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In this blog post, we have covered the major announcements related to OS updates and new releases made by Apple in its WWDC event 2019.
World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC), organized and managed by Apple, takes place every year and unveils major announcements of software and hardware. Held from June 2nd, 2019 to June 7th, 2019 in San Jose, California, WWDC 2019 was not different.
The event witnessed the launch of flagship machines like new Mac Pro and Apple Pro Display XDR. Announced back in 2017, Mac pro was a much-awaited device that is finally among users and getting wider acceptance. Apart from the devices, the Apple team has also announced major software updates including tools like Reality Composer, RealityKit, SwiftUI, and ARKit 3. Let’s have a sneak peek on how these tools make app development for Apple devices, quick and efficient.
- Swift UI can make code faster. Using this, developers can drag and drop content quickly into a preview of the application and then start coding.
- Developers can leverage tools like Reality Composer and RealityKit to let users experience perfect AR scenes.
- ARKit 3, which is an improvement of ARKit, an Apple’s AR platform, will let users experience the real power of augmented reality with two features like People Occlusion, which is useful in layering content either in front of or behind individuals and Motion Capture, which lets capturing an individual’s motion for injecting into a wonderful AR experience.
Meanwhile, the main highlights of WWDC 2019 keynote were OS updates including iOS 13, iPadOS, macOS Catalina, and others. Let’s discuss here how these major software updates will impact iOS app development including the benefits for businesses and app users.
iOS 13
Launching new iOS 13, opened up a new horizon of iOS app development. Developers now will be able to create a more secure, user-friendly, bold looking, and faster iOS app that will help businesses deliver a seamless experience to users and increase client base to improve sales and profit.
- Dark Mode enables app development companies to create an apps that let users access content on their mobile screen in low lighting with a soothing experience.
- App developed with the latest iOS version can create the appearance of images in the way they prefer. It lets them add a monochromatic effect to portrait images. The new app will also include major photos that users can use to make any adjustments to improve the appearance of images. With video editing tools users can crop, rotate, auto enhancement, etc., to improve the appearance of videos.
- With new iOS13, developers now get more options to create secure apps for Apple devices, leveraging a new ‘Sign In feature with Apple’.
- Now the new iOS apps will be developed with a major focus on maps, to let users engross into a complete 3D experience, which also enables users to pan across 360 degrees and also a complete view of streets, roads, etc., of any city.
- Siri is more powerful with the new OS version. It gets a new ability to learn voices of every family member to help them get a personalized experience, read incoming messages, pairing two sets of AirPods to one device to enjoy the same audio, videos, etc.
- iOS developers can use memoji with different hair-styles, makeup headwear, etc. while creating apps to improve overall messaging, text chatting, and mailing experience of users.
- Developers can now leverage the Keyboard System of the new iOS version and incorporate its Swipe Typing feature within the app to make typing practice quite easier.
- The new iOS apps now will be endowed with a robust feature like reminders. Developers can now make reminders more effective by harnessing the advantages of Siri intelligence.
- The new OS version lets developers have the liberty to use a new and quick toolbar that enables them to integrate dates, time, scanned documents, etc., to make reminders more effective.
- Leveraging the new CarPlay Dashboard, developers can make iOS apps to let drivers get a simplified view of the way ahead. Users will be able to access the new calendar app to get a perfect view of their whole day, even if they are on the go. Or they can also use the option to get a complete direction, etc.
- Apple music app, on the other hand, displays complete album art. So, it’s quite easier for users to find and play their favorite tracks.
With new iOS 13, Face ID is up to 30% quicker than the previous version. Developers can create responsive apps and launch them up to 2X faster than before, while even be portable in download size.
You may also like to read: Google I/O 2019: Major Updates to Boost Up Android Apps and Business Growth
iPadOS
At Apple WWDC 2019, Apple has launched iPadOS, an operating system exclusively, to allow iOS developers to create more responsive, fast and, resonating apps with multi-tasking, multi-touch display, intuitive gesture, etc.
- The new iPadOS lets developers create apps for iPad with more power-packed features like ‘Slide Over and Split View’, which allows users to perform two or more than two activities in a single screen, at the same time.
- iPadOS includes a completely different UI or a ‘New Home Screen’ that enables developers to build apps for iPad devices with a perfect display. It lets users pin some popular and their most interesting widgets on the UI on the home screen and then visualize these at one glimpse.
- With iPadOS, developers can leverage Apple Pencil to create an app that lets users feel like writing on a paper, by letting them perform activities like note-taking, drawing, marking thumbs up, etc.
- By integrating the Text Editing tool with apps, developers can create iPad apps with features like intuitive gestures and multi-touch. The new iPad app will allow users to select the text using their fingers and edit as per their requirements.
- Developers can leverage iPadOS to make apps that let users use even smart keyboards, apart from an onscreen keyboard.
- The new iPadOS allows developers to build apps with perfect Fonts and Files. The custom fonts help developers excel in the personality of their projects, with a fantastic page layout. Besides, they can also create, work, view, and share files as per their convenience.
- As the new features make Safari the most suitable browser for iPadOS, which lets users get a perfect desktop-class browsing experience. So, users can access web apps, with a brand new experience.
- Since the iPadOS is based on iOS 13, it also supports Dark Mode, which lets developers make applications with a top-quality UI that allows users to visualize every element on the screen.
- Again it uses the sign-in feature to improve the privacy and security of your iPad apps, which will help users get complete control of their data while getting a truly personalized experience.
- With the new iPadOS, developers can now build more effective photo editing apps that help users perform and manage photo editing tasks more efficiently. Users can quickly capture, edit, view, and browse, to improvise the look of any images.
macOS Catalina
In this year’s WWDC, the power of Mac was brought one step further. Mac is set to become macOS Catalina 10.15, which is an upgrade over macOS Mojave, after this year. macOS Catalina gives users every reason why they love Mac and also get a better experience of TV, music, and podcasts in all Mac computers running on this OS version. The new dedicated music app lets users explore an amazing music streaming experience on Mac OS. With it, users get an option to access up to 50 million songs and find the right track of their favorite artists.
- Users can experience music, TV shows, and podcasts, all these three with a single app. Developers can also leverage iCloud library to incorporate its benefits within apps and allow users to access a complete library and sync with all devices easily.
- Now app developers will be able to create Mac applications with a powerful architecture to get complete advantages of a larger size screen, from iPad applications. Users can easily drag and drop content between the Mac app and iPad app since the latter runs natively alongside the first.
- macOS Catalina allows developers to create an intelligent and beautiful application to help users complete their day-to-day tasks like being focused on the right shots, find and share folders easily, fast browsing, organize reminders, etc.
- Leveraging Sidecar, developers can build Mac apps that let users organize their work well, with an iPad. They can use one app to work and display the result with others.
- Mac app developers can now leverage Screen Time Feature while creating apps to let users schedule downtime, monitor usage, setting limits for apps, etc. Family sharing allows setting application and communication limits for their kids to concentrate on the right thing.
macOS Catalina enables developers to create apps with better security and privacy, which can be easily protected against tempering. The app can give users perfect control over access to data. - The integration of Mac Voice Control with the app will give users the flexibility to control their devices through their voice. App developed with the new tool also lets users zoom their second screen and hovering text in a much easier way.
watchOS 6
At Apple WWDC 2019, Apple has clearly shown its intention to make smartwatch apps more innovative, insightful, and delightful. With watchOS 6, developers can now focus on building watch apps with an improved ability in terms of cycle tracking, activity trends, hearing health innovations and much more.
- Developers can now create independent watch OS applications that are on a single platform. They no longer need to build a companion app for the iPhone at all.
- Leveraging Taptic Engine, watchOS developers will now be able to build an app that can help users to set and hear the sound loudly.
- With the enhanced Siri, apps will be developed to ensure users get a complete personalized experience and can ask Siri to know about the new track, searching a topic to get details on the home screen.
- Users can directly access the App Store to shop and download plenty of apps, ranging from Fitness to Healthcare. It’s quite easier for users to discover new apps by using Dictation or Scribble to search, browse the curated collection, enlisting apps through Siri, tapping and scrolling app to read description and reviews, etc.
- The new Audiobook app makes it possible to sync your Apple Book titles to your watch. To resume reading, they need to just tap the cover and play to start reading where they left actually.
- With new watch OS 6, developers can build more refining apps with Voice Memos, Calculator, redesigned Reminders, etc.
- With the newly developed apps, users will be able to add Memoji to make their chatting or messaging more expressive and unforgettable.
- Now developers will be able to make more effective fitness applications that can help users track their day-to-day activities at a regular interval. Besides, they can also get a complete insight into the menstrual cycle including flow information, headache, fertile window, etc.
- Developers can now build a Noise app to improve their hearing health to protect from hearing damage.
tvOS 13
- Expected to be released in September 2019, Apple has announced tvOS 13 at WWDC 2019. It’s the latest operating system that is compatible with 4th-generation and also 4K versions of the Apple TV.
With new tvOS 13, developers can now focus on building Apple TV apps with better UI including Full-Screen Preview feature. Users can directly play movie clips, video clips, etc. - Developers can leverage Multi-User Support to build apps that let users switch between various IDs on their Apple television.
- Apple TV apps developed using Control Center can let them have complete control including putting their TV to sleep, starting a screen saver, visualize current playing songs, routing system sound to external speakers through Bluetooth, etc.
- The new tvOS 13 includes an enhanced game controller support. Now DualShock 4 controller and Xbox One will support Apple TV. So, developers can now focus on building game apps with more innovative features to let players get a thrilling experience.
The new Apple TV app will make users more excited with animated lyrics of their favorite songs.
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