WWDC Dates Confirmed — What To Expect

WWDC 21 — Apple

Apple have today confirmed the dates for the upcoming worldwide developers conference. The event will run from June 7 through 11, in an all-online format just like last year. Once again, the event is completely. free for all developers. The keynote will offer an insight into all of the latest developments with iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS.

This year’s Swift Student Challenge is also now open and accepting submissions providing young developers the opportunity to demonstrate their skills by creating a Swift playground.

In the invite image we can see a memoji wearing glasses. Perhaps a hint at the upcoming Apple Glass. Although this is very unlikely especially as WWDC is mainly a software conference. We can also see the Xcode logo hinting at the introduction of Xcode to iPadOS and updates to the app overall. We also see Apple embracing the Craig Federighi meme, suggesting new Mac’s are around the corner.

What To Expect

iOS 15

iOS 14 saw big improvements that many users had been requesting for a long time therefore, we should not expect many major new features or redesigns. However, there are a few things that we can expect and/or hope to see:

1. Redesigned app logos that match with the Mac.
2. Expanded choice of default apps like being able to make Spotify your default Music or Podcast app.
3. Lock screen widgets.
4. Updates to FaceTime (with more and more video conferencing and virtual events). — Perhaps screen sharing.
5. New Podcast app. The current one is quite buggy and outdated.
6. Stocks app could do with a redesign and the option to track your positions with integration through third party apps.
7. Added language options for the newly introduced Translate app.
8. All models running iOS 14 should be eligible for iOS 14

iPadOS 15

1. On screen widgets that work similar to the iPhone.
2. Pro apps like Xcode, Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro.
3. The changes listed for iOS 15 as well.
4. All models running iPadOS 14 should be eligible for iPadOS 14

macOS Big Sur

• Expect minor upgrades ironing out any issues with the current version. I will publish a new story with full details as we understand more.
• All models currently running macOS Big Sur should be elegible for the upgrade.

watchOS 8 and tvOS 15 are due some important upgrades and here is what we want and can expect for these softwares.

watchOS 8

With the launch of the Fitness+ service (see review here) it is extremely likely that we will see an expansion of the fitness features. As usual there will be more sports and activities added to the fitness app on Apple Watch that will more accurately be able to track different types of workouts.

Rumours have also surfaced that Siri will get support when your Apple Watch is offline. Although, how this would work and how great it would be is yet to be seen. With a greater focus on privacy than its competitors, Siri is definitely lagging behind other smart assistants, so this would be a good feature.

There may also be new pre-installed apps. The health app is yet to make its way onto the Apple Watch so this may be a potential app that they add. Updating your health information with Apple Watch may make the process of updating the app easier and seeing your chosen health information. Another app missing is the translate app, perhaps Apple will give support for new languages in the iOS version and even add the app to Apple Watch. The TV app also has not made its way over. This may be an easier way to add things onto your up next. Rumours suggest that the Apple Watch will be able to measure blood glucose levels which would also get its own dedicated app. With the addition of the batteries widget on iOS, an app would also be useful on Apple Watch.

There will almost certainly be new watch faces to choose from. Apple currently does have some Disney and Pixar characters. With the Apple TV+ streaming service, some beloved TV+ characters may soon be on the watch face. From the Snoopy, Stillwater, Fraggle Rock, Ghostwriter, Ted Lasso, Servant, Dickinson, and so many more, they have created character loved by many and is likely that some become watch face characters.

With the addition of sleep tracking to the Apple Watch last year, it would be amazing if Apple gave that a big upgrade because in its current form it is very limited and lags behind competitors like Fitbit. Handy features like detailed sleep analytics and a sleep score would be useful. They also launched the hand-washing feature which is very limited in its current form so improvements to that would also be much appreciated.

All of the models receiving the upgrade are:

1. Apple Watch Series 3
2. Apple Watch Series 4
3. Apple Watch Series 5
4. Apple Watch Series SE
5. Apple Watch Series 6
6. Apple Watch Series 7 (Name not confirmed)

tvOS 15

With the launch of the Fitness+ service (see review here) it would be amazing to see some updates to the fitness app. Currently, there seems to be a lot of bugs to the app, so we should expect these to be ironed out. New features like statistics and multi user support at the same time, would also be welcomed.

Siri on the Apple TV is extremely limited and cannot do much apart from find you shows and movies to watch and control your smart home, but even this experience could be improved. Some more capability would also be appreciated with most questions being responded to with “I cant do that here”. Siri also does not speak on the Apple TV, and you have to read its response, this could be changed so that Siri does speak.

There may also be new pre-installed apps. If there is anything that we have seen last year is that video conferencing is becoming more and more common. Some version of FaceTime would be good to see although this is unlikely. Although the Apple TV box does not have a camera, Apple or a third party accessory could be created to allow you to FaceTime from your big screen. News and weather are also some things a lot of people check their TV for so some version of this would be good to see. Finally, there is no internet browser on the Apple TV. Most attempts so far are not the cleanest and feel very cluttered on competitor devices; perhaps Apple could offer an improved Safari experience onto the Apple TV. On screen widgets may also be a possibility.

There will almost certainly be new screensavers as these are usually updated every year. Although there is not much choice in terms of wallpaper. There is the standard light wallpaper and enabling dark mode gives a darker appearance. Maybe some new colours.

The tvOS App Store will also undergo a major refresh. The layout does not make discovering new apps easy so this is a welcome change. This update was expected last year but with the Apple TV box launch date pushed back until this year, the change is now likely to come with tvOS 15. The tvOS app does not have many apps and it looks like Apple wants to do something about this. They have also already launched the first-ever design toolkit for the platform. This includes design templates, colours, materials, and more. These new tools should make it much easier for app developers to create mock ups and concepts for their apps and will hopefully stimulate growth of the tvOS App Store.

Some of the most rumoured changes that we should definitely expect are a new kids mode. This should allow all the content promoted on the Apple TV app to be targeted towards kids only and block out anything that is not suitable for a younger audience. There is potential for this change to be added to the App Store, Podcast and Apple Music app, although this is not likely. Full parental controls are also expected. Screen time will finally be added to the Apple TV, becoming the last product to gain the feature with the Mac, iPhone, iPad and iPhone already having it.

With the release of tvOS 15, it is likely that all of the models that are currently running the latest tvOS 14 software will continue to receive support for the latest version of the software. Users of the third generation Apple TV may wish to upgrade their hardware with many apps no longer supporting the device.

All of the models receiving the upgrade are:

1. Apple TV HD
2. Apple TV 4K
3. Apple TV (upcoming new model, name tbc).