Apple announced some big changes at WWDC in San Francisco today. iOS 10 got a few significant updates, including more interactive Messages and a more useful Siri. Oh, and OS X is now macOS.
Apple's iOS 10 update doesn't come out for another three months, but we've already started parsing the laundry list of new features the company is including its next big mobile refresh. One of the more useful ones that stands out is per-person read receipts for iMessage.
Up until now, read receipts for iMessage have been optional, but could only be activated for every conversation all of the time. So no matter who you were chatting with, the recipient would always see when you viewed a...
Apple used the WWDC 2016 stage to reveal some huge new features coming to iOS, macOS, tvOS, and watchOS. Siri's moving to the Mac. iMessage is getting stickers, bigger emoji, and third-party app integrations. Apps on the Apple Watch will actually open right away now! And you'll only have to sign in once to stream from a bunch of apps on the Apple TV.
The list of changes and improvements coming to Apple's operating systems and devices is rather long. But you don't have to slog through the...
Apple announced today at WWDC that iOS 10 devices will transcribe voicemails. You’ll never have to listen to an annoying pharmacy phone call, sales pitch, or maybe even anyone’s voice ever again. (Google already does this.) The company also announced that it’ll be revamping its Messages so that certain words are suggested to be changed to an emoji. It’s called "emojify." Craig Federighi, senior vice president of engineering at Apple, joked that the next generation of kids will have "no...
Artificial intelligence tools like deep learning have come on in leaps and bounds in recent years, powered by two main resources: cheap processing power, delivered by the cloud; and stacks and stacks of user data. For a company like Apple — which has banged the drum of user privacy like no other — this presents a problem. How does it deliver deep learning smarts without constantly sending your data to the cloud? And how does it get that data in the first place?
Despite being one of the premiere events in tech, WWDC isn't traditionally known for being a bastion of diversity. That's changing somewhat these days, as Apple, right along with the rest of the industry, continues to respond to calls for inclusion. But up on stage, WWDC is still mostly ruled by the white dads.
Who can forget Eddy Cue's brief but beloved performance last year?
So let's take a moment and thank the heavens above for Bozoma Saint John, Apple Music exec...
Starting with iOS 10, Apple will be giving iPhone and iPad owners more control over the software that's installed on iOS devices. For the first time ever, you'll be able to delete the company's built-in apps (Maps, Calculator, Music, Videos, etc.) and download them again later. All of the major iOS apps are now visible within the App Store, and they've each got fleshed out descriptions and screenshots.
Two years ago, Apple introduced a new coding language, Swift, that it hoped would appeal to a new generation of developers. At its annual developer conference today, Apple highlighted the fact that lots of young coders had taken up that challenge, some of them as young as nine years old. To help continue bringing new programmers into the fold, Apple unveiled a new app today, Swift Playgrounds, that is meant to teach kids basic coding skills in Apple's chosen language.
Messages is getting a huge overhaul in iOS 10, as revealed onstage at WWDC, including rich media, emoji and a new way for third-party developers to build functions into the system.
The largest change is a new rich media system that lets you embed YouTube links or other web features without leaving iMessage. You can also use "bubble effects" to change the way messages appear within their bubbles, adding a suite of animations. Another feature allows users to "emojify" words after a message has...
Apple's big developer's conference today was a very serious affair, as Apple quite sincerely introduced Siri for Mac as a huge update (an idea that Google presented in 2014 and Microsoft copied in 2015) and unveiled an "SOS feature" for the Apple Watch that lets one call 911 by pressing down on a side button. (I like and use Apple products, but this sounds like the worst idea I've ever heard.)
Apple announced a whole raft of new communication focused features with iOS 10 at WWDC today, but really, what we're most looking forward to are voicemail transcriptions. Why? Because voicemail transcriptions are either a) incredibly useful, or b) hilariously bad. Either way, it's better than actually having to sit through your voicemail, listening to each and every message just to find that single nugget of information you actually need.
There were actually rumors that Apple would be adding...
Apple has announced an app called Home for iOS 10 that'll be a single destination for controlling smart home products. Home is meant for controlling HomeKit products, which have been rolling out over the past couple years. There are now a few dozen of them available, and people will naturally be looking for one obvious place to control them all. To date, you've had to rely on third-party apps, which didn't all have the same feature sets or support all smart devices. This should dramatically...
Onstage at the Worldwide Developers Conference today, Apple's Craig Federighi announced that, in addition to other improvements brought by iOS 10, Photos is getting a major update that aims to make the app even more powerful and personal. The new features appear to be Apple's answer to Google Photos, but with Apple's polish and commitment to security.
Apple Music has received a big visual overhaul and a slew of new features. Apple exec Eddy Cue announced the refresh onstage today at the company's WWDC conference, and handed presenting duties over to Bozoma Saint John, Apple Music's head of global consumer marketing. The tabs on the bottom of the app are largely the same, but Apple has redesigned each tab interface to make it easier to use. The service now also includes lyrics and a daily curated playlist in the "For You" tab. The social...
At Apple's WWDC keynote today, the company announced a number of updates for its CarPlay in-car infotainment platform. Later this year, when iOS 10 is released, CarPlay will be able to take advantage of new updates to Siri and Apple Maps.
Apple is opening Siri up to developers, adding messaging support for Slack and WhatsApp and VoIP calling with Spark, Vonage, and Skype. Apple Maps is getting a big update too, allowing users to easily search for roadside services along their route, as well...
Apple Maps is getting a redesign in iOS 10. Apple is calling it an "all new design," but the real focus here is on the interface rather than the look of the maps. You'll now see much more of the map when you open up the app, being presented with little more than a squat search box to get started. The turn-by-turn navigation view has also been pared down, and Apple is now allowing users to swipe to move the view around while navigation is ongoing. You'll also be able to search for stops along...
Siri might be grabbing the spotlight at Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference 2016, but the company's biggest software star is still the iPhone and iPad operating system: iOS. Apple has just made iOS 10 official at its keynote in San Francisco and is now running through the major new features we can expect from its next big upgrade. Follow along with our list below or tune in to our WWDC 2016 liveblog for up-to-the minute updates and photos.
- Before diving into iOS proper, Apple introduced...
Apple Pay can now be used to make payments online, the company announced at WWDC today. Apple users might never have to repeatedly type their credit card details in for an online order again. They can authenticate a purchase through Touch ID, just as they can do with the Apple Watch. Apple Pay is available in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and Singapore. It'll soon be rolling out to Switzerland, France, and Hong Kong.
Onstage at WWDC, Apple's Craig Federighi announced that the next version of the Mac operating system (called macOS Sierra) will come with a built-in Siri module, enabling voice search and all Siri's other hands-free commands. It's the first time Siri functions have been available on a desktop computer, although similar functions are available in Windows 10 and ChromeOS.
Apple announced today at WWDC that the Sling TV over-the-top live television service is coming to the Apple TV, joining nearly every other smart TV box in offering the service.
"tvOS on Apple TV takes the Sling TV app to new heights, creating a seamless combination of technology and entertainment," said Sling TV CEO Roger Lynch, in a press release.
tvOS, the operating system that runs on Apple's box, will gain a number of other updates as well when the update arrives this fall, including...
Apple has announced the next version of OS X — and the first thing you need to know is that it has a brand-new name: macOS.
After 15 years as "OS X," Apple is changing its desktop operating system's name to macOS. With this update, all four of Apple's operating systems will share a common naming scheme. There's iOS, watchOS, tvOS, and now macOS. This particular iteration will be known as macOS.
Siri is finally here
Don't take this to mean that everything about OS X is changing. This is...
Apple is bringing some new features to its Apple TV set-top box, and the company outlined those updates today during its annual WWDC keynote event. First up, Eddy Cue showed off a reworked iPhone remote app that includes all the same features as the bundled Siri Remote. When you're searching for stuff to watch, Siri can now look up categories like "high school comedies from the '80s." Siri's universal search is also adding YouTube to its content sources in the upcoming tvOS update.
Apple Watch will now allow users to share activity and work-out data with their friends, the company announced at its annual WWDC conference today.
With this new feature, users can share heart rate data with their friends, and even "smack talk" using voice messages in order to encourage competition. Users receive notifications about their friends' progress, including completed activity rings, finished workouts, and earned achievements. This sharing feature is also directly connected to the...
Apple showed off some of the new features of its smartwatch today. Along with helping you stay healthy by tracking your fitness, the Apple Watch, when updated with watchOS 3, can quickly call for emergency services. If you press and hold the side button the Watch will call 911, or whatever number is assigned to emergency services in your current area.
For this to work, you'll need to be connected to a phone, or within range of Wi-Fi. The emergency function will automatically pull your...
Apple announced today that it has two million apps available on the App Store. Those apps have been downloaded 130 billion times since the App Store launched in 2008 and have paid out nearly $50 billion in revenue to developers. That's up from $40 billion in January of this year.
For the 27th annual WWDC this year, Apple said more than 5,000 developers are in attendance with more than 100 of those under 18 — the youngest is a nine-year old girl who Cook said will "make one heck of a...
WatchOS 3 has arrived. Apple just announced the new version of its smartwatch operating system during the keynote presentation of its Worldwide Developer's Conference. The headline feature is much faster app performance thanks to something called Instant Launch. Apple says that apps will launch up to seven times faster than on watchOS 2. Additionally, Apple has revamped much of the user interface to make it easier to access apps and information and add the ability to write characters with...
