WWDC 2018 | WWDC 2018 Live Blog

Here you will find our coverage of Apple's 2018 Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC 2018).

iOS 12

• Craig Federighi stated that the "focus of iOS 12 is on speed."
• iOS 12 will be available for all products running iOS 11, including those from 2013 like the iPhone 5S.
• Using the iPhone 6 Plus as an example, Federighi stated that apps launch up to 40% faster, the keyboard launched up to 50% faster, and sliding to the camera from the lock screen happens up to 70% faster.
  • Apps will launch up to 2 times faster under load

• Apple has created a new file standard for AR content, dubbed USDZ

  • This format enables AR content to be shared across compatible iOS devices
  • Adobe is among several companies that are "all-in" with USDZ.
  • Adobe's CTO, Abhay Parasnis, said that Adobe's Creative Cloud will now support the USDZ format.
    • Users can create AR content independently and then share it to iOS devices.

• There is a new iOS App dubbed "Measure," which aims to give accurate measurements of real-world objects via iOS's AR tech.
• Apple introduced AR Kit 2, which will enable multiplayer AR experiences between users of multiple compatible iOS devices.
  • Lego demonstrated this as two demonstrators played an AR game on the same table. AR content on one device was accurately displayed on the other.

Siri gets a bit smarter

• Siri can now respond to more keywords.
  • E.g., if you have a Tile attached to your keys and tell Siri, "I lost my keys," Siri will start ringing that Tile.

• Shortcuts - IFTTT for iOS
  • Shortcuts is essentially an integrated way to set up automatic actions, similar to IFTTT.
  • Shortcuts aims to allow users to simply set up a string of actions upon speaking a keyword to Siri.
  • Shortcuts integrates fully with iOS, allowing users to "drag and drop" apps into a list.
  • Upon speaking the shortcuts keyword to Siri, the iOS device will then execute all commands and apps listed in the Shortcut
  • Conspicuously missing is automated functions using other functions in the phone, like turning on smart appliances when your phone connects to your home WiFi network or opening a mapping app when your phone connects to your vehicle's Bluetooth. These are missing from Shortcuts.

 Updates to Core Apps

• Apple shows off updates to News app. Revamped for the iPad with a side nav bar. 
• The Stocks app is newly built from scratch and now integrates Apple News curated headlines. Stocks is now available on the iPad with iOS 12. 
• Voice Memos gets a facelift as well along with a new iPad app.
• iBooks gets renamed to Apple Books. Apple Books features a Reading Now view that shows an immersive view of where you've left off. 
• Car Play gets 3rd party navigation app support.

 Taking Control

• Apple, as rumored, is integrating features that allow users to better control the amount of time they spend on their phones.
• To that end, the Do Not Disturb feature has been retooled.
  • At bedtime, users can opt to mute notifications on their lock screen. When they check their phone during bedtime, all that will be displayed will be a dark screen with the time. Once the user chooses, they can re-enable notifications and will get a trickle of delayed notifications that occurred during the night.
  • There is now a timing feature for Do Not Disturb, allowing users to set a time limit before Do Not Disturb will turn off.

• Users can now stop all notifications for infrequently used apps
• iOS will finally support grouped notifications, a feature iPhone users have been demanding for years
  • Users will see all notifications for a single app grouped together.
  • These notifications can also be mass dismissed instead of removed one-by-one.

• Screentime is a new app that records phone use and creates a personalized report
• Users can now set time limits for app access. Once the time limit is reached, users will see a screen reminding them that they've hit their time limit. If needed, users can give themselves an extension.
• Users can also set app allowances, specifically targeted at children that use an iOS device.
  • Apps can be fully restricted, timed, or set to allow indefinite access.

Messages and Facetime get huge updates

• Stick out your tongue to your phone. Animojis get tongue detection and new faces - Tiger, Koala, Ghost and T-Rex 
• Create personalized animojis with Memojis with a variety of faces and characters.
• You can choose from a range of skin color options, facial features, and hair style and colors — all while previewing in real time. 
• Add new filters and effects and use your own Memoji in the Messages camera.
• Apple introduces group FaceTime — up to 32 simultaneous participants.
• Facetime is now integrated into Messages. 
• Person talking gets automatic prominence but can also be auto controlled by the user. Facetime camera has access to animoji, sticker packs, and memojis. 
• Group Facetime works on iPhone, iPad and Mac while Apple Watch has access to audio.

Watch OS 5

• Apple is updating their WatchOS to version 5 with a few new features
• The fitness app now supports more workouts, like Yoga, hiking, and outdoor running
  • WatchOS 5 has automatic workout detection so that it can award workout credit if you forgot to start a workout and suggest that it stops recording a workout when it think the workout is done.
  • Users can start "competitions" using the Activity app.

• WatchOS 5 introduces "Walkie-Talkie," a push-to-talk feature.
• The Siri watch face is getting some small tweaks, including support for sports information, mapping, and more third-party apps. The new Shortcuts feature in iOS 12 will also be supported.
• The "Hey Siri" phrase is no longer needed to activate Siri. Users can simply raise their wrist, and Siri will start listening.
• Notifications can now support interactive functionality, such as checking in for a flight or pushing back a dinner reservation.
• Podcasts are now supported on WatchOS 5.
• Students can now add their student ID card to the Wallet app, which will then integrate the ID into WatchOS 5. University support is small now but should grow in the near future.

tvOS

• Apple TV business grows 50% YoY.
• iTunes has the largest category of 4K and 4K HDR titles.
• Apple TV 4K gets support for Dolby Atmos. 
• Apple TV streaming player is certified for both Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision. iTunes library will automatically update to Dolby Atmos content as and when available.
• Apple TV app now adds live sports and live news. Now boasts more than 100 TV channels. 
• Apple is working with Canal+ to bring TV content for users in France. Partnerships with Salt and Charter Spectrum in the US on the anvil. Content will also be available on the Apple TV app on iPhone and iPad.
• Zero Sign-On — Automatically unlock all supported apps on supported TV services such as Charter Spectrum.
• Apple TV remote will be automatically added to the iPhone X control centre.
• Aerials now has info about locations in the stream, shows off some photos taken from the International Space Station.

MacOS

• MacOS 10.14 will be called "Mojave" (pronounced moh-HAHV-ay).
• Mojave now integrates a system-wide Dark Mode that extends into all apps.
• Supported wallpapers can be set to dynamically update throughout the day.
• Desktop Stacks will organize all icons into a grouping defined by the user, like file type. These stacks will then expand once clicked.
• Finder now supports a “Gallery” view that displays a large thumbnail in most of the window with a scrolling ribbon along the bottom.
• Finder also includes more metadata in the right-hand Sidebar.
• Quick Look now integrates markup
• Users can now use their iPhone to take a photo and directly enter it into an open document on their Mac. This can also be used for scanning objects.
• Users can now capture video natively through MacOS's Screenshot feature.

New app experiences on macOS Mojave

• News, Stocks, and Voice Memos are coming to the Mac. 
• Drag Voice Memos into Garage Band for easy recording.
• Home is now available on macOS Mojave for controlling your smart home appliances.
• Mojave extends privacy control to Camera, Microphone, and Mail database for any app on the system.
• Safari offers more control over which webpage elements can access your data.
• Mojave makes it harder for online trackers — most of the information about your computer is obfuscated and it looks like any other Mac on the Internet. 

The Mac App Store, revisited

• The Mac App Store has been fully redesigned. The UI looks more similar to the iOS App Store, and content within app descriptions is more interactive
• Microsoft's Office365, Adobe's Lightroom CC, and more are coming to the Mac App Store

Technologies - Metal and UIKit on MacOS

• Create ML allows developers to create new apps that can be enhanced with Metal, Apple's graphics API.
• As an example, Memrise has cut xCode environment "training time" from 24 hours to 48 minutes.
• Core ML 2, Apple's API for on-device machine learning, is 30% faster. Model sizes are up to 75% smaller. Core ML 2 is targeted to push machine learning to more developers.
• Apple confirmed that they are NOT merging MacOS and iOS.
• That said, Apple stated that pieces of UIKit, the SDK used to build iOS apps, will integrate into MacOS in 2019.
  • This will allow developers to more easily integrate iOS apps into MacOS by translating UI elements to Macbooks and iMacs.
  • It still remains unsaid whether iOS apps will be able to run natively within a shell/VM environment or if these will merely be ports of iOS apps.
  • This will not be available to the public until 2019.

Developer betas for all the new software announced today will be available to developers later today. These updates (iOS 12, macOS 10.14) will be available this fall.

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