If you’re a fan of Apple and have everything Apple, the brand has pretty much got rid of you having to use multiple apps for most of your daily things.
At the WWDC 2024, which stands for Worldwide Developers Conference, event held yesterday in the US, Apple debuted Apple Intelligence, a major AI-powered revamp of Siri, and iOS 18, iPadOS 18, VisionOS 2, macOS Sequoia and WatchOS11. It also announced an integration with ChatGPT across its various operating systems, while maintaining a focus on user privacy. Ha, there’s a first!
Apple Intelligence, the new AI
Finally taking a stride into the world of artificial intelligence, CEO Tim Cook said the new “AI” aka Apple Intelligence (AI) puts an emphasis on “personal intelligence”, while maintaining user privacy. Whether tidying up class notes, ensuring a blog post reads right or making sure an email is perfectly crafted, Writing Tools help users feel more confident in their writing. With Rewrite, users can adjust the tone to suit the audience, be it cover letter or a party invitation. Proofread checks grammar, word choice and sentence structure. Say goodbye to Grammarly!
Image editing tools include creating personalised emojis with Image Playground for creating graphics from prompts. Photo editing tools include removal of background objects from photos (finally catching up with arch rival).
I look forward to AI transcribing and summarising my audio recordings, prioritising notifications and the power writing tools. Welcome to the age of personal assistants on your iPhone with Calendar, Maps, Email and iMessage all talking to each other.
Apple Intelligence will run on iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max and any Mac or iPad powered by Apple's M series chips, and will be available this autumn to users in the US. We, in Thailand, may have to wait a tad longer.
The ultimate personal assistant you’ve always wanted
Now that we are all powered with AI, Siri gets a major boost, too. Branded as “natural, contextual and personal”, Siri will also get a new design, with glowing lights wrapping around the edge of the user's screen when Siri is active. “Online awareness” allows Siri understand what's happening on the screen and take action on the user's behalf.
ChatGPT fans can now rejoice! Apple is bringing it into the integration with Siri. Users’ IP addresses will be masked and OpenAI will not be able to store any requests. ChatGPT, powered by the latest GPT-4o model, will also be available in a range of Apple apps to generate images and improve the writing experience. Say goodbye to original writing! I am not a fan of ChatGPT, can you tell?
Biggest redesign on an Iphone, ever!
The iOS 18 introduces new customisation options, the biggest-ever redesign of Photos, powerful updates for staying connected and AI.
• iPhone users have new ways to customise the Home Screen, Lock Screen and Control Centre. You can arrange apps and widgets in any open space on the Home Screen, including placing them right above the dock for easy access or perfectly framing a wallpaper. App icons and widgets can take on a new look with a dark or tinted effect, and users can make them appear larger to create an experience that is perfect for them.
• Photos will receive its biggest-ever redesign and one update I am most excited about is that I can now easily look for certain photos. A simplified, single view displays a familiar grid and new collections help users browse by themes without having to organise content into albums. Though, if you’re like me and have a phone full of photos that may be of no help. With each user’s photo library being unique, the app is customisable, so you can organise collections, pin collections to access frequently and include what’s most important in the carousel view.
Biggest takeaways are: iPhone 15 Pro shows a photo grid and collections; iPhone 15 Pro shows photo collections labeled Recent Days and People and Pets; and iPhone 15 Pro shows a carousel labelled Favourites.
• iMessage will get all-new text effects that bring conversations to life by amplifying letters, words, phrases or emojis with dynamic, animated appearances. You can format words into bold, underline italics and strikethrough.
• If you’re one of those people who freak out when there is no Wi-Fi or data service, fear not anymore. The iOS 18 introduces Messages via satellite. Powered by the same technology as existing iPhone satellite capabilities, Messages via satellite automatically prompts users to connect to their nearest satellite right from the Messages app to send and receive texts, emoji and Tapbacks over iMessage and SMS. With Dynamic Island, users always know when they are connected to a satellite. Because iMessage was built to protect user privacy, iMessages sent via satellite are end-to-end encrypted.
iPad finally gets its own calculator
You can use the iPad calculator as a notepad and get real-time answers. The new Calculator app on the iPad has a Math Notes feature. Using the Apple Pencil, you can write out complex equations and the app will solve those problems on the fly. There's also a new graphing feature that lets you write or type an equation and insert a graph with just one tap. This could be the ultimate homework helper (or cheater). Are we even allowed to use our brains?!iPadOS 18 With the iPadOS 18, the iPad experience is more versatile and intelligent than ever with new features and apps designed for Apple Pencil. New handwriting tools in Notes including Smart Script make handwritten notes more fluid, flexible and easier to read.
Time for a watch upgrade
If you have an Apple Watch 4 or 5, that came out in 2018 and 2019, it may be time for an upgrade as Apple is dropping support for it. To update the watchOS 11, which arrives this autumn, you'll need an Apple Watch 6 or later.
A partial global Vision
Apple announced that it will finally sell its spatial computing headset outside of the US. On June 28, China, Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore will be able to buy the Apple Vision Pro and on July 12, so will the UK, Australia, Germany, France and Canada. Thailand isn’t on the map, as I type this.
Tap to cash
A new way to pay someone with another iPhone without a phone number or email. Simply tap your iPhone to someone else's iPhone or Apple Watch to send them cash. It works in the same way as Name Drop or Air Drop.
Transformative intelligence to Mac
With macOS Sequoia, continuity between iPhone and Mac gets better than ever with iPhone Mirroring, enabling full access to and control of iPhone directly from Mac. Safari gets another big update with the new highlights feature for effortless information discovery on webpages while browsing. Gaming is even more immersive with Personalised Spatial Audio that puts players in the middle of the action like never before.
Visit apple.com.
