Apple have just wrapped up their WWDC event and there was a whole lot announced, so in case you missed it, here is everything major you need to know about WWDC 2021.
Now just in case you didn’t know that WWDC is usually based on announcements on all of the new software features and super rarely on hardware, so calm down people and let’s get started with what’s new, especially for us users here in Malaysia.
iOS 15
First up was iOS 15.
iOS 15 seemed to be more of an incremental update compared to iOS 14 but it still brought along a whole lot of new features and the first was an update to FaceTime.
Apple announced this new feature called SharePlay which allows you to listen to songs on Apple Music in sync with the people on a Facetime call.
Now, I think the coolest part about SharePlay is that this will also work with videos so you can stream movies with your friends on call. Pretty cool huh?
Another really good feature in FaceTime however was the new Facetime Links feature. Now just like with Zoom and Google Meet you can now share a link for a facetime call and the nice part about this is that it also works with Android and Windows.
So, If you share the link with someone who has an Android device or a Windows PC, they will now be able to join your facetime call through their web browser. Finally!
The next big new feature was the new redesigned notification experience.
The notifications on iOS have now been redesigned and have a flatter design language to it. It also adds contact photos for people and larger icons for apps.
Then Apple has also introduced a new Notification Summary which collects the non-critical notifications and delivers them as a summary at a better time. It is a pretty cool feature as it uses device intelligence to arrange the notifications by priority and your most relevant notifications will be pushed to the top.
Urgent messages on the other hand will be delivered to you immediately to ensure that important communications do not end up in the summary. There are also new focus modes which allow you to better customise what notifications you get.
So overall, I feel this is a welcome change as it makes notifications on iOS a whole lot better and definitely cleaner as well.
There were also a lot of small changes in iOS 15 such as a redesigned spotlight page, a redesigned weather app and new privacy features, as well as Live Text on the photos app which allows you to copy text on photos similar to Google Photos.
AirPods
So this time around, AirPods had its own section in the keynote and the first new feature was “Conversation boost”.
This super cool and thoughtful feature is to help people with “mild” hearing problems. It zooms in on a voice, and there are sliders to reduce ambient noise.
Then the Announce Notifications is also coming to the AirPods, so Siri will now be able to announce your notifications to you and this works with the different Focus modes on notifications as well.
AirPods now also have support in the Find My network and you can get a separation alert if you forget them.
Other new features include Spatial Audio coming to tvOS with your Airpods and dynamic head tracking “as you move around the room” which will also come to M1-powered Macs. Dolby Atmos is also coming to Apple Music.
So since I just got the Airpods Max I can’t wait to test out all of these cool features and more once it’s available.
iPadOS 15
Next is iPadOS 15.
So with iPad OS 15, there is a feature I have been looking forward to, which is widgets anywhere on the home screen.
Now with the new update, you can now place widgets anywhere on the home screen similar to the iPhone and the app library also makes its way over.
This is great because I always felt that this was missing from the iPad as it made it less customizable than the iPhone but Apple have now finally brought it over.
Other small changes to the iPad also include the Translate app also being brought to the iPad and better multitasking abilities as well with split view on the iPad now being much easier to access, thanks to better keyboard shortcuts.
watchOS
Having used the Apple Watch Series 6, I was also eager to see what’s new for the watchOS 8.
The first update to the Apple Watch is the Breathe app which has been enhanced with a new animation.
There’s also a new “Reflect” feature to be “more mindful” during a day and of course to reduce stress as well.
So yes…I definitely need that.
In terms of watch faces, there is a new “Portraits” watchface which uses the segmentation data to create depth — puts the face subtly above the clock itself. You can scroll the digital crown to enlarge the face on your watchface.
Then there is now also a new photos app in watchOS 8 which has a new mosaic layout and allows sharing photos directly via Messages or Mail.
Speaking of message communicating on the Apple Watch is even easier as now you can combine scribble, dictation and emoji directly from the app which was also really sweet.
And since I do wear my Apple watch to sleep, the new Sleeping Respiratory Rate gives better analysis by now tracking the sleeping respiratory rate, which is the number of breaths per minute, which gives a better quality reading of your sleep.
macOS
Next up, probably the announcement I was looking forward to the most, which is the macOS.
So the new version of macOS is called macOS Monterey and since macOS Big Sur was a major overhaul of the Mac, this update, just like iOS 15 is an incremental one as well.
The first new feature was Universal Control.
Now this is why I feel the Apple Ecosystem is a really well built ecosystem as with Universal Control – you can now work with a single mouse to move between your iMac, Mac and iPad which provides for a seamless experience.
This is so cool to me as I can use my iPad as a second display so easily thus having the best productivity.
Safari also has a new design for tabs. There is a new tab and window management system on Safari. Tabs are more compact and they are shuffled up into the toolbar and there are new tab groups.
The tab bar and the URL are now combined with the search field being built into the tab with tab groups now placed in the left-sidebar menu, each with their own set of horizontal tabs.
—
Alright guys, these are all the major new features that were announced at WWDC 2021 but if you are interested in finding out everything you might have missed, do check out my other posts about WWDC here on my blog!
With this, do let me know what your favorite feature is in the comments down below. Thank you!
