what were the major highlights for ios developers from the most recent wwdc?

Generated on 8/2/2024

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Major Highlights for iOS Developers from the Most Recent WWDC

Apple Intelligence

Apple introduced Apple Intelligence, a personal intelligence system that integrates powerful generative models into iOS, iPadOS, and macOS. This system enhances capabilities for understanding and generating language and images, helping users take actions with rich awareness of personal context. It is deeply integrated into features and apps across the system and built with privacy from the ground up. (Platforms State of the Union)

Customization and Controls

iOS has become more customizable than ever, starting with new controls. These controls make accessing frequent tasks from apps faster and easier. Using the new controls API, developers can create controls that users can add to their control center or assign to the action button on their iPhone 15 Pro. (Platforms State of the Union)

Xcode and SwiftUI Enhancements

  • Xcode Previews: A new dynamic linking architecture avoids rebuilding projects when switching between previews and builds, making the workflow smoother and more productive. A new previewable macro allows the use of dynamic properties like state directly in an Xcode preview.
  • SwiftUI Customizations: New options to fine-tune the look and feel of apps, including custom hover effects for visionOS, window behavior and styling in macOS, and a new text renderer API for advanced visual effects and animations. (Platforms State of the Union)

Gaming Enhancements

  • Unified Metal Shaders: Compile shaders once and deploy them to both macOS and iOS.
  • Game Mode: Now available on iOS, reducing background activity and Bluetooth latency to improve input and headphone responsiveness. (Port advanced games to Apple platforms)

RealityKit and 3D Content

New APIs for low-level mesh and textures work with Metal compute shaders to offer improved control over app appearance, enabling fully dynamic models and textures in every frame on visionOS. Xcode's view debugging now supports introspecting 3D scene content, making it easier to inspect and debug RealityKit content. (Platforms State of the Union)

Swift Assist

Swift Assist can transform ideas into code, allowing developers to focus on higher-level problems. Swift is also expanding to Windows and Linux, broadening the development ecosystem. (Platforms State of the Union)

These highlights showcase the major advancements and tools introduced for iOS developers at the most recent WWDC, aimed at enhancing productivity, customization, and integration across Apple's platforms.