Every year the Apple launch event has a huge turnout, fight for the best seats, and hours of wait for the event to commence. This year stands as an exception as the COVID-19 pandemic stalled all plans. This time, the Apple WWDC Event 2020 was streamed live on YouTube, reaching millions of fans and developers around the world through their screens.
The Apple WWDC event is held in June every year and is attended by developers from all around the world. It was cancelled this year due to the coronavirus. Later, Apple announced it will host the WWDC event online in an “entirely new format.”
As the yearly WWDC Event keynote ritual, this year also Tim Cook started the keynote talking about this year’s innovations. He said, “We have not stopped innovating”. He also talked about the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement and Apple’s ‘Racial Equity and Justice Initiative’ to support the movement. Tim also talked about the COVID-19 pandemic and thanked health care workers at the frontline of the pandemic.
iOS 14 Features Announced
After the keynote, Craig Federighi, Apple’s Senior Vice President took over the stage to talk about the iOS 14. App Library was the first feature he announced which is a new folder system to arrange applications neatly. The new feature will allow users to hide some apps, it also has a search option to access apps quickly.
New widgets were announced for iOS 14, these widgets can now be added to the home screen. Apple’s home screen has been pretty much similar since the first iOS. Now adding widgets will change the look of the home screen.
Smart Stack Widget will automatically suggest the relevant widgets on the home screen.
The next ‘picture-in-picture’ feature will allow the video playing on screen to continue playing in a small window on the Apple iPhone. The ‘Translate’ feature which supports offline translation for languages along with a completely new design for Siri was announced.
A lot of new emojis along with customization options including a mask and new option to pin messages in the stock messaging apps were also announced. ‘Inline messages’ are now finally added in the new iOS, which enables the option to reply to individual messages and mention specific people along with a new group message icon.
Apple spoke about Carplay, Apple ‘in-car entertainment’ platform, and another feature of using the iPhone as your car key. The car key feature will work on a new BMW model upcoming next month. ‘App Clips’ is the new feature to quickly run an app without installing it. App clips stay as long as one wants to use them.
iPadOS 14
Apple announced iPadOS 14 with new features. Sidebar features will help to use the iPad screen better with Mac OS like the sidebar and quick access option. Apple pencil is now improved with features like scribble, improved handwriting recognition, scratch to delete, smart selection, copy, cut, paste option.
Incoming calls on the iPad will now show up at the top in a small window unlike the whole screen earlier.
The new improved search on iPadOS will allow searching within apps and on the Web.
The whole new features focus on better use of the iPad’s large screen.
New Airpods
Apple unveiled a new update for its AirPods. The new feature called ‘automatic switch’ will allow the user to switch between multiple Apple devices quickly. If you get a call on your iPhone while you’re using an iPad, this option allows a quick switch to the incoming call.
The new ‘Spatial audio feature’ will provide impressive sound quality for the users.
WatchOS 7 unveiled
Apple announced watchOS 7 with multiple new features. The watchOS 7 can allow users to configure and customize faces. A ‘New Chronograph’ watch face is added. Users can share ‘Watch Faces’ with friends, get it curated from the App store, websites, or social media.
The activity app is redesigned and called ‘Fitness’ where the user can track dance workouts.
The ‘Wind Down’ feature will help the user to get in bed at the set time, with the option to set up shortcuts like an alarm. Using machine learning and automatic detection, the Apple watch will tell the user if s/he washed hands for 20 seconds or not.
Mac OS ‘Big Sur’ announcement
Mac OS 11 official name is ‘Big Sur’, a new and completely redesigned Mac OS. New Control Centre, redesigned buttons, new basic controls such as dark mode, night shift, Wi-Fi, etc. New application windows with colour schemes, transparency effects, and rounded corners. A whole new set of navigation tools like the menu bar, full-height sidebar, a new floating dock etc. were introduced.
The new OS will have sliders, checkboxes, redesigned sheets, updated sounds, and symbols. Buttons will now appear and disappear on the application window as menu bar items are now more spaced out.
The new Big Sur Mac OS is the most comprehensive change to Mac OS design released till now.
According to Apple, ‘Safari’s’ JavaScript performance is better and loads page 50 percent faster than the Chrome browser. The Safari browser will get new privacy features and a privacy report button on the tab to show who is tracking when clicked.
After developing high-performance chipsets for iPhones, Apple will now switch its Macs to its A-series chips. The company wants to reduce its dependence on Intel for its Macs and developed its own processors.
Desktop and laptop need high power consumption for better performance. Apple claims that Mac computers will be able to deliver high performance while consuming low power.
Apple announced ‘Universal 2’ a platform that will allow developers to make new advances for both Apple’s silicone-based Macs as well as existing Intel-based Mac computers with new models for customers who want Intel-based Macs. Talking about the new processors and announcing the continuation of Intel Tim Cooks said, “you will see some Macs now come with Apple’s chipsets, there will be new Intel Macs too.”