June is the month when Apple gathers its (huge) pool of developers, from around the world, and traditionally announces new versions of operating systems for its smartphones, tablets, computers and wearable and home devices. So that the developers can already start developing applications on the platforms that will then arrive in a public version in September, accompanying the next iPhone, Watch and anything else foreseen by the Apple house. But not only that: the Wordwide developer conference (WWDC for short) is also the theater in which Apple may unveil some surprises, often unexpected and not even foreseen by the inevitable “leaks” of the days preceding the event. And after the keynote, there is a whole week of meetings, seminars, insights and lessons dedicated to developers. Also this year, due to the pandemic, the whole event is not in attendance, but in global streaming from the Apple Park in Cupertino, California.
Wwdc 2021 opens with a video presentation with Tim Cook entering the stage of the Steve Jobs Theater, greeted by an audience of colorful avatars of developers who cannot physically be there. The word then goes to Craig Federighi who introduces iOS 15. The first words are for FaceTime, the Apple video communication system, which becomes an advanced communication platform. In addition to the audio and video improvements, there is now SharePlay, which allows you to share in real time, synchronizing them, the contents between several people. That is, you can watch a movie or listen to music together even from a distance, and the functionality is not limited to two people. Federighi invites developers to “bring their apps into FaceTime”, thus confirming the full transformation into a real platform. Which makes another important leap: it becomes multiplatform, leaving the “walled garden” of iOS and MacOS, and arriving on Android. The notifications also change profoundly, now oriented to the “focus” of the user on those that he considers priority or not, that “live” in groups generated by iOS15. Notifications are now fully customizable, organisable (and silenceable), with the home screen configurable as a hub of all the ones you want. Very interesting then the new “Visual look up” that allows you to use the camera as a real eye on the world, with proactive search for information through images and the recognition of all kinds of writings even in photos, to search and index them. The news for the Maps and the Wallet are significant. The former acquire a three-dimensional guide function through the camera and a completely new and very refined graphics, in full Apple style. Wallets can now incorporate keys for hotel rooms and even personal documents.
iPadS 15. The specific tablet version of iOS is getting closer and closer to a desktop environment, maintaining the specifications of a touch interface but recalibrating the UI on the possibilities and power offered by the new devices with M1 chips. Finally, multitasking capabilities have been enhanced by simplifying the management of multiple windows through gestures, with a greater goal and better productivity. The news also affect system apps such as Mail and Notes, now open to collaboration and integration between the apps themselves, in a sort of “continuity” that does not only involve different devices (an iPad and a Mac for example) but begins inside the device itself.
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