This story is part of WWDC 2022full coverage of CNET by and for the annual Apple Developers Conference.
What is happening
Apple’s annual developer conference, WWDC, is where the company shows the next versions of its operating systems and the occasional remarkable new hardware on which to run them.
Why it matters
Knowing what’s next for Apple’s popular product lines is essential when deciding whether to buy now or wait for the next model.
As usual, Apple’s WWDC 2022 was full of something for everyone, from Apple’s flagship iPhone, iOS 16, and its latest chip, the M2, to the latest hardware that puts everything in (or on) your hands – in this case MacBook Air and MacBook Pro 13. The new high-level features include Safety Check, designed to help people at risk of domestic violence.
Want game by game, detailed summary? Check out our archived live blog.
The latest version of the iPhone operating system focuses on customization. This includes an updated lock screen with customizable fonts and colors, Apple Watch-style widgets, rotating photos, and more. Notifications will also appear at the bottom of the screen so as not to obscure your photo, and live activities such as music playback can be expanded to fill the locked screen.
Messages will allow editing, cancellation, and mark as unread. SharePlay has been improved for easier sharing in FaceTime and Messages. Dictation is mixed with text and touch on the go to use any type of input at any time. Similarly, Live Text (Apple’s response to Google Lens) extends to video, allowing you to pause each frame and interact or retrieve text from video.
Apple says it will be able to intelligently extract images from the background and automatically place them in applications such as Messages.
Changes to Wallet include more wireless key partners, such as carmakers, iPhone touch payments for contactless payments and Apple Pay Later, which splits the price into four payments.
You will also see cycling, high-resolution images and extended detail for landmarks, and particularly detailed coverage for specific cities. The balance of transit cards too.
Apple News receives expanded sports coverage in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia. TV Plus receives Family Sharing for up to five members, with parental controls for apps, movies, books and music. Photos also enhance sharing – new shared libraries via iCloud allow you to collaborate – and offer rules and automatic sharing based on proximity.
In terms of privacy, iOS 16 introduces a new feature called Security Check, which can help you quickly revoke access to someone who threatens you, exit iCloud on all devices, and restrict messaging to one device at hand.
CarPlay has been redesigned to integrate car and iPhone screens, including powering your entire instrument cluster.
The Fitness app comes on the iPhone and from the watch.
If you use Apple’s Spatial Audio, you’ll be able to use the depth camera to customize it.
MacBook Air and MacBook Pro 13
For the first time in many years, Apple redesigned the Air, given the M2 chip. It is still an aluminum body, but is now uniformly thin by 11 mm and weighs 2.7 pounds. Plus new colors! MagSafe is back, leaving your two Thunderbolt ports available and saving the audio jack. The display finally gets an upgrade to a 13.6-inch Liquid Retina, with a maximum brightness of 500 nits and P3 gamma. The 1080p webcam equates it with its siblings, along with a four-speaker system (with Spatial Audio support) and an array of three microphones.
The improved graphics processor in the M2 and concentration on watt performance, Apple claims to provide the same battery life and better performance. It finally supports fast charging and the new adapter has a second USB-C port.
The 13-inch MacBook Pro also gets an M2 chip, with better performance thanks to an active cooling system. However, it has not been revised.
The MacBook Air starts at $ 1,199 ($ ​​1,099 for education). The MacBook Pro starts at $ 1,299 ($ ​​1,199 for education). They both start shipping next month.
Apple also retains the M1 MacBook, offering a computer for less than $ 1,000 ($ 999 or $ 899 for education).
Management of clustered windows is improved in Stage Manager, which also includes multitasking with drag and drop. Better search in Spotlight includes sports and web image search, full window search results, and more detailed information about music, movies, and more. (In iOS, Spotlight moves to the home screen.)
Mail Search adds instant suggestions and synonyms, also on mobile devices. It naturally gets the same updates as iOS for messaging. Safari is launching shared tab groups so you can send your friends and family the latest shopping choices. Goodbye passwords and hello passwords – Touch ID and Face ID come in Safari to log in to sites. Also on iPhone, iPad and Apple TV, of course.
Improvements to its Metal graphics API include MetalFX upscaling for faster game playback and an added API for faster loading of game assets. Apple has called for Resident Evil Village and No Man’s Sky to be ported to the Mac for the first time. RE Village comes later this year.
Handoff comes to FaceTime so you can jump from device to device, and Continuity Camera finally lets you use your iPhone’s camera as your webcam. It will support split view for straight view and desktop.
New faces are on the way, including a variety of calendars, the ability to upload apps to the top of the docking station, new banner notifications, and podcast support for children with parental control.
Training is much more about your running performance – for example, tracking how you move up or down to track your shape. A new multi-sport workout manages to switch between swimming, cycling and running for the right training and tracking data.
Sleep Stages uses the accelerometer and heart rate sensor to track your sleep state and determine their timing. The watch will be able to track the history of atrial fibrillation after receiving FDA approval. Tracking medications in the Health app becomes a little more detailed and allows you to schedule reminders so that it sounds like a typical full-featured medication app.
Apple
iPad gets the same updates as iOS 16 as well as a new weather app. The collaboration in the operating system allows shared editing of documents and groups with sections that can be launched by FaceTime, with notifications for updates via messages.
We also got a brief look at the Freeform app, which comes later this year, a virtual shared whiteboard with drawing tools for group meetings. It supports embedding of documents, videos and images and will be included on all platforms.
Like Ventura, iPadOS Gaming gets the new Metal API update, plus it gets a background download. Game Center adds Activity rivers, and SharePlay (coming later this year, as well as on iOS and iPadOS) will allow group play.
There are also a bunch of interface settings and options to give it more power, similar to a desktop. It also adds a reference color (Reference mode) to consistently match the colors of all devices (personally yes!).
On the M1-based iPad, you’ll be able to increase the pixel density of the display to fit more on the screen and use virtual memory. And it gets Stage Manager as Ventura, for a far better experience when switching tasks from multiple windows. When connected to an external display, it takes better advantage of the second screen via Stage Manager and makes it a little hassle-free to use Touch and Apple Pencil with a Mac.
Apple is finally making the iPad more like a computer. this is how