Here are the best WWDC features you missed
Apple announced a number of new features and updates onstage during its keynote address at WWDC 2024, including updates to iOS, iPadOS, macOS, VisionOS and the introduction of Apple Intelligence.
Now that people are using developer betas and exploring the sessions at the event, more features that were not announced onstage are surfacing. Remember that only certain devices will be compatible with iOS 18 when it’s released later in the fall. Here is a non-exhaustive list of those features.
Updates to Messages app
- Apple didn’t mention the support of Rich Messaging Service (RCS) onstage, but it briefly showed the feature in a tile while showing the iOS feature collage. RCS support means that Android users will be able to send and receive high-quality media while chatting with their friends using Apple products. RCS will also enable typing indicators and read receipts. However, all RCS-enabled messages will still be green bubbles — so that battle is not over.
- Another messaging-related update is that on iOS 18, you can see who hit tapback on which emoji.
- Plus, you can add text effects to emoji while sending them.
iOS 18 offers new design aspects
- Users have the option to hide icon text by making them large through the customization menu.
- Apple has said that it will provide an API to developers to customize app icon tints.
- iOS 18 allows users to swap out lock screen action buttons. Through API-based integrations, developers can now get users to access their camera apps directly from the lock screen — in a way making them the default camera app.
- Safari has a new tab group creation UI when you swipe right from the tab switcher screen.
- A device requesting Bluetooth permission has a new UI displaying the map with the current location of the device.
Some settings in iOS 18 have been updated
- Apple launched the new Control Center with a multi-page interface and better customization. Along with that, the company added a useful button to turn off the device directly. So, users don’t have to long-press the power + volume button.
- There is a new Apps menu in Settings, which replaces all listed apps on the main page.
- Search in settings now shows Spotlight-style suggestions.
- Apple has said that there will be Mobile device management (MDM) controls for admins to turn off AI-powered features such as ChatGPT and Math Notes.
- The iCloud page in settings has a new design.
Language and input updates
- Multilingual keyboards are a new feature now. This means you can type in multiple scripts and languages without changing keyboards.
- Live Text now supports Arabic.
- Apple is adding inline completions in French and Spanish.
- The company has added Hindi as a language option in the translation app.
Utility
- The Weather app has a new Home and Work location setting.
- The Weather app shows a visual graph of Actual versus “Feels like” temperatures. Plus, there is a visual indicator of how much “Feels like” is making a difference from the actual temperature in the main app.
- The Voice Memo app will let you record in stereo.
- You can now define the recommended charging limit in the settings.
- The new update will tell you if you are connected to a slow charger.
- Calendar now has a multi-day and list view to easily give you an idea about upcoming events.
- You can pinch to zoom on the Calender app’s monthly view to look at your schedule at a glance.
- The Notes app finally lets you assign different colors to the text.
- You can now share Wi-Fi credentials as a QR code through the new password app.
Photos app gets a makeover
- The Photos app now has a wallpaper suggestions album.
- There are new utility types in the Photos app, including Receipts, Handwriting, QR Codes, Documents and Map Illustrations. Along with this, there are other categories such as Recently Viewed, Recently Edited and Recently Shared.
- The edit button for a photo has been moved to the bottom bar from the top right.
More accessibility features
- iOS 18 now has motion cues with dots on the screen to reduce motion sickness while sitting in a vehicle.
- The new update also lets people set Eye Tracking so they can control devices through eye movement.
- iOS 18 allows you to define vocal shortcuts. That means when you speak a custom phrase, your iPhone will perform an action related to that. For example, you can define a phrase to go to the home screen, open the camera, trigger a shortcut or invoke a Siri request.
- Additionally, you can define sound actions through the Touch menu to map actions to sounds like Click, Cluck, Eh, La, oo, and Sh.
- iOS 18 will allow users to experience music through haptics such as taps, textures and refined vibrations that match the track’s audio.
This is probably just a set of features that people using the beta in the early days, including us, have found. We will keep updating this story as more features crop up.
If you want to highlight some features found in the developer betas of the new Apple platform updates, you can reach out to this reporter at im@ivanmehta.com.
