Tag: WWDC

WWDC23 week is over, all announcements are already made, Apple and developers are going through highlights of the conference.

Apple lists important sessions on spatial computing, developer tools, Swift, UI frameworks, design, graphics and games, ML, privacy and security, and other topics.

Apple also asks developers to take part in survey that could shape the future of conference.

macOS 14 Sonoma

Developers highlight FaceTime reactions, presenter mode for screen sharing and various of other features.

Widgets availability for macOS should help bringing more apps to Mac from iPhone and iPad.

Another area of interest is support for web apps.

tvOS 17

Apple TV is to support VPN apps with tvOS 17. This will put tvOS on par with other Apple platforms.

Also, tvOS will improve sound for dialogs to make voice more audible. This feature requires second generation HomePod (original HomePod and HomePod mini are not supported) and Apple TV 4K.

iOS/iPadOS 17

DockKit SDK and Standby mode bring interesting capabilities for apps and also could hint on more standalone home devices.

Autocorrect in standard keyboard is expected to become much better with iOS 17.

iCloud

iCloud Drive now could be switched off and third-party apps will still be able to sync via iCloud.

Vision Pro

Analysts expect that more affordable version of Vision Pro will be released in 2025.

M2 Ultra

Benchmarks for M2 Ultra show significant improvements over M1 Ultra chips. New chip is 20% faster than previous generation.

Apple Developer:

• WWDC23 highlights
• WWDC23 resources and survey

References:

• macOS Sonoma Tidbits: New FaceTime UI, Safari Profiles, Screen Sharing Improvements, and More
• macOS 14 feature roundup: Presenter Overlay, Reactions, widgets, more
• Apple TV to Support VPN Apps on tvOS 17
• WWDC 2023: Here’s everything Apple announced this week
• iOS 17 has new DockKit API to integrate camera apps with motorized iPhone stands
• Top Five iOS 17 Features
• tvOS 17 helps you hear what people are saying in shows, when using HomePods as speakers
• CloudKit and the iCloud Drive Switch
• Apple still aiming to release a more affordable version of Vision Pro by the end of 2025
• M2 Ultra Chip Benchmark Results Reveal Impressive Performance Gains

WWDC23 edition of weekend good reads is here. Surely, there are still sessions you want to watch or re-watch, but there are already great articles that go well with WWDC content.

• Paul Hudson gives great overview of Swift 5.9 features – What’s new in Swift 5.9?;
  
  
• Article by Majid Jabrayilov continues on new features but for SwiftUI – What is new in SwiftUI after WWDC 23;
  
  
• Marco Eidinger highlights all new frameworks announced – All new frameworks presented at WWDC23;
  
  
• New SwiftUI Support for MapKit in Xcode 15 by Audrey Tam explains MapKit usage in SwiftUI;
  
  
• Natalia Panferova shares several great articles: pattern matching guide – Swift enum pattern matching with extra conditions, new inspector views in SwiftUI – Inspectors in SwiftUI, new static properties for color and images – Access colors and images from asset catalog via static properties in Xcode 15, grouping controls in context menus – ControlGroup in context menus in SwiftUI, keyboard usage in iPadOS – Keyboard driven navigation with focusable() on iPad in SwiftUI, and great hint on Binding usage – How to map a SwiftUI state to a binding of a different type;
  
  
• Christian Tietze explores more uses of pattern matching – Swift Pattern Matching with Extra Conditions, and the Value of Syntax Summaries, SwiftUI introspection practices – How to Inspect SwiftUI.TextField.onSubmit and Figure Out You Can't Programmatically Use It, and highlights one issue that developers could encounter – SwiftUI.List with Menu with Plain Button Style Breaks Event Loop;
  
  
• Lee Kah Seng provides great performance debugging tips – 5 Simple Steps to Find Slow Code Using Xcode Time Profiler;
  
  
• Sarun W. goes through couple of WWDC announced features – What's new in SF Symbols 5, How to preview UIViewController in Xcode Previews, How to preview UIView in Xcode Previews, Xcode Previews with UIKit and AppKit in Xcode 15;
  
  
• ContentUnavailableView: Handling Empty States in SwiftUI by Antoine van der Lee explains uses of new dedicated view when no content is available;
  
  
• Great article on App Store rejections by Charlie Chapman – The ultimate guide to App Store rejections;
  
  
• And finishing with great review of Vision Pro by John Gruber – ★ First Impressions of Vision Pro and VisionOS.

And... Apple Treats team reviews WWDC23 announcements in next episode – Spatial Computing! on June 14, 2023 at 9:00am PDT. Join us with your thoughts and impressions! See you on the live stream and come back next week for more great articles!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQ-4ClIvf7U

Apple provides stories of three Swift Student Challenge 2023 winners. Stories show inspiration for the projects and details on the path from idea to actual application.

Apple Developer: Meet three winners of the 2023 Swift Student Challenge

Apple Newsroom: Apple’s WWDC23 Swift Student Challenge winners code to share their passions with the world

No details are provided by Apple on actual hardware specifications of Vision Pro so far. Some information is gathered through WWDC sessions, interviews, responses.

Sensors

Apple announced 12 cameras, 5 sensors on the headset. LiDAR, and 3D imaging cameras are installed. Apple mentioned that only some of these cameras and sensors will be available for developers, while others will be used for face scanning and gesture recognition. Four cameras with LED illumnatio will be tracking eye movements.

Physical controls

Headset features Digital Crown (which also acts as a button) and separate button which could trigger photo capture or video recording. No controllers are required to work with Vision Pro. There are multiple "standard" hand gestures which are detected by the system and custom gestures could be implemented by application developers.

Gestures

Notably, Vision Pro support direct touch manipulation and "indirect" subtle finger gestures like pinches. Eye glance is used to highlight element which will be responding to gesture.

Graphics

Internal displays are made using micro-OLED technology and have total of 23 million pixels. It is reported that Vision Pro runs on 90Hz refresh rate with boosts to 96 Hz to display 24 FPS video content properly.

Chips

Vision Pro is powered by M2 and R1 chips. M2 acts as CPU/GPU engine for the headset while R1 is focused on signal processing to accumulate and analyze information coming from cameras and sensors.

Power

Headset could be used plugged in or via external battery. Vision Pro should have 2h battery life.

References:

• What We Know About the Apple Vision Pro Hardware So Far
• Apple Vision Pro runs at 90Hz refresh rate most of the time
• These Gestures Are How You Control Apple Vision Pro

Apple just published summary of WWDC23 updates in developer documentation.

Documentation covers new and updated frameworks, Xcode and development tools, privacy and security topics and many more.

Apple Developer:

• WWDC23
• Sample Code

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

With less than a week before WWDC23 starts Apple now announces Swift Student Challenge winners and opens registration for Slack channel for all conference activities.

Apple's website now provides regular AR easter egg reminding to watch keynote on June 5 at 10am PT.

Apple Events: WWDC23

Apple Developer: Code new worlds

Apple Newsroom: Meet 3 winners of the WWDC23 Swift Student Challenge

References:

• Apple teases WWDC23 with morphing AR Easter egg, here’s how to see it
• Apple promoting WWDC23 Swift Student Challenge winners, award includes AirPods Pro and special pin pack
• Watch the WWDC23 keynote with these 4 options, set a reminder, more

This year WWDC will have additional events comparing to WWDC22. There are additional sessions happening on Tuesday, June 6 at Apple Developer Center covering some of the announcements.

Also, some seemingly entertainment event is scheduled at the end of Monday.

Apple Developer: WWDC23

Reference: Apple Park WWDC 2023 Viewing Event to Include Special 'Ring' Tour, Evening Activity and Extended Developer Sessions

Apple today announced WWDC23 to be online event to take place June 5 – 9. Additional in-person all-day event will be held on June 5 at Apple Park.

Swift Student Challenge is also announced for this WWDC. Students are welcome to demonstrate their skills, prizes and exclusive WWDC23 outwear will be provided to winners.

Apple Developer: WWDC23

Apple Newsroom: Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference returns June 5, 2023

Apple added Japanese, Korean, and Simplified Chinese subtitles to WWDC22 videos making them more accessible to developers.

Apple Developer Videos: WWDC22

Apple Developer: WWDC22 video subtitles now in more languages