An Overview of Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference

If you’re a lover of all things Apple, something you probably look forward to is the announcement of the latest iPhone or the updates to the iOS system.

Although there were a couple of guesses that Apple would release new products this June, fans of the brand were instead gifted with software upgrades. The annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) was held in California earlier this week and The Weekender got the scoop.

The Core of All iPhones

There’s nothing like an annoying message, begging you to spare a couple hours of your time to allow your phone to update. At the end of the year, it’s about to get even more intense thanks to the release of iOS 12. Anyone with an Apple phone can update – and here’s what to expect: Apple claims iOS 12 is going to make your phone faster. After the confession that the company was intentionally making iPhones slower so that you could get a new one, this is a welcome move. If you’ve got an iPhone 5S and newer – lucky you. Also, nothing older than an iPad Air or iPad Mini 2 will work, so it might be a call for you to upgrade your devices.

Since augmented reality is becoming popular these days, gaming has become more fun. Expect a lot more gaming experiences with this feature and less glitches. And since Apple likes moving ahead with the times, it looks like measuring tapes are officially going out of style. The Measure app is just that – a measuring tape in app form. It’s likely to be an app you’d forget, much like Stocks, Tips and Find Friends.

Ever wanted to find that picture with the tree behind you but you didn’t want to scroll a million times to get it? The Photos app will start recognising photos by objects and events such as the Gin Festival. But we’re guessing it might be a bit of hassle in Namibia. You can broaden your search options and you’re most likely find missing photos faster than you used to. Also, a ‘For You’ option is added to your photos, so it’s basically suggestions of photos you can share.

Siri also promises to be smarter, so you can track your keys if you ever lose them, control more things in your house (if you’re the home technology type) and assign phrases to tasks. With Siri, you can also translate more languages, get scores online and not that it’s important, but obtain more facts about celebrities when you’re curious about Chris Pratt’s height, for example.

More upgrades are available with Apple News, voice memos, stocks and CarPlay and here’s the treat: You get to feel guilty by finding out how much time you spend on your screen. You can limit screen time, use your Do Not Disturb option more and clean up your notifications thanks to the grouping option.

Using Animojis yet? Tongue and wink detection is available and personalised bitmojis known as ‘memojis’ will look more like you. Nothing new. And then there’s group FaceTime. With 32 people. That’s definitely not a conversation – that’s a group conference! Nonetheless, it’s useful if you’re up for a chat but you can’t access your laptop.

Protecting your digital privacy also takes centre stage this year – Apple will deliver trusted news even more and Safari upgrades will protect you online. It’s a clear dig at Facebook. For Apple Watch users – expect a new Walkie Talkie feature and other tidbits to turn your watch into a phone. Could it be? Could Apple really be running out of ideas? We’ll have to wait for the great unveiling in September.