Apple today unveiled its long-awaited Mac Pro redesign at WWDC 2019. Following the keynote, Apple has published a press release highlighting positive feedback from pro app developers like Adobe, Pixar, and Autodesk.
Adobe is "incredibly excited" about the new Mac Pro, according to its vice president of 3D and immersive technologies Sebastien Deguy:
We're incredibly excited about the new Mac Pro, which represents a strong commitment from Apple towards creatives working in 3D. We've already started porting the Substance line of tools, as well as Dimension, to Apple's new graphic API Metal to fully take advantage of the immense power the new Mac Pro hardware offers and empower 3D creatives in unprecedented ways.
Pixar:
We are thrilled to announce full Metal support in Hydra in an upcoming release of USD toward the end of the year. Together with this new release, the new Mac Pro will dramatically accelerate the most demanding 3D graphics workflows thanks to an excellent combination of memory, bandwidth and computational performance. This new machine clearly shows Apple is delivering on the needs of professionals at high-end production facilities like Pixar.
Autodesk:
Autodesk is fully embracing the all-new Mac Pro and we are already working on optimized updates to AutoCAD, Maya, Fusion and Flame. This level of innovation, combined with next-generation graphics APIs, such as Metal, bring extremely high graphics performance and visual fidelity to our Design, Manufacturing and Creation products and enable us to bring greater value to our customers.
Following today's WWDC keynote event that saw the introduction of iOS 13, macOS 10.15, watchOS 6, and tvOS 13, Apple has seeded the first beta of the new tvOS 13 operating system to developers.
Designed for the fourth and fifth-generation Apple TV, the new tvOS 13 developer beta can be downloaded onto the Apple TV via a profile that's installed using Xcode.
tvOS 13 introduces multi-user support for the first time, along with an immersive new Home screen experience. With multi-user support, each family member can access their own TV shows, movies, music, and recommendations.
Apple has added support for Apple Arcade, and the Apple TV now supports PlayStation and Xbox controllers. There are also new under-the-sea themed 4K HDR screensavers.
The tvOS 13 update is limited to developers right now, but Apple will provide a public beta of the software to public beta testers later this summer. tvOS 13 will see a fall launch alongside iOS 13, macOS 10.15, and watchOS 56
Apple this morning introduced watchOS 6, a new version of the watchOS software that runs on the Apple Watch. Following the keynote event, Apple has now released the first beta of watchOS 6 to developers for testing purposes.
To install the beta, you'll need the proper configuration profile, which can be obtained through the Apple Developer Center. Once the profile is in place, the watchOS 6 beta can be downloaded using the dedicated Apple Watch app on the iPhone by going to General -> Software Update.
To install the beta, the Apple Watch must have 50 percent battery, it must be placed on the charger, and it must be in range of the iPhone. It would be wise to install the beta on a secondary device instead of a primary device given that this is an early version of the watchOS 5 software that still has bugs to be worked out.
watchOS 6 is a major update that brings additional focus to third-party apps for Apple Watch with the inclusion of access to an App Store right on your wrist.
Other new features include a "Dose" app for tracking medication and a "Cycles" app for tracking menstrual cycles. There's a new health feature for monitoring the ambient noise around you and the noise level of your earbuds with the purpose of protecting ear health.
There's a new Calculator app, and a new a Voice Memos app, plus several new watch faces that you can use.
watchOS 6 is only available to developers and will not be provided to public beta testers (because there's no way to downgrade Apple Watch software), so non-developers will need to wait until the software is officially released in the fall to try it out.
Following the conclusion of today's keynote event where Apple introduced new versions of iOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS, Apple has made the first beta of iOS 13 available to developers for testing purposes.
The iOS 13 beta testing period will allow Apple to work out bugs ahead of the software's release and it will let developers build iOS 13 and iPadOS features into their apps ahead of the software's public release. One of the major announcements today was the split between iOS 13 and iPadOS, with iPadOS being a new dedicated operating system that runs on the iPad.
Registered developers can download the initial iOS 13 and iPadOS betas from Apple's Developer Center using iTunes. After that, subsequent betas should be available over the air.
Like all major updates introduced at WWDC, iOS 13 is a major overhaul to the iOS operating system. There's a long-awaited Dark Mode feature available for the first time, fulfilling the wishes of many iPhone and iPad users.
iOS 13, like iOS 12, has a number of optimizations that make app download sizes smaller, reduce launch times, and make Face ID way faster on Face ID-enabled devices.
The Photos app features an updated layout with better curation of various photo moments throughout the years, with more intelligent organization and revamped, enhanced editing tools. There's a new swipe-based keyboard option, and Portrait Lighting adjustments can now be made right in the Camera app. You can also move light closer or further away to adjust the way your photos look. There's a new Find My app for finding your iPhone or Mac even when there's no WiFi or Cellular collection.
Apple has added a new privacy-focused Sign In With Apple feature that's designed to allow you to sign in with websites and apps via Apple rather than through services like Google and Facebook.
You can use your Apple ID to authenticate your login, and developers will be provided with a unique, random ID. You can even keep your email address private by using a randomized email address generated by Apple, and logins can all be authenticated using Face ID or Touch ID.
An updated Maps experience brings broader road coverage, new pedestrian data, more precise addresses, and more detailed landcover. Updated maps are available in select cities and states and will roll out across the U.S. by the end of 2019.
Apple is added a new street view feature called "Look Around" that lets you see street-level imagery of a city. The Maps app is also gaining Collections for sharing favorite restaurants or travel destinations with friends, and a Favorites section for navigating to frequent destinations.
Updates have been made to Reminders, with the app getting a total overhaul to make it more useful, and Messages now offers Profile photos and Animoji/Memoji stickers. There are also tons of new Memoji accessory packs. Siri features a new, more natural voice, and Siri Shortcuts now offers up Suggested Automations to make it easier and more personalized than ever.
CarPlay has an updated dashboard view, and on the HomePod, there's a new feature that lets it distinguish between voices so each person in the home can access their own music. Live Radio is now supported through Siri, and a Handoff feature lets you swap music from iPhone to HomePod with ease.
Notes has a new Gallery View, Text Editing is better than ever with new gestures for scrolling, text selection, and more, and the Files app also now supports external storage devices like SD cards and USB drives.
Only registered developers are able to download the iOS 13 beta at this time. As Apple has done in the past, a public beta for public beta testers will be provided in July after the software has gone through a couple rounds of developer testing.
Beta testing for iOS 13 will last for several months as Apple fixes bugs and refines new features. The update will see a public launch in September 2019 alongside new iPhones.
At WWDC today, Apple announced a new Swift UI framework that allows developers to build their app interfaces using much less code.
"The new app development technologies unveiled today make app development faster, easier and more fun for developers, and represent the future of app creation across all Apple platforms," said Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering. "SwiftUI truly transforms user interface creation by automating large portions of the process and providing real-time previews of how UI code looks and behaves in-app. We think developers are going to love it."
Using SwiftUI's easy-to-understand declarative code, developers can create full-featured user interfaces complete with smooth animations.
SwiftUI should also save developers time by providing several automatic functions including interface layout, Dark Mode, Accessibility, right-to-left language support and internationalization.
In addition, a new graphical UI design tool built into Xcode 11 makes it easier for UI designers to quickly assemble a user interface with SwiftUI without having to write any code. Swift code is automatically generated and when this code is modified, the changes to the UI instantly appear in the visual design tool, allowing developers to see automatic, real-time previews of how the UI will look and behave as they refine and test their code.
The new Swift API is universal, meaning it can be used to build app UIs for Apple Watch, Apple TV, Mac, iPad, iPhone, and Apple Watch.
Apple at WWDC 2019 today made a series of augmented reality announcements headlined by ARKit 3.
ARKit 3 features a new immersive "People Occlusion" feature that allows virtual objects to be placed in front and behind people in real time, as Mojang demonstrated on stage with a preview of its augmented reality game Minecraft Earth.
Apple's new RealityKit SDK provides developers with tools for photorealistic rendering, environment and camera effects, animation, physics, and more.
As part of its macOS Catalina and iOS 13 unveiling today at WWDC, Apple announced a new accessibility feature called Voice Control, allowing users to control their Mac and iOS devices entirely using vocal commands.
Voice Control supports dictation and editing in both operating systems, along with comprehensive menu navigation.
On iOS, the feature utilizes attention awareness to know when a user with physical motor limitations is interacting with their device.
To allay privacy concerns, Apple says that none of the audio processed by Voice Control can be accessed by anyone else, including Apple, thanks to built-in anonymity and encryption.
Apple today at WWDC 2019 unveiled a new Mac app named Sidecar that will allow an iPad to be used as a second display for a Mac, similar to existing third-party options like Duet Display and Luna Display.
Sidecar will work both wired and wirelessly and will support the Apple Pencil as an input device for the Mac. This functionality will be supported across all apps that support tablets.
Apple's WWDC 2019 keynote is underway. Stay tuned for updates…
Apple's "Find My Friends" app is being revamped in macOS Catalina and iOS 13, and will now be called simply "Find My." The new version of the app combines Find My iPhone and Find My Friends.
The major feature of the updated app is that it can now locate Apple devices that are offline, making it even easier to find your iPhone or MacBook if you ever happen to lose it.
Apple said that when a device is offline and sleeping, it sends out a secure Bluetooth beacon that can be detected by other Apple devices nearby, even the ones owned by other people. This results in a network that works to find lost Apple devices through a secure, encrypted, and anonymous signal relay.
As part of its iOS 13 unveiling today at WWDC, Apple announced what it called "the biggest update to CarPlay yet."
The new version of CarPlay will feature a new interactive dashboard to view music, maps and more in a single view. It also includes a new, more advanced in-vehicle version of Apple Maps.
The Calendar and Music apps have also been redesigned to improve the user experience, while Siri will be able to deliver directions and music from third-party apps like Pandora and Waze.
Apple today at WWDC 2019 announced that Apple News+ will be expanding to the United Kingdom and Australia in iOS 13.
Apple News+ is currently available in the United States for $9.99 per month and in Canada for $12.99 per month. The service, based on Apple's acquisition of Texture, provides unlimited access to hundreds of digital magazines and newspapers.
Apple at WWDC 2019 today announced that the HomePod is gaining Handoff support, allowing users to place an iPhone near the HomePod to hand over music, podcast, or a phone call.
Apple also announced that AirPods are getting a new Audio Sharing feature, allowing users to share a song or movie with a friend with just a tap.
Apple today announced new photography features coming to its native Camera and Photos app this fall with the release of iOS 13, including a redesigned UI and a more advanced version of Portrait Lighting.
The new photo editing features allow users to more easily see their settings at a glance and make adjustments by tapping and dragging. The changes are also coming to video, which will allow users to rotate a video in the edit screen.
Apple says Portrait Lightning has also been taken to a new level, by allowing users to adjust the intensity of the lighting effect to virtually move light closer or further from the subject.
In the Photos app, a new browsing interface allows you to organize and search your pictures more easily, and the app will employ advanced AI to create new layouts of multiple shots whenever you view them.
Videos will play automatically upon selection, while new Days and Years features let you see collections of images in a more organized and chronological manner.
The Messages app on iOS is gaining a new feature that will let you automatically share your name and photo, or custom Animoji/Memoji, so that your friends can easily identify who is in the thread.
The update comes with far more options for Memoji customization, including new makeup, accessories, eyeshadow, lipstick, piercings, teeth, earrings, hair, hats, glasses, and even AirPods.
You can now also turn your Memoji into stickers, which can then be used across numerous apps like Messages and Mail. Memoji stickers and the Memoji editor will also now be supported for all devices with an A9 chip or later, not just those with TrueDepth cameras.
Many home cameras today send video the the cloud to, for example, analyze the difference between a leaf blowing in the wind or someone at your door.
Apple aims to improve this with a new feature called HomeKit Secure Video with on-device analyzing. An encrypted stream is then sent to iCloud that no one, not even Apple, can see. You'll be alerted to activity and can review what's going on.
HomeKit is also coming to routers, effectively adding a firewall between smart home accessories and your network. Launch partners will include Linksys, Eero, and Charter/Spectrum.
Apple today announced Sign In With Apple at WWDC, allowing users to log in to apps and services using your Apple ID in a highly secure manner.
Apple is releasing a new API to allow developers to add the new sign-in function to their apps for a more convenient way of logging in using Face ID without revealing additional personal information
When logging in users can choose to reveal or hide their email address, or get Sign In With Apple to generate a unique random, anonymous email address that can be managed for specific apps, giving users more control of their data.
The new sign-in feature is coming with Apple's new operating systems this fall and will be available across macOS, iOS, and through websites.
During the iOS 13 section of the WWDC 2019 keynote today, Apple unveiled a completely revamped Reminders app. The app features an all-new user interface and advanced features that can intelligently detect what kind of reminder you're creating.
When you begin typing in a reminder, the app will provide smart suggestions regarding when and where you should be alerted. You can also tag people in any reminder, and the next time you begin a Messages thread with them you'll see a Reminders notification that suggests you bring up the topic with them.
There's also a new quick toolbar that makes it easier to add times, dates, locations and flags, or add attachments to any reminder.
Secondly, Apple Maps is being updated with enhanced mapping data and an all-new map. Apple said that it drove 4 million miles to rebuild the basemap from the ground up and offer broader road coverage, better pedestrian data, more precise addresses, and a more detailed landcover.
The updated Apple Maps in iOS 13 can be seen on the left
This new map is available now in select cities and states, and will expand to the entire United States by the end of 2019 and select other countries next year. Apple Maps also has a new "Look Around" window to check out ground level views of certain locations, and "Collections" to easily share favorite restaurants or stores with friends.
Apple today at WWDC 2019 announced that iPhones and iPads are getting a native swipe-based keyboard named QuickPath.
The new QuickPath keyboard enables allows you to swipe your finger from one letter to the next to type without removing your finger from the keyboard to enter a word, allowing for easier one-handed typing. Apple's website confirms that the keyboard is available in both iOS 13 and iPadOS.
"Simply swipe from one letter to the next without lifting your finger to enter a word," says Apple. "On‑device machine learning recognizes the path you draw and converts it for you, making one‑handed typing a breeze."
At launch, QuickPath supports English, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, German, French, Italian, and Portuguese keyboards.
Swipe-based keyboards have been available on the iPhone and iPad since iOS 8 added support for third-party keyboards from the App Store, such as SwiftKey, but this is the first native solution to come from Apple.
