Following today's Worldwide Developers keynote, Apple held an event to announce the winners of its prestigious Apple Design Awards. Apple's Design Awards are handed out each year and highlight a selection of the year's best apps available on iOS and Mac, honoring all kinds of apps from utilities to games.
Apple created its design awards to recognize high-quality apps that combine design and technology in creative, compelling, and powerful ways. Along with significant recognition and a trophy, Apple gives its Design Award winners a selection of Apple products each year.
2014 winners of the Apple Design Awards included Threes!, Leo's Fortune, Blek, and Monument Valley. 2013 winners included Letterpress, Yahoo! Weather, and Evernote.
OS X 10.11 El Capitan, the successor to OS X Yosemite, is capable of running on all Macs that are able to run Yosemite, according to the OS X 10.11 release notes (via Ars Technica). The first developer beta is listed as supporting the following Macs, which are the same that are able to run Yosemite:
- iMac (Mid 2007 or newer) - MacBook Air (Late 2008 or newer) - MacBook (Late 2008 Aluminum, or Early 2009 or newer) - Mac mini (Early 2009 or newer) - MacBook Pro (Mid/Late 2007 or newer) - Mac Pro (Early 2008 or newer) - Xserve (Early 2009)
OS X El Capitan is focused heavily on performance improvements to make the Mac "snappier and more efficient." According to Apple, apps launch up to 1.4x faster and app switching is up to 2x faster. Displaying the first Mail messages when opening mail is up to 2x faster, and it's up to 4x faster when opening a PDF in preview.
El Capitan also brings Metal to OS X for the first time, improving graphics for more fluid performance in games, high performance apps, and key system-level graphics operations.
iOS 9, the upcoming update for iOS devices, has also been designed to work with all devices that run iOS 8. Even older A5 devices like the iPad 2 and the iPhone 4s will be able to run the new operating system, and in many cases, performance will improve over iOS 8 thanks to the optimizations being introduced.
Both OS X El Capitan and iOS 9 will be available to the public in the fall, with a public beta becoming available in July.
Apple today announced Apple Music, a new all-in-one app and service for discovering and listening to music. Apple Music includes a streaming music service that delivers on-demand music for $9.99 per month, much like Apple's existing Beats Music service.
Many users have wondered whether Apple Music will allow for song downloads for offline listening, and the answer to that question is yes. Apple did not give details on offline listening during its keynote event or press release, but according to an Apple representative that spoke to Re/code, content from Apple Music can be added to a playlist for offline listening.
"As an Apple Music member you can add anything from the Apple Music library -- a song, an album or a video -- to your collection," Apple said in a statement to Re/code. "And that's just the warm-up act. From there you can create the perfect playlist from anything you've added. You can save it for offline listening and take it on the road."
Offline listening is also listed as a feature available on Apple's new Apple Music page, which details what you get with an Apple Music membership. Apple Music subscribers will also get unlimited skips when listening to Apple Music radio stations, the ability to play and save Connect content, and the ability to add Apple Music content to one's music library.
Apple Music will launch to the public on June 30, as part of iOS 8.4. It is priced at $9.99 per month for individuals and $14.99 per month for a family of up to 6.
Apple covered the major new features of iOS 9 during today's keynote event, introducing a more intelligent and proactive Siri, split-screen multitasking for the iPad, major performance enhancements, Transit directions in Maps, a new News app, and more, but there are hundreds of other minor improvements that went unmentioned.
We've gathered up a list of some of the more notable changes and hidden new features in iOS 9 that have not yet been mentioned, to give you a better idea of what we can expect to see when the new operating system is released in the fall.
iCloud Drive - It wasn't mentioned during the keynote, but there's a new optional iCloud Drive app on iOS that can be turned on in the Settings menu. The app lets you access files stored in iCloud Drive.
Keyboard changes - The shift function has been altered once again, making it easier to determine when it's activated and when caps lock is turned on. With shift pressed, all letters on the keyboard are now shown in upper case. With shift off, letters on the keyboard are lower case. On iPad, there are new edit controls, and the keyboard now uses the new San Francisco font.
Shift on at top, shift off at bottom
Find My Friends/iPhone - Find My Friends and Find My iPhone are both default apps with iOS 9 and come installed automatically. Before these needed to be downloaded from the App Store. Find My Friends can be added to the Notification Center, where it tracks the location of your friends.
Battery saving - Using ambient light and proximity sensors, your iPhone now knows when it's facedown on a table and will not turn the screen on, even when a Notification is received. Other enhancements add an additional 1 hour of battery life to the iPhone with iOS 9, and there's a new Low Power Mode that increases battery life another three hours. You'll get pop ups suggesting you turn on Low Power Mode when your iPhone reaches 20% and 10% battery life.
Battery settings - To go along with all the new battery features, there's a new dedicated "Battery" section in the settings app, where Low Power Mode can be turned on. It also displays more detailed battery usage information that can be sorted by apps using the most and the least amount of power. With Low Power Mode, background activity, motion effects, and animated wallpapers are disabled. Battery information is also displayed in the Notification Center, for both Apple Watch and iOS device.
Following today's big WWDC keynote address in San Francisco, a few new details and confirmations have been made about the Apple Watch, specifically regarding a crucial security feature for the wearable. Activation Lock, previously available for iPhones and iPads, was confirmed to be coming to Apple Watch with watchOS 2. The feature lets users secure their Apple Watch with their Apple ID, preventing malicious users from wiping or activating the wearable device if it gets lost or stolen.
In the days and weeks following the Apple Watch launch, many users questioned the device's security due to its inherent requiring of the iPhone to perform most of its tasks. With only a simple four-digit passcode protecting the wearable, it was discovered in early May that that code could be entirely bypassed with a simple settings wipe able to be performed by anyone who came into contact with your personal Apple Watch.
With today's confirmation of Activation Lock for the Apple Watch, users concerned about losing or having the new Apple wearable stolen from them can no doubt feel a bit more at ease with the security of the device. Registered developers will be able to gain access to watchOS 2 starting today, with a wide public release coming sometime this fall.
Hidden in the settings menu of the just-unveiled iOS 9, today it was found that iCloud Drive will be getting its own dedicated app experience with the newest iteration of iOS.
The app, hidden by a "Show on Home Screen" command in the iCloud Drive section of settings, will allow users to interact and manage all of their saved files within iCloud inside of the app.
The specific setting for turning on the hidden app lies in Settings > iCloud > iCloud Drive. Once users decide to turn on the "Show on Home Screen", the app will show up on their home screen alongside their previously downloaded apps.
A somewhat hidden feature not spoken of directly during today's WWDC keynote is a new app for iOS 9 called "Move to iOS," which will allow current Android users a hassle-free migration experience from their Android phone to the iOS ecosystem.
Once downloaded on each phone, the app will help users securely transfer all of their important data: contacts, message history, camera photos and videos, web bookmarks, mail accounts, calendars, wallpaper, and DRM-free songs and books.
In addition, Apple claims the app will "help rebuild your app library, too," siphoning through any free apps used on Android and suggesting them as downloads on the iOS App Store. Simultaneously, any paid Android apps are immediately added to each user's iTunes Wish List as future reminders.
Apple today announced that it is merging all of its developer programs into a single developer program, letting developers pay one fee to access both Mac and iOS developer tools. Before today, Apple offered a Mac developer program and an iOS developer program, accessible with separate $100 fees.
The new Apple Developer Program combines everything you need to develop, distribute, and manage your apps on all Apple platforms into one single program, making it easier than ever to bring your creativity to over a billion customers around the world. Get your apps ready for the App Store on iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch, by enrolling in the Apple Developer Program today.
It now costs $99 to access all SDKs and betas of iOS 9, OS X, and the company's newest software platform, watchOS. Apple has created a support document to explain the changes and walk developers through the process of transitioning to the new membership program.
All individual and organization developer accounts have been upgraded to the new program and can access the tools for iOS and OS X. Membership expiration dates and Technical Support Incidents have not been changed. For those who had memberships to both former programs, the new single account has an extended expiration date that includes the sum of days that remained in each program.
At today's WWDC keynote, Apple unveiled iOS 9, the latest version of its mobile operating system. iOS 9, which is designed to improve upon iOS 8, has four central areas of focus: intelligence, apps, iPad multitasking, and foundation.
With iOS 9, our iOS devices are more intelligent and proactive thanks to improved Siri features and new deeper Spotlight search, and the iPad experience is better than ever with the addition of multitasking, letting users run two apps at once on the same screen. Built in apps like Notes and Maps have gained new features, there's a newly announced News app for reading news stories, and Passbook has been renamed to Wallet.
Most importantly, performance improvements have eked out additional battery life, adding up to an hour in normal usage mode and up to three hours with a new power saving mode. iOS 9 will run on all devices that supported iOS 8.
"iOS 9 is packed with more intelligence throughout, and delivers big updates to the apps customers use most — Maps supports public transit, a redesigned Notes app provides great new ways to capture ideas, and a beautiful News app delivers content that's personalized to your interests," said Craig Federighi, Apple's senior vice president of Software Engineering. "With our new iPad features, users can take advantage of the power of iPad, working in two apps at the same time with Split View, Slide Over or Picture-in-Picture."
The new, more proactive Siri is contextually aware and can offer you more information than ever. For instance, if a user runs every morning Siri can offer music to listen to when the user plugs in their headphones. The music is context sensitive and is dependent on time and place, so if a user is in the car Siri may offer an audiobook or podcast instead of music if that's what the user usually does. If someone calls a user with a number not in their address book, Siri can now look through email to see if it can identify the number. If it can, it'll display it.
iOS 9 has also been updated with a brand new Search window, which offers commonly used apps or contacts, one-tap links to nearby locations and breaking news. There's also a brand new API for Search, which means that it can now pull up content from within apps. When you tap on the information, you're deep linked into the app. This new search feature is accessed by swiping left on the home screen.
With the new Search and Siri features, Apple placed a heavy emphasis on privacy. All features are anonymous and are not linked to an Apple ID, with users in control of data and content.
When it comes to apps, both Maps and Notes are getting major updates. Notes includes new formatting options, checklists, and sketching tools, along with the ability to share notes from Share Sheets. Maps is gaining Transit directions and a new transit view that shows off the transit lines in a city, from buses to trains to subways.
The transit options are integrated into directions, allowing users to get step-by-step directions in between transit stops. Siri is also integrated into Transit, so users can ask Siri how to get to a location via a transit option. Transit is coming to a limited number of cities, including many in China.
Apple also announced a brand new, Flipboard-like app called News. The app, like Flipboard, takes content from sources like ESPN, Politico, the New York Times, Conde Nast publications and local news and presents them with rich typography and beautiful imagery. Users can also keep track of specific topics they like to read about. The new app will roll out to the United States, United Kingdom and Australia.
The iPad is getting some exclusive updates in iOS 9, including multitasking and a brand-new QuickType keyboard. Users can now bring in apps on the side of the screen in a new feature called "SlideOver," which brings in windowed versions of apps like Notes, Mail and Messages with a quick gesture. Multitasking also allows users to put two apps next to each other with SplitView. Additionally, there's also a picture-in-picture feature that allows you to keep watching video from another app while you do something else, like check email. While most features are available for all iPads, SplitView is only available for iPad Air 2.
Performance and battery life have been improved in iOS 9, with a brand new Low Power mode that can extend battery life for 3 hours. The Cupertino company has also updated its Software Update feature, improving the time it takes to download its latest software updates. Additionally, Apple has reduced the free space needed to download iOS 9, from 4.6 GB to 1.3 GB.
Apple announced an update to Apple Pay, bringing loyalty cards and store credit and debit cards to the payment service. Kohl's, JCPenney and BJ's are some of the early store credit and debit cards that'll be accepted.
CarPlay also got an upgrade in iOS 9, as it now supports apps by automakers that control things in the car. It also supports more kinds of car screens, including HiDPI screens. Finally, CarPlay is now wireless, allowing users to keep their phones in their pockets while in the car.
For developers, iOS 9's various kits have also seen improvements in the new software. GameplayKit has AI and pathfinding while ReplayKit allows users to to record their gameplay and share it, much like users can do on the Xbox One and PlayStation 4. HealthKit has gained new health metrics. And finally, HomeKit has support for Window Shades, CO censors, motion sensors and security systems. Users will also be able to remotely and securely access their home from iCloud.
Apple also announced Swift 2, an upgrade to its programming language, and made Swift open source. iOS 9, which is a free update, is available to registered developers immediately, and it will be available to public beta testers beginning in July. A public release will come in the fall.
Make sure to check out our newly created iOS 9 forum, which we've added for users to discuss the new features and changes coming with iOS 9. It'll be a great resource for details on the new operating system ahead of its fall launch.
At today's Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple detailed some major changes coming to watchOS, the operating system that powers the Apple Watch. New features in watchOS 2 include support for native apps, third-party complications, communications improvements, better health and fitness performance, new Siri capabilities, and more.
With watchOS 2, Apple Watch apps are going to see some major improvements. Developers will be able to build apps that run entirely on the Apple Watch, speeding up launch speeds, and they're also getting access to a whole host of Apple Watch features.
Developers have access to the Taptic Engine, to build haptic notifications into third-party applications, and they're also getting access to sensors like the accelerometer and the heart rate sensor. That means third-party apps will be able to track your movement and heart rate, contributing that data to the Activity app on the Apple Watch. Apps can also now access the microphone and play videos.
Apple is introducing new watch faces, with the ability to turn a photo or an album into a watch face. When you select an album, you'll see a different photo from that album each time you raise your wrist. Apple's also debuted a new Time Lapse watch face, which shows iconic locations around the world shot over 24 hours when you look at your watch. With the London Time Lapse, for example, if you look at your watch at noon, you'll see London at noon.
Third-party Complications are also a major new feature, letting developers build Complications for watch faces that allow users to quickly get quick looks at information like flight times, sports scores, the charge level of an electric car and more. Additionally, users can now spin the Digital Crown to access a new feature called Time Travel, which allows users to see future Complications information like what the weather will be like later in the day.
WatchOS 2 is gaining a new Nightstand mode that can be activated while the watch is charging, which displays the time and includes alarm clock features. New communication features include the ability to add more than 12 friends and the ability to send sketches in multiple colors. It'll also be possible to reply to Mail messages using dictation, and FaceTime Audio is supported.
Siri's gaining some improvements, including the ability to start workouts with commands like "Go for a 5-mile run" or "Go for a 300-calorie bike ride." Siri can also bring up glances for users now in watchOS 2, and can access Transit directions.
Some of the new updates to iOS 9, which include Transit directions and store credit and debit cards in Apple Pay are reflected within watchOS 2 as well, and the Apple Watch will gain a major iOS feature with watchOS 2 -- Activation Lock. Activation Lock on Apple Watch will prevent another user from wiping or activating the Apple Watch if it is lost or stolen.
WatchOS 2 will be available for registered developers beginning today, allowing them to begin building apps with the new features. It'll be available to the public in the fall alongside iOS 9 and will be a free update.
Update: The first beta of watchOS 2 is now available for registered developers.
Apple today announced Apple Music, an all-in-one app for discovering, listening to and sharing music. Apple Music is both a streaming music service and 24-hour live radio station, in addition to a platform for artists to share lyrics, backstage photos, videos or latest songs for fans to comment on and share through social media.
Apple Music's streaming music service enables users to search and stream millions of songs from iTunes, with human curated playlists from music experts for improved personalization over algorithmically created playlists. Apple Music will be available for iPhone, iPad, Mac and PC on June 30, with support for Apple TV and Android coming in the fall.
Apple's new 24-hour global radio station called Beats 1 will be broadcast live in over 100 countries, headlined by former BBC radio DJ Zane Lowe alongside other famous DJs from Los Angeles, New York and London such as Ebro Darden and Julie Adenuga. Beats 1 will offer exclusive interviews, guest hosts and keep tabs on what is going on in the music world.
Apple Music Connect is the social platform built into Apple Music that allows users to connect with artists and share their favorite songs and albums through Facebook, Twitter, iMessage and email. Apple hopes that Apple Music Connect will help not only major artists, but ones that are indie or relatively unknown, more easily promote their music and engage with their fans.
Apple Music will be available on June 30 for iPhone and iPad on iOS 8.4 and Mac and PC through iTunes for $9.99 per month, with a three-month free trial and $14.99 per month family plan for up to six people available. Apple Music for Apple TV and Android will be available this fall. Beats 1 ad-supported stations can be listened to for free without a subscription.
Apple today showed a video during its WWDC keynote speech to showcase a few key numbers detailing the growth and evolution of the App Store since it launched seven years ago. Apple CEO Tim Cook noted that the App Store has been an "economic boon" and forever changed software distribution, with 98 percent of all Fortune 500 companies creating an iOS app and the average person owning about 119 apps within their iPhone.
In total, the company said that there are 850 apps downloaded every second, and a grand total of 100 billion that have been downloaded since its opening. App developers have seen a collective total of $30 billion in profit since third-party apps launched on the App Store, making Apple's online application-focused storefront the most profitable app marketplace on the planet. Showcasing a few celebrities and various technological personalities, Apple's App Store-related video pointed out that the Store's current growth is only the beginning for what the company has planned to do with the App Store.
Apple today announced Swift 2, the latest version of its programming language for iOS, OS X and watchOS with all-new Whole Module Optimization technology. Apple executive Craig Federighi also announced that Swift will be open source and made available for Linux later this year.
Swift 2 has new features that will enable developers to write even better code, including advanced error handling, availability checking and syntax enhancements.
Today at WWDC, Apple confirmed that multitasking would be coming to the iPad with iOS 9. The new feature will allow users to view, and sometimes interact with, two apps simultaneously in multiple ways. First is "Split View," coming to iPad Air 2, which brings the most powerful task managing multitasking experience to the tablet. With it a user can open two apps at the same time, and completely interact with them in the normal way with no limitations.
Conversely, older generation models and iPad mini will have "Slide Over," allowing them to slide in a smaller version of a second app from the side of the screen. Apple gives examples like quickly responding to a tweet or text message while browsing Safari as a prime example. Although, unlike Split View, Slide Over isn't true multitasking as the app relegated to the background can't be interacted with while the second app runs on the side of the screen.
iOS 9 will also bring picture-in-picture to allow users to watch video while browsing around within other apps. By simply pressing the home button when watching a video or even using FaceTime, users can browse their iPad as normal while a smaller boxed video keeps running in the corner of the screen.
Apple today announced a brand new application called "News," that aims to provide curated lists of personalized news for each iOS user. Taking news from some of the most popular websites and newspapers, the app provides content in a unique, custom layout with rich typography. The app, launching first in the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia, allows users to pick favorite publications, genres, and topics in order for Apple to begin pushing new and interesting stories to them in the "For You" section.
“News seamlessly delivers the articles you want to read in a beautiful and uncluttered format, while respecting your privacy, because Apple doesn’t share your personal data,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services. “We already have nearly 20 publishers representing more than 50 titles joining us, including Condé Nast, ESPN, The New York Times, Hearst, Time Inc., CNN and Bloomberg.”
The more users read and browse News, the more personalized the experience becomes as it tailors to each individual's likes and dislikes. With Apple News Format, the company's new digital publishing format used to power the app, each publisher can create unique looks for their stories and take advantage of the full power of iOS. With content that can include audio, video, maps, photos, and more, Apple hopes to create more involving stories and articles with News.
Today Apple briefly reiterated on Apple Pay's success in the United States, mentioning upcoming support for Discover credit cards and new expansive partners coming soon. The company also announced that Apple Pay will be coming to the United Kingdom, with 250,000 UK merchants launching support of the service in July.
Those 250,000 confirmed supporters of the mobile wallet in the UK exceed even the United States' 200,000 when Apple Pay launched in the states last year. Apple also confirmed that UK users will be able to commute and pay for fares on London's Underground with Apple Pay, and that when the service launches in the UK next month, it will support eight of the "most established banks" in the country.
"Apple Pay has quickly become a big part of millions of users’ everyday shopping routines, providing a simpler, faster and more secure way to pay,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services. “We’re thrilled to bring Apple Pay to the UK with support at launch from the most popular banks, an incredible roster of merchants and many of our users’ favorite apps.”
In addition to expanded United Kingdom support, the company confirmed that store credit and debit cards would be arriving in iOS 9, with store cards offering unique membership benefits. Kohl's and JCPenney are amongst the first supporters of the membership service, with the company promising that loyalty and rewards cards are coming soon too.
Specifically, companies like Coca-Cola, Dunkin' Donuts, and Panera Bread will be among the first to bring a rewards program to users with Apple Pay. Apple ended its Apple Pay briefing by confirming Passbook would be renamed to 'Wallet,' a one-stop-shop for all of a user's credit and debit cards, loyalty cards, boarding passes, and more.
Apple today announced a boost to performance coming to users with OS X El Capitan in the form of Metal, previously available only for iOS. The company promises the inclusion of Apple's breakthrough graphics technology into El Capitan will boost system-wide performance and battery life while simultaneously allowing games and graphics-intensive apps to "tap into the full power" of Mac graphics processors.
"OS X delivers unparalleled integration between Mac hardware, iOS devices, apps and online services, and has helped Mac sales outpace the PC industry every year for the last decade,” said Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering. “Customers loved last year’s landmark OS X Yosemite release and made it the fastest-adopted PC operating system ever. With El Capitan, we’re further refining the Mac experience with enhancements to window management, Spotlight and built-in apps, and improving performance so everyday activities — from launching apps to accessing email — are faster and more responsive.”
Showcasing Epic's forthcoming game Fortnite, a few developers from the well-known game studio showcased how the graphics engine will be perfect for high performance games, combining the computing power of OpenCL and graphics power of OpenGL into new API that does both. With Metal, Apple machines will be able to accelerate Core Animation and Core Graphics, boosting system-level rendering by up to 50 percent, and efficiency by up to 40 percent. Specifically for higher-end games, however, Metal will take full advantage of a Mac's CPU and GPU, delivering "up to ten times faster draw cell performance," for a richer gaming experience.
Apple also noted that when working with Adobe, the developers were able to deliver up to an 8x improvement in rendering when using After Effects. Other than Epic and Adobe, companies like Blizzard, Feral, Foundry, Autodesk, and Aspyr were all mentioned in today's keynote as future adopters of Metal.
Apple today announced OS X 10.11 El Capitan, the latest version of its Mac operating system. OS X El Capitan features new versions of multiple stock apps, including Safari, Mail and Notes, improved Spotlight search with natural language enhancements and contextually aware results, Metal for Mac and other features and refinements that Apple introduced during its WWDC keynote in San Francisco.
Safari: A new pinned feature enables users to keep websites listed at the top of Safari, similar to a bookmarks bar. The browser also gains a universal mute feature that allows users to mute a website that is playing music, even with several tabs open.
Mail: The new Mail app features enhancements to its full-screen mode, tabs in the compose window, the ability to hide in-progress messages and go back to the main Inbox. There are also new gestures built into Mail for archiving and deleting -- simply swipe on the trackpad.
Spotlight: Apple has significantly improved Spotlight search in OS X El Capitan with natural language enhancements and contextually aware search results. "Get Mail from Brian about El Cap," for example.
Metal for Mac:Metal for Mac has arrived, combining the computing power of OpenCL and graphics power of OpenGL into a new API that does both. 50% improvements in rendering with 40% less CPU processing power required for graphics. Metal on OS X El Capitan offers better battery life and improved graphics performance for both games and professional apps.
OS X 10.11 El Capitan is available to registered developers beginning today. It will be available in public beta in July and will publicly launch in the fall as a free software update for supported Macs.
Apple today announced Swift 2, the latest version of its programming language for iOS, OS X and watchOS with all-new Whole Module Optimization technology. Apple executive Craig Federighi also announced that Swift will be open source and made available for Linux later this year.
