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Apple commenced its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) on Monday in San Francisco "with major upgrades for the operating systems powering its computers, mobile devices, smartwatch and TV box", reported the New York Times.
Here are all the major updates and features announced by Apple:
iOS 10:
iOS 10:
The OS will not be available to customers until later this year. The company rolled out the developer betas on Monday and said public betas for non-developers will follow in July, technology website 9to5mac.com reported.
The iOS 10 will be supported on iPad 4th generation, iPad Air, iPad Air 2, iPad Pro, iPad mini 2, iPad mini 3, iPad mini 4, iPod touch 6th gen, iPhone 5, iPhone 5c ,iPhone 5s, iPhone SE, iPhone 6 iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus.
According to the NYT report, the new operating system "will have an impact on how you communicate and potentially reduce the amount of time you spend fiddling with the phone".
Among the updates, according to the report, the Messages app that iPhone and iPad users employ to send text messages will get "a major overhaul". The report said that the app will soon allow users to draw sketches and hand-write notes, additionally they will be able to attach animations, "like confetti or fireworks".
The report added that the smartphones and pad maker is also allowing third-party software developers to "offer modifications to the Messages app".
Apple, the international daily said, is also making "major changes to its photo app" found on iPhones and iPads. In an upgrade which will bring it closer to to Google Photos, Apple’s Photos app will "automatically scan your photo album and organise the photos based on when and where the photos were taken".
Xcode 8:
Alongside OS betas, Apple also launched Xcode 8 which is in all-in one development suite for iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch and TV.
The new IDE features extensions to customise the coding experience as well as runtime alerts, new Memory Debugger and accelerated Interface Builder. Developers can download the new Xcode from Apple's developer portal.
Apple File System:
Apple also rolled out a new file system for storage for all its products.
The Apple File System (APFS) is the next-generation file system designed to scale from an Apple Watch to a Mac Pro, the company said.
APFS is optimised for Flash and SSD storage and engineered with encryption as a primary feature.
Opening up Siri:
Apple also announced that it was opening up its Siri digital assistant to outside applications, stepping up its artificial intelligence efforts to compete against rival services from Amazon, Google and Microsoft.
The new feature will enable iPhone users to connect with non-Apple services to send messages, make payments and search photos, for example.
"Now you'll be able to tell Siri send a WeChat," said Apple's Senior Vice-President (Software Engineering) Craig Federighi, referring to the Chinese messaging application.
Federighi said Siri will also work with apps like Slack, WhatsApp, Uber and Lyft, for example.
The announcement at WWDC marks a new approach for Apple, which has largely kept its services self-contained on the iOS mobile operating system.
The new feature will debut on the iOS10 operating system expected later this year.
Apple Maps to follow suit:
Also opening to outside developers will be the Apple Maps application, which had a rocky debut marked by glitches in 2012.
This will mean that iPhone users navigating with Apple Maps can, for example, make a restaurant reservation using a third-party service such as Open Table, said Apple's Senior Vice-President (Internet Software and Services) Eddy Cue.
MacOS Sierra:
According to the NYT report, Apple’s Mac notebooks and desktops will soon work "more seamlessly with other Apple devices". The new operating system "MacOS Sierra" will gain access to Siri, allowing Mac users to search their machines or the Internet with voice commands.
The new operating system, the report added, would allow an Apple Watch user to log into a Mac computer without typing in a password.
Speeding up the Apple Watch:
The California-based technology major introduced WatchOS 3 on Monday, reported the Wall Street Journal.
According to the report, WatchOS 3 is geared to towards fixing "frequent complaints from Apple Watch owners" and not on introducing any ground-breaking new features.
One of the major areas of improvement, according to WSJ, would be speed. The report said that the new operating system would allow apps to "load data in the background" to cut down on the time it takes to launch them.
Maybe the biggest gripe any Apple Watch user has so far is speed, or lack thereof. WatchOS 3 lets apps load data in the background to speed up launches. The report quoted Apple Vice-President (Technology) Kevin Lynch saying that the update will "improve app loading speeds by seven times".
Enhanced fitness features will also be Incorporated into the new operating system, among other things, the report added.
Expanding Apple Pay:
Separately, Apple said it was expanding its Apple Pay system to the Web, allowing merchants to handle transactions which can be authenticated on a user's iPhone or Apple Watch.
Federighi said Apple Pay would be expanded "in the coming months" to more markets including Switzerland, France and Hong Kong.
Apple TV:
According to the NYT report, the next operating system for the Apple TV would cater "largely" to sports fans. The report described a new feature called Live Tune In, which would allow viewers to "immediately access a live broadcast".
The report added that voice-commands will also be available for viewers. "Speaking a command like 'Watch ESPN2' can load a live sports game," said the news report.
According to TechCruch, an online technology news portal, the new features would also solve "the bigger challenges with setting up streaming media players for the first time to access your favourite video channels". The report added that Apple is introducing a feature called "Single Sign-On", which would let the viewer log in once and "then get access to all their network apps".
The report added that the Apple TV would now sport deeper Siri integration, which would let users employ Siri, which was previously limited to Apple apps on the TV, to search YouTube, among other things.
