Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference is usually where the company shows off all the new software features coming to iPhones, iPads, Macs, and more.
But this year Apple launched an entirely new type of device at its usually software-focused event: an AR/VR headset. Here’s everything Apple announced at WWDC, from Apple Vision Pro to iOS 17.
The biggest One More Thing: Apple Vision Pro
Apple’s long-rumored virtual and augmented reality headset is officially here. Apple Vision Pro, which goes on sale early next year for $3,500, is what CEO Tim Cook calls the first Apple product you look through, rather than looking at. It looks to be the slimmest mixed reality headset released so far, and Apple showed off the capability to use the device like a laptop, a TV screen, and a gaming platform.
Design and display
The Vision Pro is a headset designed by Apple, and so it has a distinctly Apple aesthetic. The display, which consists of a glass front and aluminum frame, connects to a soft headband that can be adjusted for better fit or swapped out. The headset has a thin braided cable that attaches to an external aluminum battery pack the size of a deck of cards, which can be slipped into a pocket. Apple studied thousands of heads (thousands!) as a part of its research in designing the headset. Folks who wear glasses will be able to use the headset — Apple partnered with Zeiss to develop custom optical inserts to magnetically fit inside the display. (Those inserts will be sold separately. It’s unclear how much they’ll cost.)
The Apple Vision Pro has a feature called EyeSight, which lets you control the transparency of its display using a digital crown (much like on the Apple Watch). The opacity ranges from an augmented reality view where you can fully see your room through cameras — and people can see your eyes on the external display — while an opaque virtual reality mode can be set for more of an immersive experience.
Vision Pro apps (and how to use them)
Apple wants the Vision Pro to span work and entertainment. The headset wirelessly and automatically connects to a Mac, and you can take over your computer’s desktop (as well as all of its processing power) when wearing the headset. At WWDC, the headset was shown off as a tool for running more interactive meetings and working together as a team, as well as a portable cinema and gaming experience.
The Vision Pro is controlled using hand gestures, eye movements, and your voice. Apple calls the technology “spatial computing,” and Cook likened it to a new generation of computing, much like the smartphone was.
The headset tracks an incredible amount of data using LiDAR, a TrueDepth camera, and many other cameras to track hand movement. The Vision Pro has an M2 chip inside, like the latest Macs do, but it’s also powered by a new chip called the R1, which processes 12 cameras, 5 sensors, and six microphones in real time. The Vision Pro also has a 3D camera, which can record video in 3D formats that can be rewatched on the headset.
The Vision Pro uses its cameras and sensors to create a “persona” when you set up the device, which will be used in FaceTime calls and other situations when you’re virtually “with” another person. Your persona is essentially a 3D capture of your likeness. It’s unclear if that avatar has legs.
The operating system on the device is called VisionOS, which has a number of processes to specifically handle all the cameras and timing needs to coordinate all the hardware packed into the headset. The new headset supports apps, just like your Mac or iPhone do, which you install from a new VisionOS app store. When you slip the headset on, apps appear levitating in front of you, and you can select them using your eye movements, hand gestures, or voice. You’ll also be able to interact with Apple apps like Messages and Safari in different ways, like pulling a 3D object out of Messages to view on its own. Apple gave early access to the Vision Pro to high-profile developers, so Microsoft apps like Excel and Word are already compatible.
In a huge move, Apple partnered with Disney to make Disney+ available on the Vision Pro at launch. Disney CEO Bob Iger appeared at WWDC to show the way Disney characters like Mickey Mouse could appear in augmented reality on the headset.
15-inch M2 MacBook Air
Apple’s latest MacBook Air is a big one: The 15-inch M2 MacBook Air is a larger version of our upgrade pick, the 13-inch M2 MacBook Air. The new laptop will have the same layout as its 13-inch sibling, with two USB-C Thunderbolt 4 ports, a MagSafe port for charging, and a headphone jack. Its 15.3-inch screen is capable of 500 nits of brightness, which makes it great for typing in bright conditions (which would be great here on the ground at Apple Park, to be honest). It will cost $1,299 when it goes on sale next week, and the 13-inch M2 MacBook Air will get a price reduction to $1,099. The new MacBook Air is available to preorder today.
Mac Studio and Mac Pro
Apple is also releasing the second generation of the Mac Studio, built on the ultra-powerful M2 Max and M2 Ultra chips. The Mac will be capable of 192 GB of unified memory, a few levels beyond the 8 to 16 GB RAM we recommend with most computers. Apple says the new Mac Studio can support up to six Pro Display XDR displays. The Studio starts at $1,999 and goes on sale next week.
Apple’s custom chips are also surprisingly making their way to the Mac Pro, the wildly powerful enterprise-grade computer typically sold to customers like film and animation studios. The Mac Pro will be outfitted with the M2 Ultra chip, which Apple says is capable of importing 24 separate 4K camera feeds and encoding them to the ProRes in real time. The Mac Pro will have eight Thunderbolt 4 ports and six open PCI-e expansion slots. Apple says that with this latest announcement the company’s transition of its product line to Apple silicon is complete. The Mac Pro starts at a breathtakingly high $6,999 when it goes on sale next week.
iOS 17: Stickers, StandBy, and Siri
iOS 17 is coming, and it’s packed with small improvements that will make using your iPhone easier — and more fun. Here are the biggest features you can expect to use this fall:
Apple is adding something called “Contact Posters,” which you can create to share a photo and text to display when you’re calling a contact. The customization looks a lot like what Apple released for the lock screen and home screen last year, so expect similar levels of artistic expression. These contact posters will also be available within individual contacts.
When you miss or dodge a call, Apple will also start automatically transcribing the voicemail in real time, so you can read what the voicemail contains as it’s being recorded. This is an advanced way to screen calls you might not want to pick up. You’ll also be able to leave FaceTime voicemails in the form of short video clips.
A new safety feature called Check In activates while you’re driving, and will automatically notify friends or family members when you safely arrive at a location. Those you invite to track you can see your route, how much cell service you have, and your phone’s battery level. If you deviate or stop, Check In can also send your contacts an alert so they don’t worry.
If you’re the kind of person who spent hours lovingly creating Memojis that look just like you to share with friends, you’re probably going to love Apple’s new Stickers, which let you make, well, stickers, out of Live Photos. You can then send them to friends in iMessage.
Apple is adding a new feature to AirDrop called NameDrop, which is a new way of sharing contact information with others. You’ll be able to customize the contact poster and contact information you share. In a huge update, AirDrop will also be able to continue over the internet if your phones or devices leave range.
Even autocorrect is getting overhauled in iOS 17. The artificial intelligence that powers transcription on iOS is getting an upgrade, which Apple says will learn the words and phrases you use most often (so it won’t change your intended curse word to “ducking,” for instance).
The next version of iOS will also include a new app called Journal, which is a multimedia journaling app designed to preserve memories in a more structured way than looking back through your photo library.
In iOS 17, iPhones will have a new mode called StandBy. When the screen is off and the phone is turned horizontally, a screen with a clock (and perhaps a widget if you so choose) will appear. It also supports live activities and Siri, making the new mode oriented towards at-a-glance information.
You’ll finally be able to drop the “Hey” form “Hey Siri,” and you’ll be able to ask two questions in one.
macOS Sonoma: Desktop widgets and more
The latest version of macOS, called Sonoma, will bring the Mac ever closer to the iPhone. The biggest feature is the addition of widgets, which you’ll be able to pin directly to your desktop. These desktop widgets will automatically adapt when you switch windows, in an effort to make them look less distracting. You’ll also be able to access and pin widgets from your iPhone onto your MacBook desktop screen.
Apple is also (still) trying to make gaming a thing on Macs. Sonoma adds a “Game Mode,” which prioritizes a game’s performance over other applications running on the Mac. Apple is aiming to make game development time faster and easier for Macs by introducing a game porting toolkit to port PC games to Macs.
Famous video game developer Hideo Kojima appeared at WWDC to announce that Death Stranding: Directors Cut will be coming to Mac later this year. Kojima, best known for the Metal Gear Solid games, said that this is just the beginning of bringing games to the Mac.
macOS Sonoma also delivers video conferencing improvements that let you add presentation effects, like fireworks effects that appear when giving a double thumbs-up, or being able to put your screen’s contents over your shoulder like a news anchor. You’ll be able to use the effects in any app, like Zoom or Microsoft Teams.
Apple’s Safari web browser will add profiles, much like the wildly useful functionality already in Google Chrome. This allows you to keep work and personal browsing separate. Safari will also integrate the ability to share and edit passwords between people. You’ll also be able to pin certain websites to your Mac dock, and macOS will automatically call it up as a web app.
watchOS 10: All about health and fitness
The Apple Watch is all about fitness, and soon the watch will be able to connect to bike sensors, which will allow hardcore cyclists to integrate way more data into their tracking. A new cycling Live Activity will also let you use your phone to view trip data.
The Compass app is getting a big update to automatically log two waypoints, which will be useful for hikers. The first waypoint will automatically log the last place you had regular cell service, and the second waypoint will be for a previous location where you can make an SOS call. These waypoints can be viewed within the Compass app in a new 3D space.
The Health app is turning into a place where you can pay more attention to your mental health, with a mood tracker and screening questionnaires that can be shared with your healthcare provider.
Your Apple Watch face is about to become more useful. Using a photo as a watch face can be beautiful, but it’s not informative. With watchOS 10, you can use a full-screen photo as a face and then scroll up to reveal a list of suggested widgets and apps. The feature looks a lot like the Siri screen, just implemented in a more dynamic way.
The Apple Watch is also getting new watch face options: Snoopy is coming in a variety of poses, and the face can even react to the weather. A new option called Palette shows time in an array of bright colors. But third-party apps still can’t offer watch faces, which is something developers (and users) have been asking for forever.
iPadOS 17: Small changes
This fall, the iPad is getting a software upgrade, too. iPadOS 17 will include changes to the home and lock screen. Apple is changing widgets on the iPad by making them interactive, rather than just static buttons or information displays on the home screen. The lock screen is also getting a redesign, with the addition of widgets, live activities, and a new astronomy screen.
The iPad is designed to get work done, and Apple has finally gotten around to reworking the way the tablet handles PDFs. You’ll be able to fill, annotate, and generally work with PDFs better on the iPad. The iPad will also be able to handle live editing of a PDF between two Apple devices over a FaceTime call.
The Health app is coming to the iPad, and it’s coming with a new dashboard for the tablet’s larger screen. It’s more focused on data and charts, so you’ll be able to dive into all the health data your Apple Watch generates.
And you’ll be able to set multiple timers at once for the first time, which is game-changing (but still unclear if that’s a feature coming to iPhone, too).
Audio improvements: AirPods, AirPlay, and Apple TV
The AirPods Pro are getting some new-to-Apple features. A new “conversation awareness mode” senses when you are talking, automatically lowers your music volume, and turns on the earbuds’ transparency mode. This is an excellent feature that enables quick conversations — it was also popularized by Sony several years ago.
The adaptive awareness mode reduces low-frequency noises like airplane engine hum while allowing higher frequencies, like speech, to reach your ears. JBL and 1More have had a similar setting as part of their ANC options, though it seems Apple has made the transition automatic rather than toggled via button push.
Apple also claims to have improved the background-noise reduction over phone calls. The tricky part about noise reduction for microphones is that non-vocal sounds in the same frequency ranges as the human voice may still be picked up when the wearer is speaking. This can be somewhat mitigated with directional beam-forming microphones that aim at the mouth, but we’ve never experienced a reduction in marching band-level sounds that Apple portrayed in the video demo in the presentation. Regardless, we will be sure to test this when the update has been released.
AirPlay, which lets you easily cast audio and video from your iPhone or iPad to a compatible device, is also getting huge improvements. In hotel rooms, you’ll be able to AirPlay audio or video to a room’s TV using a QR code you’ll be able to scan to send content. CarPlay users will be able to share control of the car’s music to iPhone users using the SharePlay feature.
And FaceTime is coming to Apple TV. Sort of. The set-top box doesn’t have a camera, so you’ll have to set up your iPhone or iPad to be a camera. But then you can see the FaceTime call on your big screen.
Additional reporting from Lauren Dragan.
This article was edited by Caitlin McGarry.
