iOS 18 to Apple Intelligence: Everything announced at WWDC 2024

Apple brought a number of new announcements to us at WWDC 2024, a large portion of which has to do with the software that powers the brands’ products. From the next iOS version for iPhones, to the next software step for the Apple Vision Pro.

Here’s a quick look at all the top Apple announcements from WWDC 2024.

visionOS 2

Apple kicked off the announcement with visionOS 2. The follow-up to the operating system from the Vision Pro last year, the new version now comes with more features like Spatial Photos in the Photos app, that lets you create 3D photos out of regular pictures. Spatial personas now let you see your friends as a 3D hologram.

The new ‘Mac Virtual Display’ feature lets you quickly and seamlessly make your Mac display bigger in virtual reality, taking it from a larger monitor to a super large ultrawide one. visionOS 2 also brings in new APIs for developers to implement into their apps, which is a big step because more apps the biggest development visionOS actually needs right now.

iOS 18

Apple is going big on customisation with iOS 18. App icons and widgets can now be placed anywhere in the grid, and app icons and folders also have a darker look when the phone is in dark mode. All icons can also be given a unique tint colour to go with your wallpaper (or contrast it).

ALSO READ: Evolution of the iPhone: How Apple built the poster boy for smartphones

A new Control Centre redesign now adds additional ‘pages’ in the Control Centre, allowing you to add in more controls, customise them to a much larger extent, and easily go to the exact page of controls you want. There is also a new API for developers, and the new controls can also be set in the lock screen as well as the Action Button on the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max.

Apps you want to keep private can now be locked with Face ID or Touch ID, while those you don’t want to show up on your home screen can now all be hidden and tossed into a hidden folder.

In the Messages app, tap-backs (the iMessage version of reactions) now work with all kinds of emojis, and text in iMessage can now be formatted (bold, italic, strikethrough). More animations also come to words you want to give extra attention to, and you cab now animate only certain portions of the message. You can also use satellite connectivity with the Messages app now on the iPhone 14 and later.

The Mail app meanwhile, now gets on-device categorisation, similar to the Gmail app. Categories include transactions and promotions, among others. However, this feature will be available later this year. The Maps app now shows detailed topographical maps, which can also be downloaded offline.

Tap to Cash in Apple Wallet is a quick way to pay with Apple Pay using an anonymous tap, similar to the NameDrop feature from iOS 17. iOS 18 is also finally bringing a dedicated Game Mode to iPhones, targeted at more framerates and lower latency with AirPods and gaming controllers.

The iOS Photos app also gets a major redesign, and finally brings some organisation to the app. The photo grid now occupies half of the screen, while auto-categorised folders are now on the bottom. You can also now filter out screenshots and see just your photos in the grids. New ‘Collections’ like Peoples and Pets now lets you see all photos of one person, as well as all photos of couples and groups of people.

tvOS and new AirPods features

Insight for Apple TV, and the Apple TV app on iPhones gets you more information on actors you’re watching in a movie or a show, while dialogues are now delivered with more clarity. There’s also support for 21:9 projectors, allowing you to watch movies in the resolution they were meant to be seen in.

AirPods now support more gestures, including nodding to receive a call, or shaking your head to decline. Voice Isolation on AirPods Pro removes background noise around you to deliver just your voice on a call, and cut unwanted noise. A new personalised Spatial Audio API will also let developers bring more 3D sound effects to other apps and games.

watchOS 11

Apple Watch models will now be able to show and track your ‘effort’ using various metrics and advanced algorithms. Efforts will be seen in the new Fitness app, which can now be customised to your liking, and supports rest days for days on which you just cannot work out.

Apple Watch also gets a new Vitals app, which brings all the health-related monitoring metrics in one place. Metrics will also be highlighted when they are out of range. Smart Stacks in the Apple Watch are also now intelligent to add new, relevant widgets automatically, like showing you precipitation details when it is about to rain.

Live activities also now come to the Smart Stack, with a new API for developers to bring the feature to their apps. watchOS 11 will also help you select the best photos for your watchface, and the time will now auto-align according to the subject in your picture.

iPadOS 18

Apart from most of the new features that come to iOS 18, like the redesigned Photos app, iOS 18 gets some new features. New animations and navigation options are present across the UI that makes productivity a breeze. Screen-sharing on SharePlay gets better with support for tapping and drawing on the screen.

ALSO READ: M4 iPad Pro to Apple Pencil Pro: Everything launched at Apple’s ‘Let Loose’ event

Apple is also finally bringing a calculator app to iPads. The larger app now also has more controls, and a history page for recent calculations. With an Apple Pencil, the calculator app also supports a new ‘Math Notes’ feature, which lets you write entire equations and solve them in real time, all with custom handwriting tailored to you. The feature also supports variables, allowing you to practically draw a mathematical problem and calculate a variable instantly.

A new Smart Script feature in Notes, makes note-taking even more intuitive, allowing you to do things like scratch your notes to erase sections, and more.

macOS Sequoia

The next macOS update brings features like Continuity, which now supports iPhone mirroring, allowing Mac users to see what’s going on on their iPhone, and use most of it (and the third-party apps on it), completely wirelessly. The feature also brings in iPhone notifications to your Mac. Meanwhile, the iPhone itself stays locked (or on standby) without anyone seeing what’s going on in the phone.

Other features include a tiled position for apps, that lets you multi-task more effectively. Screen sharing can now also be limited to particular apps instead of the whole screen. There’s even a new Passwords app that lets you organise all your passwords in one place. New Safari features include Highlights which can highlight important information on web pages in real-time.

For gamers, macOS Sequoia will also add in more titles like Control, and the upcoming Assassins Creed Shadows, right on launch day.

Apple Intelligence

Apple finally brings in generative AI features in a suite called Apple Intelligence, which will come to iOS 18, iPadOS 18 and macOS Sequoia. Apple Intelligence will understand and create language, images and actions to help assist users with day-to-day activities.

This includes writing tools that can be accessed system wide, including on third-party apps. You can also use Apple Intelligence for text-based image and animation generation, which can be used again, across all apps. Personal context also gathers multiple data-pointers from across apps to help you with daily activities. Most of these features work on-device, so none of your personal data leaves your device.

Apple Intelligence features will be available on all devices that have the A17 Pro chipset, or any of the Apple M-series chipsets. Meanwhile, Private Cloud Compute allows all the cloud-powered features of Apple Intelligence to be processed on private, remote servers. Apple also claims that independent experts can verify its claims of privacy when it comes to Private Cloud Compute.

The new features from Apple Intelligence will be available across all devices, and will be integrated into Siri, as well as several UI elements.

That was a recap of all the new announcements made at WWDC 2024. We will be exploring most of thenew updates and features in detail, so stay tuned to Unboxed by Croma for our full coverage.