In these times that the world's raving about artificial intelligence, in some rather interesting ways (this time), Apple had more than just that to bring to the table at the WWDC this year. I'm talking about a whole new way to look at things and interact with the Apple ecosystem, users and developers. If you missed it, here's some of what's coming this fall from Apple.
There was quite a lot announced at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) this year. So I'm just going to cover the most peculiars ones I want to talk about.
AppleOS 26
We were supposed to see something like iOS 19, watchOS 12, and visionOS 3. Instead we have all OS version numbers bumped up to 26 so they're all aligned with the year. I guess it makes more sense to use the coming year rather than 2025, but it's all the same a bit bizarre to have the visionOS jump all the way to 26 from 3.
Liquid Glass
By "a whole new way to look at things," I meant a new UI design. It's across their platforms. iOS to tvOS and visionOS, and they're calling it "Liquid Glass." Apparently, this is the first broad design update since iOS 7. Really smooth and appealing look it brings, if you ask me, but I think there's a bit of an issue.
Apple has their way of bringing features that had long existed on other OS like Android much later and making it seem like it's revolutionary. This transparency thing their going for -- yeah, we've seen it before. You can easily find different versions on Android. I've used one, in fact, and I didn't quite like it.
The first thing you'll notice is, well, it's going to be a lot harder to read text in certain cases and probably tougher to quickly identify apps (especially new ones). I don't see many people using it much, perhaps except for some minimalists. On the iPhone, Mac, and iPad, nahh... Vision Pro and tvOS is different, though.
Liquid Glass will make sense on a TV because you wouldn't want things obscuring your view of the film playing and all that. Vision Pro... actually, I think the visionOS might have inspired this new UI. The headset is practically right up one's eyes, so yes the see-through feature is very useful.
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Lock screen is now more dynamic, with the time display actively adapting to the open space it has to fit in with respect to the photo used, as well as when notifications come in. I think that's cool. Even more interesting, though, are the...
Call Screening and Hold Assist
This one has me intrigued yet curious. It's one of the subtle ways that Apple is using artificial intelligence (spelling it out because there's also AI meaning Apple Intelligence) but isn't making the entire conference about just AI like last year.
When an unknown number calls, Call Screening doesn't ring you just yet. "It automatically picks it up, silently in the background", as described in the conference, and then rings you when the caller mentions their name and intent. You get to see that before picking.
Intrigued because, I wonder what the caller would hear on the other side. I imagine two things: it's either they hear silence and just speak or Apple Intelligence speaks on your behalf. What I am curious about is how it that would really go down in reality, especially where I'm from.
Here in Nigeria, most people say something like, "Hello? Hello? Can you hear me? How far, Jay?" All in one sentence if they don't hear immediately hear anything when they call. Hardly do I hear people lead with their name and intent even if the first time calling. So it just makes me wonder... Wouldn't it be such a strange call with this Call Screening feature? Or perhaps hilarious. I guess we'll find out.
Hold Assist on the other hand is a feature most people would find really useful. Simply put, whenever you're put on hold on those customer service calls, you don't have to wait and listen to the annoying repetitive tunes they play.
It stays on the line for you in the background while you're free to continue on to other things. When support arrives, Hold Assist informs you, then you pick up again like you never left. You get to read what the customer service rep says when they come on.
And More...
I can't possibly cover all of the features coming without turning this into a super lengthy post. Better to just watch the entire event to learn all about it and see them for yourself. Perhaps the likely happiest consumers will be the developers as there's much more that would make working with Apple a little bit easier.
https://www.youtube.com/live/0_DjDdfqtUE?si=benR5L6dl8wYa2pX
Having watched the entire conference, the dramatic, cinematic vibe they went for definitely hinted at something "exciting" to come. Perhaps I'm just a little too into F1 cars... But it sure was also a teaser to the Brad Pitt F1 movie by Apple TV. Anyway, what do you think about Liquid Glass and the new features coming with next updates?