Everything Apple just announced at WWDC 2020: iOS 14, MacOS Big Sur, new Mac chips

Apple’s inaugural address on Monday for WWDC 2020, its annual World Developers Conference, began with Tim Cook addressing the empty auditorium on Black Lives Matter and coronavirus before launching the announcement of iOS 14 and its redesign of the home screen and new widgets. So far, we’ve also heard about new updates to iPadOS 14, MacOS Big Sur, TV OS, and WatchOS. Public betas will begin next month and, as usual, will ship in the fall.

But the big news was Apple’s highly anticipated move to Arm-based chips away from IntelAimed at delivering better performance with lower power consumption than ever before, a (presumably) metal-optimized graphics processor and other custom acceleration silicon. The new systems will ship in late 2020, and Apple’s silicon will roll out to the rest of the Mac line in the next two years.

All of Apple’s Big Sur apps are written to support the new custom Apple processors, and Apple claims the support is just a simple build for developers (or at least in a couple of days). Partners like Adobe and Microsoft will also be on board with their apps at launch, and A says the performance will be excellent. Rosetta 2 will automatically recompile older applications when you install them. The iOS and iPadOS apps and games compiled by Catalyst will run natively from day one.

More magic for AirPods, as smart switching of the connection through devices comes to our rescue. AirPods Pro gets spatial audio using a gyroscope and accelerometer to track your head movements, with multiple compatible spatial standards. The apps will provide more detailed options for location tracking and will give developers a way to show you more details about what they are capturing.

We also saw a preview of the new program Apple TV Plus, Fundación, based on Isaac Asimov’s classic science fiction book series.

Better multi-user support in TVOS allows you to continue where you left off in a game and is now compatible with Xbox Elite and Xbox Adaptive controllers. Apple TV Plus has lots and lots of screens under its belt.

iOS 14

There are new capabilities for Siri, including an application similar to Google Translate for live conversational translations. Messages also receive much-needed updates with the ability to pin messages, improvements in group conversations, and more searches for Memoji customizations.

The maps also have new features, like bike navigation to more cities and EV routing to ease worries about running out of juice on the go. CarPlay “reconsiders the car keys”. They are now virtual and shareable. App Clips come to the App Store to quickly access new applications and to link to applications from Safari and more.

Borrowing a function from the iPad (and Android phones), Apple brings Picture-in-picture for iPhone on iOS 14, which will give you a floating thumbnail of a video if you switch to look at your home screen or any other application. The company also reviews the home screen with a new bold tool called Application Library and the ability to put dynamic widgets on the home screen.

For the smart home, the Home app provides adaptive lighting, the ability to define activity zones for cameras, plus facial recognition notifications from your doorbell on all devices.

iPadOS 14

You’ll find the same redesigned widgets as iOS 14, but iPadOS improves Photos navigation with a sidebar; The sidebar design has also been integrated into several of Apple’s applications, by tapping and dragging. Compact notifications for incoming calls and more will not darken your screen, that’s also on iOS. Search has been redesigned to work from anywhere and to work more like Spotlight on the desktop.

Finally, the new Scribble app provides handwriting recognition note-taking for use with Apple Pencil and the ability to cut and paste more intelligently, as well as the ability to write in text fields, much like Windows 10. It can also recognize different languages.

MacOS Big Sur

A complete redesign will welcome you when you upgrade to the latest version of MacOS, though you’ll be forgiven for thinking it’s a rather subtle change. The same iPadOS photo design is coming to MacOS, as are many of the app updates we’ll get on iOS and iPadOS. The control center in the menu bar, the widgets and the notification center is also more sophisticated.

Mac Catalyst, the tool for porting iOS applications to MacOS, develops some of the capabilities to make it more native to MacOS. Safari will be faster by loading frequently visited websites and enhanced privacy features, including more granular controls on how long the privileges you have granted to a site last.

WatchOS 7

Personalize the face of your Apple Watch with multiple complications: personalization is also easier, there are also some new faces. You can also share faces. Your body will also appreciate new dance routines to liven up your workout. At the other end of the spectrum, add sleep tracking. With the new operating system, the watch will also be able to follow your hand washing.