macOS Sequoia has a fun new Macintosh dynamic wallpaper and screensaver combination that highlights classic Mac icons. Basic Apple Guy shared some high resolution screenshots of the new wallpaper, which can be used on other Apple devices.
On device, the Macintosh wallpaper animates and shifts through different retro graphics, with color options that include Spectrum, Accent, Blue, Red, Purple, Yellow, Dark Gray, Gray, Green, Orange, and Random.
Macintosh isn't the only new macOS Sequoia wallpaper, with Apple also adding "Helios," which is featured in macOS Sequoia marketing materials and Apple images. Helios animates with a gradient design.
To see the wallpapers in their full glory, macOS Sequoia is required. The operating system update is available to developers right now, with a public release scheduled for the fall.
iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia will all have built-in "Apple Intelligence," and one of the new AI features includes an Image Playground. With Image Playground, you can generate an image from a prompt, similar to what you can do with OpenAI's ChatGPT. While you can come up with anything, Apple will provide a selection of suggested concepts in categories like themes, costumes, and places.
Apple Intelligence isn't out yet, but iOS 18 does provide some insight into the concepts that Apple will suggest to users, as MacRumors contributor Steve Moser discovered. Apple's suggestions will be personalized, so if you're chatting with friends about going on a hike, you might see it pop up options like mountains and hiker. Note that this list is not exhaustive because it is missing some examples that are in Apple's marketing materials, but these are the options in the beta right now. Apple will also likely add new suggestions on an ongoing basis.
Nature and Environments
Mountains
Desert
Forest
Garden
Prairie
Rainforest
Waterfall
Volcano
Space
Starry Night
Seasons
Autumn
Spring
Summer
Winter
Costumes and Characters
Alien
Artist
Astronaut
Chef
Farmer
Hiker
Healthcare Worker
Mechanic
Pilot
Rancher
Racecar Driver
Robot
Royalty
Scientist
Superhero
Vampire
Themes
Adventure
Birthday
Graduation
Halloween
Masquerade
Party
Disco
Fantasy
Fireworks
Love
Places
Art Studio
City
Couch
Library
Lighthouse
Museum
Stadium
Stage
Items and Accessories
Baseball Cap
Beanie
Beret
Bike Helmet
Book
Bowtie
Crown
Flower Crown
Guitar
Hard Hat
Magic Wand
Microphone
Party Hat
Rubber duck
Scarf
Sunglasses
Surfboard
Sweatband
Top Hat
Beverages and Foods
Champagne Glass
Coffee
Tea
Image Playground is available as a standalone app, but it's also baked into apps like Notes and Messages. Images that are generated can include your contacts, and many of Apple's suggestions are tailored to that idea. Your iPhone can take a photo of a contact that's on your device and use it to generate a fun cartoon-like image that you can share with them.
Apple adds a style to each image, and there's no option to generate something that looks real. There are three styles to choose from, including Animation, Illustration, and Sketch. Image generation is done on-device, so there's no limit on experimentation.
In the Notes app, Image Playground has a neat added feature that allows it to take a quick sketch you've made and turn it in to something more detailed, plus it can add images based on the context provided in your notes.
Image Playground and other Apple Intelligence features require an iPhone 15 Pro with A17 Pro chip, or an iPad or Mac with an M1 or better chip. Apple plans to start testing Artificial Intelligence in the iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia betas this summer.
Blackmagic Design has announced the Blackmagic URSA Cine Immersive camera designed for shooting spatial video content for Apple's Vision Pro headset.
The URSA Cine Immersive camera features a custom stereoscopic 3D lens system with dual 8K sensors, capable of capturing a 180-degree field of view with spatial audio support. It is designed to capture content with a resolution of 8,160 x 7,200 per eye and offers 16 stops of dynamic range to ensure detail and color accuracy in every frame, with the ability to shoot stereoscopic 3D immersive cinema content at 90 frames per second.
The URSA Cine Immersive is constructed with a magnesium alloy chassis and a carbon fiber polycarbonate composite skin. It includes dual 5-inch HDR touchscreens and an external color status LCD screen. Connectivity options are extensive, including 12G-SDI out, 10G Ethernet, USB-C, and XLR audio ports, along with an 8-pin Lemo connector for power.
Introducing Blackmagic URSA Cine Immersive! New camera in development, designed to capture content for Apple Vision Pro with 8160 x 7200 resolution per eye, 16 stops of dynamic range for 90fps stereoscopic 3D immersive cinema content and more! Available later in 2024. Learn more! pic.twitter.com/5pbSDnJYuI
— Blackmagic Design (@Blackmagic_News) June 10, 2024
An 8TB Blackmagic Media Module comes built-in, which can store around two hours of 8K stereoscopic video recorded in Blackmagic RAW. The camera also supports Cloud Store, allowing for fast media upload and synchronization via the 10G Ethernet connection.
Simultaneously, Blackmagic Design is updating DaVinci Resolve to better support the creation of Vision Pro content. The updated editing software will feature a new immersive video viewer, allowing editors to pan, tilt, and roll clips for viewing on 2D monitors or directly on the Apple Vision Pro headset.
Blackmagic has not yet announced the price of the URSA Cine Immersive camera. For reference, the Blackmagic URSA Cine 12K is priced at $14,995 without a lens, suggesting that the new immersive camera could be similarly priced plus the cost of the twin lens system.
The Notes app in iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 supports colors for typed text for the first time, providing an option to add new hues to text.
Apple offers five colors, including purple, pink, orange, mint, and blue, and there is no option for custom colors. Colors can be added to text through the formatting interface that can be accessed by tapping on the Aa button, with the shade applied to any text that is selected. Both the text and the background turn the selected color when the feature is used.
The five color options are useful for highlighting select words and passages in text. Multiple colors can be used in the same sentence, but it is worth noting that there does not seem to be an option for colored text without the shaded background, or black text with a colored background.
Written text added to Notes on the iPad has supported multiple color options, but Apple has not made that a feature for typed text prior to now.
Other features in the iOS 18 Notes app include live audio transcription and summarization, collapsible section headers, and the option to have Notes solve typed math problems (or written on the iPad).
The iOS 18 beta is available to developers at the current time, with Apple planning to introduce a public beta in July.
Apple has revamped the song queuing system in the Music app on iOS 18, and early reaction to the changes has been overwhelmingly positive.
Notable changes include a new "Add Songs to Queue" button at the bottom of the queue, an option to clear the entire queue all at once, and the ability to change the currently playing song without having the queue disappear. In addition, the former "Play Last" menu option has been replaced with "Add to Queue." While listening to a playlist, it is now possible to add a song to the queue for immediate playback after the current song, whereas the song would previously get added to the end of the playlist.
These changes bring Apple Music's queuing system on iPhone more in line with Spotify, and the Android version of the Apple Music app. It also brings Apple Music's queuing system more in line with how it worked back on iOS 9.
iOS 18 is currently available in beta for members of the Apple Developer Program, with a public beta to follow in July. The update should be widely released in September, allowing everyone to try out the new queuing system.
iOS 18 includes a small but interesting change for the buttons on the iPhone, adding more of a visual element when changing volume, activating the Action button, or locking the screen. When you press an iPhone button in iOS 18, the display bezel bulges outward slightly.
This feature is available for the volume buttons, Action button and the power button, and it will also likely be used for the Capture button that's rumored for the iPhone 16 models. With the iPhone 16, Apple is adding a dedicated button to make it easier to film and take photos in landscape orientation.
The button will be on the bottom right side of the iPhone, a good distance below the power button. Rumors suggest that the Capture button could be capacitive and flush with the side of the iPhone 16, so having the display pop out a bit when it's used would provide a useful visual indicator.
This small feature can be seen on iPhones running iOS 18, but Apple did not include it on the iPad. As of right now, iOS 18 is available for registered developers, but Apple plans to release a public beta in July.
Earlier this year, we reported that "Apple ID" would be renamed to "Apple Account," and this change has now been officially announced.
Apple confirmed the change in a press release today, with "Apple Account" branding now used across iOS 18, iPadOS 18, macOS Sequoia, and watchOS 11:
With the releases of iOS 18, iPadOS 18, macOS Sequoia, and watchOS 11, Apple ID is renamed to Apple Account for a consistent sign-in experience across Apple services and devices, and relies on a user's existing credentials.
There are still some places where Apple ID branding remains for now, such as the Apple ID sign-in page on the web. The transition to "Apple Account" will likely be completed by time iOS 18 and the other software updates are publicly released later this year.
"Apple Account" is certainly a more straightforward name, but "Apple ID" had been used for over two decades and had a lot of sentimental value.
Apple's stock price has crossed the $200 mark and reached a new all-time high in intraday trading, one day after the company unveiled its Apple Intelligence suite of AI features coming with iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia.
Apple's stock price has split five times since the company went public, including on a 4-for-1 basis in 2020 most recently. This means that Apple's stock price would be over $45,000 today if it had never been split, and all other things being equal.
Generative AI has been a hot topic ever since ChatGPT debuted in 2022, and investors had been waiting for Apple to unveil its own plans for the technology.
Nvidia briefly surpassed Apple to become the world's second most valuable company last week, amid strong demand for its AI server chips, but Apple has now regained second place with a $3.1 trillion market cap as of writing. Apple now trails only Microsoft, which has a nearly $3.2 trillion market cap as of writing.
Apple Intelligence features are not included in the first developer betas of iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia, but they will be available this summer. Even when the features launch to the public later this year, they will still have a beta label. Read our coverage of the Apple Intelligence announcement to learn more about the new capabilities.
Apple has shared updated iOS 17 and iPadOS 17 adoption figures, revealing how many iPhones and iPads were running those software versions before WWDC.
These adoption numbers are based on iPhones and iPads that transacted on the App Store on June 9, the day before WWDC began, according to Apple.
The statistics are as follows:
77% of all iPhones were updated to iOS 17.
68% of all iPads were updated to iPadOS 17.
86% of all iPhones introduced in the last four years were updated to iOS 17.
77% of all iPads introduced in the last four years were updated to iPadOS 17.
These will be the final iOS 17 and iPadOS 17 adoption figures given that Apple has since made the first betas of iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 available to developers.
With the first beta of iOS 18 now in the hands of developers, there are a handful of smaller changes and quality-of-life improvements being discovered in Apple's iPhone software that are worth highlighting.
First up, Apple has improved the flashlight controls. In iOS 18, turning on the Flashlight via the Lock Screen or Control Center now brings up a small interface that lets you adjust the flood of light from the LED. In other words, you now have granular control over not only the intensity of light, but also the breadth of illumination.
In the new Passwords app, you can generate QR codes for saved Wi-Fi passwords, allowing them to be shared more easily with others.
In the Settings app, usually you scroll down to get to settings for individual apps installed on your iPhone. In the iOS 18 beta, Apple has moved settings for apps to a separate screen, so now you tap "Apps" at the bottom of the menu to access a separate searchable list.
In the redesigned Control Center, which now extends to multiple screens, tapping a new + icon in the top-left corner (or long-pressing on an empty area) reveals minus icons that let you remove individual buttons, similar to how you remove apps from the Home Screen, and there's a new Add a Control option at the bottom. There are also anchors that let you resize buttons or cards like the media player. So if you've always wanted to make the Shazam icon a 4x4 button, for example, now you can.
Apple in iOS 18 has also added a new Power button to the top-right corner of the Control Center, so you don't have to physically hold the Side button to bring up the "Slide to power off" screen.
In the Weather app, you can show forecasts for separate Home and Work locations. The new Home and Work labels can be toggled in Settings ➝ Apps ➝ Weather, under a new "Locations" section. Home and work locations can be updated by editing your Contacts card.
The first developer beta of iOS 18 is now available, with a public beta following in July. Apple will officially release the new iPhone operating system to the public in the fall.
When you paste a link for a social media post into the text field in the Messages app, the associated link card now appears before you send the message, whereas it previously only became visible after the message was sent.
It was already possible to see a link card preview before sending a message in some situations on iOS 17 and earlier, such as when sharing a website link directly from the Safari app or other browsers. The expansion of link card previews to more types of content, and to links pasted directly in the Messages app, is a nice improvement.
The first developer beta of iOS 18 is available now, and a public beta will follow in July. The update should be widely released in September.
As part of its Apple Intelligence feature set, Apple on Monday announced a partnership with OpenAI that will allow Siri to access ChatGPT directly in iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia to provide better responses in relevant situations.
In conversation with reporters after the WWDC keynote, Apple's senior VP of software engineering Craig Federighi revealed that as Apple Intelligence evolves, the company eventually wants to give its users a choice between different AI models, and suggested that Google Gemini could be an option in the future.
"We think ultimately people are going to have a preference for certain models they want to use, maybe one that's great for creative writing or one that they prefer for coding," said Federighi. "Maybe Google Gemini in the future. I mean, nothing to announce right now, but that's our direction."
Federighi said that Apple's decision to start with ChatGPT was because the company wanted to "start with the best." Siri will leverage GPT-4o for free, with no need to create an account. Requests are not logged and IP addresses are obscured, while ChatGPT subscribers will also be able to access paid features within the experiences.
Apple Intelligence features are not included in the first beta of iOS 18, and instead will become available for testing over the U.S. summer. iOS 18 is expected to be publicly released in September.
During its WWDC 2024 keynote on Monday, Apple introduced a new Calculator app for iPad that includes a new Math Notes feature, and there are similar changes to be found in the Calculator app in iOS 18.
The Calculator app on iPhone now has an additional button to switch between Basic, Scientific, and Math Notes in portrait or landscape view. Meanwhile, there's a useful new History feature that helps you keep track of previous calculations.
In addition, a new Convert option supports unit conversions for length, weight, currencies, and more. Here's the full conversions that are supported:
Angle
Area
Currency
Data
Energy
Force
Fuel
Length
Power
Pressure
Speed
Temperature
Time
Volume
Weight
In iPadOS 18, the new Calculator app lets users type or write out mathematical expressions with an Apple Pencil and see them solved in their own handwriting. These Math Notes are automatically accessible in the Notes app in a new Math Notes folder that can be accessed on both iPhone and iPad.
The first developer beta of iPadOS 18 is now available, with a public beta following in July, and official release to the public in the fall.
Among the slew of iOS 18 updates announced during Apple's WWDC 2024 keynote, the company revealed a new way of paying for things with Apple Cash, called Tap to Cash.
As the name suggests, Tap to Cash lets users pay for things simply by tapping two iPhones together. The feature is reminiscent of NameDrop, where users can exchange contacts by tapping their devices together.
Tap to Cash is an extension of Apple's Tap to Pay feature, and uses the same NFC functionality. Apple says that Tap to Cash allows users to transfer money without sharing any personal information, ensuring privacy is maintained.
Apple also announced a few updates coming to Apple Wallet with iOS 18, including support for displaying information about rewards cards, such as points and redeemable gifts. Tickets for events will also gain better integration with the Wallet app, allowing users to see concert seat numbers, shortcuts for directions, and other information about events.
As part of its Home Screen customization overhaul, iOS 18 lets iPhone users hide the labels on app icons for a cleaner look.
Turning off the labels causes the icons to expand and take up the space where the text usually appears underneath. Here's how it currently works in the iOS 18 Developer Beta.
On the Home Screen, press and hold on an empty area.
Tap Edit in the top-left corner.
Tap Customize.
In the customization menu that appears, tap the Large button.
Tap anywhere on the Home Screen to save your preference.
As things stand, it's not possible to hide labels and keep app icons small, but this could change in succeeding beta versions.
Apple crammed an overwhelming number of new features into its WWDC 2024 keynote event, introducing Apple Intelligence, iOS 18, iPadOS 18, macOS Sequoia, visionOS 2, watchOS 11, and tvOS 18. It was hard to keep up with everything that Apple highlighted, so we did a video of all of the new additions you won't want to miss.
iOS 18, macOS Sequoia, and Apple's other updates are available to developers right now, with Apple planning to introduce a public beta in July. For more on what's new, stay tuned to MacRumors for additional coverage throughout the week as WWDC continues.
With the new Passwords app in iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia, there's a feature that is designed to allow websites and apps to upgrade existing accounts to passkeys automatically.
Enabled by default, the feature will speed up the adoption of passkeys, which are more secure than a traditional login and password. Passkeys log you in with Face ID or Touch ID rather than a password, and because on-device authentication is required, passkeys put a stop to online attacks like phishing. There's no password to steal or authentication code that can be intercepted.
Several popular websites and services have implemented Passkey support since Apple started using passkeys in 2022, including Twitter, Google, WhatsApp, TikTok, PayPal, Best Buy, Microsoft, PlayStation, and eBay.
Passkeys are supported in the new Passwords app that's available in iOS 18, iPadOS 18, macOS Sequoia, and Windows PCs through iCloud for Windows.
Apple today shared a few WWDC 2024 codingsessions related to its upcoming next-generation CarPlay system ahead of its launch later this year.
The sessions include lots of updated next-generation CarPlay images, with one revealing new Vehicle, Media, and Climate apps in action for the first time. MacRumors previously discovered evidence of these apps in the iOS 17.4 beta.
Next-generation CarPlay will be highly customizable, allowing automakers to tailor the design of the system to uniquely match their vehicles. Apple revealed a variety of different design options and layouts that will be possible, as shown below.
Other images provide a closer look at the Vehicle and Climate apps, which will house vehicle settings and climate controls, respectively.
Next-generation CarPlay will allow automakers to show custom alerts related to an electric vehicle's charging status, an available software update for the vehicle, and more. In addition, it will feature rear-camera integration, as shown below.
Apple's website continues to say that the first vehicles with next-generation CarPlay will arrive in 2024, but it has yet to provide a more specific timeframe, and it did not provide any timing-related updates in the WWDC coding sessions. Aston Martin and Porsche previewed next-generation CarPlay vehicle designs late last year.
For more details about next-generation CarPlay, read our previous coverage.
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