Apple Focuses on Performance, AR for iPhone Operating System

Helping consumers and parents combat addiction and encourage healthier relationships with technology is expected to be on Apple’s agenda at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference on Monday.

Apple CEO Tim Cook has been critical of Facebook’s widespread collection of data on its users. Bloomberg also adds there will be more integration between Apple’s Mac and mobile operating systems announced during the keynote. Dubbed “Digital Health” this new initiative is understood to include the creation of a menu option in the Settings app that will allow greater control of how people interact with their device. You’ll need to have your phone or iPad running iOS 10 or above software, while if you’re using an Apple computer you’ll need macOS Sierra 10.12 to be able to livestream the event.

In showing off the new App Limits feature for the iPhone, Apple used Facebook-owned Instagram as its example for an app that might be block for exceeding preset time limits.

When the public beta goes live, you’ll need to visit beta.apple.com to sign up. The company says it is bringing over a lot of features and learnings from the iOS App Store, including whether an app was named editor’s choice or the app’s ranking. This means there will be smaller tweaks and a refresh of the Home Screen will be announced next year.

Last year, Apple took its first major steps into the augmented reality industry with the introduction of the ARKit development platform for AR apps on iOS devices. The new app ‘Shortcuts’, which works with Siri, acts sort of like an ITTT (If That Then This) in that Siri will be able to link together commands from different non-Apple apps and even recognize repeated behaviors within them. The refreshed interface is said to include a “Reading Now” tab as well. It’ll recognise images in search and provide search suggestions to help you find the events you’ve captured on your iPhone.

Apple’s invite for WWDC 2018.

USDZ was developed in collaboration with Pixar, and according to Craig Federighi, Apple’s software chief, the company is working with leading companies for 3D tools and 3D libraries to bring support for USDZ. To make this new awareness a reality, Apple’s adding several features to iOS 12. Siri may also be getting a new voice. It may be too soon for any big changes, but Apple could preview the Siri improvements it hopes to make.

If you were looking forward to the Walkie-Talkie feature of watchOS 5, you’ll be disappointed to learn that it’s not part of this release. Streaming via Apple TV requires second generation Apple TV or later with the latest Apple TV software or tvOS.

It’s nearly a certainty that Apple will provide updates on new software at WWDC.