Finally, you can use your Apple Watch like a walkie talkie. The macOS app store is getting a total overhaul. And iOS developers will be able to port their apps to the Mac as early as next year.
Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference was trending just about everywhere, so it’s all Apple edition of Hashtag Trending.
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There was no new hardware announced at WWDC this year. But there were a ton of OS updates, starting with Apple Watch’s watchOS 5. The update is bringing a Walkie-Talkie app that allows users to press a buttong to record a message, then release that button to send it. The contact you’ve shared it with will receive a notification on their Apple Watch. Other updates include WebKit being ported to watchOS, so you can now view web content on your wrist. There’s also native podcast and background audio support. Finally, if you’re trying to get into shape watchOS can help with that too. It will automatically detect when you start a workout and track your activity for you.
The new version of Apple’s desktop operating system is called macOS Mojave. New features include contact stacks, to organize all files of a similar kind on your desktop. Dynamic desktop will adjust the brightness of your monitor based on the time of day. Finder now has a gallery view that allows for a better look at images, documents, and videos. Plus you can see all the meta data for your photos in a sidebar. The screenshot tool has been updated to include video capture. And Apple’s News app is coming to Mac, as well as Stocks, Home, and Voice Memos. The Mac App Store itself also received a complete overhaul. Finally, Apple Safari has all sorts of new updates to make it harder to track an individual online. Overall it looks like a pretty solid update. It also has the same name as my cat, so good choice Apple.
There’s also a new version of Apple’s mobile operating system coming out this fall. In a preview during yesterday’s keynote, iOS 12 was teased for its boosts to device performance. It will also have some new augmented reality features, including a new file format that’s being supported by Adobe called USDZ. Apple is also looking to teach its users about AR with a new app, Measure. Just look at any object through your camera to see its measurements. Apple’s also introducing multiplayer gaming with augmented reality, so several people could be looking at the same augmented reality object from different angles. Also noteworthy, Apple says that it’s working on a way for iOS apps to be ported to the Mac. It’s first phase of this is seen this year with News, Home, Stocks, and Voice Memos being ported. Next year, Apple will open up this capability to its developers.