June 22 was the special date for Apple fanboys in this corona age. It is because Apple’s first-ever completely virtual WWDC (Worldwide Developer Conference) event was kicked off on this date. The iPhone giant Apple has made a ton of new announcements during a two-hour-long keynote. Like every year, this WWDC annual event had something for all the products in Apple’s eco-system including the iPhone, Apple Watch, iPad, and Mac.
Though every year Apple organized this grand event in March, WWDC 2020 got delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and organized online in the month of June. New products, demos, and much more were offered by the Cupertino Company in this event. Here are some of the biggest announcements from the perspective of an iOS app development company. If you’ve missed the live streaming of the WWDC 2020 event, you will get all the important information here.
Really Big Announcements of WWDC 2020 by Apple
1. Overhauled Mac Interface
Don’t get surprised if you find your Mac looks and feels a little more like iOS. Apple has given the name ‘Big Sur’ to the major design overhauling of macOS. It includes the following changes-
• Control and Notification Centers– The macOS will have a dropdown menu in the screen’s upper right area, just like an iOS. It gives single-click access to the dark mode, volume, brightness, and Wi-Fi controls. Similarly, the Notification Center has brought notifications in a unified view. The users can clear out many notifications at once thanks to this widget-based notification center.
• Improved Safari– The Safari browser can check the saved passwords to find out any disclosed passwords during the breach. Also, a Privacy Report button imparts the information recorded by the website users are currently visiting.
• Updated Extensions– Much awaited improvement in the extension system of Safari is here. It focuses on restricting or conveying the data extensions that developers can leverage.
• Advanced Mac Catalyst– Mac Catalyst arrived in 2019. The macOS Big Sur shows its applications in the new appearance. App developers can get new APIs and complete control over the look and feel of their apps through this advanced Mac Catalyst.
• New features in Maps– The redesigned Maps feature has assistance for city guides, indoor maps, and favorite locations.
2. Latest Apple WatchOS
Apple WatchOS 7 is ready to come with some updates like new watch faces, handwash detection, sleep tracking, and the like. The handwash detection feature is aimed at combating the coronavirus by improving hygiene. It can find when the user is washing hands by taking the help of the accelerometer to seek the proper movements and the microphone to listen to the scrubbing sounds. The countdown timer is set at 20 seconds. The new Workout feature assists users to track their activities.
3. iOS 14
Yes, iOS 14 is ready to come! The preview version for developers has been rolled out on June 22, and a public beta version is expected to come in mid-July. Top features of iOS 4 include
• iMessage- iPhone users can now pin their messages to get rid of getting lost in the chats. It is easy to reply to a particular message and mention other members during group chatting. The iMessage application has other options like select ages and new Memojis with different facemasks as well as hairstyles. iOS 14 will have gestures like blush and hugs also.
• Translate App– Siri can translate whatever the users say into eleven popular languages including Spanish, Italian, English, and Japanese using this app. The offline translation is also possible. Apple has claimed that Siri knows 20 times more facts than before in the upcoming iOS 14.
• Apple CarPlay– Users can readily change the wallpaper on the in-car gadget with an improved Apple CarPlay. What’s more, a simple clicking on the iPhone can unlock the vehicle. Users can also share their vehicle’s key through the iMessage app. All the features of the latest Apple CarPlay will
• App Library– iPhone users can categorize their apps from various pages of the home screen. After selecting the number of pages for the home screen, users can arrange the rest of the apps as Suggestions, Recently Added, etc. All the apps are listed alphabetically in the app library.
• Widgets– Widgets will be seen on the home screen of iOS 14. A new Widget Gallery option enables users to personalize these widgets.
Also Read- Flutter vs. Swift- How to Choose the Right Framework for iOS App Development?
4. Improved AirPods
AirPods have two new features known as Spatial Audio and Automatic Device Switching. The Spatial Audio feature can identify your device and head movement with the help of motion data. It keeps on synchronizing the audio with the visuals. The Automatic Device Switching can enable users to switch between multiple devices. For example, if the users play a video on iPads, they can hear audio from the AirPods thanks to this feature.
5. iPadOS 14
iPhones and iPads have different operating systems since 2019. Now, iPadOS 14 is ready to come along with iOS 14. It has some unique features including-
• Revamped UI– UI of the new iPadOS 14 is completely redesigned as Apple has put Photos and Music App in a new sidebar for swift and seamless access. Similarly, applications like iMessage, mail, and calendar have got some changes in UI.
• Universal Search– This new feature is designed to facilitate users who are looking for documents, contacts, or anything inside the application.
• Call Notifications– iPadOS has Android-like compact and convenient call notifications. They will pop up on the screen’s top like that in Android devices, and users can continue their tasks seamlessly.
• Apple Pencil– Improved Apple Pencil has some cool features like better handwriting identification and smart recommendations. It helps users select and past handwritten text in other apps.
6. Apple HomeKit
An improved Apple HomeKit will come with features like Face Identification, Activity Zones, and Adjusted Lighting. Doorbell cameras powered by the new HomeKit can identify known faces and you can know who is at the door. Connected smart bulbs can be integrated with the HomeKit and users can easily modify their temperature or brightness on a 24×7 automatically. Activity Zones feature can inform you when something comes to the particular area of the user’s house.
7. Privacy Enhancements
Apple is known for focusing on protecting the user’s privacy. Every iOS versions have privacy enhancements and the iOS 14 is no exception. Major privacy-related changes announced in this WWDC 2020 include Camera or Microphone Indicator to notify the users as and when the app accesses the iPhone’s camera or microphone. Approx Location feature enables users to give the app an approximate location instead of the exact location.
8. Apple Silicon
Apple has parted way from Intel after having a 15-year relationship. Now Apple has switched to ARM-based processors for upcoming Mac hardware. Apple Silicon, as the company has named, the first Macs will mostly come before the end of 2020. However, the entire transition process for chips will take approximately two years.
9. Apple tvOS 14
Last but not least is Apple tvOS 14 update. As the iPhone giant announced, Apple tvOS 14 will have two new and useful features-
• Picture-in-Picture Formation– Every video application is displayed in a Picture-in-Picture structure on Apple TV because of this feature. Simply put, users can watch more things on TV without switching the running applications.
• Multi-use capabilities– If the Apple TV users want to switch profiles, they can easily do so, and the other user can play the Apple Arcade title without erasing the record of the previous user. With this, Apple has also brought assistance for the Xbox Adaptive Controller and the Xbox Elite 2 Wireless Controller. These capabilities can seamlessly give excellent gaming experience to multiple users.
In a nutshell, Apple users will experience a whole-new MacOS interface and get a widget-based home screen for their iPhones shortly. Apple Developer Program members can get access to the developer Beta preview. Apple also plans to make Beta experiences available to people next month onward. It is certain that all these announcements of the WWDC 2020 online event will make Apple gadget users more impatient to get the new iPhones and Mac.
Concluding Lines
This year is quite different from previous years as the world still struggles against the dreaded coronavirus. It’s no surprise that we have not got any new hardware from Apple. However, these announcements indicate that the company has something interesting in the pipeline. Now, the iOS app development company has to get ready to implement these changes while dealing with new challenges.
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