An apple WWDC 2022 Announcements Lacking big, flashy new features, Siri was pretty much MIA. But in the absence of Apple’s virtual assistant, we’ve got plenty of small but meaningful software updates centered around a very real individual: you. And I. Developers know us as “end users,” but we are also known as humans.
Humans are different from end users, because we forget words, make misspellings, and accidentally hit an important email before it’s ready. Humans also have individual personalities and strong opinions about streaks, and we’d like the devices we carry 24/7 to reflect that a little more. Historically, Apple has preferred to maintain a tight grip on every aspect of its devices, from their appearance to the way humans are allowed to interact with them. This year’s WWDC gave us a glimpse into the softening of Apple that is absorbing just a little bit to acknowledge the humans on the other side of its product pipelines. It’s a welcome development, but make no mistake – Apple doesn’t give up very Lots of control.
For starters, Macs, iPads, and iPhones will be more tolerant of the mistakes we make. The Messages app on all three platforms will allow you a 15-minute grace period after sending an iMessage to correct misspellings or undo the sending altogether. Likewise, Mail will let you recall an email within 10 seconds after hitting send. Search within the Mail app is also getting an update to correct misspellings and use of synonyms, because words are sometimes tricky.
Apple also tends to insist that their products are used in a certain way, sometimes ignoring the reality of how humans actually want to use their products. Remember all the years we spent tapping our iPhone alarms where nothing happened because Apple wanted us to tap Edit first? Apple finally backtracked on that in iOS 15.
This year, he’s acknowledging another fact: We can’t always reply to a text or email the moment we read it, but we don’t want it to disappear in a sea of messages. Instead of hacking a workaround like pinning a text string to the top of your screen, Apple will let you mark text as unread, essentially letting you set a little reminder flag to send a reply. Mail will also move sent messages to the top of your inbox to continue – because our inboxes actually double as to-do lists. This isn’t what an email app really is, but that’s how we use it.
Apple has also been reluctant to let iPad owners use their devices the way many want them to: as laptops instead of giant iPhones. This isn’t really going to change anytime soon, but the company has made a major concession by adding Stage Manager to iPadOS, which makes it possible to open and resize multiple windows for a desktop-like experience (literally – it’s a macOS Ventura feature, too). There’s a long list of other iPadOS updates too, many of which seem simple but actually make a difference if you’re trying to use the iPad as your primary computing device — like the Files app’s navigation buttons and the ability to change file extensions. And for Pete, it took a long time but at least there is a Weather app on the iPad!
Presented right at the top of the keyword, Apple’s clearest gesture to humans using its phones was to add plenty of lock screen customization options. You can change fonts, choose new colors, and add widgets to the lock screen. This is where you might be tempted to get your personal stationery and write a letter to the edge dot com to yell at me Android phones have been able to do all this since forever. Rest assured, I know. Android 12 is probably getting dumped on iOS a bit. I don’t think this is a bad thing for anyone involved. And the revamped lock screen is a far cry from the system-wide customization options that Google’s Pixel and Material You phones offer. until The new M2 MacBook Air Colors have an air of aloofness about them that’s fun but not very cheerful.
But even after all these human-centric improvements arrived, you’re still living in the Apple world. Even with the new customization options, the device will still be “an iPhone without a doubt,” said senior vice president of software Craig Federighi. Apple is putting more flexibility in its software and more control in the hands of its users than ever before, but all of this is still subject to Apple’s terms. It will make compromises, like adding multitasking features to iPadOS, but to go further A true desktop experience on a tablet? Not very similar. there is more You are In these recent updates, but it is still undoubtedly Apple.
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