Live Updates: Apple Worldwide Developer Conference 2024
Apple announces context-aware 'Apple Intelligence,' new features for Mac, iPhone, iPad
Illustration by Apple.
By Josh Levin
Published June 10, 2024 | Updated June 10, 2024 at 2:46 pm
Apple’s annual Worldwide Developer Conference is underway. The keynote address began at 1 p.m. EDT. The company is expected to announce generative artificial intelligence features, according to reports from The New York Times.
1:15 p.m.
The keynote began with updates to the company’s mixed reality headset, Apple Vision Pro. A new version of the device’s operating system, VisionOS 2, will include improved gestures and productivity features. It also adds a feature that uses machine learning to convert normal 2-dimentional photos into 3D images.
1:18 p.m.
iOS is getting new control APIs, which allow app developers to add custom settings to control center and the lock screen on iPhones.
1:20 p.m.
Apple is also adding new privacy features to iOS through iOS 15. Users will be able to select apps to lock or hide, requiring additional biometric or passcode authentication to view them. When giving apps access to contacts, users can now select individual contacts to share, similar to the existing option to grant apps permission to access individual photos.
1:30 p.m.
The iOS Photos app was redesigned to include additional organization and filtering setting. The new app allows users to exclude screenshots, look at photos from trips, and search for groups of people.
1:37 p.m.
On AppleTV, a new “InSight” tab will display information about on-screen content and actors, similar to the X-Ray feature on Amazon Prime Video. Subtitles will also now appear automatically when users rewind or mute the TV.
1:38 p.m.
Apple Watch now allows users to add rest days to their activity rings — a common request from health experts and fitness enthusiasts.
1:50 p.m.
iPadOS will now come with a default calculator app, based on the iOS calculator app. Apple has resisted porting the app since the device’s launch in 2010. The new app also add math features for notes, such as handwritten equations and graphing.
1:55 p.m.
Mac users will be able to use their iPhone as a window on their computer, controlling it wirelessly with their Mac’s keyboard and mouse. While open on a Mac, the phone’s screen appears locked. Users can also drag files to and from the connected iPhone.
2:00 p.m.
Safari on MacOS has an improved reader view, which adds an automatically-generated table of contents and summary. The new version also adds a distraction-free video viewer.
2:10 p.m.
CEO Tim Cook announced generative artificial intelligence features, dubbed “Apple Intelligence”. Cook described the features as ‘the new personal intelligence system that makes your most personal products even more useful and delightful.”
2:16 p.m.
Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of software development, said Apple Intelligence will put users’ privacy first. The features will prioritize notifications, rewrite and proofread written material and generate images in various styles. The AI can use context about your life, using a “on-device semantic index,” according to Federighi.
2:18 p.m.
Federighi said some AI processing is done on-device, but computationally-intensive tasks may be offloaded to Apple servers using “Private Cloud Compute.” Federighi said that Apple will make the server-side software available to “independent experts” for analysis. “Your data is never stored,” he said.
2:25 p.m.
The new AI features will also add functionality for Siri, which will better answer natural language questions instead of returning a Google search. Like the other AI features, Siri will have access to context, including open apps and stored emails, texts, notes, calendar entries and documents.
2:43 p.m.
Apple also announced integration with OpenAI’s ChatGPT. The integration is free of charge and does not require an OpenAI account. Federighi said Apple Intelligence may prompt users for permission to use ChatGPT for a specific request, and Apple only sends data to OpenAI if the user approves that prompt.
2:45 p.m.
Cook concluded the Keynote.
The Terabyte Tribune will publish additional coverage in the coming days.
Josh Levin is the founder and editor in chief of The Terabyte Tribune, handling all aspects of operations and coverage. He can be reached via email at [email protected]
