitant on using those apps for security reasons and prefer using the native ones as much as possible, then you’ll be just as exited as I am for all this features to finally come along for iMessage. Amongst the new features we’ll have available are:
- Group messages
- New more customizable Memojis
- Mentions
- In line replies
- Pinned conversations (up to 9)
Overall more organized and improved experience amongst other little yet very significant things.
- Translate
Apple is implementing a native translate app that will help many users to easily communicate with each other with what promises to be a very responsive AI technology. This will also have its own extended use for the Apple Watch and Safari.
- Siri
Siri will also get a major revamp, it will be even more responsive and intelligent while less “invasive” on your screen with that compact UI feature I mentioned before. Siri will be displayed in a smaller icon now, allowing you to fully use the screen will being assisted by Siri. I don’t personally use or like Siri much (again for privacy concerns), but with this update I might definitely be using it from here on out.
- Safari
The iPhone’s native browser will be even faster, smarter and more protective of your information then ever before, allowing you to “sign up with Apple” to more sites and giving you more control of your information and the handling of your privacy overall with a more intuitive report on it. The new translation feature is also being included to the browser natively so that you don’t have to use third parties.
AirPods
Apple’s iconic AirPods are getting even better. Do keep in mind this applies only for the Pro version.
- Battery sound notifications.
AirPods will conveniently let you know when you are running low on juice and it’s time to charge them.
- Automatic switching.
You know how you now have to connect your AirPods yourself whenever you switch devices?, well, not anymore. AirPods will now automatically recognize and switch over to the device you are currently using in a seamless motion.
Spatial audio. Apple is bringing a complete surround audio experience to the AirPods, powered by very intelligent technology.
Privacy
I mentioned before my various concerns with privacy, data protection is something we must take very seriously. Apple is taking a step in the right direction by implementing new policies for app developers to give users more visibility and therefore control over their own data. Apple is requesting app developers to display exactly how much information they are capable to access, therefore allowing us users to make a more conscious decision to use certain apps or not.
- Recording indicator.
Most importantly Apple is also implementing a “recording indicator”, that will show you on the top of the screen when an app is using the devices microphone and camera. It doesn’t stop there, Apple is giving users more control then ever before by displaying information directly in the control center of apps that have recently used the microphone or camera on your iPhone.
- Approximate location.
Apple is now implementing the sharing of your approximate location rather then your exact one for certain apps
All this features and this update will be available for all new iPhones going all the back the the 1st generation SE model and even the 7th Generation iPod is getting this major update.
Watch OS 7
The Apple Watch is also getting a fresh revamp to help you stay more in touch with your health, giving you more controls and information for you to stay on top of your game.
- New Faces
Apple is letting developers be more creative with watch faces and the user as well, allowing you to create and customize them at will. App will also be able to display more relevant information for your specific activities or interests, also allowing you to create a face that contains information that’s more important for you.
- Face Sharing
It will be easier them ever to share your favorite faces and to get them even from the web by simply taping o button to add it to your watch.
- Sleep App
This feature has been requested by users for a lo g time and Apple is finally making it happen. The Apple Watch will finally get it’s own native sleep tracking app, which will apparently be very intuitive and insightful to say the least. The watch will also now enter automatically into a “sleep mode” when you are sleeping, to prevent any distractions. Very exited for this.
- Wind Down
The Apple Watch will now have a “wind down” feature that will sync with your iPhone to help you get a better night sleep and improve your health overall in the long run.
- Fitness
The activity app is being renamed “fitness” and it will now be even more informative and insightful, displaying more relevant information about your activities. It will also include new workouts within the app to help you keep better and more accurate track.
- Hand Washing
With the onset Covid-19 outbreak going on world wide, Apple is doing what it can to help on the fight, that’s why they will be adding a hand washing feature to the Apple Watch, which let you know on the appropriate amount of time and help you with reminders to wash your hands.
This update will be available for Apple Watch series 3 and up. The updates are announced for this fall and according to previous Apple releases, we can expect them sometime around September, usually it happens within the first 10-15 days of the month.
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