WWDC23 Impressions
From 3,500 kilometres away, I have some impressions about what went down at WWDC.
One thing to be said about Apple's virtual events is that they go at a breakneck pace. Rewatch some of Apple's in-person events from 2019 and earlier, and they'll go at a snail's pace compared to their all-virtual events. It truly is tough to keep up. Those 7,571 seconds wizzed by, and we were left with updates to all of Apple’s platforms (even tvOS), a few new Macs, and Craig shredding a 3-necked guitar. Oh… I almost forgot, and an Apple headset and a zeitgeist-changing computing experience with visionOS.
Update: While I wrote this back on June 07, a bunch of adulting life stuff got in the way, resulting in an entry being released late to the point of irrelevancy. But here we are. Should you forge ahead, I hope you enjoy the post!
Macs
"This completes the transition to Apple Silicon."
Three years ago, at WWDC20, Apple announced their transition to Apple Silicon. It was only fitting that they wrapped up the transition at the event where it all began.
MacBook Air: Absolute slam dunk move! The 13" M2 MacBook Air has quickly become my favourite laptop to date, and bumping up the screen to a 15-inch panel for $1,299 makes the entry price $700-1,200 cheaper for those considering a MacBook Pro just to get a larger display.
Adorable tidbit that their Radial wallpaper spells out Air.
Mac Studio: Apple also updated the Mac Studio to the M2 (M2 Max & M2 Ultra). I'm happy for the Studio getting a spec bump because it suggests a commitment to the Studio lineup and the future of this pro-line computer for most users. The updated Mac Studio now has you up to 4 additional CPU cores (20 to 24) and 12 more GPU cores (64 to 76). Unified memory can be maxed out at 192GB but remains nonupgradeable (as does the SSD). I love the Mac Studio for its power and petite footprint, though I wish Apple made such a pricey product more upgradeable post-purchase.
Mac Pro: I didn't see this coming, at least not in this form. I fully expected the Mac Pro to be announced later and with a more fleshed-out story about third-party graphics, upgradeable memory, etc. Instead, we got an M2 Ultra chip (the same as the Studio) with two additional Thunderbolt ports, dual Ethernet, and a second HDMI port. The biggest differentiator is 7 PCI Express slots allowing this machine greater peripheral upgradeability save for adding any graphics cards. The Mac Pro weighs 30 lbs more and has the same form factor as the 2019 Intel Mac Pro, costs an additional $3000 over a similar speed M2 Ultra Mac Studio, and has no upgradeable memory (although the SSD is upgradeable). I might not fully appreciate this, but spending nearly double to access PCI ports feels like an anemic relaunch of the Mac Pro compared with the Mac Studio. Also, no SD slot (you'd need to use a dongle or one of your six remaining PCI slots for that). Whereas I thought the Mac Pro would reign at the top of the Good/Better/Best hierarchy of Apple's desktops, it is now more the case that the Mac Pro is comparable to a high-end Mac Studio in a chassis modified for very niche expansion scenarios. I don’t believe this is the Mac Pro Apple intended to release.
iOS 17 & iPadOS 17
I'll preface this section by saying that I have not installed the Betas of any new OS, so my impressions are based on what I've seen during the Keynote, and preliminary impressions of content people posted online.
Personalized Phone Screens: I like having a custom call screen that goes out to others in the same vein as the lock screen customization. Question: will Apple allow multiple options (e.g., a 'fun' vs. a more professional one) for different people/groups on your contact list?
iPad Lock Screen Customization: Carried over from last year's iPhone, iPadOS now features a customizable lock screen similar to iOS. Apple also added more animated screens like 'hello' and kaleidoscope and more dynamic images from the Solar system. Live photos are also now supported on the iPad Lock Screen, giving a new dynamic animation before the iPad is unlocked.
+100 points to whoever in Apple for including the original iPad wallpaper that debuted in 2010.
Messages: I like the ability to see transcriptions of voice memos; the improved search is a great addition, and swipe to reply is a genius UI move. The way Apple buried iMessage apps while improving their first-party solution for creating and using stickers gives me the sense that non-sticker iMessage apps are only used by a small minority or that the feature is likely on the way to being deprecated.
CheckIn: This is an excellent feature for anxious people and those with anxious people in their life! I have family members constantly worried about whether I got home safely. CheckIn is handy for automatically notifying them of that (or, conversely, that I'm in mortal peril).
FaceTime: As much as I hate being in any virtual meeting after the past two years of only doing virtual meetings, Apple has created some excellent enhancements to FaceTime this year. The presenter view (Mac only) is a superb ML enhancement, as are the more immersive environmental reactions (although by the 10th time the fireworks go off in a given meeting, I'll be very much over it). The ability to leave FaceTime voicemails is such an obvious feature that I struggle to think why it took a decade to add. I also have several family members living away who primarily connect via FaceTime, so using Continuity Camera on the TV for FaceTime calls is also welcome.
StandBy: Dock your phone horizontally and turn it into a mini-hub for all interactive widgets-like information. Music, Siri, Home Controls, Live Activities, Weather, and at night, a dimmed clock are all available at a glance thanks to the always-on display (or a tap for other iPhones). Some of the clockfaces shown off look downright gorgeous, and I am now about to spend a stupid amount of money on third-party docks.
FYI - The iPhone dock featured in the Keynote was the Twelve South Forté (which sold out at my Apple store & Amazon within hours of being featured).
iPad Widgets & Live Activities: The iPad also gets Lock Screen widgets and Live Activities. Sweet.
Interactive Widgets: It took a minute, but we finally got them! I am still determining how advanced these will ultimately be (e.g. will calculators be allowed? Answer: it seems they can work). Interactivity is a solid quality-of-life enhancement for managing my day-to-day, from turning off lights, completing a to-do, or pausing a song or podcast with a lot less friction.
NameDrop Animation: Let's take a minute and pause at how beautiful that Contact sharing animation (part of a feature called NameDrop) is. That ripple gives me chills! Before I go on about AirDrop, I love the vitality creeping into iOS. Features like Dynamic Island and this new feature highlight a much more organic UI style that elevates the OS.
NameDrop: I might only use this feature once or twice, but it's charming. I love the ability to curate which numbers and information I am sending at the point of sharing so that I can share my professional contacts with professionals and my other contact information with others.
AirDrop: I can't count the number of times I've begun an AirDrop of a larger file only to move my phone an inch away and have the connection fail. The ability to transition the transfer over WiFi/Cellular if you leave range is a godsend!
Journal: First, I adore the icon. Second, the app seems half-baked, with Apple spending minimal time showing off the application. It's not even a part of iOS 17, but coming “later this year” (presumably for devices running iOS 17). Journal identifies and aggregates information (photos taken, potential contacts featured in photos, health data, music, etc.) and tries to intelligently assist in helping you memorialize and reflect on the day. Curiously, it looks like an iOS-exclusive app (no Mac or iPad app discussed), which I find odd as 99% of the journalling I do is done entirely on iPad/Mac. It’ll be a great app to boost people into journalling.
Autofill Verification Codes Received in Mail: The greatest feature Apple ever created gets even better. Autofill from text messages is now extended to verification codes from email. And the ability also exists to automatically clear verification text messages after some time (75% of my messages history is verification codes).
Adaptive Audio: A cool feature for AirPods Pro that intelligently lets specific sounds through while cancelling others. For example, a plane's engine would be dimmed, but the voice of an attendant requesting your attention would be enhanced. Great addition, as there are moments I want noise cancelling but want to have my wits about an important sound or hear someone without fumbling to deactivate it. Interestingly, it's only available for the second-generation AirPods Pro; it makes me wonder if the Max will get an update soon?
Offline Maps: Having recently travelled a thousand kilometres across northern Newfoundland without a cell signal and nothing but a moving GPS pin on a useless grey grid in Maps, I'm very thankful for this feature.
Hey Siri: We can discard the pleasantries as Siri can now be evoked without needing to say 'Hey'. Additionally, you can now stack commands, asking Siri for one thing and following it up with a second request without using the wake word. As someone slow to learn new things, I'll still use 'Hey' for at least the next half-decade.
Mental Health: I welcome Apple adding a mood-tracking feature to Health. I have been using the mood tracker How We Feel for some time and find a lot of value in seeing my mood trends and what is affecting my well-being. Patterns emerge, which can be helpful information for self-improvement, and sharing with trusted friends or a therapist.
Other Tidbits:
Password Sharing: Fantastic to have specific passwords shareable with people!
Music in Car: You can now have others in the car contribute to what's playing during a drive. This is a foolish feature; everyone knows the driver gets to control what's playing.
Reminders: Lists like groceries automatically sort themselves into groups (produce, for example).
Crosswords: Apple News+ subscribers now get daily crosswords they can access.
Health App on iPad: Health, but on iPad.
Weird Disparity with Parity: Apple's app landscape is getting a bit confusing. Health is on now on iPad but Classical isn't, nor is Journal; while the Mac lacks both and the ability to access Fitness+. The calculator is on Mac and iPhone but not on iPad. As much as Apple is working to create continuity across platforms, there are still ridiculous scenarios where the reason an App exists on one platform but not another evades me.
ML Autocorrect/Sentence Completion: iOS now learns, once and for all (or so they say), that you never meant to tell someone to "shut their ducking mouth and get the duck out of here." Sentence completion is also...
PDF Support: Better support for filling out PDFs on iPad and the ability to autofill PDFs is a welcome addition. The current landscape of subscription-based PDF apps can make filling out something as simple as an application an absolutely torturous experience.
AirPlay in your hotel room: You can now use AirPlay in select hotels. Given that all the hotels I stay at still feature 30-pin dock connectors for my iPod, I doubt I'll be seeing this anytime soon.
Multiple Timers: "we truly live in an age of wonders."
Recipe Visual Look Up: Take a photo of food, and iOS will suggest potential recipes using some of the ingredients it can identify.
Ping Apple Watch (iOS): For those that misplace their Apple Watch. Is that a thing that happens?
Profiles in Safari: Handy for people who might have more bifurcated work/personal browsing and want to keep their links and search history more separated.
macOS Sonoma
Many of the features from iOS and iPad OS (including enhanced PDF support, password sharing, stickers, message search and swipe elements, and FaceTime reactions) are also coming to macOS 14.
Screensaver Wallpapers: Similar to AppleTV, apple includes some gorgeous landscape wallpapers that animate on the lock screen and settle to become a beautiful desktop wallpaper.
Dashboard, er, Widgets on Desktop: Let's call a spade a spade; Dashboard is back! Widgets return to the desktop and can become persistent fixtures that fade when not in use. When an iPhone is nearby, widgets from iOS can also be added to the Mac. I'm curious if I'll find widgets persistently on the desktop annoying/distracting, but I welcome their return - I never used them when they were hidden behind and below notifications.
Game Mode: A new mode that directs additional power when playing graphically demanding games.
Safari Web Apps: Websites can now be treated like applications with a dedicated presence in your dock. Weird given websites getting home screen icons have existed since the first year of the iPhone but are only now coming to the Mac in a modified manner.
watchOS 10
New Look: Apple has embraced the better battery life and larger displays of modern Apple Watches and revamped many of their applications to be more colourful and detailed. For example, the Weather app looks like it does on iOS, with animated weather conditions (e.g. lightning during a thunderstorm or snow collecting at the bottom of the display), apps like the world clock change colour based on time while the Stocks background color changes based on performance. Apps controls are pushed to the edge of the display, allowing for more controls and options to be visible to the wearer.
Trail/Hiking/Compass: Detailed topographic maps, a new 3D compass with new waypoints for the last cellular reception site, and information about hikes (difficulty, time, trailhead location) are now available inside the updated watchOS. I didn't hear about these features being extended to the iPhone, which I find baffling.
Stacks: So watchOS sorta got a new widget-based UI. Titled Smart Stacks, turning the Digital Crown on any face now reveals a set of dynamically changing widgets (like on the Siri watch face) that shows pertinent information throughout the day.
Other watchOS Tidbits:
Snoopy/Palette faces: Watch faces that interact with the day playfully. For example, The palette changes during the day while Snoopy reacts to changing weather and exercises during a workout.
Stack Fitness+ Workouts: Create stacked workouts that transition seamlessly from one to the next
More advanced cycling metrics
Mental Health Mood Tracker on Apple Watch
One More Thing... Apple Vision Pro
One more thing... it was almost palpable. Just 65 minutes in, Apple blazed through every software platform and introduced three new hardware pieces. It was finally time for Apple to unveil their AR platform, Apple Vision Pro.
First, I won't lie; the eyes projected onto the external display shook me. It was a little jarring and completely unexpected. But the more I sat and thought about it, the more I preferred it over the alternative. Every other VR headset creates complete detachment between you and the outside world, but Vision Pro has gone to painstaking lengths to maintain your awareness and presence with others. That is a crucial differentiator for Apple, and a point they made consistently throughout the presentation: Vision Pro is not meant to disconnect you from the outside world.
Second, holy shit is this thing overengineer to the gills:
23 million pixels across the two micro OLED panels in front of each eye, 1/64 the size of an iPhone pixel.
The headset has an array of LEDs and infrared cameras to track eye movement.
OpticID: Iris scanning is used as a means of authentication.
Two high-resolution cameras capture the outside world and transmit over 1 billion pixels per to the display forming an immersive mixed reality experience and enabling hand-tracking and 3D mapping.
An M2 for computing and a new R1 chip to process all the camera sensor data within 12 milliseconds.
External Infrared flood illuminators for low-light hand tracking.
Ability to add customized Zeiss lenses with your vision prescription.
Eyesight: a dedicated external display that displays your face and notifies others that you are immersed in AR.
Apple expressed that Vision Pro was "the most advanced personal electronic device ever," and I believe them.
Third, this was marketed differently than I expected. There was very little mention of gaming, and the only time complete occlusion for the world was embraced was when watching movies was highlighted. Otherwise, this was pitched as a device that you were both aware of and able to interact with the world while immersed in tasks and applications inside the headset. Spatial computing is the buzzword around Cupertino - this is the new way to interact and experience your content and engage in the world.
I have had next to no experience with VR/MR headsets, but I walked away from the presentation very intrigued about Apple Vision. Where some products are priced low to create a market, Apple starting with a very ambitious product was the right approach. Apple was not introducing a product so much as they were introducing a long-term vision (pun) of their roadmap for spatial computing, and in that case, sparing no expense to present that was appropriate. Over time expertise in manufacturing, maturation of the market, and component changes/costs will help make this product accessible to more and more people.
visionOS
We saw a very contained demonstration of Apple's visionOS platform. Most of the demos shown had users interact only minimally with a small collection of apps (Safari, FaceTime, Freeform). But I get it; there's nearly a year before this product hits the market and plenty of time for the apps to be flushed out. While Apple mentioned that visionOS could run iPadOS applications, it wasn't apparent to me if apps designed for visionOS are intended to be simpler than their macOS/iPadOS counterparts or if the ability to navigate them virtually allows for features to be nearly on par.
I also want to know the speed with which I can use visionOS. On the iPad, iPhone, or Mac, I often zip between documents and files in a flurry, but visionOS interactions were demoed as very methodical, almost meditative in their pace.
As for UI, I am beyond obsessed with the frosted glass UI and shadowing to show depth in the OS. The way people outside the headset breakthrough into your VR space (almost like breaking through fog) was also incredible. I'm queuing up to watch a couple of WWDC sessions dedicated to the design principles behind visionOS to learn more about the elements of this platform.
I'm also smitten by how cool the 3D immersive environments are for watching movies or blocking out the world around me. And I'm excited about how this platform could enhance sports viewing; if I could watch any NHL game as though I have lower bowl seats from home, I'd be in heaven! The immersive quality of movies was compelling but likely a feature I would limit only because one of the most important qualities of a movie-watching experience for me is the connection to the friends and family I am viewing it with.
Other Apple Vision Pro Tidbits:
$3,499: Wow! In Canada, that would cost at least $4,699 when it launches. I don't think Apple is gouging people with this price; this is the reality of this level of high-end tech and billions of R&D and hours worked developing this platform. Future versions will be cheaper.
US at Launch: Boo! One of the disadvantages of living in Canada and being geographically adjacent to the US is that you develop an overly significant sense that what happens in the US also applies to you. I'm not the first to say that I've strongly considered a road trip down to my southern neighbour to snatch one of these up before Apple expands their worldwide availability. Apple's website in Canada does not mention the headset's existence save for a press release in the newsroom.
"Vision Pro supports... all‑day use when plugged in.": This is the most ridiculous marketing I've seen - heralding a device's infinite usability when plugged into power.
Mobility: Apple Vision was also highlighted as a device used in a more active way than I expected. A sizeable portion of the presentation highlighted people using the product while moving about their kitchens and offices instead of just sitting.
3D photography: The ability to take and view stereoscopic images and videos is intriguing. I'm not the first to feel that the guy taking a video of Apple Vision on his daughter's birthday felt much more separated than he had taken a photo with a phone. I don't know if this tech does create more separation or if this is just the novelty of seeing it for the first time.
In Sum
Conceptually, I am dazzled by the hardware and software behind Apple Vision but left with more questions than before the announcement. And I know we'll learn more in the coming months; this is a 1.0 product that will look and function entirely differently 3, 4, and 5 years from now. But as an introduction to Apple Vision and visionOS, I'm wholly intrigued. I walked into this event pretty agnostic about VR and walked out convinced Apple has a thoughtful and exciting take on this corner of the market. Those that interacted with the device after the keynote seemed to have had an almost revelatory experience after their brief demo, so I truly believe Apple has something really special up it’s sleeves. As a layman to all things VR sitting thousands of kilometres away from Cupertino, Apple succeeded in creating an exciting and compelling story about their vision for VR and the future of spatial computing.
