Apple WWDC 2021 highlights: iOS 15, watchOS 8 and more

US tech major Apple on Monday (June 7) made a lot of announcements related to software running its products at the ongoing virtual World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC) event June 7-11, which was streamed live from the company's Cupertino HQ.

Apple CEO Tim Cook kicked off the programme with a keynote speech and was followed by senior vice president Craig Federighi describing new features starting with the iOS 15.

Apple iOS 15
First up, the FaceTime app gets an upgrade. With Added support for spatial audio, voice will be more natural on video group chat on Apple devices than ever before. It will be enabled by the new microphone mode, which can separate the user’s voice from background noise. Also, with advancements in selfie cameras in the iPhones, FaceTime will make good use of it to offer Portrait mode. It is specifically for video calls, so users can blur their background and put themselves in focus.

Another notable aspect of FaceTime is that for the first time ever, it will extend beyond Apple devices. With the new schedule FaceTime feature, users can create schedules and send invite links not just to other iPhones, iPad, or Mac, and share them through Messages, Calendar, Mail, but also to third-party apps including Android and Windows devices. But, the people with the latter two can join FaceTime via browser apps Chrome or Edge only.

Furthermore, Apple is introducing SharePlay through FaceTime. This will let users on the video call share songs together with Apple Music, watch a TV show or movie in sync, or sharing their screen to view apps together. Shared playback controls let anyone play, pause, or jump ahead. Users can extend playback to Apple TV, and watch it on their TV while sharing the moment with friends and family connected over FaceTime. SharePlay also lets users share their screens for browsing the web together.

With iOS 15, Apple is introducing the Focus feature. It will allow users to set the device into working, sleeping, do not disturb, and driving mode. There is also a custom option to name the mode too. Users can set the pre-written message to reply to friends according to the mode set on the iPhone. Also, users can create Home Screen pages with apps and widgets that apply to moments of focus to only display relevant apps and reduce temptation.

The new iOS update will come with redesigned notification feature. To help reduce distraction, Apple says that a new notification summary collects non-time-critical notifications for delivery at a more opportune time, such as in the morning and evening.

With the on-device intelligence, notifications are arranged by priority, with the most relevant notifications rising to the top, and based on a user’s interactions with apps. Urgent messages will be delivered immediately. Users can temporarily mute any app or messaging thread for the next hour or for the day.

Apple iOS 15 will bring Live Text feature to iPhone. With this users will be able to copy-paste text, numbers on a photo or banner to either search on Safari or call the mobile number.

With the iOS 15, Apple Wallet will support digital keys including state ID for the airport security check-in, and also integrate with third-party hotels and home security apps to unlock hotel room, home, and even securely pass-through office security door.

Redesigned Safari takes on the colour of the webpage and also, it can combine tab, the toolbar, and the search field into a single, compact display mode. It will come with new Tab Groups that offer a new way to easily save and manage tabs separately for planning trips, shopping, or storing frequently visited tabs.

Key features of iOS 15. Credit: Apple

With the help of on-device intelligence and ultra-sensitive sensors, iPhone's Health app is capable of calculating Walking Steadiness to tell the owner if they are walking properly and also can be able to predict if he/she is prone to suffer a fall in near future.

Apple iOS 15 brings new Photos to feature that will use on-device intelligence to help users identify objects within a photo, such as a type of flower or dog breed.

Also, Spotlight now adds the ability to search the Photos app and web images and has all-new rich results for contacts with context like recent conversations, shared photos, and their location if shared through Find My.

Leveraging Live Text, Spotlight makes it easy to look up a photo of a public transit map, receipt, or a screenshot of a cooking recipe, the company said.

The new iOS 15 brings a new accessibility feature-- VoiceOver screen-reader app. It uses on-device intelligence to explore objects within images, enabling users to discover more details about the people, text, table data, and other objects within images. Support for third-party eye-tracking hardware enables users to control iPad using only their eyes.

Apple iOS 15 will be available to Phone 6s and newer models later this year as a free update in September.

Apple iPadOS 15
In addition to the aforementioned iOS 15 features, the iPadOS 15 will offer bigger widget options for better viewing on the tablet's large screen.
Just like the iOS 14, Apple is bringing App Library that keeps similar apps into an automated group for easy access to less often used apps on the iPad.

With the iPadOS 15, the multitasking experience on the iPad is going to get better than ever before. It is bringing a new simple menu and it appears at the top of apps. This will let users go into Split View or Slide Over with just a tap.

Users will be able to quickly access the Home Screen when using Split View, making it easier to get to the right app. Using the new shelf, they can also multitask with apps that have multiple windows like Safari and Pages, as well as quickly preview emails.

The new iPadOS 15 brings all-new keyboard shortcuts and a redesigned menu bar. Users can quickly set up and switch between Split View and Slide Over with new shortcuts for multitasking right from the keyboard.

The iPadOS 15 is coming with a new Quick Notes app. Users will be able to summon the Notes app from easily on top of the already opened apps and jot down important notes and quickly push it in the background and continue work on another app. Also, users can type hashtags (#) on top while writing notes on the app. And, he/she wants to see the latter, users can type the hashtag on the spotlight feature and be able to find the right notes in quick time. It works even the Photos app.

Key features of the new iPadOS 15. Credit: Apple

Apple is finally bringing the much-awaited Translate app to its tablets with the iPadOS. When using the Translate app, Auto Translate detects when someone is speaking, and in which language, so users can converse naturally without having to tap a microphone button. With Live Text feature, users will also be able to translate in their native language in quick time.

Like the iOS 15, the iPadOS 15 will support a voice-over screen reader. Also, Apple is bringing support for third-party eye-tracking hardware that enables users to control iPad using only their eyes.

However, the wait for a calculator app still continues to be elusive for iPad users.

Apple's new iPadOS 15 will support the iPad with A12 Bionic and newer models.

Apple's Find My app will now support AirPods Pro and AirPods Max. The company is also introducing a new Find My widget, which offers an at-a-glance view directly from the Home Screen. It will come with both the iOS 15 and iPadOS 15.

Both the iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 offer Mail Privacy Protection, where-in it stops senders, particularly business companies from learning whether an email (containing ads) has been opened, and also hides IP addresses so senders can’t learn a user’s location or use it to build a profile on them.

Also, they will start showcasing App Privacy Report for users to understand which apps (those allowed to track) are active in sending user details to respective servers and what information (such as location, photos, camera, microphone, and contacts) is being sent with timestamp details for the last seven days.

For the first time ever, Siri will work without an internet connection. This will put an end to companies recording audio bytes and storing them in cloud storage to offer better responses to voice commands. Going forward, the audio will remain in the iPhone/iPad, and based on on-device intelligence (thanks to advanced Apple's Silicon chipset paired with a powerful neural engine), Siri will be able to deliver better results to the query than before.

Except for browsing the web, users can ask Siri to perform tasks such as setting multiple timers, open an app, call a person, or do other stuff.

Also, Siri also adds Announce Notifications on AirPods, the ability for users to share what’s on their screen just by asking, and more.

Apple iCloud Plus
Apple also announced new iCloud Plus service. It will offer premium services such as Hide My Email, expanded HomeKit Secure Video support (CCTV recording stored to iCloud), and an innovative new internet privacy service, iCloud Private Relay. It is similar to a Virtual Private Network (VPN) feature that hides the identity of the user and even the device, by diverting internet traffic through two relay systems, obscuring your information even from Apple.

Apple says that the Current iCloud subscribers will be upgraded to iCloud+ automatically this September with no additional cost. All iCloud+ plans can be shared with people in the same Family Sharing group.

In India, iCloud+ plans start with Rs 75 per month. It offers 50GB with one HomeKit Secure Video camera. With Rs 219/month and offers 200GB with up to five HomeKit Secure Video cameras. There is another plan that costs Rs 749 per month and it offers 2TB with an unlimited number of HomeKit Secure Video cameras.

Apple watchOS 8
With the new watchOS 8, users will be able to control Apple Home kit-supported IoT (Internet-of-Things) devices on Apple Watch easily than before,

The new software brings support for two more activities-- Tai Chi and Pilates-- tracking capability. The popular Breathe app will now be called as Mindfulness app and will have a more vibrant and animated breathing exercise display on the Watch.

Also, the Mindfulness app comes with a new Reflect session, where users will be asked to think pleasant for a moment to destress. For instance, the user may see something like “Recall a time recently when you felt a sense of calm. Bring that feeling into this moment,” or “Reflect on one thing you’re grateful for and think about why you appreciate it so much.

Furthermore, watchOS 8 allows portrait Watch faces so that users can put the picture with the Bokeh blur effect as the watch face. Also, people will be able to attach a photo or a GIF with a message right from the Apple Watch.

Key new features of the watchOS 8. Credit: Apple

Also, watchOS 8 will enable the Apple Watches to make full use of the accelerometer to track respiratory rate, which is the number of breaths per minute while sleeping, giving further insights into the owner's sleep pattern and overall health.

The new watchOS 8 will be available for Apple Watch Series 3 and later models.

Apple macOS 12.0 Monterey
Like the new iPadOS 15, Shortcuts is coming to the new macOS Monterey for Macs. Shortcuts on Mac lets users quickly accomplish tasks with the apps they use the most. With a rich gallery of pre-built actions designed just for Mac, users can instantly share files, make animated GIFs, and more. Power users looking to take things further can use the Shortcuts Editor on Mac to customise shortcuts to match their workflows

The most notable feature is the Universal Control. It lets users work with a single mouse and keyboard and move between Mac and iPad for a seamless experience, with no setup required.

Users can even drag and drop content back and forth between devices — great for sketching a drawing with Apple Pencil on an iPad and placing it into a Keynote slide on the Mac.
Apple is also bringing popular AirPlay feature to the Macs. With this feature, users can play, present, and share just about anything — from the latest movies and games to vacation photos and presentations — from their iPhone or iPad right to their Mac’s stunning Retina display.

Key new features of macOS Monterey. Credit: Apple

Like the iOS/iPadOS 15 series, macOS Monterey is bringing SharePlay, FaceTime with Spacial Audio support, Tab groups on Safari, Quick Notes app, interactive globe on Maps, Live Text features, security features to Macs.

Having watched the long Apple WWDC 2021 presentation, two words come to mind and its 'deeper integration'. The company has gone to great lengths to make its products iPhone, iPad, AirPods, HomePods, Apple TV and Macs work better together than ever before. This means the proverbial high-walled garden of Apple has grown another meter taller, making it tougher for people to switch to Android or Windows ecosytem.

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