Innovations expected to be introduced at WWDC 2024

Apple’s developer-focused conference, WWDC 2024, will take place on June 10. It is slowly becoming clear what can be promoted at the event, which we will be live blogging with the contributions of Türkiye İş Bankası. In fact, one of the most important innovations of this event will be the iOS 18 operating system powered by artificial intelligence. At the same time, an artificial intelligence-focused App Store is also among those expected.

Let’s take a look at the other innovations expected to be introduced at WWDC 2024.

AI features

A January 7 news report listed AI changes to iOS 18’s apps, including the addition of auto-summarizing and auto-completion tools for Pages and Keynote. Apple also added the “iWork.ai” domain listing, which helped fuel iWork speculation. Apple Music will also apparently gain more artificial intelligence elements, such as automatic playlist creation. There are also rumors that an update will be made to Xcode that includes automatic code completion features.

Artificial intelligence powered Siri

Job postings, artificial intelligence investments and research show that Apple is preparing to make a big change in Siri. These changes include 21 acquisitions and investments in this space since 2017, as well as half of job postings in that period referencing artificial intelligence, machine learning or deep learning. In Siri, this could manifest itself in greater personalization and natural conversational flows, in addition to the current slightly stilted speaking style.

The beta version of iOS 17.4 also included signs that artificial intelligence changes were made to Siri, and it was seen that four different artificial intelligence models were tested. Two versions of AjaxGPT, Apple’s in-house LLM, have emerged; one operated on-device while the other relied on external servers.

RCS

Following Google’s efforts, Apple announced in November that RCS messaging feature would come to iPhone in 2024. Although Apple has not clearly stated when it will happen, it indicates that the best time will be in iOS 18. Apple stated that RCS Universal Profile support, published by the GSM Association, “will provide a better compatibility experience compared to SMS or MMS.”

At this point, we should also point out that Apple will not adopt Google’s special application that adds end-to-end encryption and will prefer to add encryption to its main profile in cooperation with GSMA.

Apple Maps and Freeform updates

Apple’s Freeform app will have a new “Scenes” feature to help users navigate large boards. Users will be able to select specific sections of the freeform dashboard and place anchor points that can be quickly jumped to when selected in the user interface. These scenes can be edited like the canvas itself and synced with others via iCloud.

Apple Maps may also have a brand new route planning feature. Because the code found in late March shows that there is a backend file called “CustomRouteCreation”.

Accessibility features

Apple will improve the accessibility features of iOS 18, making it more useful for users. Among the features announced on March 7 is “Voice Shortcuts”. This feature will work similarly to Siri Shortcuts, allowing you to enable accessibility features without requiring the “Hey Siri” command. The Live Speech feature will allow users to create emoticons on iPhone.

The newly improved font size control system will allow users to control font sizes in more applications. It is also said that a new hearing aid mode is being worked on for iOS 18. Combined with assistive features like Listen Live or Conversation Boost, this mode could make AirPods Pro a viable alternative to hearing aids for some users.

New interfaces

Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman claimed that Apple will make it much easier for users to customize their home screens in iOS 18. A rumor that Apple would redesign iOS 18 to be more inspired by Apple Vision Pro also emerged in early February. Later that month, Gurman revealed that Apple would update the design of iOS, but would use glass textures or 3D buttons like visionOS due to the aesthetics made for the headphones.