Apple's WWDC 2016 Keynote Event

Apple kicked off their annual WWDC event with their greatly-anticipated keynote, held in the historic Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco, CA (the remainder of the conference will be held at the Moscone Conference Center in downtown San Francisco).

Prior to the event kick-off, there was definitely excitement building outside (note: I'm not there in person, sadly, but I have friends who are and are keeping me posted on the feel of the event).

Tim Cook: welcome and introduction

  • "Thank you, thank you, thank you!! Welcome, and it's great to be here!"
  • Moment of silence for those who are affected by the recent Orlando tragedy.
  • "We have a really big and jam packed conference for you"
  • "We are investing in the next-generation developer in par by awarding 350+ scholarships"
  • Youngest attendee this year is 9 years old
  • App Store now has more than 2 million apps, with more than 130 billion downloads. This translates to more than $50 billion paid to developers
  • Today's keynote will dsicuss the 4 major Apple platforms: watchOS, tvOS, OS X and iOS

Kevin Lynch: watchOS

  • "Our top focus is on performance"
  • watchOS 3 includes major performance improvements by keeping favorite apps in memory
  • new Dock feature allows you to press the side button and browse recent apps
  • newly-designed Control Center for easier access to quick changes
  • newly-designed Messages app allows easier and quicker response, including "Scribble"
  • Scribble allows you to write your responses using your finger, one letter at a time (note: looks really cool!!!)
  • Scribble works in English and Chinese
  • Minnie will be a watch face option
  • new "Activity" watch face that will give you stats on your daily motion activity
  • other new watch faces
  • switching to new watch faces is as easy as swiping left and right on the watch face
  • Reminders and Find my Friends are redesigned with much faster response times, including background updates (note: YES!!!!)
  • new "SOS" feature makes it easier to contact 911 services and will auto-send precise location information, as well as display health information
  • new health app called "Activity Sharing", aimed at motivating and promoting better health
  • Activity Sharing app allows you to communicate with your activity friends directly from within the app
  • activity-based apps now offer support for tracking activity for wheelchair users
  • new app called "Breathe", aimed at helping to improve deep-breathing for improved mental and physical health
  • Breathe can be activated manually or automatically as a reminder
  • "watchOS 3 is a giant leap for developers and users alike"
  • Apple Pay is now available to developers for in-app use using a new set of APIs
  • many other improvements available with watchOS 3
  • watchOS 3 preview is available today for developers
  • watchOS 3 will be available as a general upgrade this Fall

Eddie Cue: tvOS

  • "Let's talk about tvOS and Apple TV"
  • Apple TV now has more than 1,300 channels to choose from
  • new apps available today: Sling, Molotov, various games, etc available today or coming soon
  • new Apple TV Remote app for iPhone
  • Apple TV Remote now includes ALL the same features as the physical remote
  • Siri improvements include being able to search movies by topic
  • Siri currently searched more than 650,000 movies and TV shows, and now searches YouTube
  • revamped activation process makes watching live TV much easier with single-signon (note: finally!!!)
  • tvOS now includes a dark mode (note: this be great for late use)
  • tvOS preview is available today for developers
  • tvOS will be available as a general upgrade this Fall

Craig Federighi: OS X (macOS)

  • name change: from OS X to macOS (note: makes sense!)
  • the next version of macOS will be named "macOS Sierra"
  • big focus on continuity, iCloud and fundamentals
  • new feature called "Auto Unlock" allows you to unlock your Mac using the security of your Apple Watch (note: this will be really, really nice!!)
  • new "Universal Clipboard" feature allows you to copy text on your iOS device and then paste it on your Mac... all seamlessly
  • iCloud Drive allows you to store documents in the cloud and there are more than 10- billion documents being stored that way today (note: somewhat similar to Dropbox)
  • improved iCloud Drive allows you to sync all documents regardless of saved location to the cloud, automatically (making them available on all devices)
  • improved file storage means you can save space on local storage
  • Apple Pay now available on macOS via the web
  • when shopping online, you will have an option to pay using Apple Pay, using your iPhone or Apple Watch
  • tabs now available in 3rd-party apps (because it's baked into the system itself)
  • Picture-in-picture allows you to view a video while working on other projects or files
  • Siri is coming to macOS
  • Siri search results can be pinned to your Notifications window for later use
  • macOS SIerra preview is available today for developers
  • macOS SIerra will be available as a general upgrade this Fall (public beta in July)

Craig Federighi and Eddie Cue: iOS

  • "I am pleased to announce iOS 10, and this is the biggest release EVER for our users"
  • redesigned lock screen with the use of 3D Touch
  • new "Raise to Wake" feature allows you to see notifications without pressing a button or unlocking your device
  • 3D Touch from within Raise to Wake allows you to see rich detail, respond to messages and more
  • clear all Notifications with a 3D Touch hard press
  • swipe to reveal the camera or widgets from the lock screen
  • improved Siri experience now available to developers (note: this will be huge for 3rd-party apps!!)
  • improved QuickType functionality
  • improved Photos app includes facial recognition and better location information
  • 11 billion computations performance per image to allow for deep searching (for example, identify water, animals, locations, etc)
  • new themed "Memories" feature offers automatic photo collections (note: looks very powerful)
  • Memories themes include auto transitions, titling and music
  • upgraded Photos app for macOS will also have these same features
  • improved Maps app with an all-new design
  • Maps will also intelligently include suggestions and other information based on current and relative historical information
  • Maps now allows you to pan and zoom into the distance to identify traffic and POI (Points of Interest)
  • Maps will auto-suggest new routes to avoid traffic if heavy traffic is detected on the planned route
  • Maps is now open to developers using extensions
  • redesigned Music app, making it easier to navigate and discover
  • Music now includes lyrics
  • more than 60 million News subscribers
  • all-new design for the News app
  • most important stories (breaking news) now available in Notifications
  • most major vendors of home automation accessories and even home builders are supporting HomeKit
  • new "Home" app for home automation, includes scenes
  • Home is accessible from the Lock Screen
  • Home control support is also accessible from the Apple Watch
  • improved Phone app includes transcribed voicemails
  • Phone can help to identify spam calls
  • Messages update... "this one is a doozy"
  • Messages now includes "rich links"
  • when camera is activated in a chat session, it gives you a real-time preview
  • emoji characters are now 3X larger
  • Messages will auto-predict all words that are "emojifiable" and allow for quick replacements (note: hilarious!)
  • bubble effects allow you to send tone and private messages (note: very cool feature!!)
  • Messages will now support handwritten messages as well as animated backgrounds and hand-drawn pictures
  • Messages will now be available to developers
  • add Stickers and other objects to your messages
  • all the above features will be available for iPhone and iPad alike
  • upgraded Notes allows you to collaborate with others on the same Note in real-time
  • end-to-end encryption included for FaceTime, Messages and HomeKit
  • "We take privacy very seriously at Apple"
  • iOS 10 preview is available today for developers
  • iOS 10 will be available as a general upgrade this Fall (public beta in July)

Tim Cook and Sheryl Thomas: Swift

  • "Swift is a powerful development environment that empowers developers"
  • more than 100,000 apps that have embraced Swift
  • new app called "Swift Playgrounds" for iPad will "revolutionize the way people learn to code"
  • "This is the absolute best way to teach anyone to code" (note: this will transform how kids, and even adults, learn to code)
  • Swift Playground will be free (note: sweet!)
  • Swift Playground preview is available today for developers
  • Swift Playground will be available as a free download this Fall (public beta in July)
Posted on June 13, 2016 and filed under Apple TV, Design, iOS, iPad, iPhone, Mac, Opinion, Watch.