Insights

Apple WWDC 2021, Everything Announced: iOS 15, MacOS Monterey, Watch OS 8, and a whole bag of privacy updates

We are all hearing of several podcasts, updates and key features following Apple’s WWDC 2021. As a result, the users are losing their minds getting worked up over the changes they have not used yet. The new features have us all hyped about the changes we will witness and experience in the coming weeks. Apple has poured down a torrent of changes, security features, customizations, OS updates and whatnot!

With feature-rich content, let’s go eye in the sky and check out everything down the road!

On 7th June, as usual, the WWDC 2021 took place on Monday with a keynote address. Apple made use of this occasion to brag off a big bag of enhancements, security features, software updates, updates in tech development, and other services.

The whole Apple event emphasized all the new ways Apple applications will be able to interact with the other Apple devices, apps and a perpetual list of premium Apple services. Apple characterized itself as the app overload as all eyes (every eye) were on WWDC. Here is a list of key highlights from Monday’s event.

iOS Update

At the start of the show at WWDCs expected, iOS was the star of the show at WWDC. The operating system that powers the iPhone gets updated every fall, and on Monday, Apple gave its first look at the highly anticipated iOS enhancements coming to iOS 15.

FaceTime has saved us all from isolation last year and it is a vital feature and it is getting juiced up with some enhancements. The latest version will be a little bit more zoom-ey with the grid view for group calls. On top of that, this new update would highlight the person speaking and add voice isolation features rendering remote audio conversations feel more natural.

FaceTime is getting its wingman, SharePlay. This enhancement will synchronize the streaming content inside FaceTime and allow the users to watch real-time movies or listen to music while they talk. As usual, this ultimate combo works seamlessly with content from Apple Music and Apple TV+.

On top of that, there is good news for Android and Windows users. Finally, after years, non-iPhone users can join FaceTime calls now. Apple users can easily share a FaceTime link that can be opened in web browsers on Non-Apple devices. Furthermore, the Photos app is getting enhancements that use computer vision technology to recognize and effectively read the text within images.

AirPods Expands Its Usability

Although Apple did not provide any incentives to upgrade to the already expensive AirPods Pro or AirPods Max, these noise-cancelling headphones will witness significant enhancements in the new future. But as a current improvement, these headphones will serve as low-powered hearing aids.

People with mild-hearing losses will soon be able to use a ‘conversation boost’ mode. This mode uses audio processing in combination with the beamforming microphones on the headphones. With this new feature, people will be able to hear conversations more clearly and tune out the ambient background noises.

On top of that, both the pairs of noise-cancelling headphones support spatial audio via the Dolby Atmos. On a related note, TV os will also get spatial audio in the coming future. Users will be able to watch Apple TV in full surround sound with headphones plugged in. Other than that, both the premium headphones will benefit from Apple’s system-wide enhancements to the find-my network. There is now a proximity view that lets you

know when you are getting close. This exciting option shows a notification on your iPhone if you’ve left your headphones behind.

iPad Gets Even Better

For several years, the iPad has been a beloved device in the creative community. But for the data workers who spend half their day writing emails and working on the documents, the iPad has not been a very welcoming working environment. But the WWDC 2021 announced that Apple is working to eliminate every pitfall.

In the update, the iPadOS will get a multitasking menu that appears at the top of the screen. Using the small pop-up menu, users can take apps fulls creen, slide windows over to the side of the screen or create a split-view with multiple applications. With the new update, the users can now seamlessly switch between multiple apps in the split view just with a couple of swipes. These gestures will also work with keyboard shortcuts. The iPad can be a laptop replacement.

The Notes app gets more collaborative and with the ability to see the recent changes, the users can tag their colleagues in a shared document. Widgets also get updates in iPadOS and users can perform actions that make it easier to organize and manage the widgets on their home screen. Not least, the Translate app also gets juiced up with real-time spoken language translations across all the apps and web pages.

iWatch Gets Smarter,the Notes app gets more collaborative and with the ability to see the recent changes, the users can tag their colleagues in a shared document. Widgets also get updates in iPadOS and users can perform actions that make it easier to organize and manage the widgets on their home screen. Lastly, the Translate app also gets juiced up with real-time spoken language translations across all the apps and web pages.

iWatch Gets Smarter

WatchOS 8 gets the best out of the iWatch with the Breathe app. This app is quite an animation and the Reflect feature offers feel-good prompts. Your constant companion can now make you feel thankful for doping something great. The sleep-time tracking system helps you measure your respiratory rate.

The enhancement, Apple’s Fitness+ service includes a Tai Chi workout to reduce stress. Users can wave goodbye to stress with the introduction of a new trainer.

Lastly, the Photos app is getting an update on the Watch. This enhancement pulls out the images of your loved ones on your Watch. You can easily scroll through your memories, features highlights and share them with your friends without touching your iPhone. Get the best communication entirely from your wrist.

Monterey On Board

The new macOS update is Monterey and is aimed at device synergy. Users will be able to synchronize the apps more easily between different Apple devices. Universal Control is a highly anticipated feature and with it, the user can set the iPad near the Mac for double monitors. The trackpad and keyboard will work seamlessly across both screens.

Safari is also getting a facelift and would probably look like Chrome. Tabs will appear smaller and more compact and users will gain the ability to group the tabs together in the sidebar, maximizing the number to 250. Not only that but the tabs will also change colors to complement the visual theme of the page that is currently open.

Privacy Upgraded

Apple announced several security features for its products. One big enhancement coming to the Mail is the ability to block the tracking pixels in the emails that can expose the email activity. This feature veils your IP address from the email senders.

Privacy controls will be available to the Apple users who subscribe to the new premium version of iCloud. This new version is called iCloud+ and allows the users to complicate their location and destination in the browser.

The new update is an App Privacy Report that gives the users an overview of how often your downloaded apps are accessing other applications including camera, location, contacts, mic and other third-party apps.

Siri gets better with on-device speech recognition that lets the virtual assistant hear and execute several tasks such as setting alarms and switching to the Dark mode without you needing to send out the voice commands.

Lastly, the Wallet app will allow the users to store more sensitive cards.

tvOS 15 & HomeKit Updates

HomeKit and tvOS updates are two separate software platforms. These are more geared towards home. These new features can be fully deployed by smart home manufacturers as the voice assistant on their smart devices.

Users can also use Apple’s Home app on your Apple Watch as an intercom communication interface. This improves comfort and allows the users to unlock the door to the smart house. On the entertainment side, Apple’s HomePod Mini can be used as a part of a stereo setup if you are watching video content on Apple TV through a 4k box. Siri can pull up TV Shows and movies using HomePod Mini.

The spatial audio feature discussed above works well in this case too. The new SharePlay feature enables simultaneous video watching on multiple devices. In the case of FaceTime, the initial call takes place through FaceTime video but the ‘watch party’ happens through Apple TV.

Tech Enhancements For The Developer Community

As usual, Apple launched a plethora of features not just for its users, but also for the developers. Let’s witness the environment from a developer’s eye.

Swift

• Updating Apps to Use Swift Concurrency: Swift also received a few updates. The developers can improve the application performance by refactoring the code. This can be advantageous for the asynchronous functions in Swift.
• Concurrent Development:Developers can perform parallel development operations.

SwiftUI

• Mac App Development With SwiftUI: With the updates in the language, developers can easily develop engaging and pixel-perfect Mac apps using SwiftUI. This new update brings along a variety of UI elements including toolbars, sidebars and tables and other easy-to-incorporate elements.
• Breathe Pixel-Perfect Graphics Into Your Applications: Make the most out of the SwiftUI and add breathtaking background materials, customize graphics, animations, and vibrancy.

Xcode Cloud

Xcode helps the developer to configure the project to use Xcode CLoud. It makes it easy to refine your CI/CD. The IDE, Xcode also received tons of enhancements. Here is a glimpse!

• Xcode Cloud For Data Encryption: This feature allows the developers to automatically build and test the applications with Xcode to verify the changes and create high-end applications.
• CI/CD With Xcode Cloud: Xcode Cloud allows the developers to build apps and run automated tests in parallel. All this directly from the Xcode Cloud environment.
• Review Your Xcode Cloud Workflows: Workflows are the configurations of Xcode Cloud to perform development operations. that defines when Xcode Cloud runs a workflow.
• Xcode and macOS versions of the temporary build environment: You can configure several actions for a workflow. Developers can perform four different operations: build, analyze, test, and archive.

Great Time To Talk Business

With the WWDC 2021 creating a super buzz in the market, it is time to talk business. With Apple’s legacy going perpetual, businesses are strengthening their pillars with iOS development. iOS app development services are available in the marketplace, but getting the best tech development partner is not an easy job. On top of that, upskilling your employees is a time-consuming process.

With startups vying for better leads and enterprises plunging down their roots in the marketplace, it is extremely difficult to get a hold of the competition. This is where DRC Systems comes into the picture. With years of experience in iOS development, we have been assisting businesses that dominate several industries. Our talent pool of dedicated developers carries 8+ years of average experience in leveraging Swift for developing enterprise-grade iOS apps. Hire ios developers to get the most out of the Xcode platform. Call us right away and get a free consultation!