WWDC 2021: Catching up on Catching up

WWDC has come and gone but with no new hardware this year software was given a specific focus. Most of Apple's core OSes got updates with the main players being iPadOS, iOS, MacOS, and Watch OS. A few parts of the keynote really resonated with me and that's what I want to focus on. Here's are my favorite announcements from WWDC 2021.  

 
 

 iOS 

Apple's iOS 15 was announced at WWDC and with it some oddly specific and nice features. First of which are new notification hierarchy, now you can batch certain non-essential notifications and schedule a time to receive said notifications as a notification summary. Particularly useful especially for apps that send useless junk 95% of the time while sending something interesting that 5% you love. This new notification structure is also part of a new Focus mode in iOS that not only enables the notification batching but also allows you to create custom homepages so you can banish distracting apps to the app library.

 Having a status that appears throughout the ecosystem and in other places such as messages, spotlight search, and elsewhere is extremely useful. The number of times my productivity has been wrecked by an incoming message is uncountable so having a focus mode on your phone can help for those who struggle.  

Image Credit: Apple

Another huge change comes in various changes to Apple's video calling platform: FaceTime. Now new interface changes bring audio synchronization (with Apple music) via shareplay, video sharing (also via shareplay), and a grid view for more natural use on Windows and Mac. FaceTime is also grabbing noise isolation and background blur features similar to that of Zoom and Google meets. There's also a wide-spectrum sound mode that pipes in more noise which can be useful for someone who is soft-spoken (like me) or possibly someone talking far away or constantly moving. SharePlay is also an API that companies can use to build audio or video sharing into facetime call. 

Image Credit: Apple

 Audio seems to be limited to Apple Music for now but for video several services such as Disney+ and masterclass have already announced support. You can also now share FaceTime links that open in a web tab on Android and Windows; cross-platform support is limited to a web browser with no dedicated apps. I was personally hoping for RCS support on iMessage but being able to take part in FaceTime calls is a bit too late for Windows and Android users. 

Image Credit: Apple

At this point Google Meets and Zoom have replaced any situations where facetime might have made sense. FaceTime catching up to Meets and Zoom, although the effectiveness of these changes is yet to be seen, only matters to the people who haven't moved on.  

The last feature I wanted to highlight is the Live Text feature coming to iOS 15 and iPad OS 15. Live Text allows you to grab text from any photo via copy/paste. You can even search for this text across your Apple photo library for tracking down those whiteboard idea sessions. Honestly, this has been an option in Office lens and OneNote but having it integrated systemwide might be nice for people who need to search for their digitized physical Notebook notes.  

Image Credit: Apple

Image Credit: Apple

That was basically iOS 15 in a nutshell give or take some changes to iMessage, Apple photos, and Apple Maps. This update is less widgets, interface, design. Instead, the update is more refine, polish, fix. There are less iOS features as there is App features meaning that Apple is focusing on making their services better to keep their customers in the walled garden ecosystem. iOS isn't in need of catching up, their services are. From FaceTime to Apple photos Apple was getting their lunch thrown out the Windows (pun intended) of the software high school by the likes of Zoom and Google. These catch-up updates make sense to at least try to convince their users to give more Apple services a try. 

Image Credit: Apple

 

iPadOS

Another day, another multitasking UI paradigm, this year has brought some changes to the iPad in iPad OS. Multitasking has changed with the introduction of a new multitasking menu at the top of each app screen. Instead of the gesture from earlier versions of iPad OS we have a menu that allows you to tap into split screen, slideover, and even enable a shelf that displays separate windows from an app by minimizing them. The shelf stores those minimized windows for you to access later.

Image Credit: Apple

 Of course, I must wait before really judging the paradigm, but I feel like shelf is getting in the way of the dock. Placing on the side (or allowing you to change the location at will) would have allowed for less confusion between the shelf and dock. The new multitasking menu is great and hopefully the old gestures stick around for the touch-screen power users, but the shelf might need some more refining before it can become something I would want to use.  

 

Image Credit: Apple

 

Next up are widgets, where Apple has changed the way, you can position Widgets. Now you can place them anywhere on the home screen (yahoo?) which seemed like an oversight last year and a yawn this year. Moving on, we have the quick note feature. When you swipe on the corner of the display you now get a notepad to type or scribble down a "Quick Note" and then save it to Apple Notes for further consideration. Not a bad idea especially if you go organize and use those notes later. Apple notes itself also got mentions and tags along with an activity view. These features make me suspicious of Apple's ambitions with Apple Notes moving forward. Mentions are for collaborating with others and tags are for organizing even further. Apple isn't trying to beat Notion their trying to beat Evernote and OneNote. Combining these features for smaller tasks makes Apple Note more powerful for the veterans and more appealing for the casual users; makes sense to me.  

 

Image Credit: Apple

 

The last point I wanted to cover is the Swift Playgrounds update. Swift playgrounds received an update that now allows anyone to write and publish an iOS app to the Appstore using UI kit and Swift. I am loving this because it means that people with iPads can not only learn to code but also actually code. Of course, there's nowhere near the number of tools and features in XCode but it allows many future devs to get a solid start. It also gives me hope for increased pressure on Chrome OS for an Android Studio or really any decent code editor support.  

 

Image Credit: Apple

 

One last bit (because I have no sense of order) is a new redesigned safari with extension support. I think extensions have been long overdue for Safari and tab groups are also late but at least included. I'm not exactly exited for this, but I am excited for WebKit surviving because no matter how much I love Chromium I still hope that WebKit survives. Competition is necessary to avoid a plateau; WebKit and Safari surviving is just a bit more competition to drive Chromium forward.  

 

Image Credit Apple

 

MacOS

MacOS Monterrey is the latest name and location for Apple trusty macOS. Before we begin, I wanted to note that Apple didn't specify a version number for macOS Monterrey so the mystery of 11.1 vs 12 will continue until the betas release. Ongoing mystery aside the Mac feature that stole WWDC was universal control. For a more in-depth explanation The Verge released an excellent video explaining this feature that I'll link below.  

 
 

Universal control is basically a built in KVM switch between your iPad, Mac, and even another Mac. Sliding over your mouse to the right or left of your Mac screen will automatically adjust and if there's an iPad or mac with your iCloud account enabled it will send the mouse and keyboard input to and back from the Mac and iPad. The other part of universal control is drag-and-drop file transfers between your Macs and iPads. This is done basically much like Airdrop with Wi-Fi direct (universal control needs both devices to be on the same Wi-Fi network) or via a USB cable for the fastest possible speeds. Universal control isn’t groundbreaking but I'm starting to like how it works. 

Image Credit:Apple

 Much like handoff and continuity Apple is just using they Array of existing devices to your advantage. Being able to keep the systems of iPad and Mac separate yet united via one main machine (the Mac) not only is testing the individuality of an iPad; it's also testing the Mac. When people use universal control their testing just how much they need or want that, Mac. Working with the iPad, people are testing how much they need the iPad. Then in the middle you have the harmony Apple is envisioning, using both devices to their strengths, together. That harmony doesn't exist yet, but Universal control is a first step.  

Our second note is Safari for Mac getting about the same features as the iPad. Tab groups and the updated menu bar are arriving in macOS Monterrey. One feature I noted in the Safari part is that the tab bar at the top changes color based on the webpage. Apple might think this helps users but for me this might end up being confusing. This might seem childish however, as I browse, I rely on the constant appearance of the tab bar to transport me through the web, coloring this bar to each page would mess up my flow.  

Image Credit:Apple

Our last feature is Siri shortcuts coming to macOS. Apple made clear that Automator is making the transition to the Siri shortcuts app. All existing scripts can be imported and saved in the shortcuts app going forward. I'm trying to start automating parts of my workflow and Siri shortcuts do make sense for smaller tasks. However, I hope Apple expands the actual scope of Siri shortcuts because as a Web Developer I can understand the importance of having scripts to save you, your employer, and your colleague's time. Hanging on to Apple script automation is honoring the rich history of the Mac while also not alienating existing power users.  

Image Credit: Apple

Image Credit: Apple

Those were my highlights of WWDC, and I can't wait to see what the rest of 2021 holds in store for everyone.  

Best, BenTechCoder 

 

Want to support the channel and Blog? You can

 Buy Me a coffee with the button below!