Yesterday ended the first day of the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), and with the outbreak continuing to spread throughout the world, this year's conference is completely hypothetical, including the company's annual keynote address.
And if you cannot watch the live broadcast, you can follow the following from the most prominent points covered in the first day, according to each category.
IOS 14:
The next version of the iOS operating system will be released in preview mode for developers today, with a public beta expected sometime in July.
A new home screen page will appear after hovering over the final page of apps. The system will automatically categorize and sort all of your applications, while highlighting the applications that you use frequently.
The new Apple Maps will be released later this year in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Canada. The maps will also soon get biking directions (in New York City, the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, Beijing, and Shanghai in the beginning) that consider things like bike lanes and hills, along with the directions of owners of electric vehicles that influence things like Battery range and charging locations.
The CarPlay app gets new wallpaper options, along with a host of new built-in apps that focus on things like parking, charging, and ordering food. Meanwhile, Apple is working with a few auto makers (including BMW) to allow you to use your phone as a key.
IPad OS:
The Apple iPad operating system will get most of the above features along with iOS 14, but it will also get some new tricks of it like:
New "General Search": Apple has updated its iPad user interface so that it is no longer in full screen mode, and it is now possible to delve deeper into applications such as Keynote, Messages, Mail, and Files.
The handwriting recognition feature will now work in any location that requires writing, allowing you to take a quick note without having to put the pen in the case of writing. You can also draw random shapes (such as stars, polygons, and arrows) and make them automatically switch to more organized shapes, and draw by computer by installing the Apple Pen (pen) for a short time when you're done drawing.
Airpods:
AirPods can now automatically switch between multiple devices. Play a video on your iPad, and you will hear this sound from AirPods, and if you receive a call on iPhone, AirPods can switch automatically accordingly.
Apple Watch:
You can now automatically detect the time you sleep, record this data and help you track your sleep schedule over time. This watch can also detect the time you wash your hands, using the accelerometer to search for related movements and the microphone to listen to the wash sounds. And when it detects that you are wiping your hands, it can automatically start the countdown timer to help make sure you've completed 20 full seconds.
Privacy changes:
The new iOS will now display an on-screen indicator when an application reaches the microphone or camera, and application developers will now have to provide simplified “profiles” of user data that they track and / or share with third parties. These summaries will now appear before downloading to the iOS / Mac OS app stores.
Mac OS:
The next version of the Mac OS will be called Big Sur and will include some tweaks that will make it somewhat similar to the iOS operating system (such as square icons rounded via the built-in suite of applications).
By borrowing an idea from iOS, Mac OS will now have a drop-down menu at the top right of the screen, providing one-click access to display brightness, sound, dark mode, Wi-Fi controls and more.
The Notification Center is also cleaned as notifications / gadgets were fetched in one unified view, while facilitating the scanning of many notifications at once.
The Safari web browser can now monitor saved passwords to search for those that may have been violated. Meanwhile, the "Privacy Report" button breaks what is known about the data being tracked by the site you are currently browsing.
Apple is transforming from Intel processors into custom ARM-based CPUs that are domestically designed, as it has for years across its products like the iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch. The company says this will bring a "whole new level of performance" with less power consumption, and iOS applications will be able to run on a Mac.