With June comes WWDC, and Apple has kicked off the trade show with the usual opening keynote. Like every year, this is the stage where Apple unveils updates and newest versions of its various devices and services, and to no surprise, there were plenty of announcements here as well.
iOS 11
To no one's surprise, iOS 11 was a key focus of the opening conference. The operating system has been a regular part of the WWDC opening conference, announcing and showing off the newest iteration of it that iPhone owners will use. There had been rumors abound over what would be included in iOS 11 and, for the most part, several proved to be correct.
First, there's iMessage, which got a few changes and additions made to it. First, messages will now be synched with iCloud and stay in sync while a message line is open. If a message gets deleted, its deleted across all devices tied to said account. This means that messages won't come up on Macs if they've already been deleted from another device linked to the account. Apple Pay will also get some iMessage support, allowing Apple Pay users to send and receive money through the messenger.
Siri is also getting some refinement to it to provide a better experience to users. Using what Apple is calling "Siri intelligence," it is going to get more refined based on user interests and more. Siri will also start offering translations, which could be useful to anyone traveling abroad. Chinese, French, German, Italian, and English are going to be the first supported languages, with more to come later.
Some other changes announced include a refined camera app, more detailed maps in Apple Maps, a "do not disturb" mode for car usage, AirPlay 2's release, and a new dev tool called MusicKit API for Apple Music.
A Few More Announcements
There didn't seem to much more beyond that. Regarding hardware, Apple offered a first look at the new iMac Pro that releases in December. The high-performance computer is a 27-inch desktop with 18 processor cores will be available for $4,999 this winter. The Macbook and Macbook Pro are getting some revisions as well, with newer chips and drives to improve performance on the current models.
tvOS and watchOS are getting some updates too. tvOS will finally be getting Amazon Prime Video on Apple TV, which will be a big source of content that has been missing. watchOS got a few more additions as well, but nothing that is too drastic. The user experience will be improved thanks to Siri's refinement, with the face apps getting updated based on the user's interests on time and location. There will also be more fitness controls and gadget support through the watch.
There are bound to be more announcements throughout the week, but as of right now, not much more beyond those.
