On June 7th, the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) streamed virtually. Did you miss it? We’ve got you covered with key insights from the conference and innovations that apply to your brand.

Attendees were able to choose from over 200 sessions to tune into to learn all about the new things and innovations from Apple and how it affects app development. Something we are really passionate about here at Robots & Pencils!

There are a lot of exciting things happening at Apple so let’s take a look at what stood out to the Robots & Pencils team…

Security Updates

Every year at WWDC Apple updates attendees on security features and this year was no exception. They went over new features that will help keep users’ data more secure. A few that stood out include:

• The mail app now hides location and IP address so that email marketers can’t know your location and whether or not you’ve opened their emails.
• Siri’s voice recognition process will now happen on the device level instead of an external server. This means that voice commands are not sent to Apple for processing and an internet connection isn’t necessary anymore to use Siri.
• A new “app privacy report” in settings will wrap up how often and which apps have shared things like your location and photos to help users identify suspicious behaviors.

Health App Functionality

Apple is putting an emphasis on health and fitness apps and has released functionality that will allow developers to create some really innovative health apps. This functionality will primarily take place on Apple WatchOS and includes exciting new features such as:

• New fitness tracking profiles
• Sleep tracking
• Respiratory rate tracking
• Blood glucose monitoring
• Blood pressure monitoring

Using data gathered, developers can now create health apps that predict potentially harmful health issues.

Apple also released “health sharing” components that allow users to share data about their health with their friends, family, doctors, etc.

SwiftUI Release 3

This year’s major update to SwiftUI fills in gaps that were left out in the previous 2 releases. This release gives developers the ability to control list separator tint. It also allows developers to finally show devices in landscape orientation in previews.

Text can also now contain markdown formatting directly inline. This includes interactive links and even code-style presentation.

Apple Announced iOS 15

iOS 15 will be available on beta to the general public in July and offered to everyone in the Fall. During the keynote at WWDC, one of the emphasized points was the exciting changes to this operating system.

The iOS 15 updates focus on connectivity, focus, data intelligence, and exploring the world.

Some of the noteworthy updates that caught the attention of our developers include:

• Lots of Facetime updates including spatial audio, voice isolation, sharable Facetime links to make it easy to join calls, and shared audio/visual streaming just to name a few.
• Focus mode allows users to put their phones in different modes such as work mode, vacation mode, etc.
• Notification batching allows users to set times when they’ll be notified all at once instead of trickling in throughout the day or night.
• Live text functionality allows Apple devices to recognize text in pictures and makes it searchable and easy to copy.

Changes With Apple Wallet

During WWDC, Apple announced some convenient changes to their Apple Wallet. The predominant feature updates include the ability for users to consolidate all of their keys and IDs into one place. With this update, users can even use their phones to check into hotels and with just a tap, can even access their hotel rooms.

Apple is also working with a select few states to put drivers licenses in the Apple Wallet.

Developers Can Now A/B Test Apps Before Launching

Another key takeaway from WWDC is that developers have more control over the testing phase of app development. Developers can now create different pages, icons and screenshots for the same app to see which version tests best with their target audience.

Did you tune into WWDC? If so, what insights did you gain? We’d love to chat with you about it in the comments below!