WWDC 2016: Apple has BIG plans for your iPhone, iPad and MacBook
APPLE'S annual developer conference WWDC is now a week away. CEO Tim Cook's opening keynote will give fans an early glimpse at the latest versions of iOS, OS X, tvOS and watchOS. Here's what to expect.
Apple will kickstart its annual developer conference, WWDC, on June 13th in the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, San Francisco, California.
The US technology company is expected to offer a sneak peek at some of the features in the pipeline for its best-selling iPhone, iPad, MacBook, Apple TV and Apple Watch operating systems.
Fans will get a glimpse at iOS 10, OS X 10.12, watchOS 3.0 and tvOS 10, which should all launch in the autumn alongside new devices.
Apple is also expected to reveal an overhauled Apple Music streaming service, as well as improved Apple Pay, Siri and HomeKit.
The company is believed to be preparing a redesigned MacBook Pro, that includes a touchscreen display on the keyboard and a Touch ID fingerprint scanner.
Express.co.uk has rounded-up the latest rumours and leaks surrounding the Worldwide Developers Conference.
Here are some of the innovations you can expect to see –
iOS 10
For its tenth iteration of iOS, Apple is reportedly concentrating on improving a number of existing features and apps.
For example, Siri is expected to boast a number of new capabilities.
The talkative voice assistant may be able to tell a caller why you are unable to pick-up the phone, and transcribe any voicemail messages so you can read them on-the-go or in a loud venue. This clever new functionality is expected to be bundled as part of a new Apple service dubbed iCloud Voicemail.
Apple is also rumoured to announce a full SDK for Siri, finally allowing third-party developers to tap into the virtual assistant to perform custom actions for their apps.
Elsewhere, Apple is expected to announce some changes to its contactless payment service, Apple Pay.
The Cupertino company could let iOS users send money between devices with a tap or a transaction through iMessage, enabling Apple Pay to become a true replacement for PayPal.
Apple is also expected to announce plans to launch Apple Music in new countries during its WWDC 2016 keynote.
iOS 10 should also bring improvements to the in-built Photos app.
Apple stripped back a number of editing features when this photo management tool replaced iPhoto across iOS and OS X.
But the stripped-down Photos will get a number of features in iOS 10 that should bring it up to speed with the now-discontinued iPhoto 2.0.1.
And as usual, these features will be synced between your iOS and OS X devices.
HomeKit and Siri Speaker
Apple is expected to unveil a software development kit, or SDK, for its virtual assistant Siri.
This would allow third-party developers to add support for Siri into their apps for the first time, which would make the iOS assistant much more useful.
So, you could ask Siri to get you directions via Google Maps, rather than being thrown to Apple Maps.
This announcement appears to be part of a renewed focus on the connected home.
Apple is believed to be hard at work on a rival to Amazon Echo and Google Home device, powered by Siri.
The device would be self-aware and could detect who is in the room using advanced facial recognition technology, according to sources.
Once it has recognised who is talking, the clever Apple speaker could pull-up that person’s preferences, including their favourite Apple Music playlists or preferred lightning levels around the home. Apple's device will obey voice commands via Siri and will sync with third-party smart home hardware via HomeKit.
OS X 10.12, otherwise known as macOS
Apple is expected to rebrand its desktop operating system at WWDC.
OS X 10.12, the successor to OS X 10.11 El Capitan, will reportedly be renamed to macOS to fit with the naming convention established by other Apple devices – iOS, watchOS, tvOS.
Whereas last year’s update focused refinements and bug fixes, Apple is now expected to unveil some never-before-seen features
Whereas last year’s update focused on refinements, bug fixes and performance optimisations, Apple is expected to unveil some never-before-seen features this year.
The headline addition to macOS will be Siri integration. The new and improved voice assistant will be accessible in the menu bar as well as a designated icon in the dock.
Siri on the desktop is expected to perform the same actions as it does on iOS, so expect to be able to launch apps, play music, and answer your queries.
Alongside the introduction of Siri, macOS could also include a new version of iTunes with a redesigned Apple Music interface that matches the changes planned for iOS later this year.
Apple Pay may work for payments made in your Safari browser on the desktop, and users could also forgo a password and unlock their macOS devices with Touch ID on their iPhone.
The Photos app will also get new features to match its iOS counterpart.
Apple Watch — Guided Tour- Welcome
watchOS 3.0 and Apple Watch 2
Apple could use its annual developer conference to unveil its second-generation smartwatch, Apple Watch 2.
Little is known about the device and the operating system it will run, but most analysts agree the wearable will be significantly thinner than its predecessor.
Some rumours point to the addition of a FaceTime camera embedded into the Apple Watch, allowing wearers to make and receive video calls.
Another prominent rumours suggests Apple Watch 2 will boast a faster wifi chipset to make data transfer smoother and improve performance.
Apple is also expected to introduce some models with 3G or 4G connectivity.
This would allow Apple Watch owners more autonomy, since the device would not need to be in constant communication with a paired iPhone.
Apple Music
According to multiple sources, Apple is working on its first end-to-end overhaul of Apple Music.
The updated Apple Music will roll-out across iOS devices, the companion Android app and alongside a new version of iTunes for OS X this autumn.
The refreshed Apple Music and Music app will ditch the bright colours and translucency of the current iteration in favour of a stripped-back, simpler black-and-white design.
According to 9To5Mac, Apple Music will no longer adapt its appearance based on the colours used in album artwork.
Instead, clean black-and-white backgrounds will be used across the app, with more emphasis placed on text. Apple is looking to make better use of its new in-house font, San Francisco, with larger bold menu titles and tabs.
Apple hopes to avoid a monotonous look within the new app by placing huge emphasis on album artwork, which makes the new look appear "bolder, yet simpler," according to people who have seen the updated Apple Music.
Redesigned from the ground-up, the new iOS app will use 3D Touch shortcuts to better effect, too.
Apple also plans to ditch the New tab, which contains a confusing mix of top charts, new artists, featured albums and curated playlists, in favour of a new tab dubbed, Browse.
For You is also expected to see a major update, thanks to a simplified user interface that should let music fans quickly access the recommended songs and artists.
According to sources familiar with Apple's plans, the algorithms that powers the recommendations in the For You tab will not change.
Alongside the stripped-back new look, Apple is also expected to introduce some new features to the service during its WWDC developer conference.
The Cupertino company is believed to be working with record labels on a new deal that would see its music service automatically populated with lyrics.
Although Apple Music already has the ability to scroll through lyrics while a song is playing, music fans currently need to sync the lyrics with the track themselves via iTunes on the Mac.
