Tag: WebKit

Apple started its annual developer conference with Keynote and Platform State of the Union. First day of WWDC is packed with announcements.

Mac hardware

Apple unveils MacBook Air 15" with M2, and M2 Ultra powered Mac Studio and Mac Pro. The new ‌MacBook Air‌ starts at $1,299. Prices for the second generation Mac Studio start at $1,999. Mac Pro starts at $6999.

MacBook Air 13" with M2 chip is now starting at $999.

iOS / iPadOS 17

iOS 17 gets new features focusing on communications and sharing. Contacts app is revamped with emphasis on photos and typography. Standby view is added for iPhone.

iPadOS has more customization for Lock Screen. Widgets now could be interacted with.

Also, AirDrop now has new experience when users hold their phones close to each other.

macOS 14 Sonoma

macOS 14 Sonoma now has "Game Mode" which improves performance for games, minimizes delays. macOS also gets interactive widgets that could be placed everywhere.

Safari gets a lot of privacy and security improvements. Improved support for web apps is announced.

watchOS 10

watchOS 10 brings support for widgets. New design language is introduced.

tvOS 17

tvOS 17 gets support for Continuity Camera hinting on new tvOS-powered devices with camera hardware.

Vision Pro and visionOS

Apple unveils Vision Pro mixed reality headset. Price is starting with $3,499, US sales are expected to start early next year. Other countries to follow later.

Device has 12 cameras, 6 microphone and many other sensors. Also, device has external display that could show user’s eyes (feature is called EyeSight). During FaceTime calls device will show face by using trained ML model and device cameras.

Vision Pro will be able to run iOS and iPadOS apps in windowed mode. Also, headset supports direct 3D experiences built using RealityKit, ARKit. Unity is also supported as development framework.

Windowed apps could be powered by SwiftUI which is updated to better support depth.

Apple to host labs in multiple cities for developers to try their apps on real device before public launch. Simulator is available as a part of development tools.

visionOS SDK is to be available later this month.

Agreements update

The App Store Review Guidelines, the Apple Developer Program License Agreement, and the Apple Developer Agreement have been updated to support updated policies and upcoming features, and to provide clarification. Please review the changes below and accept the updated terms as needed.

App Store Review Guidelines

• Added to 2.5.18: “Apps that contain ads must also include the ability for users to report any inappropriate or age-inappropriate ads.”
• Revised bullet point 11 of 3.1.2(a): “Cellular carrier apps may include auto-renewing music and video subscriptions when purchased in bundles with new cellular data plans, with prior approval by Apple. Other auto-renewing subscriptions may also be included in bundles when purchased with new cellular data plans, with prior approval by Apple, if the cellular carrier apps support in-app purchase for users. Such subscriptions cannot include access to or discounts on consumable items, and the subscriptions must terminate coincident with the cellular data plan.”
• Added to 4.1: “Submitting apps which impersonate other apps or services is considered a violation of the Developer Code of Conduct and may result in removal from the Apple Developer Program.”
• Revised 4.4: “Apps hosting or containing extensions must comply with the App Extension Programming Guide, the Safari App Extensions Guide, or the Safari Web Extensions documentation and should include some functionality, such as help screens and settings interfaces where possible.”
• Revised 4.4.2: “Safari extensions must run on the current version of Safari on the relevant Apple operating system.”

Developer Program License Agreement

• Purpose; Definitions; Sections 2.6, 3.2, 3.3.4, 3.3.38, 3.3.63, 5.1, 6.3, 6.6, 7, 7.3, 7.5, 7.6, 14.2; Attachment 7: Specified requirements and functionality for apps on visionOS.
• Definitions: Updated requirements for Corresponding Products.
• Definitions; Section 3.1: Specified requirements for universities and their Authorized Student Developers.
• Definitions; Section 3.3.62: Specified requirements for use of the Tap to Present ID API.
• Definitions; Sections 3.3.40, 3.3.64, 5.1, 10; Attachment 10: Specified requirements for use of mobile device management (MDM).
• Definitions; Section 3.3.65: Specified requirements for use of the iWork Document Exporting API.
• Definitions; Section 3.3.67: Specified requirements for use of the Sensitive Content Analysis Framework.
• Definitions; Attachment 3: Updated requirements for development of Passes.
• Section 3.3.9: Added requirements for use of third-party SDKs and certain APIs, clarified restrictions on use of data derived from a device.
• Section 3.3.42: Added requirements for use of certain Apple Pay APIs.
• Section 3.3.63: Specified requirements for providing a partially immersive experience in an app.
• Section 3.3.66: Specified requirements for the use of the Shallow Depth and Pressure feature.
• Section 6.7: Added information on App Analytics.
• Attachment 2: Clarified requirements for use of the In-App Purchase API.

Apple Developer Agreement

• Sections 4, 6: Updated requirements for access to and use of pre-release materials.

Beta download: Operating Systems

Apple Developer:

• WWDC23 schedule and lab requests now available Systems
• Xcode 15 beta now available
• What’s new in privacy on the App Store
• Updated agreements and guidelines now available
• WWDC23 Overview
• Updated agreements and guidelines now available
• Introducing Apple Vision Pro and visionOS
• Spotlight on developing for visionOS

Apple Newsroom:

• Apple introduces the 15-inch MacBook Air
• Apple introduces M2 Ultra
• Apple unveils new Mac Studio and brings Apple silicon to Mac Pro
• AirPods redefine the personal audio experience
• Apple announces powerful new privacy and security features
• iOS 17 makes iPhone more personal and intuitive
• iPadOS 17 brings new levels of personalization and versatility to iPad
• Apple provides powerful insights into new areas of health
• macOS Sonoma brings new capabilities for elevating productivity and creativity
• Introducing watchOS 10, a milestone update for Apple Watch
• tvOS 17 brings FaceTime and video conferencing to Apple TV 4K
• Introducing Apple Vision Pro: Apple’s first spatial computer

References:

• Apple announces new Mac Pro powered by M2 Ultra: PCI expansion, $6999 starting price
• Apple Announces New 'NameDrop' Contact Sharing Feature Coming in iOS 17
• Apple announces macOS Sonoma with aerial screensavers, Game Mode, and more
• Apple Announces macOS Sonoma With Desktop Widgets and More
• Apple Announces watchOS 10 With Widgets, Redesigned Apps, and More
• Apple Announces New Intelligent AirPlay Features With Hotel Room Support
• This is Apple Vision Pro, the mixed reality headset for spatial computing
• Apple Reveals 'Vision Pro' Headset and visionOS

WebKit team announces new documentation resource for developers.

New resource provides information on WebKit internals, its subsystems, security aspects and many more.

New portal provides following features:

• Built-in search helps you quickly locate articles.
• Documentation can be read offline and online.
• Documents are authored in Markdown, allowing members to easily contribute. 
• Theming matches your system appearance (Light/Dark mode).
• Documentation is hosted on GitHub, allowing developers to submit PRs to make edits and review changes.

WebKit: Documentation

WebKit Blog: Introducing WebKit Documentation

Apple Safari is now second most popular desktop browser.

Statcounter reports (at the moment this post was created):

• Google Chrome – 66.13%
• Apple Safari – 11.87%
• Microsoft Edge – 11%
• Mozilla Firefox – 5.65%
• Opera – 3.09%
• Microsoft IE – 0.55%

Statcounter: Desktop Browser Market Share Worldwide

References:

• Apple is still battling the fallout from iPhone’s Batterygate throttling controversy
• Apple’s Safari is once again the world’s second most-used desktop web browser

WebKit team publishes guide on push notification usage to control app icon badges using Badging API.

Guides covers badge control, notification system prompt, and other technical details.

W3C: Badging API

WebKit Blog: Badging for Home Screen Web Apps

Apple publishes first beta for iOS/iPadOS 16.4, macOS Ventura 13.3, watchOS 9.4, tvOS 16.4. This time operating systems are accompanied by Xcode 14.3 beta.

Developers will now be able to enable developer beta from Software Update on iPhones and iPads.

Apart from that new beta versions add support for more emojis.

iOS 16.4 brings support for Web Push to Apple's mobile devices.

A web app that has been added to the Home Screen can request permission to receive push notifications as long as that request is in response to direct user interaction -- such as tapping on a 'subscribe' button provided by the web app. iOS or iPadOS will prompt the user to give the web app permission to send notifications. The user can then manage those permissions per web app in Notifications Settings -- just like any other app on iPhone and iPad.

WebKit team

Also this beta works on Matter support for Apple platforms including Apple TV.

Beta download: Operating Systems

Release notes:

• iOS & iPadOS 16.4 Beta Release Notes
• watchOS 9.4 Beta Release Notes
• tvOS 16.4 Beta Release Notes
• macOS Ventura 13.3 Beta Release Notes
• Xcode 14.3 Beta Release Notes

WebKit Blog: Web Push for Web Apps on iOS and iPadOS

Reference:

• iOS 16.4 and iPadOS 16.4 Betas Add Support for Web Push Notifications
• iOS 16.4 Beta Adds New Emoji Like Donkey, Jellyfish, Pink Heart, Hyacinth, Ginger, Goose, Shaking Face and More

Following recent updates to tvOS and HomePod software, Apple now releases updates to iOS/iPadOS, watchOS and macOS. tvOS and HomePod software are updated to 16.3.2 to address Siri and HomeKit issues.

iOS 16.3.1 updates Crash Detection algorithms to address recent reports of false positives.

These updates fix issues and address important security vulnerabilities. Notably, WebKit security issue is resolved in macOS 13.2.1.

However, there are reports that iOS 16.3.1 is breaking Google Photos app.

References:

• iOS 16.3.1 Breaks Google Photos App
• macOS 13.2.1 update fixes WebKit security breach that has been ‘actively exploited’
• iOS 16.3.1 includes iPhone 14 Crash Detection changes after false positive complaints
• macOS 13.2.1
• iOS 16.3.1 and iPadOS 16.3.1
• Big Safari & Kernel issues fixed in iOS 16.3.1, macOS 13.2.1 updates
• PSA: Make Sure to Update Soon, macOS Ventura 13.2.1 and iOS 16.3.1 Address Actively Exploited Vulnerability
• Apple fixes Siri bug in tvOS 16.3.2 & HomePod update
• Apple Releases HomePod 16.3.2 Software With Fix for Siri Request Failures
• Apple fixes annoying HomePod bug that caused HomeKit requests to time out and fail the first time you ask

Google and Mozilla made announcements that they're working on experimental browsers for Apple's mobile platform. As of now both companies stated that this work does not mean that they plan to release these browsers to general audience any time soon.

However, it seems that both companies are getting ready for a possible policy change allowing third-party browser engines to be used on iOS and iPadOS.

We abide by Apple's iOS app store policies, and are simply doing some exploratory work to understand the technical challenges for Gecko-based browsers on iOS if those policies were to change. We hope the day will come when people can freely decide to use the browser of their choice, including the opportunity to select the engine that underpins it.

Mozilla to The Register

This is an experimental prototype that we are developing as part of an open source project with the goal to understand certain aspects of performance on iOS. It will not be available to users and we’ll continue to abide by Apple’s policies.

Google to The Register

References:

• Google begins effort to run Chrome’s Blink engine on iOS in place of Apple’s WebKit
• Mozilla Developing Non-WebKit Version of Firefox for iOS, Possibly Anticipating Shift in Apple's App Store Policy [Updated]
• Google and Mozilla Are Working on Versions of Chrome and Firefox for iOS That Don’t Use WebKit

Apple publishes new technology preview for Safari.

‌Safari Technology Preview‌ release 157 includes bug fixes and performance improvements for Web Inspector, CSS, Rendering, JavaScript, WebCodecs, Web API, Media, Web Animations, HTML, Accessibility, Security, Privacy, and Safari Web Extensions. 

MacRumors

Now Safari Technology Preview works with macOS Ventura, but no longer compatible with macOS Big Sur.

Download: Safari – Resources

Release notes: Safari Technology Preview Release Notes

Reference: Apple Releases Safari Technology Preview 157 With Bug Fixes and Performance Improvements

Hey there! This week we have many great reads for the developers, so – buckle up!

This week we'd like to pay our respects to Ray Wenderlich and his portal. Now it has new name – Kodeco. It is still great source of useful content for developers and we'll even share couple of articles today.

• But, we'll start with great article on secure memory management from Apple Security Engineering and Architecture team – Towards the next generation of XNU memory safety: kalloc_type;
  
  
• And another great read is Apple Developer article with great usages of Dynamic Island – Spotlight on: The Dynamic Island;
  
  
• Moritz Philip Recke explores video preparation for streaming – Converting video files for HLS streaming;
  
  
• Create a Card with an Image Outside its Bounds in SwiftUI by Leonardo Maia Pugliese is a great walkthrough on SwiftUI with out-of-bounds drawing;
  
  
• Magnus Jensen shows good example of placing button for different device types – Better placements of bottom buttons in SwiftUI;
  
  
• Natalia Panferova shares two articles on different aspects of development – Fill bar marks with gradient in Swift Charts to make your bar charts nicer and good hint on app localization review – Check localizable strings with the accented pseudolanguage in Xcode;
  
  
• Great review of recent Bluetooth audio vulnerability in iOS by Guilherme Rambo – SiriSpy - iOS bug allowed apps to eavesdrop on your conversations with Siri;
  
  
• Another great SwiftUI guide – Create Custom Cell with Placeholder UI Using UIHostingConfiguration by Lee Kah Seng;
  
  
• As promised – couple of great articles on Kodeco – State Restoration in SwiftUI by Tom Elliott will help make your app more magical for users, App Shortcuts: Getting Started by Andrej Vukelic guides on making app better integrated into iOS and Building a Recommendation App With Create ML in SwiftUI Saeed Taheri focused on machine learning practical usages;
  
  
• Jordan Morgan raises important question for those who use SwiftUI – Presenting Sheets: Item, or a Boolean Binding?;
  
  
• Refactoring Swift: Best Practices to succeed by Antoine van der Lee gives good tips on refactoring;
  
  
• Two articles from Marco Eidinger – How to handle popups and alerts in WKWebView on web content navigation cases in iOS apps and good unit conversion guide with new Swift Measurement API – Convert Celsius to Fahrenheit and back in Swift.

That's a lot for this week. Have time for rest and some time to read something interesting!

Monday morning brings new releases for Apple hardware.

These are updates available today:

• iOS 16, watchOS 9 and tvOS 16 as new major releases
• Xcode 14
• HomePod software 16
• iOS/iPadOS 15.7, macOS 12.6 Monterey with security fixes
• Safari 16 for macOS 12 Monterey

Apple continues practice of offering both updates to current major release and brand new release.

Also, some features like Live Activities are not yet live in iOS 16 and expected later this year.

Apple Support:

• About the security content of iOS 16
• About the security content of iOS 15.7 and iPadOS 15.7
• About the security content of Safari 16

Apple Newsroom:

• watchOS 9 is available today
• iOS 16 is available today

References:

• All the iOS 16 Features You Won't Get Until Later This Year
• Apple Releases iOS 15.7 and iPadOS 15.7 With Security Updates
• Apple Releases macOS Monterey 12.6 With Security Updates
• Apple Releases New HomePod 16 Software
• Apple Releases tvOS 16 With Expanded Game Controller Support, Cross-Device Connectivity, User Switching Improvements and More
• Apple Releases watchOS 9 With Medication Tracking, New Watch Faces, Sleep Updates, and More
• tvOS 16 now available to Apple TV and HomePod users, here are the new features
• Apple Releases iOS 16 With Customizable Lock Screen, iMessage Editing, Focus Updates, and More
• iOS 16 now available: Lock Screen customization, iMessage edit/undo send, much more
• watchOS 9 brings enhanced Workout features, Medications app, and new faces to Apple Watch
• watchOS 9's New AFib History Feature Expanding to Over 100 Countries
• Apple Releases Safari 16 With Tab Group Start Pages, Cross-Device Syncing for Website Settings, Strong Password Updates and More
• Safari 16.0 for iOS 16 gains AVIF image format support