I thought about sharing with you some notes about my last week in San Francisco during WWDC (June 13 -17).
Different conferences happened at the same time during the week. I watched some sessions in WWDC and AltConf. There was also a conference for designers, called Layers. Apart from the conferences every night some kind of meetup / happy hour happened, see the full list here: https://2016.wwdcparties.com/parties/
So the WWDC week in SF became a dev community get together. There were rumors though that Apple might do it in the new campus next year, outside SF.
All WWDC Videos are available here: https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2016
Here are some of the main updates:
1) macOS Sierra
– auto unlock with apple watch
– universal clipboard (shared with the user’s iPhone)
– shared desktop and documents folder with other devices if you use iCloud
– optimized storage: keeps infrequently used items in iCloud
– tabs feature in Safari was extended to all apps (like maps, keynote and third-party apps)
– picture in picture feature
– apple pay now works in safari, you can authenticate with touch id in your iPhone
– siri is now available on the mac
– improvement in photos: memories feature automatically creates slideshows
Links:
2) iOS 10
– “Raise to Wake”: lift up your phone to switch the new lock screen on
– rich notifications, interactive with 3d touch
– new control center with multiple pages
– “clear all” feature for Notification Center
– slide in from the right from the lock screen to get to the camera
– slide in from the let to get to your widgets
– SiriKit is now available to developers
– keyboard updated: deep learning to give you better suggestions
– photos app updated with new “Memories” tab
– maps app redesigned, with searches and proactive suggestions, now open to third-party extensions (ex: calling a ride from service like Uber)
– apple music was also redesigned with different tabs and support for lyrics
– News app redesigned: break news notifications and subscriptions
– Home app: a single app to control everything in your home. Also available on the home screen, control center and apple watch
– Phone app: voice messages transcription and opened for third-party extensions
– Messages app: rich links, ability to change words into emojis, bubble and screen effects, opened to third-party extensions
– Differential Privacy: allows Apple to discover user habits to improve AI features without compromising privacy
– new framework CallKit lets your VoIP app integrate with the native Phone UI
Links:
3) Xcode 8 and Swift 3
– third-party extensions: app extension for the Xcode source editor to enable developer plug-ins
– new Thread Sanitizer: spots race conditions on data changes and other threading-related bugs
– graphical memory debugger
– active Line Highlight
– color and image literals in Swift code
– auto-creation of documentation for Swift and Objective-C code
– provisioning: automatic and customized code signing
– 50x faster indexing of tests
– new app called Swift PlayGrounds for iPad: teach kids how to code
– refined API Naming (ex: dateByAddingTimeInterval now is addTimeInterval)
Links:
4) watchOS 3
– keep favorites apps in memory / instant launch
– background updates
– new dock for your favorite apps by pressing the side button
– control center access by sliding from the bottom (like iOS)
– emergency calls when holding the side button
– messages: now scribble option allows you to write
– you can share your results in activity app with family / friends
– optimized to track progress of people in wheelchairs
– new app called “Breathe” that takes you through breathing exercises
– Apple Watch now supports Apple Pay within apps
– spriteKit and sceneKit are now available (to build games)
Links:
5) tvOS
– new apps including Sling and Fox Sports Go
– game-based apps like Minecraft Story Mode and Sketch Party
– automatically download apps installed on the user’s iPhone
– new dark mode
– new iOS remote app
– siri was improved, now searches for movies by topic and youtube search
– new feature called Live Tune-In that lets users jump directly into the live streams of select apps
– single sign-on for different apps (US Customers)
– a couple new tvOS APIs for developers, including support for PhotoKit, HomeKit and ReplayKit
Links:
6) Other Updates
– new file system: the Apple File System (APFS)
– Search Ads: new sponsored ads in App Store (in US)
– Apple Design Awards Winners (https://developer.apple.com/design/awards/): Complete Anatomy, Streaks, Zova, Frame.io, Ulysses, Chameleon Run, Laracroft Go, INKS., Auxy, djay Pro, Linum (Student Winner), Dividr (Student Winner)
Cheers!
jchahoud.com 