Monitoring the news from Apple this week has been a little like drinking water from a fire hose. The keynote presentation on Monday was full of announcements. Then, during presentations to developers throughout the week, Apple released more details. Additionally, some folks are now running the earliest beta versions of iOS 16 and iPadOS 16, so we are now starting to see some of the initial first-hand reports on how the new features work. Everything is subject to change between now and this Fall so if you don’t like the way that something looks or works right now, it may well improve before it ships. But my sense is that, in the future, we will look back at iOS 16 and iPadOS 16 as among the more significant updates in the history of those operating systems. In today’s post, I’ve collected some of the reports that jumped out at me the most and included them along with the other news of note from the past week:
- Let’s start with two law-related items unrelated to WWDC. First, David Price of Macworld explains that the EU has approved a ruling that all new smartphones, including the iPhone, will have to support a USB-C connection starting in 2024. I’m a fan of USB-C, and there are rumors that Apple was going to do this anyway. But I’m not a fan of a governmental body telling a tech company which standard it is required to use. What if there is a connector that is even better than USB-C, but no manufacturer can develop it because they know that they cannot sell phones using that better connector in the EU? Would USB-C have even been invented if there was a prior EU ruling that everyone had to use the original version of USB?
- Second, Molly Quell of Courthouse News Service reports that Apple lost to Swatch in a court battle in the European General Court in Luxembourg over the Think Different slogan. The court agreed with Swatch that Apple had not used the slogan in a number of years, and thus Swatch could use the slogan Tick Different for its watches without violating Apple’s intellectual property.
- Next, let’s talk about WWDC. California attorney David Sparks shared his thoughts on the announcements in the keynote address.
- One of the most interesting upcoming new features that Apple showed off this week was changes to CarPlay to accommodate new cars with bigger and more screens. Illinois attorney John Voorhees of MacStories describes the new CarPlay.
- Similarly, David Price of Macworld explains that the new CarPlay can transform the in-vehicle experience.
- Federico Viticci of MacStories provides a comprehensive overview of iOS 16 and iPad OS 16.
- Jason Snell of Six Colors explains why iPadOS 16 paves the way for more sophisticated apps, similar to what you find on a computer.
- Last month, I discussed how Apple and other companies created the FIDO Alliance to move towards a future in which we no longer have to use passwords and instead can use an authentication method like Touch ID on your iPhone to log in to a website. This week, Apple shared more information on how it will let you use passkeys instead of passwords, and Dan Moren of Six Colors did a great job of summarizing what Apple is doing with passkeys.
- Does FIDO mean that you won’t use a password manager anymore? Maybe not. Jeff Shiner, the CEO of 1Password, announced this week that 1Password has joined the FIDO alliance and that the 1Password app will be able to serve as an authenticator. The idea is that if a site requires a password, 1Password would handle that the traditional way, and if the site works with passwordless authentication, 1Password can handle that too.
- Sami Fathi of MacRumors describes a small but interesting feature of iOS 16: a built-in currency converter.
- Juli Clover of MacRumors describes another small but useful feature: Contacts will provide an easy way to fix duplicate contracts.
- Similarly, Zac Hall of 9to5Mac discusses a new feature coming to the Photos app: duplicate photo detection.
- Jason Cross of Macworld discusses some of the interesting new features in iPadOS 16.
- Jason Aten of Inc. discusses Apple Pay Later, a feature coming in iOS 16 that will let you purchase something and pay for it over six weeks instead of all at once.
- I mentioned earlier this week that iPadOS 16 adds the ability to improve your penmanship. Juli Clover of MacRumors explains that one way it does this is to straighten lines of text. There may be other ways that you can use iPadOS 16 to improve your handwriting, but I’m not yet sure.
- José Adorno of 9to5Mac identifies the features that Apple said are coming to iOS 16 but which won’t be available at launch.
- Adorno also identifies the feature in iPadOS 16 that require an iPad with an M1 chip, including Stage Manager.
- One fascinating iOS 16 feature if you have both a Mac and an iPhone is Continuity Camera, which lets you use your iPhone as a webcam for your computer. This makes sense becuase the iPhone’s camera is so much better, and as a bonus you can use the Ultrawide camera to show what is on your desk—a trick that seems almost too good to be true. Jason Snell of Six Colors explains the Continuity Camera feature.
- Sami Fathi of MacRumors shows off some of the user interface changes in iOS 16, such as the new interface for FaceTime and the video player, but remember that we are still seeing a very early beta so these user interfaces may change substantially before iOS 16 is released later this year.
- You can control HomeKit even if you are not in your home if you have a HomeKit hub. An Apple TV will work, as will a HomePod. For now, an iPad at your home can also work, but David Snow of Cult of Mac reports that this will change in iPadOS 16.
- For a good read on the WWDC keynote event itself, as opposed to the announcements, Jason Snell wrote a great article for Macworld. He has been attending WWDC for more than 25 years so he has seen it in many shapes and sizes, and he explains why this year’s format may be the best.
- Here is some Apple news that is not related to WWDC. Apple TV+ reached an agreement to purchase the rights to a Formula One racing movie starring Brad Pitt, but David Snow of Cult of Mac says is interesting is that this is the first such agreement in which the movie will first run in theaters for at least 30 days before coming to Apple TV+, and the filmmakers will split the profits from the theatrical run. We may see more of this in the future.
- I was also surprised to see this report by Joe Otterson of Variety that one of the cast members in a new show coming to Apple TV+ called Mrs. American Pie is Carol Burnett, who is now 89 years old. The show will also feature Kristen Wiig, Allison Janney, Leslie Bibb, Josh Lucas, and Ricky Martin.
- Tatum Hunter of the Washington Post describes ways that your iPhone can help you to wake up in the morning, from simple alarm apps to a bracelet called Pavlok Shock Clock ($149.99 on Amazon) that administers a mild shock to wake you up and can even keep those shocks going until you do jumping jacks or solve math problems to prove that you are awake.
- In a video on YouTube, Andrew O’Hara of AppleInsider shows off the best door locks that work with HomeKit.
- And finally, the Lock Screen in iOS 16 will be very different. This quick video released by Apple does a good job of showing off all of the new features: