PurpleHello98

It's WWDC day! I'd kinda like to live-blog this or something, but I don't really know how I could do that, so I guess I'll just go over the big new features and my thoughts on them.

iOS

• For FaceTime, they added a Zoom-like grid view, as well as links and schedules for FaceTime calls that work across Apple and non-Apple forms. The new stuff this year is basically just putting FaceTime on equal feature standing with Zoom, but nonetheless, it's a pretty welcome update. In terms of Messages, there was basically just updates to how non-message things shared with you. There was a lot of hype before the keynote, so I was expecting more, but I guess it's ok. I really wish you could customize your away message though!
• There's a new song feature thingy with different photos to the rhythm of the song, but I wonder if it'll just work with Apple Music or if it will work with music downloaded from the iTunes Store or other sources, as I don't personally have any music subscription services. Safari on iOS now has a redesigned tab bar, and extensions.
• You can now add other types of cards, especially IDs, to the Wallet app. Maybe I'll finally use it! Honestly, this is super helpful so you wouldn't have to shuffle around in a physical wallet anymore, but I wish that they could add more types of cards and bring this to more areas. Maps has lots of new features, such as more specifically accurate maps, helping users find transit, etc. I wonder if people will start using it instead of Google Maps now...

iPadOS

• To start off: basically, they brought all the home screen improvements that iPhones and iPod touches got last year to iPads this year. It's nice to see that they're adding some sort of multiple window thing to iPads. However, I personally think that Mac multitasking is quite a bit better and easier, at least for me personally. For Notes, there are also Quick Notes, which are pretty much what they say on the tin. I also love the Google Docs-like revision history and the mentions on shared notes, which could be super useful. They also finally added tags, which is something I never knew I needed!
• In Translate, there's a feature that detects when you're speaking in different languages and auto-translates, which is super cool! You canalso now build iOS and iPadOS apps on your iPad in Swift and submit them to the App Store there, which is probably gonna be good for developers who don't have computers.

macOS Monterey

• In the new macOS, named macOS Monterey, they've finally added the shortcuts app to the Mac! You can also share your cursor between your Macs and your iPad, and drag and drop files between them. Finally, the Safari toolbar has been reimagined, and the toolbar and tab bar have been combined, making a much more compact experience. The tab bar also changes colour for some reason, and there are tab groups now, which sync between your different devices. There's also some new stuff for developers, which basically just makes everything easier from what I can see.

watchOS

• You can now reflect to stay mindful, and I know some people who would love this! There are also some more Fitness+ workouts, and other ways to stay fit. Finally, there's now a watch face that lets you see portraits of people.

Some other big features that I haven't mentioned

• You can now stop emails and other apps from tracking to you, and see third-party domains that apps are connecting to, which is great to make sure that apps aren't doing bad stuff.
• Siri finally has on-device processing, which (I'm pretty sure) means that after TEN YEARS, Siri can FINALLY do stuff off-line! Woot woot! You can also use Siri on other things around your house, like thermostats and stuff.
• There's some more privacy features for iCloud this year. There's also an option to hide your email and make different email addresses that forward to your main iCloud email but aren't connected to you.

So yeah, all in all, this year is pretty small for macOS and watchOS, but the new iOS and iPadOS seem to be more major. All in all, though some things were kinda disappointing, there were a ton of cool features this year! I've been waiting for this for a bit, so it's pretty exciting to actually see it. But that's all from me for now, so I'll talk to you all later!