Whats new from Apple - iOS, iPad OS, WatchOS, macOS Big Sur, AirPods pro updates

On June 22nd, Monday, Apple kicked off its 5-day all-online Worldwide Developers Conference. Between the live stream and on-demand, across all platforms, including the Apple Developer app, tens of millions of people have watched the WWDC20 Keynote. Developers around the world streamed 200+ engineering sessions. Tim Cook started off the event with the announcement of iOS 14, followed by a plethora of other software updates around TVOS, WatchOS, Mac OS, and iPad

iOS14

iOS14 is available in preview mode for developers, and the public beta is expected in July.

Picture in picture video - it’s a feature available for iPad since iOS 9, is now coming to iPhone users. This feature allows users to use other apps while watching videos, and it will continue playing the videos in a small pop-up, which you can move around the screen. It is perfect for users who want to do multitasking while watching videos in the background. 

App Library and Widgets in iOS 14. Image Source: Apple

App Clip - with iOS 14, users can pop-up a demo version of an app on-demand without requiring installation manually. This version will only offer necessary or essential features to know the app’s purpose before installing it. Google Play store announced the same feature in 2007: instant apps, which you can stream to your device and try out without installing them first. 

App Library - a new home screen that will showcase all the apps that users use the most by automatically categorizing. It's also sorts your apps based on the usage, and this new page will appear as a last page (keep swiping your app screens to see).

Widgets - widgets can now live on the home screen next to app icons.

Maps - Apple is adding cycling directions with bike lanes and hills, along with directions for electric vehicle owners to find nearby charging locations.

Siri - the interface is getting a significant overhaul, and it won’t require a full screen anymore. Keeping speed and privacy in mind, Apple decided to convert speech to text locally on the device.

CarPlay is getting new wallpaper options and new apps focusing on parking, charging, and food ordering. Apple is talking to BMW to allow you to use your phone as a key. 

WatchOS7

Apple watch is also getting some new features:

Dance mode - Apple watch would be the first fitness tracker to identify dance as an activity and track user’s calories. 

New Apple Watch features. Source: Apple

Hand Wash detection - WatchOS7 will also detect hand washing as an activity (much needed in the current pandemic situation) of the user. Apple Watch will notify users that they have successfully washed their hands for 20 seconds without setting anything. The accelerometer will track appropriate motions, and the microphone will listen for the sounds of scrubbing. The countdown timer starts when it detects scrubbing and will let you know whether you’ve done it for a full twenty seconds or not.

Sleep tracking - Apple watch can now track sleep automatically with Apple WatchOS7.

Face sharing - now, you can share your watch face setup with others through Messages, Mail, and Safari.

iPad OS updates:

In addition to iOS14 features, iPad OS is also getting a few new features:

Scribble - the Apple Pencil now has the power to touch every corner of the iPad screen. Now you can type in any text field directly without having to put the pencil down. 

New search UI - Apple had completely redesigned search UI for iPad. Just like Siri, it’s no longer full screen and can search deeper into apps like Keynote, Messages, Mail, etc.

AirPods pro

iOS 14 has brought new features to AirPods pro as well:

Smart Switching - now AirPods can automatically switch between the devices. If you are listening to a song on your iPad with your AirPods and receive a call on your iPhone, then the AirPods will automatically connect to your iPhone.                      

AirPod’s Spatial Audio. Source: Apple

Spatial Audio - AirPod’s built-in accelerometers can detect your head's position and make the audio fixed to the real world around you. Also, it can adjust the sounds according to the environmental noises.

Smart Charging - to improve battery life, Apple now integrated Smart Charging into AirPods, which will automatically stop charging at 80%.

macOS Big Sur

The next Mac OS will be called "Big Sur", and it is adopting some ideas from iOS:

Control center - just like iOS, macOS will now have a drop-down in the right-hand side of the screen. In one place, you can access brightness, volume, WiFi controls, and many more.

Notifications center - same as the previous, this is also similar to iOS. Now you can view all the notifications in one view and is easier to clean out a lot of notifications at once.

Safari - similar to Chrome, Safari can monitor your saved passwords to see whether they have been exposed to breaches. 

Bye Bye Intel

As expected, Apple is switching its MacBooks from Intel chips to in-house custom ARM architecture-based A-series processors, which now powers iPhone, iPad, and Watch lineups. Apple claims this will bring a whole new level of performance while consuming less power. With its chipsets, Apple can improve the security of its MacBooks, and it can also push the envelope to achieve increased battery life. 

Cover image - New iOS features. Image source: Apple

A version of this article was originally published on AZIndiaTimes.com (online and printed edition).

Note: Opinions expressed here are solely my own and do not express the views or opinions of my employer.

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