While Apple only officially announced its 2014 Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) last week, we have been reporting all of the known information about what Apple plans to unveil at the event over the course of the past few months. Now that WWDC is official, we have compiled a roundup of everything we know about Apple’s next-generation iOS device and Mac operating systems below, and we’ve also included some new tidbits not found in our earlier reporting. You can find out what there is to know so far about iOS 8 and OS X 10.10 below:
iOS 8 – Codenamed Okemo:
iOS 8 is the next version of Apple’s software for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch, and it is the first major successor to the significant redesign that was iOS 7. For iOS 8, Apple is retaining the same Jony Ive-designed aesthetic found in iOS 7 and is focusing on additions involving applications, services, and performance. iOS 8 will represent Apple moving into the fitness and health tracking world and it will mark a major milestone in Apple’s efforts to bring its mapping solution up-to-par with competitors from Google and Microsoft.
– Healthbook:
The most significant new application that Apple is currently planning to add in iOS 8 is codenamed Healthbook. Healthbook is an application that aggregates health and fitness data from various applications and hardware accessories. The application is akin to Passbook in terms of user-interface design, and users will be able to customize their Healthbook to give visual priority to health statistics that are most important to them. Healthbook is capable of tracking data for various bloodwork details, heart rate, blood pressure, nutrition, blood sugar, sleep, respiratory rate, oxygen saturation, weight, and activity.
The Activity section can track steps taken, calories burned, and miles walked. The Weight tab can track a person’s weight, BMI, and fat %. The current health accessory marketplace includes wireless weight scales, so it is likely that Healthbook will receive its data from those types of products. Both of those aforementioned tabs will have an interface with graphs and charts so that users could track their fitness progress over daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly views. Our earlier reporting on Healthbook goes into further detail about why the application is critical and how it could interact with future Apple wearable devices.
Another important element of Healthbook is the Emergency Card function. The Emergency Card is a single place for users to store information about themselves. The Emergency Card can keep a person’s name, photograph, birthdate, blood type, organ donor status, emergency contact information, weight, and a list of medication prescriptions. This Emergency Card function could save lives and provide emergency technicians, nurses, hospitals, and doctors with vital information about patients in emergency situations.
– Maps:
For iOS 8, Apple is planning to overhaul its previously bug-riddled in-house mapping software. The updated application will retain the same user-interface introduced last year with iOS 7, but it will be updated with improved mapping data, better clarity, and important new features.
The updated app is said to include tweaked cartography, clearer labeling, and improved notating of bus stops, train stations, and airports. That is all in addition to upgraded data that is more reliable and more plentiful.
The improved data also makes way for a major new feature: public transit directions. Apple won’t be the first to this feature (Google has had it for several years), but the addition is a change in direction from when former iOS chief Scott Forstall said in 2012 that Apple would leave transit to third-party developers.
Thanks to several acquisitions of transit specialist companies, iOS 8’s Maps app will have transit functionality deeply embedded for several cities around the world. Transit will allow people to navigate using busses, trains, and subways, and it will also include improved navigating to nearby airports.
The transit feature will be integrated as both a new view (in addition to Standard, Hybrid, and Satellite), and it will also be a new option alongside walking and driving for directions. While transit will be integrated, Apple will still be able to point users to third-party transit apps like it has done since iOS 6’s launch. Transit directions will work for both future trip planning and for immediate navigation.
– iTunes Radio:
For iOS 8, Apple is considering breaking out the Music app’s iTunes Radio functionality into its own, standalone application. As a tab in the already-existing Music app, iTunes Radio has not received a promoted presence on iOS, and this likely has deterred growth for the service in terms of advertising revenue and usage.
As a standalone application, users will be able to more quickly access iTunes Radio. Psychologically for users, iTunes Radio will be its own app competing with the likes of the Pandora, Spotify, and iHeartRadio apps found on the App Store. The benefit for Apple, however, is that iTunes Radio will be pre-installed. The interface for the standalone iTunes Radio application is said to be nearly identical to the one found inside of the iOS Music app and its Home screen icon is a terrestrial radio graphic atop a red background.
The functionality of iTunes Radio will also be akin to its iOS 7 Music app counterpart. Users will be able to browse their history, purchase streamed tracks, locate Featured Stations, create stations based on songs, artists, and albums, and manage stations. Apple previously considered releasing iTunes Radio as a standalone application in iOS 6, but due to problems with striking record label deals, the company ultimately pushed the launch back to iOS 7.
Apple has previously removed functionality from the standard iOS Music (formally called iPod) app and separated functionality into standalone apps. For example, Apple moved video playback for movies, TV shows, and music videos from the iPod app into a Videos app with iOS 5. With iOS 6, Apple began promoting Podcasts as its own App Store app and removed playback from the Music app. In early 2012, Apple re-located playback of iTunes University content to its own app.
The considerations also make sense in light of Apple recently adding more functionality to iTunes Radio, such as news from NPR.
– Voice over LTE:
Another significant addition being considered for iOS 8 and the next-generation iPhone is voice-over-LTE support (VoLTE), according to carrier sources. Currently, when an LTE-capable iPhone needs to make a phone call, the actual call is placed over last generation networks such as 3G. With VoLTE, calls will be transmitted over the same type of network that LTE data is processed through, and this can allow for benefits such as improved call quality.
Of course, carrier support is needed for this functionality, and some countries around the world have carriers that have already rolled out support for VoLTE. For those in the United States, T-Mobile’s network (thanks to its agreement with Metro PCS) supports VoLTE while Verizon Wireless and AT&T are actively testing the functionality for a rollout later this year. Of course, it’s plausible that iOS 8 support for VoLTE will be pushed back if enough carriers are unable to meet the rollout timeframe.
– Messages:
Apple is said to be considering adding the ability for Messages threads in iOS 8 to automatically be deleted. The options for auto-deleting of threads on a user’s local device are said to be removal after a month or after a year. The functionality is being integrated in order for the iOS Device storage space to not be clogged up by old Messages threads, which is a common problem among iOS Device users with old backups or dated hardware. The auto-deletion will be optional, so users who never want their threads disappearing have nothing to worry about.
– Notifications:
Notification Center, the translucent drop-down menu for managing alerts may be simplified. In iOS 7, Notification Center includes a “Today” view, “All” Notifications view, and a “Missed” Notifications view. In iOS 8, Apple is considering reducing the panel to solely include the “Today” and “Notifications” views. The new “Notifications” view would combine all notifications with missed notifications, making the overall experience simpler. After acquiring the team behind the app Cue last year, Apple has likely been working on adding additional pertinent information to Notification Center, but it is uncertain if those enhancements will be ready this year for iOS 8.
– TextEdit and Preview:
Apple is developing versions of the Mac operating system’s Preview and TextEdit applications that are optimized for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. The applications are said to not be designed to actually edit PDFs, images, or text documents.
Instead, the apps are built to serve as tools to view Preview and TextEdit files stored in iCloud by OS X. Apple added iCloud synchronization for Preview and TextEdit with OS X Mountain Lion, but has not yet released iOS counterparts to actually view the synchronized content.
The applications are said to still be early in development, but they are being considered for release later in the year. It is currently uncertain, but still possible, if the new pieces of software will be ready to ship with the upcoming iOS 8.
Instead of using fully functional Preview and TextEdit applications on iOS, users will be encouraged to use the PDF management and editing functionality in the free iBooks applicationfrom the App Store and manage other documents via the iWork suite’s word processing application Pages. The apps will also bring improved feature parity between the two Apple operating systems.
– Game Center:
Sources say that Apple is considering removing the Game Center application from iOS and OS X. Instead of having the (little-used) Game Center app, the functionality will solely be found inside in games that have integrated the social gaming service. Just last year, Apple completely redesigned the Game Center app for iOS 7 to remove the green felt and casino theme from the Scott Forstall era. Recently leaked screenshots did, however, show the Game Center icon.
– Voice Memos:
As part of the iOS 7 design revamp, the iPhone’s Voice Memos application was completely redesigned. Gone was the fake microphone graphic and added was an interactive waveform. Unfortunately, some users have complained that the redesigned Voice Memos app is difficult to navigate and that editing controls are unclear. With iOS 8, Apple will rectify this problem by improving button placement within the app.
– Performance:
While iOS 7.1 certainly sped up animations and other system functionality, Apple is testing versions of iOS 8 that go even further to improve speed across the operating system. Sources say that Apple is focusing on improving how long it takes photos to be taken with the next-generation iPhone’s hardware components in mind.
– CarPlay:
While iOS 7’s version of CarPlay exclusively works over the Lightning cable, Apple is testing versions of iOS 8 that can conduct CarPlay (in certain vehicles) over WiFi. The lines up with Volvo saying that its CarPlay implementation will work wirelessly in the future. Of course, Apple has been testing WiFi CarPlay for sometime now with iOS 7, so perhaps the functionality will be pushed back once again. iOS 7.1 first unlocked CarPlay capabilities last month.
– Inter-app communication: Apple is said to be working on and testing functionality that would allow apps from the App Store to better communicate. This is known as an “XPC” service in the developer world. An API is being developed for apps to be able to share data. For example, a future photo editing application could have the ability to push the edited content for upload via the Instagram or Facebook apps. The debut of the API has been in development for the past couple of years, and it had been removed from the launch version of iOS 7 last year for unspecified reasons. With that in mind, it is plausible that Apple could, again, choose to hold back the functionality.
OS X 10.10 – Codenamed Syrah:
OS X 10.10 will be the successor to the current OS X, 10.9 Mavericks. Mavericks focused on power-user features and under-the-hood enhancements to improve hardware performance, battery life, and graphics processing. 10.10, however, will focus on aesthetics. According to sources, Apple Senior VP of Design Jony Ive is leading a “significant” design overhaul for OS X, and the new design will be the operating system’s cornerstone new feature (none of the mockups online, like the one above, are a good indicator of what to expect).
The new design will not be as stark as iOS 7, but it will include many of the flat elements and white textures instead of re-creations of life-like elements. The end-to-end redesign is said to be a top priority at Apple right now, with the specific details about the changes being sworn to extreme secrecy. Apple has been testing new features such as Siri and support for iOS AirDrop compatibility, but it’s unconfirmed if those enhancements will be ready for 10.10. We’ll have more on what to expect from OS X 10.10 soon, so stay tuned.
Hardware Possibilities:
To go with the new operating systems, Apple is likely preparing a few new notable pieces of hardware. On the Mac side, Apple seems to be readying a revamped version of the MacBook Air with a ~12-inch Retina display and thinner/lighter chassis. Apple has announced major new Mac initiatives at WWDC the past couple of years, so perhaps Apple has this new MacBook Air up its sleeves for the 2014 conference. Apple is also working on some lower-cost iMacs and standard MacBook Air/Pro updates, but it’s unclear when those are set to debut.
On the iOS side, indications of new hardware are less clear. Apple is currently on an annual life-cycle for updating iOS Devices, so it is fair to assume that the unveilings of the next set of iPhones and iPads will not occur until the fall. With iOS 8’s headline feature being health and fitness tracking software, speculation has arisen that Apple could debut its own fitness/health tracking hardware (iWatch) alongside iOS 8. It’s unclear if Apple is planning to do so, but given the hiring over the past couple of years, anything is possible.
Coverage:
WWDC 2014 will be held between June 2nd and June 6th at the Moscone West center in San Francisco, California. The week long conference will include labs and special sessions for developers, but it will likely be kicked off on Monday, June 2nd with a keynote address to officially introduce the aforementioned details about iOS 8, OS X 10.10, and potentially new hardware. As the conference’s start approaches, new information will certainly come to light, and you can find the latest news about Apple’s plans at 9to5Mac. Also stay tuned for live coverage of WWDC and, like we compiled in 2012 and 2013, an updated roundup in the few days before the conference begins.
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No Apple TV news? I find that hard to believe. If there is going to be an SDK then WWDC seems like the place it would happen. Especially if they plan to release in the fall, it gives developers a significant amount of time to get ready for release.
Totally agree.
I think the wearable will come before the television, and we aren’t even positive if the ‘iwatch’ will be out by the end of the year. Though Tim mentioned something about ‘new product categories in 2014’
I agree, I would be surprised to see iWatch release with iPhone 6 and iOS 8 in the Fall, even though everyone has thought that for years, like we all did with iPad Mini and finally got it though. Also some people still believe, “new product categories in 2014″ as that’s along the lines of a Apple TV update or iTV especially with the rumors that some company in China has huge 50” + curve Displays for an iTV/Apple TV+ from Apple.
Apple TV is not a television.
I’ve always been a bit miffed about “new product categories” claim. it sounds like a typical apple spin on “a new iteration with a different screen size”. i mean really, if we are totally honest, that’s basically what the iPod Touch, iPad and iPad Mini were – derived from the iPhone. i’ll be pleasantly surprised if they do come out with some substantially different product, but until i see it, i’m just going to keep my hopes down.
This is an article for iOS 8 and OS X 10.10 updates. Apple TV runs neither as of right now, even though it may easily run iOS 8 in the future. It has it’s own specific software type now thats just called Apple TV Software 6.1 not anything related to OS X or iOS. So until Apple TV runs type of iOS or OS X officially it won’t ever be included in iOS and OS X news…
Yes but the software architecture is a variation directly from iOS. Apple TV (Gen 1) was based off OSX 10.4.7 but they switched to iOS variation in the following generations.
Either way, your right that the article is about iOS 8 & 10.10 so I guess I shouldn’t of expected news about Apple TV. I’m just dying for an SDK!!
To claim that AppleTV Software 6.1. is “not anything related to OS X or iOS” is beyond overstatement. ATV 6.1 is essentially iOS with a different set of APIs. It is not only related to iOS, it is directly derived from it. And being that both are based on the same OSX kernel, claiming no relationship between all of them is… misinformed.
Well we don’t know…. not just yet.
I don’t think 10.10 will be real. The rest is made by Captain Obvious.
no, more likely macosx 11…
Well first they dropped Mac from it awhile back and it’s just “OS X” That wouldn’t make any sense to make it OS X 11. They would make it OS XI but then that has no logic as they aren’t completely overhauling it to make a new OS, it’s still going to be like 95% OS X 10.9 we already know via Apple. Even when Apple talks about things they say OS X and it’s name like OS X Mountain Lion or Mavericks. The 10.8, 10.9 is just for software version numbers to keep track of things. Plus OS X 11 would mean then that it’s OS X 10.11 meaning they skipped an OS X version at 10.10. Which is why it’ll stay 10.10. the X in OS is a roman numeral standing for 10 not actually the letter x as so many people think it does.
“OS XI” makes no sense at all.
Why destroys years of branding just for the sake of a few OCD programmers and math heads who have an “issue” with the logic of 10.10 instead of 11.0 or 11.1.
Ordinary people have no problem with it being “10.10”
Why? That makes zero sense.
10 was the architecture transformation. 11 will be the UX transformation. OS XI is multitouch, no keyboard/mouse.
OSX 11.0 makes the most sense. It has nothing to do with what “normal” people have a problem with. OSX 10.1 already exists and as a development co. Apple would/should have a problem with that.
And being that 10.10 does NOT inherently equal 10.1 (that equality is a nomenclature convention, NOT an inherent property of numerals) what exactly is your point? (Other than not understanding what “normal people” have a problem with.)
it will be “OS X version 11.x”
Calm down everyone. I have inside info that Apple will be revealing iOS XI.11 at the upcoming WWDC.
Apple never uses the OS X version number for marketing, just the nickname (e.g. Mac OS X Leopard, OS X Mavericks)
The version numbers will continue 10.10, 10.11 until they reach a huge advancement and reach OS 11.
This correct.
Despite what clueless bloggers think, I work for a software company and we have NO problem with things like 10.10, 10.11…
Or 3.21.14. They look more like dates than version numbers after a while….but no one cares.
Am I the only one that sees that 10.10 would be a significant downgrade form 10.9? If the previous version was 10.09, then 10.10 would make since. 10.10 is the same as 10.1, which we passed a long time ago. The next step, without going to version 11 would be 10.9.3 (as the current version is 10.9.2) or 10.95. 10.10 doesn’t make since at all… or is this just weird software developer math?
OMG. You’re arguing about a version number??????
Yes, you’re the only one. Hint: it has nothing to do with math.
Version numbers have nothing to do with a decimal numerical system or the decimal point! The dot/period is simply a divider of version numbers. The first number usually indicates a major version, the next number is a minor update of that same major update and so on. Heck the current version of Google’s Chrome browser appears to be 35.0.1916.153! It’s not a mathematical decimal numerical system!
Great. They’re going to make OS X as ugly as iOS. Riveting. Maybe next year it can be all flat gray and really throw down some mediocrity. Yuck. My iPod is on iOS 6 and every time I use I remember much more I liked that interface. I’m sure I’m in the minority but Apple isn’t winning any prizes with my consumer dollars with this fugly UI. Good thing the hardware design is second to none and the software works…..for now.
I’m sorry you don’t like iOS 7’s aesthetics. But it’s true what you said, you are in a small minority.
http://9to5mac.com/2013/08/07/online-poll-finds-users-prefer-ios-7-design-to-ios-6-fingerprint-scanner-to-replace-passwords/
28% vs 72%
Two issues with your post.
1: 28% is not by any means a “small” minority. Blacks make up 12% of the USA population, go try and tell them they are part of a “small minority”.
2: Apple is following stupid trends for profit instead of quality. The entire “flat” theme and larger screens is to tempt poor people with Android and Windows equipment to upgrade while keeping their useless eye candy OS animation. The cost comes at REAL Mac users who just want something high quality that works well.
Thats why 10.6 still has such a large active following despite being 3 OS generations and 4 years old, and 28% are still using the 7 month old iOS6 daily despite Apple forcing us to download the update and stealing 3GB of our iDevice storage space.
So, in fact you are wrong. He said he is “in the minority”, he did NOT “in the small minority”.
Thanks for the confirmation, I’ll sleep better tonight.
@Lance Newcomb
If you believe any of what you just said, I feel sorry for you. Truly.
Apple’s Bubbly look from 10.6 and iOS 6 and prior was definitely dated. It is not modern. For that matter, design trends are universal. The last you want is your own stuff to look dated. If you don’t LIKE IT…tough. But there is a good reason why it looks the way it does, and it does in fact look GOOD to most people.
Visual appeal is completely subjective. You never get it right for everyone. All you could ever hope for is more than 50% of your customers like it.
One thing I noticed about the poll was that it was either/or. You like either iOS 6 or 7. The kind of black/white polling generally leads to stark differences in the results. That’s why a lot of polls have the “Don’t care” option (usually as “no opinion”).
Other factors are:
1. iOS 7 is new, therefore, people tend to like new things. I know it’s 7 months old, and “new” isn’t so new anymore, but there was an excitement when iOS7 came out, and that may skew the poll.
2. Familiarity with iOS7. With an upgrade rate of 87% of iOS devices, that can account for a lot of the iOS7 likes.
3. Bad experiences with iOS6. That can be a double edged sword, but there is usually a “I remember when I had to stand on my fingertips on broken glass to make that work, and iOS7 made everything better” when recalling bad things, but the good things got better with iOS7, so it has a savior effect.
I’m not saying that either is good or bad. It’s like coke or pepsi. Some like one, some like the other, some like both, and others like neither. Besides, it’s just an operating system.
Cheers!
Lance,
1. African Americans ARE a part of a “small” minority. This does not make them less important than another race, just a statistically smaller population within this country. I am curious as to what you think would happen if you told an African American that they are part of a “small” minority. I think they would probably agree, as would any rational-minded person. I suppose you think less of them? Though I am sure it was not your intention, that statement was laced with racist undertones. Additionally, small is a relative term. Technically, any minority is “small” in comparison to the majority. Though it may be redundant to say so, he is not wrong. Normally, I would not quibble over something so “small”, but as they say in kindergarten… “You started it.” =)
2. From the perspective of web developer, I would like to address you comments on the “trends” and “flat” theme. The purpose of skeuomorphism in UI design was to bridge the gap between the technology illiterate and the technology savvy. Designing objects in a UI to look like real objects was a great way to teach the masses how to use technology. However, the iPhone has been out for almost 7 years. The majority of the population now uses touch screen “smart devices”. Skeuomorphism served its purpose and did so well. However, it is no longer needed and can be put to rest with other technologies that are no longer needed (like vinyl records and pagers).
To address your final paragraph, you are correct. There are still a “small minority” of people that keep 10.6 installed on their Macs. Version 10.6 was and will probably continue to be the most stable release of OS X that Apple ever released. That does not mean that everyone will not move on to make way for new technologies. After all, there are still people that listen to vinyl and use pagers. They are not wrong to do so, but they also recognize that they are using older technologies, hence their arguments will tend to fall on deaf ears.
So, in fact you are wrong. He is in the “small minority”.
Late to the party, but @Jesse, I offense to the inclusion of vinyl in your examples. ;)
You do know that image is a mockup and not what OS X is actually going to look like… Calm down and go find something else to do.
Since I’m making an opinion on a public forum, your unsolicited input is useless typical of this generation. You could have stopped at the first sentence, but your need to add your own little sarcastic BS speaks of your overall credibility. In other words, piss off.
I know exactly what you mean. That’s why I’m buying my new Mac before this hits. And it’s funny how no one ever got jumped on for hating the iOS 6 aesthetic. But now that 7’s out, anyone who states their displeasure over Apple’s redesign gets attacked. Interesting.
There’s a group of pedantic trolls in every forum. This one is no different. Like you said if you don’t sport the majority opinion , you’re a pariah. Personally, I couldn’t care less. At any rate, thanks for a normal and conversational response, maybe other will take note……(laughing).
iOS 6 looks so old and truly awful it’s incredible. I look at my nephew’ sold device running iOS 6 and all I can think of is a game boy. That dock is so awful looking, the reflections, the shine. Dear lord it is embarrassingly bad when compared to iOS 7. The worst thing they did with iOS 6 UI-wise were the colored menu bars, I couldn’t believe them when I saw them. It was groundbreaking-bad. You actually could hardly read menu bar items, including the current time, man oh man, just bad. Thank god for Ive and iOS 7, it’s so much superior in every conceivable way.
This all said, it is my opinion. Luckily for me I’m one of the vast majority that find it far better. I just feel sorry for all of you who don’t like it, because it isn’t going back, ever.
iOS 7 is an infinitely better design. As expected, most people have stopped complaining as they are now used to it…..which is exactly why they complained about it in the first place….they were USED TO the old look and people can’t handle change to something they stare at for half the day.
Aesthetic preference is subjective. To declare otherwise is to be both egotistical and uniformed. There are many choices because of this subjectivity. If one thing was truly superior, there would be no other.
sardonick,
http://www.theworldsworstwebsiteever.com
Check that link out. You are correct that design is subjective, but without critical feedback from users, design would have never evolved past what can be seen at the url posted above.
When discussing the aesthetics of a UI design, it is critical that we be subjective. To declare that it is unacceptable for one to state their opinion (and the author readily declared that it was just his opinion) is (to quote the post that you left on another comment) “unsolicited input” and “speaks of your overall credibility”.
Cheers!
Sorry, but iOS7 fails from a usability standpoint for many of the same reasons that that website fails. And the same reasons that Mavs and the Lions fail.
UI is not just about aesthetics. you are free to debate your personal takes on colour schemes and blandness, the need for 3D and skeuomorphism vs other schema, but these subjective measures are not the only ones of value, and are not even the most important in a utilitarian device, facility of user interaction is. Where one scheme or another aids, it is beneficial, where it retards, it is not. And flat icons do NOT facilitate user interaction. Use of colour and depth, for example, provide vectors of differentiation between UI elements that make them easier to pick out from a crowded screen, and thus speed up user interaction. Flat icons, by contrast, with a limited colour pallet and larger swaths of tone, are much harder to pick out from a field, resulting in slower interaction. There are decades of psychology research underpinning this.
That is one reason among many that the cry went up from the Mac community when Apple left coloured side-bar items in the Finder after Snow Leopard. Being a uniform colour, size, and shape, they became MUCH harder to differentiate, and as a result navigation within the Finder slowed substantially. It was a stupid design move, fostered by a particular aesthetic and philosophy, NOT functionality. That aesthetic was the flat, modern look, and that philosophy was one where background tasks should fade from focus, and allow foreground tasks to draw the eye. However, what was lost to Apple was that when a user is in the Finder, FS navigation IS the front-most task. But this failed to register due to another cause célèbre at Apple, minimization of all FS interaction, from the (well-founded) belief that FS interaction is the bottleneck where users get tripped up. But to deny it’s existence altogether (like the modern Finder is trying to do) does everyone a disservice.
Beauty is relative, you need to update your standards.
Beauty is subjective, not relative. My standards are fine thank you.
sardonick,
I hope it doesn’t seem like I’m picking on you, but you made a lot of bold assertions in short period of time. Beauty is subjective, but beauty is also relative. This principle is known as aesthetic relativism. Perhaps you should reconsider those standards one more time. =)
I can’t stand the new interfaces. My iPad is on iOS 6. My iPod touch is on iOS 5. My 5 Macs are on 10.6.8. I code for iOS for a living. iOS 7 irritates me to no end. Useless animations all over the Mac OS irritate me to no end. Ive is terrible for the brand. He is worse than useless with regards to UI design, he makes things worse.
Can’t disagree. Although I’m not sure he’s useless as much as too involved in blandness. I’d at least like to have a choice, other than a different ecosystem altogether. I’ve actually used my iPad less since iOS7 and didn’t realize it until I had 30 some updates available. It’s just not as interesting to me any more.
iOS 8: No quick reply? No Siri integration with third-party apps?
Would also be great to have the ability to set your own default apps.
Don’t assume everything listed here is all that there is. I doubt Apple moles leaked everything to this site.
No one has a clue about what will really be shown, so don’t worry. These are just rumors and supposed leaks and not what to expect (or at least not ONLY what to expect).
Maybe, we don’t know. Remember, leaks are “leaks”. They don’t necessarily have an truth to them.
I’m with you on QuickReply. That’s long over due.
If there is still hope for an Aperture 4 or X, this can be announced at WWDC 2014. If there is nothing about that, then we can all conclude that there won’t be any major Aperture update.
I’ve never seen a pro app get announced at WWDC and I don’t anticipate that changing this year. If anything it’ll happen in the Fall (with the emphasis on IF).
Not completely true, actually. Aperture 3.3 – the most significant update since 3.0 – was both announced and released at WWDC 2012 as a companion to the Retina MacBook Pro (during the event). I could potentially see Apple using a few minutes to showcase how the new 10.10 interface works across pro apps, “like our all new update to Aperture.” In addition, it would be the perfect place, since they are among developers, to talk about a new non-destructive plugin architecture and/or talk about how great it works with their new “Pro Thunderbolt 4K Display.” Again, this would take mere minutes but it’s a scenario I’m truly dreaming about. If you think about it it makes no sense for them to release a new Aperture if they are in fact overhauling the OS interface. You may be correct, however, that we won’t get anything until the fall when the 10.10 will likely be unleashed.
I have my stop watch going to see how quickly this stuff will end up on. MacRumors.
Hahah that’s good
I would love to see new MBPr on WWDC although it looks like it’ll be updated later this year. About the OS X I think it would be awesome to get new redesign to get more hand in hand with iOS 8 because I love the design of iOS 7.
They’ll probably do something with OS X then do the same with iOS 8 either this or next year. I expect a toned down iOS 7 and a toned up OS X and they’ll meet in the middle. At some point.
I mean, I like iOS 7 but some changes in the next few years would be nice rather than 6 years of the same design :/
cool!
Does 9to5Mac hate Apple or love Apple? Not sure if this article’s hints are all true, but if they are, (you also have snapshots here) — wanted to understand how 9to5Mac gets more Apple leaks (and often more reliable) than any other website by a large margin — do you use some kind of a sophisticated spying network – spread across Apple employees, partners — maybe you do hacking as well??
By doing all these leaks months before the actual news announcement, arent you harming Apple in two significant ways —
(a) Letting competitors know what Apple is doing, so that they can prepare for it much, much earlier?
(b) Reducing the element of surprise from Apple announcements, which make the announcements more mundane to the public?
I’d probably agree with your last two points, but those screenshots aren’t actually legit (at least the health book ones aren’t).
My guess would be that the actual competitors (mostly Samsung, but also Microsoft, Google, and HTC) don’t learn anything from these sights. There is obviously much more money in corporate espionage then sending tips to rumor sights, though the two are not exclusive.
Jay, am not sure I agree. Based on my observations, my belief is that Samsung has very likely introduced features based on Apple rumors.
There are just too many features that Samsung has released — which were similar to Apple’s — very close to Apple’s release dates. Some of them may be industry trends, so all the players independently may have been working on those — but sometimes it appears as if Samsung did this feature just because it learned much earlier that Apple was working on it.
It may be due to tidbits companies learn from their partners (like Huawei), or forecast, but a good chunk of them could have also been coming from the rumor mill.
I used to love Apple. Because of the UI. But every Mac release after 10.6.8 is less useful and iOS 7 is a visual and usability abortion. Ive needs to be forbidden from ever touching a UI ever again.
I am a little nervous that good ol Johnny is in charge of OS X makeover. I love my iPhone and ios 7 but I really don’t want my desktop to look like iOS.
Apple execs say “iOS and OS X won’t merge, and 10.10 will prove that”
http://9to5mac.com/2014/01/27/apple-execs-say-ios-and-os-x-wont-merge-and-10-10-will-prove-that/11
At first I didn’t like that OSX mockup. The colors and translucency are certainly a little sad. The idea of having pictures appear like in iOS is very clever though. Why should the user have to open iPhoto just to see his pictures ordered by date? The Finder is the best place to do this. He even thought of a button in the toolbar to switch between this view and a classic ‘file’ view. Same thing with video and music. With a little UI research I’m sure it would be possible to put many basic functions of iPhoto, iMovie and iTunes in the Finder without disrupting it. The finder would then work exactly like Picture, Movie and Music apps on iOS, and with a single button the user would be able to see the files and folders behind the app. The library would be even more integrated into the system.
How about a “delete all” or “mark all” for email? This should have been in there a long time ago! When I have 50-100 emails and have to mark them all one at a time to delete them, that is ridiculous! Android had this years ago. That said, I still prefer the iPhone! But really…
Do you mean for iOS or OS X? It’s available for both. Mail for iOS has an explicit option. For Mavericks, just click on an email, press Cmd + A, and then delete, or right click + Mark All
Apple needs to up the ante and perhaps provide 50GB or more iCloud storage for free.
Dear god. For what?! Do you realize the incredible, vast majority use less than 1GB? I personally use next to none.
I think 50 GB+ is a good idea, if Apple were to open up iCloud for anything other than app-specific info (like uploading general docs like in other cloud-sharing websites). Right now, people are using 1GB because pretty much anything you can put in iCloud are backups and/or iWork documents
Backups and document storage. I recommend people backup to their computers but I know a number of windows users that have no desire to interconnect their phone’s with their computers (I don’t understand this idea) and want to back up to the cloud. 5GB is light for this use if you are already using iCloud for email and document storage.
Puggsly, one reason that phones and computers are connected is for storage. The external storage in phones (SD card) is a much better/faster alternative than using USB Flash drives, which are (for USB 3.0) not inexpensive.
Sounds boring as all hell. Honestly. That’s not a knock on your article (which is great). But for WWDC, good grief there had better be more that.
Sounds like “tock” year for iOS. Nothing really new at all UI or UIX wise.
My only wants are to get rid of the muddy, grey notifications pull-down, and changing the multi-tasking behaviour back to the way it was before when it didn’t pull you back to the home page all the time. Neither are likely to happen because … iOS design dogma.
At least there might be something new in OS X but judging by how Ive has re-done iOS, I am more expecting lots of confusing changes that actually make things *harder* to use, but that can somehow be justified by a bit of “design-speak” or some other dogma that looks good on paper.
AppleTV and SDK? Early launch of iPhone 6? Mac mini?
If this article is any indication of what WWDC is shaping up to be (and I have no doubt it is), then what a frigging disappointment.
i hope Jonny Ives discovers back and exit buttons this time .
His name is Ive, not Ives.
Wow, just, wow. Those are the ugliest piles of rectal discharge I have ever seen. Looks like I’ll be sticking with iOS6 and 10.9 for the foreseeable future and not buying any new hardware from Apple until they get over that stupid “flat” theme.
It’s so much superior (iOS 7 that is, and flat design), it’s down right insane. Have fun living in the past.
Have fun being bland in the present. Let us know when all the bugs are figured out and your “fingerprint sensor” works right.
Lance, the fingerprint sensor DOES work correctly for most people. For some, it doesn’t, but that’s because it’s a new technology. It’ll improve as time goes on. As 9to5mac said, don’t take any of the OS X or iOS 8 mock-ups seriously because no one has idea what they’ll look like (especially OS X – that was just completely made up). I haven’t had many bugs with iOS 7. I actually had more with iOS 6 on my iPhone.
Lance do you know what FUD is? Because you’re great at it, iOS 7 is visually and functionally superior to iOS 6 ‘bubbles bubbles everywhere’ theme…much cleaner and well thought out.
And TouchID works perfectly 99% of the time. That’s being honest. You have completely the wrong idea, or you’re just full of shit and like spreading it for no good reason.
go n bury yourself with these stagy, fictive, pointless, ugly, glossy, fake and tasteless leather, wood and glass texture. And no one would even care!
Good for you. Why would anyone care about morons who ENJOY outdated nonsense? You have revoked your right to complain about incompatibility for the remainder of the existence of human civilization.
I agree. It’s complete shit.
“At least there might be something new in OS X but judging by how Ive has re-done iOS, I am more expecting lots of confusing changes that actually make things *harder* to use, but that can somehow be justified by a bit of “design-speak” or some other dogma that looks good on paper.”
I agree, change for the sake of change.
Not impressed. Oh well.
Well, I’ll go so far to say that I’m depressed. iOS just became useless.
I don’t think this has been mentioned but imagine you are involved in an accident and your iPhone has passcode lock :: would it be possible for emergency services to access your Healthbook Emergency Card from the Lock Screen?
I think it would be useless if Apple didn’t consider this?
That was the first thing I thought of. I suppose if you have a 5s they can just hold the phone up to your finger!
Emergency services won’t have a problem since your phone will automatically unlock when it hears a siren nearby.
Please Apple MacBook Pro-LTE. The super fast integrated LTE modem will connect you with office, costumers and family at blazing speed. Grapichs are spectacular thanks to AMD Radeon™ HD 8900M series graphics featuring 2GB GDDR5 and the Retina Display. Base RAM start at 4GB all the way up to 32GB.
There’s always be hope.
They decided against cellular telephony in the MacBook family back in 2006. It isn’t happening.
Do you even tether, bro?
If Apple does not release “Quick Reply” for text messages this year, i dont care any more. I’m going to switch platforms, Windows phone 8.1 is looking good :) This “Quick reply” feature is long overdue.
Good for you. I’m sure they’ll go bankrupt when they don’t release it.
Well, Quick Reply is a useful feature – it’s already in Mavericks for iMessages. It’s not a stretch to say that it’s probable that they would put it into iOS 8.
Oh, not at all! It’s just nowhere near as mission critical as he’s pretending it is.
iOS 8 & OSX 10.10
So it begins… Again.
iOS8 experience would be great if iphone is updated to have at least 4.7 inch display
Realy intesting and nice…
I´m afraid to see and feel it, when it comes
Am I the only one who finds that mock-up of OSX visually appealing?
Yes. It’s appalling, not appealing.
Maybe they’ll call it OS 11?? A new OS X after a new iOS! Why not?
Spinal Tap! It’s 11, not 10.
OS XI will be the desktop multitouch OS. The world isn’t ready to let go of mouse+keyboard.
Am I the only one who really doesn’t care whether the interface, appearance or whatever is like as long as it does what I want? I’ve got a MacBook Pro running Mavericks & an iMac running 10.6.8 & I wish I hadn’t updated the MBP as Finder is slow & I have no need for the extras Mavericks provides. It won’t run Appleworks (old but TOTALLY reliable for straightforward productivity) & Pages in its various incarnations is a mixture of compatible & incompatible with different versions. I, and I’m sure many others, do not care for something which is trendy, flashy or whatever; I just want something that does what I tell it to & produces what I want. Is that really too much to ask?
I have the option to run Mavericks, but it’s so much worse than 10.6.8. In the office, the latest I will use is 10.8.5. 10.6.8 is still the most useful Mac OS out there. Switch back. You’ll be happier.
Oh my gosh, OS X 10.10 idea = pathetically designed concept.
I think Apple should go back to a more spread out release schedule, rather then backloading everything at the end of the year.
These are hideous. I will not use it. If this is the next generation, I’m learning to code for Android now. I still use iOS 6 even though I am paid to create apps for iOS 7. This is just so bad.
Take your FUD and shove it.
please don’t flatten OS X D:
iOS 8 useful updates:
1. What about sliding home screen to the right (remember the old search?) to show last accessed apps in a kind of icon circle? 2014 and still difficult to find in a glimpse the 10 to 15 apps you are using in your daily life…and don’t tell me to put them in the first home screen, is not the solution, your daily apps can change depending on the day, the hour, the circumstance… and NO double tap home button to show multitasking background does not do the same, because you have only one app per screen…
2. What about service scheduler (wifi, bluetooth, etc?) come on guys this one is really useful…
3. Some improvements have to be done to DND, for example schedule ring for one particular contact to total mute to total sound
4. Notification center should give a glimpse of the current status of your last 15 accessed apps (to add to point one)
ok so is this the keynote where we will see new iPhones discussed or when we say new hardware we mean like new macbooks, imacs, etc?
I’m just going to have to see this thing I guess. Am I conscious of my health? Sure. Do I exercise? Some, yeah. I mean I try to stay active, I try to eat healthy… but do I need, or even want, a health monitor strapped to my wrist all day every day? is “iWatch” going to be for me? I mean my grandma would probably get one day one, but I’m not so sure about myself. I have to imagine Apple would design and build something a guy like me would want, but I’m having a hard time coming up with this product in my head, and I’m a product designer. I’m starting to think we might not even see this thing this year, but the rumors are pretty hot & heavy.
Great, so a bunch of new pre-installed apps to clutter our home screen even more with icons we may never use (newsstand?) and no real added features. This sounds great and also sounds like Samsung – Giving us app bloat instead of making the OS itself better… iOS8 is going to be released with 2 full home screens of pre-installed crap. Give us features that help us get things done please.
-Screw a partnership with Shazam, let any 3rd party app tie into Siri and let Siri be the extensible beast it was designed to be in the first place before you bought out the company who developed it and watered it down.
-Let us set our own default apps if we don’t like the stock Apple provided options (which are usually not as good as 3rd party options anyway).
-Let us have options for 3rd party keyboards from companies who’s bread and butter is type prediction and grammar/spelling correction and typing efficiency and not just an afterthought. Heck and swipe keyboards are very quick and efficient for goodness sakes, let us have bloody options please.
-Let our apps talk to each other finally. Stop forcing us to make copies all over the bloody place and use crazy URL schemes and workarounds for the simplest of tasks… Like using an RSS reader and sending it to Pocket to read it later. On other platforms you click save/send to pocket and it sends that request directly to Pocket and pocket downloads the information in the background and is ready to go as soon as you open it. On iOS tapping save/send to pocket sends out a request to the pocket URL backend that you’d like this article saved then the URL backend sends a notification to your iOS device which then wakes up the notification agent which then prompts your device to grab the info from the web and then finally brings it back down to your device. All of this could be done very simply and without all the back and forth, not to mention extra data used if apps could just talk to one another.
-Give us a quick reply API so I can quickly reply to any text message, Facebook message, email, any message based correspondence right from the notification itself without me having to leave the app I’m in.
-Let us create shortcuts on our home screen to documents that we are currently working on or to a contact who we contact a lot. Also give us some kind of documents portal that we can see what documents we have and organize them without having to go in and out and in and out of various apps 1 by 1 by1 just to check a couple things
-On iPads let us run 2 apps side by side so I can be reading and taking notes at the same time or in a video conference and taking notes/sending messages relaying the information in the conference at the same time.
-Heck give us something simple as being able to swipe individual notifications away instead of having to axe entire sections
I guess all I’m saying is just allow us to do more with what we have… iOS is certainly capable if Apple would only allow it. Stop saying that iOS is a productivity powerhouse all the while keeping features at bay that would actually allow it to be. Stop saying that with iOS you can get things done and actually implement the features that would make it possible to actually get things done.
Stop adding loads of new crap before actually taking the time to seeing how to make the existing things more useful. It’s crazy that this same argument that was made about Microsoft/Windows (adding more and more instead of improving what’s there) can even be said about iOS in the first place.
I’m thinking that OS X 10 will largely ditch the chrome-grey color in favor of app-specific colors. One of the things that *was* nice about some of the pre-Mavericks skeuomorphic App designs in OS X (e.g, Notes, Calendar, etc.) was that they appeared different than “normal” windows so you could more easily tell them apart on your desktop (in fact, Reminders still has this “feature”). This would fit very naturally and beautifully with the supposedly upcoming flat Ive re-design and also improve the user experience.
I also believe that Apple is making a MacBook Air with a touch-screen (the ergonomics of using a MacBook Air off-desk would finally make this seen as a revolutionary hardware feature, in typical Apple fashion), and I believe OS X 10 will very deliberately complement this new touch MacBook Air.
I have notice that the ket shortcut to a screen snapshot doesn’t work any more shift+command+3 or the +4
Not happy I use this all the time.