Apple’s WWDC keynote address on Monday put a spotlight on video games with a new gaming mode and a special guest.
Game mode is a feature coming to MacOS 14 Sonoma, the latest operating system for the company’s desktops and MacBooks. The new mode prioritizes using CPU and GPU cycles while gaming and lowers controller and speaker latency by doubling the Bluetooth sampling rate. There will also be a new toolkit for developers allowing them to more easily port over their games to Mac.
Watch this: Apple Upgrades the Mac Pro with Silicon
Making a surprise appearance at Monday’s event was famed developer Hideo Kojima. He expressed his appreciation for Mac computers and revealed that his game Death Stranding: Director’s Cut will come to Macs later this year. Kojima also said his studio is working on future titles that will come to Apple’s platform.
WWDC is Apple’s annual event to show off its new software, including iOS, iPadOS and WatchOS. The company also shows off new hardware, which on Monday included a 15-inch MacBook Air.
Users of Apple’s Safari browser will soon be able to securely share their passwords and passkeys with each other.
At its WWDC 2023 keynote event, Apple said the feature being rolled out as part of MacOS 14 Sonoma will allow a group of users to add and edit passwords and passkeys, allowing everyone in the group to keep them up to date.
The feature uses iCloud Keychain and transfers are end-to-end encrypted, Apple said. That way if the data were to be intercepted by a cybercriminal, it would be scrambled and useless to them.
Apple also announced at the Monday event that it’s upgrading Safari’s private browsing feature to lock browsing windows when they’re not being used. Apple said the improvements will completely block known trackers from loading on pages and remove tracking from URLs that are being browsed.
Named after the famous Californian wine-making region, MacOS Sonoma offers a handful of key upgrades over MacOS 13 Ventura. Widgets are more customizable now and there’s a focus on gaming. Its new ‘Game mode’ prioritizes CPU and GPU usage for whatever game you’re playing to increase frame rates.
You’ll soon be able to use your iPhone’s Maps app offline with the release of iOS 17, Apple announced at its WWDC event Monday. This long-awaited feature has been available on Google Maps for years and will finally be available for iPhone users later this year.
The iPhone is getting offline maps for its Maps app this year. That means you’ll be able to access any map you’ve downloaded, even if you don’t have Wi-Fi or cellular signal. For instance, if you’re going on a trip, you can download the route and access it without using cellular data. This is helpful if you’re low on data or if your route takes you through an area with little to no signal that would cause the Maps app to stop navigating correctly, potentially causing you to veer off course.
What can you do with Apple Maps offline?
When iOS 17 becomes available later this year, you’ll be able to download designated areas and access turn-by-turn navigation while using Maps offline. Also, you’ll be able to see your estimated time of arrival and find places in Maps, among other things.
In addition, Maps will make it easier to find thousands of trails in parks across the US. The app will also support drivers of electric vehicles with real-time charging availability information, Apple said.
When will iPhone’s offline maps be available?
Offline maps will be available on iPhone with the launch of iOS 17, which is coming this fall (it usually arrives in late September with the new iPhone). You’ll want to make sure your iPhone is compatible with Apple’s latest software — if not, you won’t have access to this new Apple Maps feature.
Apple’s long-awaited Vision Pro headset will include a new authentication system specifically designed for the world of virtual reality.
Announced at Apple’s WWDC 2023 keynote event, Optic ID uses a person’s iris, which Apple says is always unique even when you’re talking about identical twins, to unlock the headset. Just like with Apple’s other biometric identification methods, like Face ID, Optic ID data is encrypted and never leaves the device.
The authentication system also is compatible with features like Apple Pay, app store purchases and password autofill, Apple said.
Meanwhile, Apple also said Monday that it engineered privacy and security into the mixed-reality headset by designing it to keep what a user is looking at private, noting that what a person chooses to look at has the potential to give away what they’re thinking about.
Apple said the data is isolated in a separate background process, so apps and websites can’t see what a user is looking at. It’s only when a user taps their fingers or enters a response on another Apple device that the data gets communicated and processed at the system level.
The Vision Pro is set to go on sale next year for $3,500.
Apple’s Messages is about to get an upgrade. With iOS 17, you’ll be able to turn pictures into stickers, transcribe voice memos, keep your friends and family notified on your way home and more.
News about the Messages update came Monday at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference, held at its Apple Park headquarters in Cupertino, California. Apple traditionally uses the annual event to unveil new devices, such as its mixed reality headset Apple Vision Pro, and give developers a preview of upcoming additions to its desktop and mobile software.
The update to Messages will be part of iOS 17 and include new sticker experiences, where people can take their photos and turn them into stickers they use in text conversations, alongside standard emojis, which can also be used as stickers. People can customize their stickers with effects, like shiny, puffy, comic and outline, and keep them in a new drawer in the keyboard for streamlined access, Apple said in a press release. Stickers will be available systemwide, including in third-party apps. Apple said iOS 17 will be shipped later this fall. Here’s which iPhones will be able to run the update.
To make a photo into a sticker, touch and hold an object in a photo. Then you can style your object with various effects, outline it or create animated Live Stickers with Live Photos. To use the sticker in Messages, add them in the bubble from the Tapback menu.
Watch this: Apple Reveals iOS 17
16:43
Search in Messages, Check In and more
Apple also debuted a refined search feature for what it called a more “powerful and precise” Messages search experience. People can apply additional filters to their Messages search to more quickly find the exact conversation they were looking for. Plus, when you’ve received lots of texts in a group chat, you can now use the catch-up arrow to locate where the conversation left off last.
iOS 17 Messages will also transcribe voice memos you receive, if you don’t have the time to listen to them. Apple additionally announced a new location sharing feature that lets you keep track of your friends by viewing their location in your text conversation.
Apple’s Check In feature through iOS 17.
Screenshot by CNET
Another location sharing feature Apple debuted is Check In. If you want to keep a friend or family member updated on your journey home, for example, you can use Check In, which notifies the person of your whereabouts and lets them know if you’re having trouble getting home. “If they are not making progress toward their destination, useful information will be temporarily shared with the selected contact, such as the device’s location, battery level, and cell service status,” Apple said in the press release. Check In will be end-to-end encrypted, so only you and the person you’re sharing this information with is privy to your location.
Developers can try out iOS 17 today, and everyone can try out the public beta in a month.
Apple just introduced WatchOS 10, its next major operating system update for the Apple Watch. The announcement came during Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference on Monday. As with previous updates, health, fitness and personalization are among the biggest themes in WatchOS 10.
Apple is updating the Apple Watch’s software with new widgets and redesigned apps to show more information at a glance. Widgets will be able to surface contextual information throughout the day, such as medication reminders or calendar alerts, similar to how they function on the iPhone. This should make it easier to get bits of information without having to launch a full app.
The Apple Watch is also getting two new watch faces: one that’s color-palette themed, and another featuring the Peanuts characters Snoopy and Woodstock.
The new Palette watch face in WatchOS 10
Apple (screenshot)
There will also be more metrics and workout views for cycling, including the ability to show extra statistics when connecting to other Bluetooth-enabled bike sensors. Apple is adding new perks for hikers, too, such as the ability for the Compass app to show the last area where you had cell reception and more details about the topography of hiking trails.
Health is also a focus for WatchOS 10. Apple is adding new mood logging features to the Mindfulness app, which you can access on both the watch and the phone. Apple also says you’ll be able to take standardized assessments often used in clinics to understand more about how you’re feeling.
Apps in WatchOS 10 are getting a new look.
Apple (screenshot)
Apple is also using the Apple Watch to help users track eye health, signaling a new type of health measurement for the watch. The Apple Watch’s ambient light sensor can be used measure the amount of time spent in daylight in WatchOS 10, which the company is positioning as a way to maintain eye health and potentially prevent myopia, or nearsightedness caused by physical changes in the eye.
Software updates like these are critical because they bring significant new features to Apple’s smartwatch that expand its functionality without requiring new hardware. Last year in WatchOS 9, for example, Apple introduced new running metrics, the ability to track specific stages of sleep and low power mode. These additions helped the Apple Watch catch up to other sleep tracking wearables and dedicated running watches.
With WatchOS 10, Apple is also the latest smartwatch maker to focus more closely on mental wellness. Fitbit, for example, has added sensors to its Sense smartwatches that can look for signs of stress throughout the day. Watch maker Citizen launched a new smartwatch this year that it says can assess fatigue and alertness levels. The new Mindfulness features in WatchOS 10 suggest Apple is also thinking more deeply about the correlation between physical and mental wellness, too.
Apple typically previews new software for major products like the Apple Watch, iPhone, iPad and Mac at its annual conference before debuting them in the fall.
Watch this: Apple’s WWDC 2023: What We Expect
06:55
The Apple Watch is the most popular smartwatch in the world with 26% of the global market as of the first quarter of 2023, according to Counterpoint Research. Over the last several years, Apple has introduced new features and hardware meant to make its watch more competitive with dedicated running watches from companies like Garmin. Last year, for example, it debuted the Apple Watch Ultra, its first rugged watch designed with athletes and adventurers in mind. The updates to hiking and cycling seem to fit nicely with that theme.
WWDC 2023’s keynote has come to a close, but not without Apple introducing WatchOS 10, the latest software update to Apple’s smartwatch platform.
Apple’s WatchOS revolutionized what’s possible with wrist-worn devices. With each iteration of the Apple Watch, the company has seamlessly integrated cutting-edge technology into an elegant design and, of course, added new capabilities along the way.
Apple WWDC23
This operating system update brings many new features, but naturally, you’ll need the right hardware to use them. Here’s the list of Apple Watch models expected to support WatchOS 10:
Apple Watch Series 4
Apple Watch Series 5
Apple Watch SE (2020)
Apple Watch Series 6
Apple Watch Series 7
Apple Watch SE (2022)
Apple Watch Series 8
Apple Watch Ultra
An iPhone XS or later running iOS 17 is required for installation.
At WWDC 2023, Apple may not have announced any new AirPods models but it did reveal that the AirPods will be getting some new features this fall with the release of iOS 17, iPadOS 17 and TVOS 17. These include an adaptive audio mode that mixes noise canceling with transparency and a “conversation awareness” mode that automatically lowers the volume of what you’re listening to as soon as you start talking.
When you engage adaptive audio, your AirPods will muffle out unwanted loud outside noise like a leaf blower, while also filtering in sounds you should hear such as a car horn. When activated, if you encounter someone while you’re listening to audio and want to have a conversation, you can just start talking and the volume of your audio is automatically lowered and your AirPods enter transparency mode. After you stop talking, the volume of whatever you were listening to returns to its previous level.
If that sounds familiar, it’s because conversation awareness is very similar to a feature found on Sony earbuds and headphones called Speak-to-Chat mode.
Apple also noted that it’s improved noise reduction during calls and the AirPods’ auto-switching feature, making it faster and more reliable. That feature allows you to hear the audio coming from whatever Apple device you’re using at the moment, then quickly switch over to another Apple device (on your iCloud account) and hear its audio on your AirPods. It’s essentially advanced multipoint Bluetooth pairing — but just for Apple devices.
It’s unclear what AirPods will get the new adaptive audio and conversation awareness modes. We presume only AirPods with active noise canceling like the AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods Max will be able to get adaptive audio, while the AirPods 3rd Generation won’t (but the AirPods 3 could get the conversation awareness feature). We also don’t know yet whether the new feature will be available for legacy models like the original AirPods Pro. But we’ll updated this story as soon as we get more details.
