WWDC 2020: all the news from Apple’s virtual developer conference – The Verge

Apple’s Fitness app will be included with iOS 16, no Apple Watch required

2022-06-06T14:04:44-04:00

Here’s the Fitness app on an iPhone. | Image: Apple

Apple will no longer require you to have an Apple Watch to use the Fitness app on iPhone starting with iOS 16. At WWDC 2022, the company announced that the app will be included with Apple's upcoming major software update.

On an iPhone, the Fitness app will use your iPhone's motion sensors to track things like steps. What your iPhone tracks can be put toward closing your rings. It's a big change for the Fitness app, and as my colleague David Pierce said in our liveblog, "now you can have the pleasure / torture of having to close your rings every day, even if you don't have a watch."

iOS 16 promises to be a big update for the iPhone, and it …

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iOS 14 is filled with accessibility improvements

2020-06-25T10:19:35-04:00

Apple's new operating systems - like iOS 14 and tvOS 14, which are due to be released later this year - include numerous features that should make them easier to use by people with disabilities. Apple announced the new features as part of its Worldwide Developers Conference this week, and Forbes and CNET have rounded many of them up.

These improvements range from new features like sound recognition to improvements to Apple's existing accessibility features like its VoiceOver screen reader. It's a substantial list that should make Apple's products easier to use by those with hearing, sight, motor disabilities, or others.

iOS 14 comes with …

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Apple’s AI plan: a thousand small conveniences

2020-06-25T07:00:17-04:00

Among the new AI features Apple announced at WWDC is hand washing detection for the Apple Watch. | Image: Apple

AI has become an integral part of every tech company's pitch to consumers. Fail to hype up machine learning or neural networks when unveiling a new product, and you might as well be hawking hand-cranked calculators. This can lead to overpromising. But judging by its recent WWDC performance, Apple has adopted a smarter and quieter approach.

Why blind them with science when you can charm them with convenience?

Sprinkled throughout Apple's announcements about iOS, iPadOS, and macOS were a number of features and updates that have machine learning at their heart. Some weren't announced onstage, and some features that almost certainly use AI weren …

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Apple announces digital car keys for wirelessly unlocking your car with an iPhone

2020-06-24T19:34:08-04:00

Apple announced at WWDC this week that you'll be able to add a digital car key to your iPhone or Apple Watch to wirelessly unlock and start your car. The feature is part of the newly revealed iOS 14, and it will work over NFC, Apple says. The first car supported will be the new 2021 BMW 5 Series, which comes out next month, and Apple says it's working on an industry-wide standard that would use its new U1 ultra wideband chip instead of relying solely on NFC.

Once you've paired your iPhone or Apple Watch with a car that supports the digital car keys, if you want to unlock your car, you'll just need to hold your Apple device near an NFC reade …

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Apple’s new ARM-based Macs won’t support Windows through Boot Camp

2020-06-24T16:21:54-04:00

Apple will start switching its Macs to its own ARM-based processors later this year, but you won't be able to run Windows in Boot Camp mode on them. Microsoft only licenses Windows 10 on ARM to PC makers to preinstall on new hardware, and the company hasn't made copies of the operating system available for anyone to license or freely install.

"Microsoft only licenses Windows 10 on ARM to OEMs," says a Microsoft spokesperson in a statement to The Verge. We asked Microsoft if it plans to change this policy to allow Windows 10 on ARM-based Macs, and the company says "we have nothing further to share at this time."

Apple has been working close …

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Why are iOS 14 default apps limited to just browser and email apps?

2020-06-24T08:49:15-04:00

Apple made a quiet and significant change to iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 this week, allowing users to set default email and browser apps. It's a move that means iPhone and iPad owners will be able to click on web links or email addresses in any app and have them open in their favorite browser or email client. But that's as far as Apple's default apps choices go. Apple will still force everyone to use its own apps for photos, maps, music, messaging, calendars, and more.

Apple's built-in camera app is great for the basics, but there are so many better alternatives that offer advanced RAW shooting and other powerful tools that you might want to open …

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How fast are Apple’s new ARM Mac chips? It’s hard to tell

2020-06-23T14:13:28-04:00

Apple CEO Tim Cook, with a wafer of Apple silicon in the background

For years, Apple has steadily revealed how the ARM-based chips in its mobile phones were catching up in performance to the beefier silicon you'd find inside a laptop or desktop - in 2018, the company claimed its new iPad Pro was faster than 92 percent of portable PCs. At some point, it seemed inevitable that Apple would turn the more efficient chips into the primary processors for its Mac computers, too.

Now, it's official: Apple is migrating the Mac to its own homegrown silicon, starting later this year.

But are Apple's ARM chips actually powerful enough now to replace the likes of Intel and AMD? That's still an open question - because at …

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The Mac’s iconic startup chime is back in macOS Big Sur

2020-06-23T13:07:53-04:00

Apple is bringing back the Mac's iconic startup chime in macOS Big Sur. The company hinted it might return by playing the chime very prominently during yesterday's Worldwide Developers Conference keynote, and people who have installed the first Big Sur developer beta have reported that it's back. You can see a Mac on Big Sur play the chime while booting up in the video at the top of this post.

The startup chime was first removed from Macs in 2016 with the redesigned MacBook Pros released that year, and Macs released since then (with the exception of the 2017 13-inch MacBook Air) didn't play the chime when you turned them on.

However, earli …

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Apple’s new iOS 14 home screen brings Windows Phone Live Tiles back to life

2020-06-23T11:20:16-04:00

Microsoft showed off the future of mobile home screens a decade ago with Windows Phone. The key to the vibrant interface was Live Tiles, animated widgets that felt alive. Nothing has lived up to it ever since.

I've always wanted Apple to bring these Live Tiles to the iPhone. Apple's overhauled iOS 14 home screen finally does that, enabling lively widgets for apps that sit on the home screen. It's the final addition to the iPhone that I've been missing from Windows Phone, 10 years after Microsoft first introduced Live Tiles to the world.

Live Tiles were one of Windows Phone's most unique features. They enabled apps to show information on th …

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Six ways the pandemic was on display at Apple’s WWDC

2020-06-23T11:00:00-04:00

Memoji can now be customized with face coverings. | Image: Apple

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected nearly every facet of our lives, so it's only natural that it would impact more than one of Apple's product announcements at yesterday's WWDC. Whether it's the Apple Watch's handwashing feature or the new face mask options for Memoji, the pandemic's presence was repeatedly felt during Apple's presentation. And let's not forget, its entire prerecorded streaming format was driven by the pandemic in the first place.

In some cases, Apple's announcements seemed to come in direct response to the pandemic, but others, like bicycle directions for Maps, were almost certainly in development prior to COVID-19. They j …

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