Apple had to cram so much into its WWDC 2024 keynote that some features stayed out of the spotlight. Here on the company’s campus, I had the chance to speak with several executives and dive deeper into iOS 18, iPadOS 18, Apple Intelligence, watchOS 11, and more. During these sessions I was able to learn more about how specific things work, such as the exact steps you take to customize your iPhone’s home screen and control center. I also got to see a number of other updates that weren’t even briefly mentioned during the keynote, like new support for walking routes in Apple Maps and what training load insights look like on watchOS 11. Of all the features I didn’t mention that I came to discover, here are my favorites .
Maps: Create and share custom routes
I’ve always been a Google Maps girl, partly because that app had superior information compared to Apple Maps in its early years. These days I stick to Google Maps because it has all my saved places and history. When I found out that iOS 18 would bring updates to Apple Maps, especially in the areas of walking and routes, I was intrigued.
Basically, if you search Maps in iOS 18, you’ll see a new option under “Search Nearby” called walks. Recommended walks are shown and you can filter by type of walk (e.g. a loop) and specify a length. You’ll find options nearby and when you tap one, you’ll see a topographical image with the elevation data, how challenging it should be, and the estimated duration. You can tap to save each route and save it later for offline reference, as well as add notes. There is a new library view and you can find it in your profile in Maps.
You can also create new routes in Maps by tapping anywhere to define your route. You can tap and hold to add waypoints, which will keep the path connecting them, and then press the “Close Loop” button to complete your path. These routes can be shared, although it’s not yet clear whether you can share them with your friend or driver, for example, so they can follow your desired path to your destination.
The walks that Apple offers in Maps are created by its own team, which works with the US national parks, and will therefore initially only be available for the 63 national parks in the country. In other words, it doesn’t port information from AllTrails, for example. In a press release, Apple said that thousands of walks will be available to view at launch.
As a city dweller who only occasionally walks, my excitement is less about walking and more about the possibilities of sharing my customized routes to show people how to walk from the train station to my building or favorite restaurant. It’s an attractive feature and perhaps a reason why I’d choose Apple Maps over Google.
Calendar integration with reminders
Honestly, the Maps update might be my favorite was not shown by a huge margin during the WWDC 2024 keynote. But I also like some of the new tools coming to Agenda. Specifically, the new integration with reminders makes it easier to not only schedule your tasks directly in your diary, but also check them off from the Calendar app. You’ll soon be able to move reminders by long-pressing and dragging them, so the note to call your mom on Wednesday at 5pm can be placed in a lock, instead of in your Reminders app. Additionally, Calendar is getting new views that better reflect your activity level each day of the month, similar to how the Fitness app quickly shows the progress of your daily ringers in the monthly view.
Tapback insights that show exactly who responded with which emoji
This isn’t something that was mentioned at all during the keynote, but there Are details about how Tapback works that were not described on yesterday’s show. If you’re like me, you might not even remember that Tapback refers to the responses you can send in Messages by double-tapping a blue or gray bubble. With iOS 18, you get more options than the limited selection of heart, thumbs up, thumbs down, “Haha,” exclamation points, and question mark. They will also appear in color with the update, instead of the existing (boring) gray.
What I later discovered, however, is that when you double-tap on a post that already has comments attached to it, a new bubble will appear at the top of your screen showing who responded with which emoji. This should make it easier to lurk in a group chat, but could also serve as an unofficial polling tool by asking your friends to respond with specific emojis to indicate different answers. That should make Messages a little more like Slack, and I wish WhatsApp and Telegram would take note.
Other: Math notes on iPhone, updates to Journal and Safari
There are quite a few features coming to iOS 18 that didn’t get much attention on the WWDC stage, like the Journal app’s new home screen widget, which shows reflection prompts and lets you create new items. Journal also has a new Insights view that shows your writing marks and other historical data, plus a new tool that lets you add your mood to any entry from the app.
Meanwhile, Safari is getting a new Highlights button in the search bar (or URL bar), and tapping it will show a machine learning-generated summary of the web page you’re on. Taking advantage of this will bring up a panel with more information, such as navigation directions to, for example, a restaurant listed on the page, or a phone number to call a business. You can also quickly launch Reader View from this window.
I wasn’t super excited about either one, mainly because I don’t use the Journal app much and I don’t need Safari to summarize a website for me. But some other hidden updates that I really wanted to shout out. For example, Math Notes for iPad and using Apple Pencil certainly got a lot of time, but it wasn’t until I looked at Apple’s iOS 18 press release that I discovered that the iPhone’s Notes app is also getting a version of it. According to the screenshot Apple attached, it looks like you can add up expenses and divide them among a group of friends by writing a list of expenses and how much each item costs, then adding the names of each expense to a formula with plus and equal signs. , and then divide that by the number of people in your group. Not quite Splitwise, but I could see this becoming more powerful over time.
I was also intrigued by some Smart Script features on iPadOS 18, especially when I realized that you can move your handwritten words just by dragging your handwritten words further apart, while the rest of your scribbled text moves together. This is hard to describe and I’ll have to wait until I can try it myself to show you an animated example. But it was impressive, even if not extremely useful.
Finally, the Passwords app and other privacy updates were highlighted during the keynote, but I learned more about how things like setting up accessories and sharing contacts with apps work. Apple is releasing a new accessory setup kit so device makers can use a pairing interface similar to how you connect your AirPods or Apple Watch to your iPhone. If the developers don’t use this approach, the new Bluetooth setup interface will be much clearer about what other Bluetooth devices are on your local network and what you’re actually granting access to when you agree to allow an app to connect other devices on your network to see. network. While this wasn’t completely skipped during the keynote, the Passwords app is something that makes me happy as I’m completely tired of having to dig through the settings to find a way to get codes for specific apps. I use my iPhone’s authenticator to unlock.
There are plenty of features talked about that I’m excited about and learned more about, including the new dynamic clock style in the Photos watch face in watchOS 11, pinned collections in the redesigned Photos app, and iPadOS mirroring for easier remote technical support. Oh, and that new Airplay feature that lets you send money to friends by holding your phones together? Yes! Being able to pause and adjust your activity rings in watchOS and that training load insight? Hallelujah!
And while I see the appeal of locked and hidden apps, I’m not sure that would be of much use to me and it would probably exacerbate my already wary nature.
I’m also a little wary of things like Genmoji and Image Playground, both Apple Intelligence features that won’t be on all iOS 18 devices. There will be metadata information indicating when images were generated by Apple’s AI, and guardrails will be in place to prevent the creation of abusive and exploitative content.
Clearly there are a lot of updates coming to Apple’s phones, tablets, laptops and wearables later this year, and I can’t wait to try them out. The public beta should be ready around the end of summer this year, and then most people (who are willing to risk an unstable platform) can try them out.
Check out all the news from here Apple’s WWDC 2024.
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