WWDC 24: Apple Intelligence & iOS18 From An Android User Perspective
Apple's WWDC 2024 just wrapped, and no matter what side of the fence you use your tech on, there are some really interesting updates you need to know about.
If you’re here for Apple hate - I apologize in advance, even though I’m an android user, I came away from their keynote with overall positive feelings towards it. But I do have some logical critiques.
Let's dive into the top takeaways from WWDC 2024 that every Android user should be aware of.
iOS18 Enhancements
Enhanced Customization: Apple’s making big strides in customization, something Android users have enjoyed for years. With iOS 18, you can now personalize your home screen with updated theming, colors, and more control over widgets. During the keynote, they showed off a custom home screen that looked very similar to what you can get on Android with Material You, complete with animated widgets, dynamic themes, and custom app icon colors. Material You is Google’s version of this, which lets you do similar theming but doesn’t effect the colors of many third party icons. GoodLock and the Galaxy Themes Store on Android have lots of theme packs you can try or purchase as well. While I can already do theming and I can dim my wallpaper when dark mode is on via my Android, I’m very happy that my friends in the Apple community will now have similar controls, and I love that the full rainbow of colors can be chosen for ALL icons - that was a good move by Apple.
Customizing your physical controls or your lockscreen quick access apps is also something I can do on Android, but Apple allows you to choose third party apps for the quick access on your lock screen as well!
For my security conscious Apple users, you can now lock or hide apps in iOS18 - for example, if you’re using your phone to accept payments, you can lock apps so a customer can’t click on other apps while paying. If you use an app you don’t want anyone to know about, you can hide that app entirely. This is similar to our Android privacy options, where you can lock an open app so it can’t be switched. Android phones do have hidden app capabilities, but that tutorial varies depending on the phone brand - different Android phones hide apps in different ways.
One thing I’d love to see come to Google Messages is scheduling. iOS 18 brings Scheduled messages as well as messages via Satellite. Both of these are useful options for communication, and the satellite messages are end to end encrypted.
Maps can now show you Hiking directions in the app. I usually use AllTrails to track everything about my hikes, including steps and elevation gains, so I’m curious how this new Hiking in Maps will compare.
Photos is getting several updates that puts it on par with Google Photos - such as categorizing photos - they call these Collections, saving Screenshots to a different folder, having albums based on people or pets (these are generated automatically in Google Photos if you want), and a pretty view recap of your recent pictures. One thing I’ve always disliked on iPhones is the lack of organization in the Photos app, and I’m sure it bugged the heck out of my friends whenever they try to find a specific photo to share. So I’m glad they’re making some huge upgrades to Photos that will definitely improve the experience.
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iPadOS18
iPadOS 18 also gets the ios18 home screen updates, plus new intuitive elements that make for smooth switching, they’re adding this really cool remotely controlling feature so you can help your family with iPadOS tech support (cool!), plus a calculator! So glad y’all will have a calculator now, but it can actually be used with your Apple Pencil - you can write or draw mathematical equations - they’re calling this Math Notes - which is built into the app. It looks incredibly useful, but I’ll be honest, I haven’t done those kind of equations since college.
Smart Script refines handwriting, can paste text into your handwriting, uses spell check, can move your text to make space for new writing, and lets you erase writing by scratching it out. All of which is very beautifully done, and I would love to see this on my Galaxy Tab.
Software Innovations
Safari’s getting a boost with new AI-powered features. They introduced Highlights, which will use Machine Learning to highlight relevant information as you browse.
MacOS Sequoia has continuity upgrades for universal control. iPhone mirroring is similar to what I can do on my Samsung phone and Tab. And tiles will snap into place along the edges of your monitor very similar to Windows 11.
One of the most exciting parts for me is that iMessage now supports RCS and this will be rolling out with iOS18, and it’s going to bridge a huge gap between Apple and Android messaging. This is huge because it means better cross-platform texting without needing third-party apps. Even though this was very briefly mentioned during WWDC, this is going to be extremely important and a much needed advancement for mixed OS households, or people like me who have struggled to share media with family members who have iPhones.
The NEW Passwords App is basically like a Password Manager app - similar to apps like Bitwarden - it syncs across devices, and lets you save all your secure passwords - for Wifi, websites, apps, shared passwords, passkeys, sign in with Apple, and your verification codes (I’m assuming this is one time codes). Since this will be integrated seamlessly by Apple, I’m very hopeful that this will naturally make security easier for Apple users.
Apple announced new gaming partnerships and pointed out that games will be using Metal 3 - taking advantage of Apple’s Silicon, aiming to lure gamers who might traditionally lean towards PCs or Android devices with better gaming capabilities. Assassin’s Creed Shadows looks awesome btw - it’s releasing cross platform though, so I’m gonna grab that on my PC whenever it comes out.
Apple Intelligence
And then we have Apple Intelligence! Apple is calling their artificial intelligence model Apple Intelligence, and this will be included in their devices. Similar to the AI & LLMs we’ve seen from the Android brands, Apple’s version will also use on-device processing power to offer better privacy while using AI. If you saw my Samsung AI tutorial recently, then you already know how to access similar options in your settings.
Apple Intelligence will give users the ability to create your own images and understand people in your photo library. AI can create an AI version of your friend for their birthday, for example.
Actions will use prompts to make AI do similar actions to what you see on Android, and it will use personal context like using content from across your apps to find relevant information so your queries should be answered correctly.
They did mention that Apple Intelligence = “powerful privacy” since that architecture is using on device processing and they made a hit at other AI models for reaching out to server farms to power their functionality, and rightfully so having data processed off device can bring security issues or privacy concerns. But then they introduced:
“Private Cloud Compute”. Privacy for AI in Apple Servers running on apple silicon. Data isn’t stored or accessible by apple. It’s only used for requests, and the servers security and privacy is verifiable by independent experts. That’s great and all, but every brand says the same thing. It really comes down to what company do you trust and do they have the third party audits to back that up?
Other than a few logical critiques based on my following on current technology, along with current security and privacy advances, I was quite pleased with what I saw from this event. Any advancements in the industry that lead to better quality of life improvements for users is a positive thing. And if Apple giving it’s users a Passwords app, RCS, and easier photos organization means my family will be able to send high quality pictures and protect their accounts better - then that’s a good thing!
