The Apple WWDC 2024 keynote is always one of the highlights of the tech calendar, and this year’s edition was bigger than most. That’s because, as widely predicted, Tim Cook took the opportunity to unveil Apple Intelligence – perhaps the biggest development in Apple-land since… well, the unveiling of the Vision Pro last year.
In addition to the big AI-related news, the nearly two-hour Apple event was packed with details on everything from iOS 18 to the latest macOS to iPadOS, watchOS and tvOS.
You can check out our WWDC 2024 live blog for full details of everything announced, but if you want the highlights, here are the 13 biggest announcements from WWDC 2024.
1. Apple Intelligence is coming soon…
Then let’s start with the big one. Apple Intelligence is Apple’s new set of AI features, which will work its way through every Apple platform and even work with third-party apps. It will be completely free and available on iOS 18, iPadOS 18 and macOS Sequoia through their respective betas, with a full rollout later this year.
It takes a very Apple approach to AI, meaning privacy is paramount, and most features work on the device you’re using, without sharing to the cloud. If you need more power, Apple has a Power Cloud Compute option for complex requests, but Apple’s cloud still focuses more on privacy than any AI we’ve seen yet.
Among the many features on offer, you get access to generative writing, generative image creation, and third-party API tools, in addition to the massive upgrade coming to Siri (see below). Apple was a little late to the AI party, but it will be fully up to date soon.
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2. But not everyone will be able to use it
As exciting as Apple Intelligence is, it will only be available on iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, and iPad and Mac models with the Apple M1 chip or later.
This is understandable, since it requires powerful Apple silicon to work, but it will be disappointing for anyone who owns a standard iPhone 15, an iPhone 14 or older model, or even an Intel-based MacBook. Expect sales of the rumored iPhone 16 range to benefit significantly…
3. Siri got a huge update – and now comes with added ChatGPT
Apple’s voice assistant has been around for years, but Siri is finally getting the makeover it so desperately needs in iOS 18. This also includes a visual overhaul, with Assistant now glowing around the edges of your iPhone’s screen.
But Siri has also undergone a much-needed brain transplant. It has “on-screen awareness” to make it work better with apps – and if it can’t answer a question, you can plug it into the ChatGPT-4o model for free, cloud-based wisdom. The bad news? The new Siri is powered by Apple Intelligence, which means as mentioned above you’ll only get it on the latest iPhone 15 Pro models, or iPads and Macs that have at least an M1 chip. Still, it will be a nice perk if we upgrade.
4. Custom emojis with generative AI will ruin communication
Oh boy. If you previously thought using emoji was bad, just wait for Apple’s new feature that lets you just tell your iPhone/iPad/Mac what cool new emoji you want and it will create it for you using generative AI – so there really is one for every occasion.
Some will be cute, some will be surreal, some will obviously be disturbing. Will we love this feature? Or, more likely, this will be the moment when… hmmm, how should I describe this? “Hey iPhone, make us an emoji of a guy in a leather jacket jumping over a shark on his jet ski.”
5. The new iOS 18 updates look pretty good
As expected, Apple unveiled its next major software update, iOS 18, confirming that big changes are coming to key iPhone apps including Mail, Messages, Maps and Photos.
Mail, for example, will soon be able to categorize your emails and provide easy-to-read summaries, while the Photos app will be unified into a single view, consisting of a photo grid and a date grid.
With iOS 18, you’ll soon be able to reply to messages with any emoji in the Messages app, and schedule messages to be sent at a convenient time in the future. Significant customization improvements are also coming to the home screen and control center.
6. The next macOS was named with a California theme
We also discovered the name of macOS 15: Sequoia. Despite the big reveal during the keynote, it wasn’t much of a shock that Apple chose this. For starters, modern macOS releases are all named after California landmarks or places; previous editions were called Big Sur, Ventura, Monterey and Sonoma. Sequoia, named after a national park in the Sierra Nevada, continues this tradition.
Internet sleuths also spotted ahead of WWDC that Apple has trademarked a number of potential names: Redwood, Grizzly, Mammoth, Pacific, Rincon, Farallon, Miramar, Condor, Diablo, Shasta… and Sequoia. In addition to the name, we also learned that it’s coming out “this fall” (so September or October 2024), with a developer preview available now.
7. Apple Vision Pro goes global
As our Vision Pro review makes clear, Apple’s mixed reality headset is a special piece of gear that you really have to experience. Until now it was only available in the US, but that is now changing.
Starting Thursday, June 13, customers in China, Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore can pre-order the Vision Pro, with the devices shipping from Friday, June 28. Customers in Australia, Canada, France, Germany and the UK will have to wait a little longer, but can pre-order from June 28, with devices available from July 12.
How much is it? Well, we know that in Britain it will start at £3,499, and based on the US price – which is also $3,499 – we’d expect it to cost around AU$6,349.
8. visionOS 2 turns your 2D images into spatial photos
In addition to a global launch for the hardware, Apple has announced visionOS 2 on the software side. The standout feature is that the headset can now convert your flat photos into spatial photos, using machine learning.
Spatial images have depth that makes them feel more like you’re looking at a memory than a regular photo, and this is a huge win for those of you with overflowing iCloud libraries.
When the visionOS 2 update rolls out later this year, other features you’ll be able to unlock include Travel Mode which will let you work on trains (in addition to planes), while your Mac virtual screen will get a lot bigger, with a maximum size of two 4K screens side by side. There are also new hand gesture controls, allowing you to quickly navigate to the settings menu, home view, and other useful tools.
9. iPadOS finally has a calculator!
The biggest cheer of the night didn’t come from the Vision Pro or iOS 18, but from… the Calculator app on iPadOS 18. Yes, really.
To be fair, the iPad never had its own Calculator app, with users instead having to make do with third-party options, a fact that has led to more than a few memes at Apple’s expense over the years.
However, the new Calculator app is more than just a scaled-up version of the iOS app. Additional features include a resizable window and a sidebar with recent calculations. But even better is the new Math Notes integration.
This works with the Apple Pencil, allowing you to write equations that are immediately solved as soon as you write an equal sign. You can then make changes to different elements of the equation and watch the results change in real time, instantly turning equations into graphs and more. It looks quite impressive.
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10. watchOS has added a few nice upgrades
The watchOS 11 operating system of the Apple Watch will bring a few useful upgrades compared to its predecessor. Although, rather disappointingly, it’s not packed with AI tricks, watchOS 11 will offer more intelligent widget stacks that should make using the Apple Watch’s display more convenient.
It is also introducing a new Vitals app that can help users understand how well the body responds to and recovers from stress. Meanwhile, the new Training Load score uses an algorithm to generate a score based on how well someone responds to training, using metrics such as average heart rate and resting, combined with a person’s age and weight data.
Apple hasn’t updated watchOS all that much, but the 11th iteration leans on evolution and should make wearing one of the best Apple Watches even better.
11. People will hear you much clearer when they make calls using AirPods Pro 2
AirPods Pro 2 gets a Voice Isolation feature, which promises to greatly reduce wind noise and other loud noises from the microphone when you call someone using it. Considering how good the noise cancellation is on AirPods Pro 2, we’re looking forward to seeing how well this works. Other AirPods unfortunately lack the powerful power of the Apple H2 chip, currently unique to AirPods Pro 2.
12. tvOS isn’t completely forgotten
Unsurprisingly, tvOS wasn’t exactly the main focus of the WWDC 2024 keynote, but it did get a few new features to improve your Apple TV experience.
The most interesting of the tvOS 18 updates appears to be InSight, the company’s own take on the X-Ray feature used by Amazon Prime Video, which displays on-screen information about actors, characters and background music in movies and shows .
The Apple TV 4K’s Enhance Dialogue feature, meanwhile, will get an AI boost to make voices sound clear on a range of devices, and subtitles will get a similar treatment to generate on-screen text when muting or rewinding through programs.
Last but not least, Apple TV 4K can now display images in the ultra-wide 21:9 aspect ratio format for better compatibility with 4K projectors.
13. Apple Photos took a leaf out of Google’s book
It’s safe to say that iPhone owners have been jealous of Magic Eraser in the Google Pixel series, and thankfully Apple has finally fixed this – and that applies not only to iOS, but also to Photos on iPadOS and macOS.
A new Clean Up feature lets you create circles to intelligently remove an object or even a person from the background. Additionally, searching within the Photos app becomes much smarter, making it easier to find photos that interest you.
