What Apple Introduced at WWDC and What iOS Developers Think About It

^{A shot from the welcome video at WWDC}

So day X came - the day of the annual WWDC conference. According to legend, this day should determine the vector of development of iOS-development for the whole year and increase the morale of all iOS-developers in the team. Let's count together the number of words “Amazing,” “Ever,” and “Machine Learning,” spoken from the stage during the event.

This is a significant event for programmers and ordinary Apple users: here are about innovations in the system API, and about user services. And, by the way, about hardware - although the event is primarily software, today on it for the first time in years they updated the Mac Pro.

iOS developers from Mobius conference program committee We couldn’t get past this event: in addition to the story “what was presented at all”, we gave comments about our emotions from what we heard and tried to answer the question whether Apple was already there or not.

What showed

The broadcast from the audience began on time, not a second earlier or later. Apple has innovated in all of its operating systems.

Warm up

• To begin with, we showed the trailer for the new series “For All Mankind” so that we do not forget that the Apple TV + service with exclusive video content from the company itself is coming in the fall.
• tvOS: The main changes were the multiplayer mode (so that after the child you would not find a million cartoons in your recommendations) and the ability to connect gamepads from the PlayStation / Xbox.
• watchOS: The presentation began with a story about new applications for watches: here you have audio books, sound recording, sound level meter, and even a calculator. Also, there were even more opportunities for customizing the appearance of the dials, new APIs were opened for developers, for example, Streaming Audio API.
  
  
• But the biggest announcement in this part was the App Store on the watch: now you can search and install applications on the Apple Watch without using your iPhone. In addition, Activity Trends appeared, thanks to which it becomes even easier to keep track of your circles closing during the day.
• And finally, the Health App now uses Machine Learning, but stores all the data strictly on the device or in iCloud, because “You control your data”.
  
  

iOS

• According to tradition, Apple starts with statistics - 97 percent of users are satisfied with the use, 87 percent of iPhones already use iOS 12, and the percentage of those upgraded to the new version compared to Android just rolls over.
• Next, the next version of the OS with serial number 13 was announced, and even before the features, they started talking about performance. It is alleged that FaceID is up to 30 percent faster, applications will run twice as fast, and when they download from the App Store, users will have to download half as much. In general, iOS developers, if the authorities want to optimize the launch of the application, you can now answer "and he is optimizing himself."
• But most of all, of course, they talked about a dark topic, so beloved by many on macOS. It was something like this:
  “Look how amazing app X looks with a dark theme.
  See how awesome App Y looks with a dark theme.
  See how awesome the Z app with its dark theme looks. ”
  
  Showing the capabilities of Dark Mode, Apple accidentally showed the new swipe keyboard as an achievement (here Android-users laughed out loud, of course).
  
  
  
• Apple devoted a lot of time and effort to privacy issues in new versions. Now you can embed a button with the ability to log in using your Apple ID in your applications so that you do not send user data to social networks and IT giants. Update: it turns out that if you are a developer and use authorization through third-party services in your application, then you must add this option . Interestingly, the antitrust authorities are thinking about this.
  
  And if you do not want to burn your mailing address at the same time, Apple will be able to generate random for you (probably, here the representatives of ad-tech tensed). Also, now users can allow applications to use their geolocation only once (probably here some iOS developers have strained).
  
  
• The long-suffering Apple Maps is updated, now everything seems to be going well in the USA (read: “finally, everything will come closer to Google Maps”). And for “some other countries,” everything should be fine next year. Why argue that Russia will not be among them?
• In addition, updated Siri, Photos, CarPlay and HomeKit were shown. For example, if you take a lot of almost identical pictures in a row (“who knows which one will turn out better”), you can choose the “only the best” view mode and not look at the replays. Also, videos with incorrect orientation can now be rotated. It is interesting that users will be more pleased with this - a smart advanced AI innovation or a simple rotation function that could be done years ago?
• Update: after the presentation, two more points became clear. Firstly, it will be possible to download applications of any volume on the mobile Internet. Secondly, you won’t believe it, but 12 years after the advent of iOS, the volume control will cease to cover all the content on the screen!
  
  
• It is very cool that Apple does not forget about tablets, about the fact that it is an independent device with its UX and tasks, and not just a smartphone with an enlarged screen. As a result, the operating system is now officially allocated as a separate iPadOS .
  
  It’s not yet clear what this means for developers: will iPadKit appear, do we need to replace UIView with iPadView in order to support iPads. One thing we know: now in the Files application you can directly see USB devices and import your photos from cameras, and with three fingers you can do Ctrl-C and Ctrl-V.
• Apple has long flown into space with its pen, a very popular tool for designers. Previously, latency was 20ms, now it is only 9ms. In addition, the developers have opened the curtain of the private API and now you can use PencilKit in their applications.
  

macOS

• We started with the hardcore news: the new Mac Pro was introduced (for the first time since 2013). Talk about its design will shake social networks and forums for a long time (if it seems to you that the case looks like something, then know that it has already been joked about a million times).
  
  
  
  It is clear that it is very powerful (for example, you can install up to one and a half terabytes of RAM). And it’s clear that it’s very expensive: it starts at $ 5999, and this is for the basic version, in which 32 gigabytes of RAM and a ridiculous 256 gigabyte SSD for such a price. On sale since the fall.
  
• A monitor is also needed for such a system unit (a long time ago Apple did not release them). It is also presented, and it is also powerful - here you have Retina 6K, and XDR ("more than HDR"), and a cooling system ("so that you can be brighter, my granddaughter"), and the ability to rotate into a vertical position ("so and vertical photo is more convenient to retouch and code ”).
  
  
  
  Called Pro Display XDR, 32 '' diagonal. It costs $ 4999, while the stand must be bought separately for a thousand dollars (this is not a joke). On sale also in the fall.
  
• The new version of macOS is called Catalina.
  
  
• Talk about iTunes and jokes about the fact that he can do everything - it remains to add a calendar and an email client inside iTunes. In general, now on poppies instead of this combine there will be separate applications Music, Podcasts and TV. And now nothing will automatically open when you connect an iPhone. This was met with applause, but I suppose the reflex worked out over the years will make users nervous at first - why didn’t iTunes open? Is everything alright?
• Apple in passing killed a couple more software companies, allowing native use of the iPad as an interactive additional display for your Mac, a technology called SideCar. Now separate Luna and Duet Display are not needed.
  
  
• In addition, VoiceControl has improved, making computers more accessible to people with disabilities. And after a demonstration of how he allows you to edit the text with your voice (“correct this word”), you probably want to dictate habraposts through it to those who are quite capable of typing them with their hands!
• Now you can not be afraid to lose your poppy - the Find My technology / application will help you find your poppy while offline.

For iOS / macOS developers

Finally, after the announcements “for users”, the company turned to developers gathered in the hall with what was important specifically for them.

• Catalyst technology (Marzipan as a girl) that will help port existing mobile apps to the Mac. It is still difficult to say how well this will work, but the Atlassian demo is impressive.
• Apple continues to improve VR / AR support - this is the updated ARKit 3, and RealityKit, and Reality Composer. They showed that now people are “impassable” (AR objects will no longer overlap them) - this is spectacular, Google still does not know how. And immediately showed Minecraft Earth ("Minecraft in the real world"), where this obstruction is very useful.
• The new SwiftUI framework is our React Native answer. Finally, ayosniki will have a declarative UI.
  
  
  
  I already see how in the next six months the speed of application development will increase by an order of magnitude, the quality of applications will increase, and users will not be able to put below 5 stars in the store for applications written using SwiftUI. Agiosniks, who went into React Native and Flutter development, come back, we will forgive everything.
• The first beta of new OS versions are already available to developers.
• Update: After the presentation, Apple separately described what the Real User Indicator tool is doing to help developers distinguish bots from real users.

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What do the Mobius conference program committee members think :

Peter Tretyakov (Redmadrobot)

“In one of the books about Jobs there was a story about how he imagined the computer of the future in the 70-80s. He represented, of course, the iPad, but now with the iPadOS it now became like what he was telling.

In general, the trend towards rapprochement between macOS and iOS has been going on for a long time. The iOS version for the iPad is already very different from the version for the iPhone, so dividing them into two is just a fix for the fact, rather than the announcement of the brand new operating system, as Apple usually likes to serve. It’s true that Apple does not step on the Microsoft rake, but makes the desktop and mobile systems closer together gradually and thoughtfully: they do not allow desktop applications for the mouse and keyboard to run on the small screens of touch-enabled mobile devices from the quarry. Obviously, iOS applications will not have to be redone for the new iPadOS, but the experience of interacting with them on the iPad will be richer and more interesting. And if you add a couple of platform tweaks about which they will talk about at sessions in the coming days, then there will be, in general, a class.

As for the old-fashioned iOS, a dark theme was expected after a similar one for macOS, and this, of course, is not so Gorges, wasps and amizing, as Craig said. Although there is a chance that now dark themes for applications will somehow more or less follow a single style and look uniform, and not each with its own shade of gray.

I was waiting for the whole presentation Marzipan. Even the new Mac Pro 6K display didn’t lead me astray. There, however, it was immediately obvious that it could only be bought on a mortgage. Therefore, as soon as it came to macOS, I listened as a seminarist at Sunday school. And here he is, handsome Catalyst! If JIRA Cloud took off on it, then we have a chance! Although this dude from Atlassian did not press a single button in his application, he just clicked on the tabs, so we'll see. You may have to throw everything with crutches so that the iOS application on macOS works fine, but now at least you can touch it with your hands.

But then the song about SwiftUI went and I just cried. Declarative layout on iOS! Of course, it will work in such a way that it will not work. At least the first time. How this will work for a complex UI, animation, transitions is not clear. But the fact that the UI is finally at Swift is really cool! ”

Kirill Klebanov (Just LLC)
“I did not expect much from this WWDC and looked alone. Of course, there were some interesting leaks, but all of a sudden it turned out to be true, and even a little more.

At first, the noise measurement function in the clock seemed interesting to me, especially in our realities with noisy neighbors. It would be great to automatically ask to turn down the sound during the party, and if it does not help, then contact the local).

When the word secure is used in presentations, I calm down as a user: it means that my personal data and photos in my soul are under reliable protection. But from the point of view of the developer, this promises a variety of problems and difficulties with publishing to the side. Now you need to be careful when working with geolocation. But the entrance through the Apple ID from any point of view is needed, and it is especially pleasing that the user himself can determine what data he wants to provide.

The only technical novelty was the new Mac Pro with a monitor, but how long have we been waiting for this moment. It will become available for purchase only in the fall, which means there is time to collect documents for a mortgage for its purchase. The only consolation is that the prices for these devices practically do not fall over time.

AR-whales demonstrate a planned development: capturing the movement of people, overlapping objects. For complete happiness, lacking only dynamic lighting with tracing rays and shadows.
Dessert in the form of SwiftUI really liked. A declarative UI, many developers have been waiting and asking for a long time, Apple finally heard us. Now the holivar will finally stop about how to typeset - in code or on storyboards.

Keynote is just the tip of the iceberg, all the most interesting is waiting for us ahead in separate sections. A full week without sleep is provided for iOS macOS iPad developers. ”

Anton Davydov (EPAM Systems)
“Dub-dub every year becomes more and more like a children's matinee - here you have animators on the stage before the conference, and interactive demos of games, and the number of sarcasm and jokes only increases. But still you wait every year for the cherished evening to watch the broadcast.

It is interesting to observe how the vector of marketing policy at Apple has changed: if previously devices were promoted, now they are paying more and more attention to their services, which, of course, work by subscription. It’s clear, almost everyone has an iPhone, and few people are going to update it every year.

The last few conferences do not pass without a demo of using VR / AR, but as for me, for now, normal use cases can be extended by three and a half applications. But if you are tired of playing with fonts and typesetting views, then ARKit and RealisticKit will be just that.

Apple continues to work on improving user privacy issues, and so far the company has not been seen in privacy scandals. Against the background of facebook and some other large companies, Apple looks like a more trusting option and gets a plus in karma. My favorite functionality from the announced ones was the ability to allow applications to use geolocation only once, which is very convenient - now you do not need to go to system settings after permission to prohibit the use of geolocation, camera, microphone and similar services.

The cherry on the cake was the declarative framework for the UI - SwiftUI, you could generally only talk about it, and end the broadcast. Interestingly, before the conference, several articles appeared on the topic of thinking about the declarative UI for Swift. Coincidence, or did Apple’s big hand stir interest? ”