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14 Compelling Features Coming to Apple's Operating Systems in 2024
Adam Engst
Apple's [1]WWDC 2024 keynote was even more rapid-fire than usual, so
much so that an Assassin's Creed game demo was the most relaxing part
after the initial 90-second skydiving gag. It's tough'Apple
presentations typically focus on a hardware product or three, but
because WWDC is all about software, the company has to figure out which
of the many new features merit a mention or demo. All too often, the
presenter would introduce a feature, talk about it for a few seconds,
and then switch gears entirely, just as I expected more detail or
another feature in the same app.
In part, Apple's hurry came from trying to get through six different
platforms before devoting a hefty chunk of time to [2]Apple
Intelligence, the company's name for a collection of AI features that
will be rolling out over the next year. Apple said Apple Intelligence
features would start being available 'this summer,' which probably
means during the public betas of the operating systems starting in
July, and would be broadly available in beta 'this fall,' or likely
mid-September. However, Apple's footnotes acknowledged that 'some
features, software platforms, and additional languages will come over
the course of the next year,' probably well into 2025. Apple
Intelligence will also require recent Apple silicon'it will run only on
the iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, and iPads and Macs with M1 or
later chips. Apologies to our international friends, but Apple
Intelligence will require Siri and the device language to be set to US
English in the early releases. We'll look more deeply at Apple
Intelligence in future articles.
Apple's six platforms now include macOS, iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, tvOS,
and visionOS. Two notes: First, macOS 15 will be called Sequoia, which
will undoubtedly become easier to type with practice. It's unclear if
Apple meant to name it after [3]Sequoia National Park or the [4]iconic
redwoods. Second, although Apple briefly talked about tvOS, the
'platform' in question was called 'Audio & Home' and seemed to
encompass AirPods, HomeKit, and more. There was no mention of the
HomePod.
I couldn't cover all the features Apple highlighted in the keynote,
much less the many others it describes in preview pages on its website.
Instead, I focus here on the features I look forward to trying or find
generally compelling, in no particular order. For a list of everything
coming in 2024's operating systems'and Apple's descriptions of the
features below'see:
* [5]macOS 15 Sequoia
* [6]iOS 18
* [7]iPadOS 18
* [8]watchOS 11
* [9]visionOS 2
* [10]tvOS 18
All these operating systems are now available in beta form for
developers, will appear in public beta form for everyone soon enough,
and should ship in the usual September/October time frame.
Messages via Satellite
First in '[11]Testing Emergency SOS and Find My via Satellite' (21
November 2022) and then in '[12]Five Unexpected Announcements from
Apple's Wonderlust Event' (12 September 2023), I suggested Apple should
allow sending location via satellite in Messages. The company went one
better, providing Messages via satellite, either with iMessage or SMS.
Conversations are end-to-end encrypted. The feature works only on the
iPhone 14 and later, of course, and Apple said nothing more about
charging for it, meaning that it's still free through at least November
2025 (see '[13]Apple Extends Free Emergency SOS via Satellite for
iPhone 14 Users for Another Year,' 15 November 2023). I will be curious
to see how well Messages via satellite works when both iPhones have no
cellular service, as happens for me relatively frequently while working
on trail races.
Siri Gets a Brain
Most of what Apple shared about Apple Intelligence was relatively vague
hand waving. But we all know and love/hate Siri. Like the Scarecrow in
The Wizard of Oz, Apple Intelligence will give Siri a brain. Or at
least that's the promise, but I have high hopes because large language
models are so much better than the token-based albatross of an
architecture that has long dragged Siri down. Tonya and I rely heavily
on Siri after going all-in on HomeKit'see '[14]HomeKit for the Holidays
(And Home Troubleshooting Tips)' (15 January 2021) and '[15]Reflections
on a Year with HomeKit' (17 December 2021)'and we've found Siri's
responsiveness and accuracy getting worse with time. If we say, 'Siri,
it's time for dinner,' our Dinner scene usually triggers, but if we
slip up and say, 'Siri, it's time to eat dinner,' we get restaurant
recommendations. Apple promises that Siri will let us speak more
naturally and understand us even if we make mistakes. My main worry is
that because Apple Intelligence requires an A17 Pro or M-series chip on
an iPhone, iPad, or Mac, Siri on the HomePod will remain as dumb as
before.
Break Free of the Home Screen Grid
In iOS 18 and iPadOS 18, you'll be able to customize the Home Screen
far more than in the past. Previously, you couldn't leave blank spaces,
but now you can arrange icons and widgets however you like, perhaps to
allow your Home Screen wallpaper to shine through. Plus, you'll be able
to change the size of icons and widgets, and even apply color tints. I
can't tell if you can color icons separately or if they all (on a
particular screen?) have to take on the same coloration, but we'll find
out soon enough.
Passwords Becomes a Real App
It's about time. Over the past few years, Apple has been beefing up its
built-in password management features, but to work with your saved
credentials, you had to wade through the morass of Settings/System
Settings or Safari's settings. In iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and Sequoia, Apple
has finally given us a standalone Passwords app. If nothing else, it
will let us stop tripping over the iCloud Keychain and iCloud Passwords
terminology and just call it Passwords. As I wrote in '[16]Using
Apple's iCloud Passwords Outside Safari' (1 April 2024), Apple's
password management features are well above the bar, even if they
aren't as complete as something like 1Password.
Automatic Window Tiling in Sequoia
In Sequoia, when you drag a window to the edge of the screen, it will
offer to tile the window intelligently, suggesting a size and position
that makes sense for the content. It could be a wonderful way to
maximize the usage of your screen real estate. With this feature, Apple
is Sherlocking an entire category of utilities, like [17]Amethyst,
[18]BetterTouchTool, [19]Magnet, [20]Moom, [21]Rectangle, and
[22]Yabai, but I gather that everyone has different and firmly held
opinions on exactly how window tiling should work. So, if you like the
idea of window tiling, you have lots of choices. Personally, I've found
that having two 27-inch screens and keeping my apps in the same
positions most of the time meets most of my needs, so I'll be curious
to see if I find Apple's tiling helpful.
Control Center Construction Kit
Apple has overhauled Control Center in iOS 18 and iPadOS 18. It
features groups of controls you can access with a single, continuous
swipe down on the Home Screen. Along with the familiar Control Center
controls, Apple showed a media player and a collection of Home tiles,
and you can create your own groups. The new Controls gallery displays
all the possible controls in one place, now including controls added by
apps, and you can mix and match them any way you want, even resizing
them. It's hard to visualize exactly how this will work, but once
Control Center reflects what you want, it may become a significantly
more important aspect of the iPhone and iPad experience.
Mirror Your iPhone on Your Mac
Do you find yourself regularly digging your iPhone out of your pocket
even when you're working at your Mac? If so, you might appreciate the
new Continuity feature that mirrors your iPhone in a window on your
Mac. You can interact with the mirrored iPhone window as you would the
actual iPhone, with your Mac's pointing device and keyboard working
inside the iPhone interface. Audio from the iPhone comes through the
Mac's speakers, and you can even share data between the Mac and iPhone
using drag and drop. While the iPhone is being shared, it remains on
its Lock screen or in StandBy. iPhone mirroring will require a Mac with
Apple silicon or an Intel-based Mac with a T2 chip, along with the
usual Continuity requirements with regard to Apple ID, Bluetooth and
Wi-Fi, and proximity. A similar Continuity feature lets you get iPhone
notifications on your Mac, and if you're mirroring your iPhone, click
them to open the associated iPhone app.
visionOS 2 Gains Panoramic Mac Virtual Display
One disappointment of the initial release of Vision Pro was that it was
limited to a single 4K virtual Mac display. Yes, you could put
additional visionOS apps around the Mac display to increase the
information density of your environment, but it couldn't simulate a Mac
with two displays. visionOS 2 promises an expandable, ultrawide,
wraparound screen that provides the equivalent of two 4K displays
side-by-side. It falls into the 'coming later this year' category and
sounds like it will work only with a Mac running Sequoia.
Math Notes in the iPad's New Calculator App
In another 'about time' feature, Apple has finally brought the
Calculator app to the iPad, refactoring it for the iPad's larger
screen. But Apple didn't stop there, adding history and unit conversion
to both versions. The most compelling addition is Math Notes, which
demos best on an iPad with an Apple Pencil. You can handwrite
equations, and as soon as you draw an equals sign, Calculator solves
the equation. It supports variables, and if you edit an equation, the
results change on the fly. (Sorry, [23]Soulver!) You can even add
graphs. I doubt I'll use Math Notes because I switch to a real
spreadsheet when I have to go beyond simple math. However, I can see
students relying heavily on the feature as they explore the
mathematical underpinnings of various academic disciplines. Math Notes
is also available within the Notes app, and that appears to be the only
way you can use it on a Mac.
Smart Script Improves Handwriting
While we're on the topic of the Apple Pencil, iPadOS 18 will provide
Smart Script, which improves the appearance of your handwriting as you
write, making your lettering smoother, straighter, and more readable
while maintaining your handwriting style. You can even paste text in
and have it look like you wrote it. Spell checking fixes mistakes
inline, and scratching out text with the Apple Pencil erases it. My
handwriting is mediocre at best, and one of my irritations with the
Apple Pencil is that what I wrote wasn't all that legible'perhaps Smart
Script would help. Realistically, handwriting is too slow'I'll always
revert to typing when taking notes.
Notes Gains Audio Recording and Transcription
Here's a feature I'll use in every talk I attend from now on. The Notes
app on all platforms will record audio and create live transcriptions.
In fact, for Apple's WWDC keynote, I set up Rogue Ameoba's [24]Audio
Hijack to record and transcribe the audio. It did a fine job, and I
searched through the transcript several times while writing this
article to remind myself of specific quotes. You'll notice a Summarize
button in the iPad screenshot below, and while I tried to feed all 88
KB of the WWDC keynote transcription to various free chatbots for
summary, only Claude and Perplexity took it. In neither case was the
summary particularly helpful because Apple's keynote script was already
so concise, so the summary ended up skipping most things. Claude did a
much better job when I asked it to list all the features, categorized
by operating system. We'll see how helpful Apple's summarization is,
but transcription alone is a big win. I hope the feature doesn't cut
into Rogue Amoeba's market too much, but I assume few Audio Hijack
users use it solely for its transcription capabilities.
AI Provides Safari Highlights and Reader Summaries
Although these features aren't enough to tempt me away from Arc and Arc
Search, devoted Safari users might find them helpful. Using AI,
Safari's Highlights feature will automatically detect and display
relevant information on a page'directions, biographical information,
and details about popular media. No more searching for the address just
to get directions to a restaurant. Plus, Safari uses AI to generate a
table of contents and high-level summary for articles you add to Safari
Reader.
Tapbacks Get Funky
I'm fond of tapbacks, the little icons you can use in Messages to
respond subtextually. Currently, we're limited to a heart, thumbs up
and down, laughter, exclamation points, and a question mark. Those
cover a lot of instances of 'Your message evoked an emotion, but I
don't have anything else to say,' but in the next set of operating
systems, you'll be able to use any emoji or sticker for a tapback
response. Eventually, with Apple Intelligence, you'll be able to create
Genmoji with textual descriptions ('a penguin wearing sunglasses') and
use them anywhere you use emoji, including in tapbacks. Messages will
also allow text formatting (bold, italic, and underline) and provide
text effects that look about as cheesy as gestural reactions in video.
Lock and Hide iPhone Apps
We've all got something to hide. When you hand your iPhone to a friend
to look at a photo or read a Web page, you probably don't want them
poking around further. New privacy features in iOS 18 and iPadOS 18
will let you lock apps so they require Face ID or Touch ID for access,
and information from them won't show up in search results or
notifications. You can also move apps to a hidden folder in the App
Library that can't be opened without Face ID or Touch ID.
Which of these features seem the most compelling to you? Are there
others that you're waiting for with bated breath?
References
Visible links
1. https://www.apple.com/apple-events/
2. https://www.apple.com/apple-intelligence/
3. https://www.nps.gov/seki
4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sequoia_(genus)
5. https://www.apple.com/macos/macos-sequoia-preview/
6. https://www.apple.com/ios/ios-18-preview/
7. https://www.apple.com/ipados/ipados-18-preview/
8. https://www.apple.com/watchos/watchos-preview/
9. https://www.apple.com/visionos/visionos-2-preview/
10. https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2024/06/updates-to-the-home-experience-elevate-entertainment-and-bring-more-convenience/
11. https://tidbits.com/2022/11/21/testing-emergency-sos-and-find-my-via-satellite/
12. https://tidbits.com/2023/09/12/five-unexpected-announcements-from-apples-wonderlust-event/
13. https://tidbits.com/2023/11/15/apple-extends-free-emergency-sos-via-satellite-for-iphone-14-users-for-another-year/
14. https://tidbits.com/2021/01/15/homekit-for-the-holidays-and-home-troubleshooting-tips/
15. https://tidbits.com/2021/12/17/reflections-on-a-year-with-homekit/
16. https://tidbits.com/2024/04/01/using-apples-icloud-passwords-outside-safari/
17. https://ianyh.com/amethyst/
18. https://folivora.ai/
19. https://apps.apple.com/us/app/magnet/id441258766
20. https://manytricks.com/moom/
21. https://rectangleapp.com/
22. https://github.com/koekeishiya/yabai/wiki
23. https://soulver.app/
24. https://rogueamoeba.com/audiohijack/
Hidden links:
25. https://tidbits.com/wp/../uploads/2024/06/Messages-via-Satellite.jpg
26. https://tidbits.com/wp/../uploads/2024/06/Siri-with-AI.jpg
27. https://tidbits.com/wp/../uploads/2024/06/Custom-Home-Screen-scaled.jpg
28. https://tidbits.com/wp/../uploads/2024/06/iPadOS-18-Passwords.jpg
29. https://tidbits.com/wp/../uploads/2024/06/Sequoia-window-tiling.jpg
30. https://tidbits.com/wp/../uploads/2024/06/Control-Center-customization.jpg
31. https://tidbits.com/wp/../uploads/2024/06/Sequoia-iPhone-mirroring.jpg
32. https://tidbits.com/wp/../uploads/2024/06/visionOS-2-panoramic-Mac-Virtual-Display-.jpg
33. https://tidbits.com/wp/../uploads/2024/06/Math-Notes.jpg
34. https://tidbits.com/wp/../uploads/2024/06/iPadOS-18-Smart-Script.jpg
35. https://tidbits.com/wp/../uploads/2024/06/iPaoOS-18-Audio-Notes.jpg
36. https://tidbits.com/wp/../uploads/2024/06/Safari-AI-features.jpg
37. https://tidbits.com/wp/../uploads/2024/06/Tapbacks.jpg
38. https://tidbits.com/wp/../uploads/2024/06/iOS-18-Locked-Hidden-apps.jpg