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The most necessary bulletins from Apple’s greatest occasion of the 12 months

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Hello! Apple’s event is underway. We’ll have all the biggest announcements from today’s keynote below. We’re expecting AI to be a major focus of the show. Even OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is in attendance:

Now, onto the announcements.

The big stuff

  • iOS 18, the newest iPhone software coming this fall, comes with:
    • The ability to customize app widgets and apps, including the ability to change the color tint of all your app icons
    • A Dark Mode for the entire iOS home screen interface
    • A new customizable Control Center: multiple pages to swipe between your phone, home, and music controls; the ability to resize your controls; and a new gallery to choose which controls you want to see and toggle
    • The ability to lock an app, so friends and family can’t open certain apps or see sensitive information (this is going to test a lot of people’s trust in their relationships)
    • The ability to react to any message in Messages with any emoji or sticker, and you can format text to be bold, underlined, and more
    • The ability to schedule Messages (!)
    • The Mail app intelligently 👀 separates your mail into categories: primary mail, transactions, social media updates, and promotions
    • The ability to exchange Apple Cash without needing to share phone numbers or email addresses; just hold your phones together to pay
    • A redesigned Photos app that organizes your photos into categories like trips, people & pets, and more; a carousel for your favorite photos and featured photos (surfaced by the app)

The smaller stuff

  • You can nod your head yes, or shake your head no, to interact with Siri using your AirPods—for those occasions where you don’t want to speak in public, for instance
  • AirPods Pro gets voice isolation to intelligently 👀 remove background noise and enhance call quality
  • Apple TV+ is celebrating its fifth anniversary this year. The company showed off some new original movies and shows featuring big names like Matt Damon, Vince Vaughn, Harrison Ford, and more
  • Apple TV+ gets a new feature called InSight, which can tell you which actors are on screen, or what song is playing (like Amazon’s X-Ray feature for Prime Video)
  • Apple WatchOS 11, the new software for Apple Watch, comes with:
    • An effort rating to tell you how hard you’re working out compared to your average
    • More details about your metrics and vitals to help you understand how changes may be linked to other aspects of your life like elevation or illness
    • Cycle tracking now supports gestational age to help you track your pregnancy
  • Apple Vision Pro is getting its first major software update since its February release. VisionOS2 offers:
    • The ability to create spatial photos from photos you’ve already taken
    • Show you the time and battery level with simple hand gestures
    • Travel Mode, so you can keep working or watching entertainment in a moving vehicle
    • New developer APIs and frameworks to support experiences for the enterprise or tabletop
    • Support for third parties to create spatial video experiences, so you can shoot immersive video with a special Canon camera, or enjoy 3D videos on sites like Vimeo
    • New immersive content, including an Apple short film, and videos from Red Bull and The Weeknd
  • Apple Vision Pro is coming to more countries, including Japan, Singapore, China, Australia, Canada, and more, this summer
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