Apple's WWDC 2019 did not disappoint with a number of high-profile announcements and launches made during the two and a bit hour keynote – and as well as a load of new software, we also got a smattering of hardware as well.
Oh, and if you missed it, Apple also killed off iTunes in the process.
To relive the full WWDC 2019 keynote, you can scroll back through our live blog below, but for those of you who just want to cut to the chase, hit the links below.
- The new features coming to iPhones with iOS 13
- Apple's tablets now have their own operating system: iPadOS
- Mac will welcome macOS Catalina 10.15 later this year
- Meet the Mac Pro: Apple's most powerful computer ever
- Apple Watch will get its own App Store thanks to watchOS 6
- Apple TV is gearing up for Apple Arcade gaming with tvOS 13
WWDC 2019 keynote: as it happened
All times in Pacific Daylight Time
12:15 – He's summing up – all the platforms are going to be available from today as a beta, and the public beta in July. And as ever, the new software, like the iOS 13 update, will be launched around September (when the iPhone 11 will appear).
AND THAT IS IT, WE ARE DONE. That was intense, thanks so much for sticking with me. Now to write all this up…
12:13 – SwiftUI is definitely getting the biggest cheer – shocking in this room full of developers.
Federighi is back – and the same native framework is going to be available for creating Watch apps as well. It'll work across all the platforms… and that looks like it for today. Please let that be it.
Tim is back. Bring me salvation, sweet CEO. Let me go.
12:10 – Seeing a demo of the new way of working with SwiftUI – the devs in the room are loving this. It's rather easy to drag and drop modules into the app when creating it, and has Dark Mode support built right in.
Every time something changes in the code, it's showing nicely in real time.
12:07 – There's a new framework coming, called SwiftUI. It's built in the platform, making it even easier to make better apps with less code. Could this help people coming into the app world?
Federighi is showing how much less code needs to be made, and someone just gasped and shouted 'WHAT?'.
It's true, there's a lot less in there, so these things will be a little neater.
12:06 – Craig is back, and is really talking up AR. Says it's going to be a 'huge year'… before talking about Swift.
450,000 apps on the Store are using Swift at the moment, apparently.
12:05 – Got to say – I'm not really into Minecraft but this looks really sweet. I'm not sold on AR just yet, as I've never managed to sell the idea to small people, but when this comes to glasses… then we're going stratospheric.
12:03 – This is a cool new feature. You can create Minecraft structures in real life, on a flat surface, and it can show people IN Minecraft at the same time. And that means that users can even interface with the small people in there.
There's some weird fringing around her feet, admittedly, but come on, this is some futuristic shiz right here.
11:59 – COME ON GARETH, LOOK ALIVE. THIS IS WHY YOU TRAIN. OK, OK… onto VR and AR, with a RealityKit update. What's happening Craig? That's coming into the ARKIt, and Reality Composer is a new app – a drag and drop interface making it easy for developers to make new apps, and it works across Xcode and iOS.
ARKit 3 is the latest update to the platform – people occulusion and motion capture is happening natively, so you'll be able to interface virtually with people better than ever before.
Oh, more on Minecraft now, with Lydia and Saxs from Mojang coming to demo gameplay.
11:58 – The Mac Store updates are coming this Fall / Autumn.
11:57 – We're getting a demo on the new apps being ported from phone to Mac… guys, I'm starting to flag here. I've been typing for over two hours straight and I've not been to the restroom. My legs hurt as much as the tips of my fingers. PLEASE SEND HELP.
11:55 – Apps are getting access to the Xcode portal, meaning you can make a single apps that can span across iPhone, to iPad, to Mac, bringing Catalyst technology to Macs.
Gameloft are stating that it was simple to code the game onto the Mac, and Twitter is back as a static Mac app as it was 'so easy' to do, including native Mac features.
Apple is going hard on making the App Store on the Mac a real thing – could this be a watershed moment?
11:53 – Screentime is coming to the Mac, as well as an overhaul for a suite of stuff for the apps – Notes, for instance, is getting a bit of a switch up, but again Federighi has zoomed by that.
11:52 – Find My is coming to the Mac, and while it's been there for a while, when things are getting dicey and you can't find your device, it will send out an encrypted message to nearby Apple devices through Bluetooth, so you can get an idea where it is if turned off.
Activation lock is there too, and you're able to lock it down and make it useless to thieves.
11:51 – Voice control is coming to the macOS platform, allowing users to control all manner of things with their voice. Up the volume? Start a mail message? Dictate the text? That's all coming – seems pretty big, but Apple has glossed over it quickly.
11:48 – Sidecar is announced! What is that? Well, you can use the iPad as a second display for your Mac. We've been using Duet for the same thing – this will be so much easier.
And with Sidecar, you don't need to do it with a wire – you can use your tablet with the Apple Pencil as an input device.
11:45 – With the Apple Podcasts app, Apple is able to index the words on each podcast and can search for what was spoken on each, so you can find them more easily.
The Apple TV app has Dolby Atmos, and 4K HDR. This is being rattled through quickly.
11:44 – Craig is being funny – he's saying that iTunes isn't complex enough – so they should add calendar, Safari and a dock into it.
Wait, Apple had a better idea. How about splitting iTunes into Apple Music, Apple Podcasts and Apple TV?
11:43 – Tim is back so we can talk about macOS. There's a new version coming, and Craig Federighi is coming to talk about it. What's it going to be called? That's the big question.
It's MacOS Catalina.
Usually we get a lot more of a build up to that.
11:39 – Oooh, portrait mode is coming with the new mount. And for the pro that needs to mount on the go, there's a new quick-release-and-attach adjustment to make it work easily.
The base mode of the Mac Pro is an 8 core Xeon, 32GB memory and that will start at $5,999, and will be available this FAll, and the Mac Pro can be rack mounted too.
The Pro Display base version will cost $4,999, the connector $199 and the pro base mount a dizzying $999. That got a gasp in the room… it's a MOUNT.
11:36 – Now talking HDR, something that's big news in the industry these days. The Mac Pro monitor has a mass of blue LEDs and each is calibrated, and there's a modulator, custom lenses and reflectors to make sure that the picture quality is as accurate as possible.
The display can show 1000 nits of full screen brightness indefinitely thanks to the rear the the monitor acting as a heat sink. That explains why it has that weird design.
Apple is calling this Extreme Dynamic Range, or XDR, and that's why Apple is calling this the 'Pro Display XDR'.
You can connect up to 6 displays to once to the Mac Pro, with these XDR playback, allowing 120 million pixels.
11:33 – Oh, the monitor seems to be different. Talking about the new monitor – something that will work for all designers, to offer something that's as good as a $43,000 professional monitor.
It's a 32-inch display, as a 6K Retina display. Making it 40% larger than the iMac 5K display. It's go P3 wide color for colro accuracy, and a wider viewing angle, with an anti-reflective coating.
You just know Apple is going to say 'and looooook how cheap it is!'.
11:31 – Currently seeing how powerful the Mac Pro can be when rendering a music score, with SO MANY tracks being able to run together. We're putting this into Final Cut Pro now (well, we is a loose term… I'm watching it) and it's rendering the score and the 8K stream at once.
11:28 – The Maxon Redshift render engine is being brought along too, and Otoy are bringing a version of Octane for the new Mac Pro. Loads of developers are apparently getting on board – including Pixar, Adobe and Unreal engine.
11:27 – There's the option to put this on wheels – and that got the biggest cheer so far. [Insert laughing and crying emoji].
11:25 – For the video editing, there's the new Afterburner card, which can process 6 billion pixels per second. That is many.
This works for ProRes and ProRes RAW, and with this card it can playback three streams of 8K, or 12 streams of 4K ProRes footage.
This will need so much power… and here we go on that. 1.4KW power supply. WHAT? WATT? (Geddit).
There's a major fan in there, but Apple says that it will be nice and quiet – no louder than the last Mac Pro.
11:22 – And more: there are two 10Gbps ethernet ports. Good if you want it, with more Thunderbolt ports on top.
There's another module to slot on, the MPX module (Mac Pro expansion module), with a fanless design. You can add in the Radeon Pro Vega II card in the MPX, and you can upgrade it further too if you're so inclined.
They're connected by the Infinity Fabric Link, if you're interested in that.
You can also add TWO of these modules, so that's 56 teraflops in one work station.
11:21 – Let's start with the processor, there's a new Intel Xeon processor, with up to 28 cores. And it's getting 300W of power and a large heat sink to let it run fully all the time.
There are 6 channels of memory, that allow up to 1.5TB of system memory. These stats are coming too fast to type…
There's PCI expansion coming back to the Mac. The new Mac Pro has 8 PCI slots, four double wide, and three single length slots.
11:20 – It's the most powerful Mac ever created… what are the odds? Oh man, I missed who this was on stage again. I'm sorry dude, whoever you are.
11:18 – Watching a video that's showing us something new in the world of Mac. Come on, we know it's going to be the Mac Pro. Show us the Mac Pro.
Aaaaaand, there it is. The Mac Pro. AND IT DOESN'T LOOK LIKE A GARBAGE CAN.
11:17 – Tim is back on stage. Still got an hour to go – think we're going to go big on Mac. Oh, and right on cue, Tim says 'Right, let's turn to Mac!'.
Should I use my predictive powers for good or evil?
11:14 – Gestures being shown off now, single to copy, double to cut, three to paste it back in, and to undo your gestures you can three-finger swipe to the left. They'll work in any application that supports cut, copy, paste, undo and redo. So no more shaking your iPad dangerously.
The Apple Pencil pane at the bottom has been rubbish for a long time, too hard to use – it looks a lot slicker than it used to. But can a four year old use it? That will be the test.
That's something that happened to me recently, when doing some drawing with a child. Not because that's my metric for everything.
11:12 – Apple Pencil is getting latency of 9ms – that will make it feel more like a pen to most people. There's a PencilKit API coming too, so other apps can use it, and the Pencil can be used to mark more things by dragging up from the side of the screen.
Toby Patterson from the iPad experience team is coming on to demo this.
11:11 – You can grab the scroll indicator anywhere when editing text, use multi-finger touches to undo text creation and making everything a little easier to use.
What about mouse support though?
11:10 – Safari on the iPad is getting a desktop browser, rather than being stuck on the mobile version. That means you can manage downloads from within it, see more information from each web page and more keyboard shortcuts.
Apple's launch of iPadOS is to make it more of a Windows competitor… could mouse support land?
11:07 – Column view is coming in the File System – I'm wondering if something has happened to Craig's presentation. It juddered when iPadOS was showing, and Federighi keeps pausing then getting back to his flow.
Either way, he's still talking. And this is bigger: you can now plug in thumb drives and SD Cards which show in the Files app. You'll need a dongle for that, unless it's USB-C… assume this will work on Lightning, but the iPad Pro, with the USB-C connector is being shown on stage.
Apple is also allowing direct file management from cameras in the system as well.
11:04 – The first thing: you can pin widgets to your home screen without needing to slide away. Slideover is getting improved, and with a slide up, you can get all your apps – much like you can on the iPhone already.
Split view is getting upgraded: two apps side by side will be more powerful. You can have two Word documents next to one another – it's good to be able to have the same app side by side.
11:02 – Loads more is coming from iOS 13 – we'll round them up properly in our iOS 13 hub – but we're now focused on iPad. Federighi admitted that the iPad's base on iOS 13 was splitting too far from the iPhone, so we're now seeing something new: iPadOS. Yay, another thing to delve into…
11:00 – Here's something good – Siri will now sound better. With Neural Text to Speech, Siri's whole voice will now be created by software. Rather than small clips of actor's voices, which sound stunted. With iOS 13, things will sound a lot slicker.
We've just heard a demo, and while iOS 12 sounded really stunted, we feel that Apple chose something really hard for Siri to say to show the difference. Siri in iOS 13 sounds normal, to be honest.
10:58 – Goshdarnit, I missed who this was coming on stage – but we're seeing more about how there's more coming from HomeKit and CarPlay.
Let's start: Handoff is coming to HomePod. Bring your iPhone close to hand off music, podcast or phone call. Works in reverse as well.
Live Radio is coming to HomePod – ask Siri to play 100,000 stations from all around the world.
HomePod can now recognize who in your family is talking, and personalize the response. Great with Apple Music – based on your taste and history. Goes beyond music, messages, notes, reminders… and more. (Added suspense).
CarPlay is coming along too – with greater imagery and an easier way to swipe through.
10:55 – iOS back on the headlines from Craig again.
10:52 – The way we look through Photos is changing – with days options, so you can group things by more granular dates, and Live Photos will play automatically to help you feel more 'connected' to your memories.
Months can then be selected and each set of events and moments will be grouped together, with videos and Live Photos again autoplaying.
The Years section will show things like all the WWDC events one after the other – or your child's birthday each year, seeing how it changes every year. I'm not sure how it would know to group these, other than the same thing happening on the same date.
10:50 – Right, some big changes coming to photo editing. You can change the way Potrait photos look in terms of saturation, brilliance and more – and use the same thing on videos as well.
In fact, the iPhone is now powerful enough to allow you to rotate video as well – this is native, as you've been able to do this through apps already.
Justin is on stage to demo these new features
10:48 – Memoji stickers are coming to the keyboard, so your face can be used in different apps to show how you're feeling about such things. Now, onto Camera and Photos.
10:46 – More is coming from Memoji, where your face is created as an Animoji. We have beauty influencers telling us which make up is going to be added to these animated emoji… I'm so old. I don't know who they are. They have 8 million subscribers.
There's a variety of colors, piercings, hairstyles, glasses, hats… and even AIIIIIRPPOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOODS!*
*Werid emphasis that of the influencers on the screen. They screamed it. Airpods on Animoji.
10:45 – HomeKit coming to routers too for additional security. God, this is rapid fire info… and we've got 90 minutes to go. Stick with me guys, stick with me.
10:43 – HomeKit is up next. Security cameras recording your life and being uploaded to the cloud? Apple has created HomeKit Secure Video – it's analysed on the AppleTV, iPad or iPhone and then encrypted and sent to the cloud and that's how you're alerted.
10 days of clips' storage will be saved on your account, and won't take more from your data allowance. Which is good, as we're already paying 99 cents a month that we could use for other frippery.
10:40 – What about logins? Those pesky Facebook or Google logins? Well, now you can Sign in with Apple. It's going to be another button next to FB or Google, allowing you to sign in with your app, logged in with a new account and Face ID to get in, and no personal information needed.
Some apps that want a name or email, and Apple can allow them to request that – and you can hide your email from the developers and a random address is created that forwards to your real address.
The room has gone bonkers for that – and for good reason. That's really, really helpful for privacy – and each app has its own random address, so you can disable them one by one.
10:39 – Once again, privacy is coming to the fore. Being able to share your location to an app just once, and then it has to ask every other time, for instance.
If you do allow it to continually monitor your location in the background – Apple will then tell you what they're doing with reports. Even Bluetooth scanning to locate you is being turned off. Privacy is pretty massive here.
10:38 – There's a Streetview competitor coming to Apple Maps too, with labels on the shops as you scroll past. It looks pretty fluid in both landscape and portrait on the iPhone.
10:35 – Some of the apps are getting thoroughly re-written. Messages has been retooled to allow you to do things like tag people in reminders from the Messages app itself.
Maps is also getting totally retooled – planes and cars have been travelling 4 million miles to bring a much more rich and detailed Maps app. It does look miles better (arf).
It's coming to the US later this year, presumably because Apple hasn't gone everywhere.
Trying to eradicate the memory of this:
10:34 – In iOS 13, Apple Music will get lyrics that sync alongside too. Just in case you like to sing to your phone.
10:33 – There's swiping coming to typing on the default Apple keyboard – that's something I've been waiting for for so long. It came in Swiftkey years ago and it's so useful.
10:29 – Some of the big changes to iOS: 60% smaller app updates, 30% faster Face ID unlock and apps launching twice as fast. Craig is jazzed too – maybe there's something powerful in the coffee backstage.
Watching a video that's demoing something… oh, it's only dark mode! And we're going to see it live… dear god, someone just screamed.
Everything just looks a bit… darker.
10:26 -Final thing from Kevin: there's a new Pride Watch face coming to the Apple Watch. That's good.
Tim Cook is back on stage – he's prepping us to learn about the new iOS. Who reckons it'll be called iOS 13? We do. WE DO.
As always, he's chatting adoption rate: 85% of iOS customers are on the latest release. iOS 12 is the most-installed ever… is that in terms of percentage or numbers? Because if it's the latter, that makes sense as there are more devices out there.
Another dig at Google: Android 9 only on 10% of devices. This has been going for a while.
Craig Federighi is on stage and he's getting rock star status with the WHOOP WHOOP WHOOPS.
10:24 – We're seeing a live demo of the new watchOS 6 now – cheering to show the decibel tracking in the new Noise app worked live… so how is that only periodically checking for sound? It was pretty rapid.
The new Watch App Store is being shown – it's card-based, and you can scroll across to see ratings and screen shots, then scroll back to the top to get.
Really feels like the Watch is going to go standalone… could Android users be able to use one of the best wearables out there soon?
10:21 – Cycle tracking is coming to the Watch and the health app if you've not got an Apple wearable – that's something we've been waiting for, and will really help people know something that's crucial information.
10:19 – Oh, this is good: there's a decibel meter inside the Watch, telling uou if things get too loud and could hurt your hearing health.
Apple is making it clear that it does not record all the time, and does not save anything to the Watch or any Apple account.
10:16 – There's an independent Watch app store coming for the watch – so you can buy apps directly to your device. Is the Watch losing the need for an iPhone?
There will be standalone apps from Colgate, Kalms and a multitude of others. The new watchOS 6 will also bring Activity Trends, with nine metrics to compare the progress over the last 90 days over the last year.
The info will show you how to do better if the trend is going downwards, like how to get a big fitter or some tips on how to stay active.
Oh, and Watch is getting voice memos and a calculator, with a tip splitter on there too.
10:12 – We're now listening about Apple Watch – watchOS is getting an upgrade (shocker) and Kevin Lynch is on stage to talk about it.
When Apple Watch was first launched, Lynch was so nervous talking about the new hardware. Fast forward a few years, he's so much calmer and engaged with what he's saying.
Oh, he's saying stuff. There are new faces that include solar features, and you'll be getting a notification on the hour – either silently with a tap or birdsong. 'From robins captures on Apple Park… wait, no, RECORDED at Apple Park.'
10:11 – Whoa, this is big: AppleTV will now support the Xbox One and PS4 DualShock controllers for gaming on the screen. If Apple was trying to make that platform a console, this is a big move.
10:09 – AppleTV is going to get a profile function, so family members can switch between their favorite shows. Not to brag but I totally suggested this a fortnight ago when having a demo – I can only assume the developers worked for 14 days straight to get that feature in from my feedback.
Lyrics also coming to Apple Music on the TV as well.
10:05 – Currently watching a new promo for the new Star Trek show on Apple TV Plus… Tim seems to love that too. He's watched the whole season already – alright, show off.
10:02 – Tim Cook is on stage, welcoming the throngs of developers and fans. He's really jazzed up. It's nice when people are happy, isn't it?
He's talking up the new services from the recent TV event – Apple Arcade, Apple TV Plus and Apple News Plus.
10:01 – We're currently watching a black and white video of people using a Mac to do all lovely things that humans like to do when they're tired. A developer's build just failed and he's angry. There's a baby crying. A man is drinking from a milk jug and thinking he should go back to bed, but he gets back on the Mac and he solves it.
I see what Apple is saying there.
'While the world sleeps, you dream'.*
*OK that was on screen, I didn't make that up.
10:00 – And we're a go! It's all dark. It'sa reallyy hardt o type.
09:57 – The lights have gone down a little early – the screen has changed to a more dynamic look at neon emoji. An Apple hype worker just skipping in front of me clapping.
I imagine Tim Cook is shadow boxing into a mirror at this very second.
09:50 – Proof of said chanting from our very own @mattswider, who will tweeting all kinds of key insights throughout the two hours plus we'll be liveblogging.
09:45 – You know that feeling just before Christmas where you spend all the time wishing, wishing, wishing that the Wi-Fi holds up and Santa comes on stage to tell you all about new software updates? That's pretty much our #mood right now.
They're letting in developers in little batches, and there's a weird tribal thing that's started… they're chanting 'DUB DUB… DEE SEE!' like it's some kind of Haka.
09:15 – Anndddd….. we're in! 45 minutes to go.
09:10 – We're in the second queue now – oh yes, it really is this exciting – and we've got eyes on the doors to the auditorium. We reckon we can get the jump on a couple of these chumps in front, when they open.
08:45 – No, Gareth. Well, not literally anyway. Apple's tagline for this year's WWDC is “Write Code. Blow Minds” hence the selection of head-busting graphics we're seeing plastered around everywhere. 🤯
08:40 – While Apple is expected to announced A LOT today, it's worth remembering it does like to take its time with particular announcements. A volley of launches is no guarantee.
08:30 – Ever thought to yourself, 'do many people attend WWDC?' Well here's your answer. We're still an hour and half from the WWDC 2019 keynote kicking off and the crowds are already building outside the McEnery Convention Center.
08:15 – The passes at WWDC 2019 are understated (at least, the media one is), with a simple silver shade and black text. It did look good next to our breakfast, though.
07:30 – One of the best ways of understanding what we may be in for today is to look back on last year's WWDC keynote. We got plenty of demos, especially around iOS 12 and AR Kits, and Apple hit all its key areas; iPhone, Macs, Watch and TV.
Today's keynote is expected to last two hours, so there's plenty of time for Apple to give us an in-depth look at a host of new platforms.
06:30 – You'll be able to watch the WWDC 2019 keynote as well, and we've made you a handy guide to show you how.
Make sure you stick with us here as well though, as we'll be cutting through the jargon to bring you our expert analysis on everything Apple has to say.
06:00 – DO YOU WANT MORE WWDC 2019 SPECULATION? Of course you do, as we hit the four-hours-til-keynote milestone.
Well how's this for size? Something else we may get is our first look at TV OS 13, along with more details of Apple's new streaming service, which it announced back in March.
Apple TV Plus will offer exclusive shows, movies and documentaries from acclaimed filmmakers, including JJ Abrams, Steven Spielberg and M. Night Shyamalan when it arrives later this year, but more information may be revealed today – especially how it plays nicely with Apple TV hardware.
05:48 – Sunrise in San Jose, and as the sunlight creeps through the crack in the curtains and dances its way across Tim Cook's face, the sleepy CEO slowly opens his eyes.
He picks up his iPhone, peers at the screen for a few seconds as his eyes adjust their focus as his fingers accidentally slips down the side and onto a volume key.
A rye smile creeps across his face as, instead of a large icon appearing in the middle of the screen, a volume indicator pops up in the top-right corner.
“It's ready,” he murmurs, before rolling over for another five minutes.
05:00 – We've touched on iOS 13 and Mac OS 10.15, but there's more software goodies in store for us today, with the Apple Watch also in line for some new tricks thanks to the rumored Watch OS 6 update.
One of the more interesting Watch OS 6 rumors we've seen suggests it will get its own App Store, which means you won't have to download the app on your phone as well, as is currently the case.
04:30 – Is it time to say goodbye to iTunes?
Multiple rumors appear to suggest so, with reports that Apple will replace the iconic (but not always loved) iTunes by rolling its features into Apple Music.
For now it's still just a rumor, but it's one we will be keeping a close eye on, and you should too.
04:00 – Another big announcement we expect to see today is the arrival of Mac OS 10.15, along with a new geographical name (it will be following on from High Sierra and Mojave).
A headline-grabbing feature of Mac OS 10.15 will be its ability to support iOS apps, which will open up a whole range of new options for users on their computer. There are set to be plenty more talking points too.
03:30 – A change we may see in iOS 13 is an update to Apple's volume graphic, which pops up in the middle of your display when you adjust the volume. It takes up a lot of space, and gets in the way if you're playing a game or watching a video.
A leak less than 24 hours ahead of the WWDC 2019 keynote, however, suggests we'll see a smaller indicator located in the top corner of the screen, which would be much less intrusive.
03:00 – The biggest launch out of WWDC 2019 will likely be iOS 13, as this will be our first look at the next-generation operating system for iPhones, iPads and yes, even the new iPod.
Apple is likely to launch the first beta of iOS 13 today, but it'll likely only be available to developers. A public beta will probably follow in the coming weeks.
While iOS 13 will be available on the iPhone 11 and co. when they launch later this year, today all eyes will be focused on its backwards compatibility.
Last year, iOS 12 launched with the promise it would come to the iPhone 5S, iPad Air and iPad Mini 2 – and these are the devices in line to potentially miss out on the iOS 13 update as Apple moves away from older hardware.
02:00 – An iPhone SE 2 has been long rumored, but for anyone hoping Apple's compact form factor will make a return at WWDC 2019 today, we have some bad news. Sorry.
01:20 – iPad owners with an affinity for numbers, rejoice! A last-minute rumor suggests iOS 13 will, for the first time, bring a native calculator app to the slate.
01:00 – We'll have two members of the superb TechRadar team coming at you live from the WWDC 2019 keynote, with Gareth Beavis and Matt Swider bringing you everything you need to know about all of Apple's announcements today – but right now they're fast asleep, dreaming of new features, device compatibility and release dates.
June 2: We got into San Jose, California a day early to soak up the pre-WWDC 2019 atmosphere and we stopped by the McEnery Convention Center to see what Apple has in store for us.
It's fair to say Apple has gone all-out with its branding for this year's event, and it's going big on the slang name for its iconic developer's conference, 'Dub dub'.
- Google's already had its annual conference: here's what happened
1. iOS 13 at Apple WWDC 2019
The iOS 13 beta is poised to be the chief news story out of Apple's WWDC 2019 keynote simply because it affects every iPhone and iPad user in the world.
We fully expect Apple software engineering chief Craig Federighi to talk up the fact that iOS 13 is going to be faster than last year's update. To make the speed increase percentage even more Apple-dramatic, we may see Federighi cite the overall speed increase since iOS 11 (as iOS 12 offered a speed increase, too).
iOS 13 is going to launch the long-rumored Dark Mode, according to the latest leaks. It'll turn your white-and-light-gray UI backgrounds into black-and-dark-gray colors that are infinitely easier on the eyes at night.
Reminders, Health, iMessage, Screen Time Books, and Find My (a combination of Find My iPhone and Find My Friends) will be tweaked in iOS 13, says Bloomberg.
Important for iPad users, we're allegedly going to see a native functionality using the iPad as a secondary display (akin to Duet and Luna Display), a revamped home screen design, stackable app windows for easier multi-tasking and maybe even mouse support. Apple is trying to make the iPad running iOS 13 more like a computer.
We have a full list of changes, a rumored device compatibility list, the expected beta release date schedule in our iOS 13 explainer page.
2. macOS 10.15
We loved macOS 10.14 (aka Mojave) for finally introducing system-wide Dark Mode and additional creative tools, but we haven't heard much at all about macOS 10.15 – which doesn't even have a cool nature-themed codename yet (in keeping with recent releases, it will likely reference a California biome).
We don't know much about what's officially coming, but macOS 10.15 could include iOS features like Siri Shortcuts (and potentially the Shortcuts app), Screen Time, improved Apple ID management and special iMessage effects. We've also seen rumors that iTunes will be split into four different apps: Music, Books, TV, and Podcasts.
There's also the possibility that macOS 10.15 enables Mac users to link up their iPads as secondary displays.
On the other hand, it's also possible that we'll only see incremental improvements, as happened with the move from 10.13 Sierra to 10.14 High Sierra. If that's the case, perhaps we'll see that minimal upgrade in the name – Dry Mojave, maybe?
Apple ruffled feathers when it raised minimum system requirements for macOS Mojave and locked out older machines, so we don't expect those thresholds to change this time around. To be specific: we expect anything newer than a 2015 MacBook, mid-2012 MacBook Pro, any late 2012 MacBook Air/Mac mini/iMac, late 2013 Mac Pro or 2017 iMac Pro to be able to run the next macOS.
Assuming Apple runs its usual schedule, it will introduce macOS 10.15 and release it in late September.
3. watchOS 6
We haven't heard anything about watchOS 6, but we're assuming that update will be announced at WWDC 2019 for owners of the newer Apple Watches. Perhaps it will be the long-awaited sleep tracker feature (Apple did buy sleep tracking company Beddit two years ago), though that's rumored to be coming to Apple's wearables in 2020.
But sources told Bloomberg that Apple plans to sever its wearable's close dependency on iPhone by adding an App Store directly to Watch (and ergo, watchOS). This opens the door to third-party developers (finally!) but Apple reportedly also plans to toss in some basic apps that have been on iOS for years, liek Calculator, Voice Memos, and the ability to send Animoji and Memoji stickers. There will also be two new health apps: one called 'Dose' to monitor pill reminders and the other 'Cycles' to track menstrual cycles.
watchOS 6 will almost certainly be compatible with the latest Apple Watch 4 and previous Apple Watch 3, while support for Apple Watch 2 is likely. We don't have high hopes for the original Apple Watch, however, as it stopped getting updates with watchOS 4.
We expect Apple to follow precedent and launch a watchOS 6 beta shortly after WWDC 2019, then release a final public version in September.
4. tvOS 13
If you thought we hadn't heard much about Apple's other probable software updates, we know even less about tvOS 13, which we expect to be announced at WWDC 2019.
But Apple TV devices will certainly support the company's new streaming services. Apple TV Plus will have exclusive shows from big names like Oprah, Steven Spielberg, Reese Witherspoon, Jennifer Aniston and M. Night Shyamalan, and is expected to launch in later 2019. That's around when Apple Arcade is set to launch, which will have a host of games you can play across iOS, macOS and tvOS devices.
At last year's WWDC, Apple mentioned very little about the then-upcoming tvOS 12, which brought Dolby Atmos overhead surround sound, Dolby Vision HDR standard and zero sign-on that auto-filled passwords from your home Wi-Fi network (for US users, at least).
We don't know about any features coming with the supposed tvOS 13, but if it follows precedent, it will arrive in mid-September.
5. Mac Pro…and more
Apple is reportedly considering introducing a new version of the Mac Pro, according to Bloomberg. While we didn't get any details of how the desktop machine might be revamped, but there's plenty to update, given the second and last generation Mac Pro came out in 2013.
This fits last year's news that Apple was aiming for a 2019 release of a wholly revisioned Mac Pro, per a lengthy TechCrunch report. Gone is the 'trash can' design, as the company is allegedly considering a ground-up revision.
Apple is also preparing its own brand of external monitor (going by the codename J290) that will pack HDR support, per Bloomberg. Other rumors suggest a 31.6-inch 6K screen with mini-LED backlighting, according to Pocket Lint.
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