WWDC’21- Yay or Nay?
This is the first time I watched the WWDC event entirely and not just rely on the memes mocking Apple for exaggerating their features. Result? I was blown away! Yes, there were some instances where the feeling of “Why even are they bragging about this!? 😒” came up. But overall, the event was full of surprises for me.
Spoiler alert for those who were waiting for the new MacBook to be released- it was not. 😞
Since I am an avid user of MacBook, releases around macOS made me ecstatic. The next release of macOS will be called macOS Monterey!!
Universal control was definitely the most prominent feature. It expands continuity to an extent where using the keyboard and trackpad of your Mac, you can control your other Macs and iPads nearby. Is that all? No! You can easily switch between the devices and drag and drop something from one device to the second and second to the third thereby saving the hassle of airdropping. I imagine having Figma open on my mac while designing on another device, that would save the trouble!
In addition to this, there are two things I am most excited to use for day-to-day work in Monterey. Firstly, the Shortcuts-Shortcuts editor will allow linking a series of actions for pre-determined workflows. I expect it would enable me to open my IDE, Postman and play a song for me to set me in the mood for coding- all in a single click⁉️. Secondly, Safari redesign. I have always liked Safari because of its battery efficiency and performance unlike Chrome but end up using Chrome as it is more user-friendly and has more intuitive Developer Tools. Safari is getting a redesign making it more natural and uncluttered. Tabs will be more compact and lightweight and tab groups will be introduced. No apparent improvements for the developer tools but still good enough for browsing.
Shareplay will also be coming to Monterey along with iOS15. While on a FaceTime call, it will allow you to stream content (from partnered streamers like Disney+), play songs, add songs to a shared queue with your friends!
Talking about iOS15, FaceTime is also adding other features like voice isolation (distinguishing and prioritising speaker’s voice over background noises), portrait mode and sharing links to android users. Also, Messages app will be integrated into Photos/Apple music/Safari/other apps. This will mean, you can check up on a link later on Safari that a friend shared when it was not a good time and reference it back to the message to reply. Sounds pretty cool given that all apps would not get cluttered by the spam content.
My favourite feature of iOS15 would be the redesign of Photos Memories. Integration with Apple Music and use intelligence to sync the feel of memory with the song. So, pausing a memory will auto-adjust the pace of memory with the song and changing a song will change the feel of the memory. Words cannot do justice to how awesome the demo looked!
Live Text will also be a part of Camera and will be able to recognise text in a picture and take actions. It was not a surprise after using Google Lens all this time.🎃. Focus mode will allow customisable modes like a Work mode showing only work-related apps) and intelligent notifications (ordered by priority) will also be there in iOS15.
They also talked about various fascinating privacy updates. iCloud will allow one to add recovery contacts-in case one gets locked out and “Legacy contacts”- to carry forward the digital legacy in case one passes away. Private relay will let you browse on Safari without letting anyone access information about you or the sites you are visiting. Email Privacy Protection is also coming to Mail app that will give you a toggle to disable marketing emails to capture information about you like your IP address. Using Hide my email feature (in iCloud+), unique email addresses will be generated that will forward emails to your own email and can be deleted anytime. I see myself using this to fill up forms/register to websites where I am not really sure about using my primary email address. 👀
There were also features announced around watchOS 8, Home and Apple Maps along with iPadOS 15. For developers, APIs for SharePlay, Focus, RealityKit were also touched upon this year. Check out the details on their official website.
What was your favourite announcement? Share in the comments! 😎
