We had high expectations this year for WWDC, and as we have been discussing, Apple did not disappoint. We are still catching up on WWDC sessions and continually amazed at all that was announced. We’ve been living dangerously and risking our primary Apple TVs, Apple Watches, iPhones, and Mac computers to play with all the latest and greatest.

We didn’t expect Apple to announce much around tvOS this year, but they surprised us with some really fantastic updates for tvOS 13. Here is a peak of what is coming to Apple TV this fall.

The biggest announcement was multi-user support. This has been a long awaited feature on Apple TV and a sign that we might start seeing better multi-user support across other devices soon (looking at you, iPadOS). With this feature, each user logged in to the Apple TV will get an experience more curated to their particular interests and tastes, as well as their own preferences and playlists in Apple Music.

Speaking of Apple Music, karaoke fans are in for a treat; tvOS 13 will show lyrics scrolling in sync with the music. It’s a relatively small change, but a huge improvement over plain album art.

Another simple, but fun update is that tvOS will add new HDR motion wallpapers showing off the beautiful oceanic world most of us don’t get to see everyday. While I have really enjoyed seeing these breathtaking flyovers of distant cities, there is no shortage of man-made marvels obscuring nature all around us on a daily basis. I look forward to the deep dive Apple is taking to bring this rarely seen world to us.

Lastly, to help support Apple Arcade+, tvOS will be adding support for two of the most popular gamepads: the Xbox One S and the Playstation 4 DualShock controllers. To date, gaming has been a somewhat frustrating experience on Apple TV. The remote has been painful to use for games. Apple TV does have support for some great MFi controllers, such as the Nimbus series, but it can be frustrating to buy controllers solely for the Apple TV when it has struggled to mature as a gaming platform. Streaming boxes have struggled to compete in the gaming business in general and Apple has been no exception. They have not been able sell the Apple TV as a credible competitive gaming console. Last September, Minecraft was removed from the Apple TV due to lack of interest from the players. Apple is looking to change all of that with Arcade+ and adding support for these gamepads is a big step in the right direction for Apple TV.

As you can see Apple continues to push things forward with Apple TV and tvOS. They are clearly trying to create a more consistent experience across all of their devices that draw users deeper into the Apple ecosystem. I look forward to seeing all that Apple has in store for Apple TV this fall.

The post tvOS 13 Roundup appeared first on Big Nerd Ranch.

In just a few days Tim Cook and the gang will take to the main stage at McEnery Convention Center in San Jose, CA for the Apple WWDC keynote. Big Nerd Ranch is very excited about WWDC this year and we have some high expectations and lofty dreams of what they will announce.

If you’d like to join us to watch the keynote we will be hosting a viewing party at our Atlanta offices. To RSVP or get more information see the event page.

iOS

The iOS 13 update will have the usual glitz and glam updates, a new home screen on iPad, and dark mode, which has been a huge hit on Mojave. We should also see lots of new features in the core Apple apps like Files, Reminders, Messages, and Maps.

We are really hoping to see some big improvements for iPad such as better multi-tasking and window management. We may even see mouse support added. If we are lucky they will show off project Side Car, a long-awaited feature that will allow using your iPad as a second monitor with your Mac. There are some hacks to accomplish this already, but having official Apple support for this will be great.

We are also curious if Apple will maintain the numeric naming system for iOS or if they will switch to a naming convention similar to macOS.

If Apple stays true to form we should get to play with iOS 13 private betas shortly after the keynote.

macOS

There are some big changes coming to macOS. We know for sure that 10.15 will be the first release that will officially remove support for 32-bit apps. If you are seeing alerts that software you have installed is not optimized for your Mac, those apps will no longer run on 10.15.

The other big thing coming to macOS is the official release of project Marzipan, which will allow universal development of apps across iOS and macOS. You’ve likely already seen Marzipan in action on Mojave with Apple News, Voice Memos, Stocks, and Home. We got a sneak peak last year, but we are excited to see its final implementation and to really start playing with it.

We also expect that 10.15 will break up iTunes into multiple apps for Music, Movies, and Podcasts similar to what we’ve already seen in iOS.

Beyond that we hope to see better Apple ID management and maybe some updates for Messages to bring in some of the popular iOS features.

watchOS

The watchOS 6 update will be a game changer for Apple wearables. Apple is slowly untethering the watch from the phone, so we expect to see an Apple Watch App Store! This will allow you to browse and download apps directly to your watch.

We are anticipating some updates to the Health app and possibly a sneak peak at some sleep management features.

We also expect to see more Apple apps on the watch like Voice Memos, Calculator, and Books with audio book support directly on the watch.

tvOS

We don’t anticipate too much going on in tvOS, but we will probably see some updates around all of the new services that Apple announced recently such as Arcade+, News+, and of course TV+.

Hardware

The world has been anxiously awaiting a new Mac Pro. We haven’t seen an update on this since 2013 and there have been some exciting rumors about a more modular Mac Pro and potentially a new Apple 6k display. Apple stopped manufacturing their own stand alone displays in 2016 and the displays hadn’t been updated for quite a few years before that. They have been showing off amazing displays that have been limited to the iMac / iMac Pro models and so we anticipate that if a new Mac Pro is announced they are going to pair it with an amazing stand alone display.

Leading up to WWDC Apple just recently updated their Mac Book Pro models offering 8 core processors and up to 32GB of memory! Typically, this would likely mean there would be no Mac Book Pro update. However there have been some rumors of a 16.5” Mac Book Pro that could still make an appearance on the main stage. Please! Pretty Please!

We also just saw the first update to the iPod touch in 4 years, bringing it mostly up to date with the current hardware offerings. If you really want that standard headphone jack, here’s your option.

We can dream can’t we?

We already have plenty to be excited about this year, but if Apple really wants to win our hearts they will give us a little extra sugar from our wish list:

• Remote Logging that allows us to get detailed crash data back without 3rd party integrations
• Integrated analytics that respect privacy
• More Siri Shortcuts
• An official dependency manager for Xcode
• Xcode on the iPad
• New wearable hardware such as AR glasses
• APIs for Screen Time
• A modern persistence layer to replace Core Data
• Camera support on the Simulator
• Dependency injection for StoryBoard View Controllers without using Segues
• Instant Apps
• Live code updates

Join Us

Don’t forget to RSVP to watch the event with us! Click here for more information.

You can also follow us on twitter or instagram for live reactions to the event.

The post WWDC: Expectations, Hopes, and Dreams appeared first on Big Nerd Ranch.