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After two weeks away, our creative team is back in the studio, and the first thing we did was catch up on the WWDC22 keynote. Overall, it wasn’t particularly thrilling; it felt like Apple didn’t introduce many significant updates for iPadOS and macOS this year. However, there are still a few features we’re excited to try out.
These features will be available in iPadOS 16, though Apple mostly showcased them on iOS 16.
One of the most exciting improvements is the new lock screen in iOS 16. Your photos now appear in front of the time, instead of behind it, as they did before. You can also customize the font and color of the clock, giving your lock screen a more personal touch. Even better, you can add widgets to the lock screen, making it easier to access important information without unlocking your device.
You can save multiple lock screens for different situations and easily switch between them, which works well with Focus mode. Notifications and Apple Music controls now appear at the bottom of the screen, so they don’t cover your beautiful photos—a thoughtful update.
This lock screen update is probably the biggest one from Apple this year across all their devices. It’s well-designed, especially for those who use their phones a lot, but it’s not exactly groundbreaking.
Editing and unsending messages are cool new features, but marking messages as unread doesn’t seem very useful. Why not just read messages when you’re ready to respond, so you don’t need to mark them as unread?
We’re also grateful that Apple has made it easier to switch from dictation to typing. This improvement will make the dictation feature much more enjoyable to use. The hassle of switching back and forth between dictation and the keyboard was the main reason I avoided using it, so I’m excited to try this in iOS 16.
Regarding the new M2 MacBook Air, Apple brought back the MagSafe charging port. The back-and-forth decisions at Apple are a bit frustrating—just make up your mind!
Passkeys are an interesting concept that we wish Apple had spent more time explaining. It makes us wonder how this will differ from what LastPass offers. The idea of a passwordless life is tempting, but how secure will it actually be?
Before wrapping up, here are a few smaller updates worth mentioning:
It seems like Apple is aiming for a consistent user experience across all its devices, which is a good thing because it means that every device will feel familiar. However, it also means there isn’t much new or groundbreaking to get excited about. For example, the Spotlight improvements coming to macOS Ventura have been available on iOS/iPadOS for years.
We’re pleased with the ability to customize app toolbars, a feature borrowed from macOS apps.
Unfortunately, it seems Apple didn’t pay much attention to our wish list for Apple Notes in the iPadOS 16 updates, which is disappointing.
The new Freeform app seems like a spinoff of Nebo, offering an infinite canvas for Apple Notes. Instead of integrating this feature into an existing app, Apple chose to create a completely new one.
As you can see, there are only a few features we’re genuinely excited about from the WWDC22 keynote, and there’s plenty we’re not thrilled with. However, we think it’s best to try these new features before forming a final opinion. Stay tuned as we start testing the public beta of these operating systems.
Is Apple’s push for a universal user interface part of a bigger plan, or did they simply run out of ideas this year? Let us know what you think. We’ve provided Apple with plenty of ideas for Apple Notes, but maybe they have something bigger in the works (considering they ignored our suggestions). Only time will tell.
