This year WWDC was loaded with ads. We learned more about Apple’s new AI, Apple Intelligenceand major updates to MacOS, iOS, WatchOS, Apple TV+, and Vision Pro. If there was one thing on my mind during the keynotes, it was “But App X already does that.” By the end of the event, I had lost count of how many third-party apps and services Apple tried to kill. So, I decided to write them all down.
Meta Quest Pro
Although the $3,500 price alone might be enough to convince consumers to go for the $500 Meta mission 3 instead, there’s no denying that Apple is finally in a position to give similar VR headsets some competition with VisionOS 2 for its Vision Pro Headphones. Seeing as how it’s only been four months since the Vision Pro launched, it’s clear that the people behind the Cupertino company feel like lack of applications or practical use cases on the headphones was a problem that they should have been quick to fix.
The keynote highlighted VisionOS 2’s spatial computing, which aims to “reinvent” how you see your photos by displaying them life-size, with more precision and increased realism. You can view them in 3D and take advantage of SharePlay in the Photos app to enjoy them with your friends from a distance. The Mac’s Virtual Display also benefits from an upgrade. It will see improved resolution and size, and can be expanded to wrap around you as a massive virtual workspace.
LockID
You no longer need to look for a third party app lock solutions on your iPhone. iOS 18 will include a built-in feature to lock your selected apps so that they require user authentication if someone tries to access them. Information about the app will not appear in other places on your phone, such as Search or Notifications.
iOS 18 also kills services that hide apps. You will be able to select an app of your choice and hide it in a secret hidden folder that won’t be seen by friends borrowing your phone.
TeamViewer
SharePlay also gets two new updates. Currently, it only allows screen sharing on iOS devices. You can now remotely control someone’s iPhone or iPad after asking them for permission, which is just that TeamViewer allows you to do so. Another update will let you tap and draw on your screen while it’s being shared, so you can direct someone what to do on their device.
Otter
SmartScript is my second favorite message after Math Notes. I can imagine this being a complete game changer for note taking. Using a machine learning model will improve your handwriting as you quickly scribble your thoughts. It will still be your handwriting, but it will look more legible.
You’ll be able to add to your notes by pasting text from external sources and it’s automatically converted into your handwriting. SmartScript will also let you scratch out a piece of text to erase it. If you want to add to something you’ve already written, you can manually push a sentence to one side to add text before/after it.
Calculator apps
Interestingly, the announcement about the Calculator app impressed me the most in the entire keynote. First, the iPad finally gets a calculator app, so you can ditch the third-party calculator you’re using on your iPad. Second, the application will see a new Math Notes a feature that would likely kill other calculator apps with limited functionality.
With Math Notes, you can write any mathematical expression (via your Apple Pencil) and see the result pop up as soon as you type an equal sign in front of it. It will also allow you to change the expression and the result will change before your eyes.
You can also display the result visually by having Math Notes generate a graph. The feature that most excites the math geek in me is that you can enable a slider to appear above one of your variables so you can play around with it and see how it changes the curve of your graph.
Android
Apple apparently tried to strike Android with its new messaging features. Until now, users were only allowed to react using one of the standard five iMessage reactions. That will change with touch in iOS 18, which will give users a wide variety of reactions to choose from.
Another Android messaging feature, Scheduled Messages, is also coming to iOS 18. You’ll also be able to use text effects like bold, underlined, italic, or strikethrough.
Windows 11
The Cupertino company also tried to make a splash Windows 11 with its tile feature in the new MacOS Sequoia. Now, when you’re trying to multitask on your Mac, you can dock a window to the edge of the screen, which will suggest where each window should go. It will also automatically size them for you.
Venmo
The new Tap to Cash feature introduced in iOS 18 is likely to change the way iPhone users manage transactions. With Tap to Cash, users can pay someone with Apple Cash just by touching their iPhone to the recipient’s iPhone. It’s fast, private, and doesn’t require exchanging email addresses, phone numbers, or Venmo IDs.
Google Meet
FaceTime brings the built-in backgrounds from Google Meet to FaceTime video calls. You can also set any of your photos as a background to replace the pile of clutter behind you.
1 Password
Apple is finally releasing its password manager app on iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and MacOS 15. It’s called “Passwords‘ and aims to compete against services like 1Password. It will allow users to import their passwords from other password management apps, facilitate verification codes, and act as an authentication app for two-factor authentication. The Passwords app will also work on Apple Vision Pro headsets and Windows devices.
Amazon Echo Hub
SVP of Software Engineering Craig Federighi showed off a revamped iOS 18 Control Center where we’ll now be able to scroll through multiple pages instead of the standard page we have right now. Users can swipe up on their Control Center to reveal a second page for music playback and again for a third page of smart home controls. One continuous swipe can take you through all Control Center pages or groups. The plus sign in the upper left corner gives access to many more controls to choose from and add to Control Center with one touch.
With this ease at their fingertips, I can imagine consumers preferring to control their smart home devices on their phones rather than walking to dedicated center for smart home.
Google Gemini
Apple recently teased its AI, Apple Intelligence, which was unveiled at WWDC yesterday. These features are likely to give Google Gemini serious competition. The biggest selling point of the AI portion of the keynote was its newfound ability to understand context. Soon, you’ll be able to tell your iPhone with iOS 18, “Play the song Kyle sent me” or “Make this photo warmer,” and it’ll do it for you.
Apple brings context to notifications as well. It will understand all your pop-ups, intelligently analyze them and re-prioritize them so you know which task to tackle in which order.
Grammatically
Apple’s AI writing tools for iOS 18, iPadOS 18 and MacOS 15 have huge potential to replace Grammarly. These tools can rewrite, summarize, or correct what you’ve written. It will be available everywhere on your Apple device, including Mail, Notes, Keynote, and third-party apps.
