What's new with buttons?

Apple introduced several new features and improvements related to buttons across different sessions at WWDC 2024:

1. DockKit:

   • DockKit now supports button controls for accessories, enabling dynamic handheld experiences. For example, in a camera app, you can use a custom button on a DockKit gimbal to start and stop rotating the gimbal to take a panorama. This is achieved by subscribing to accessory events and handling button press and release actions (What’s new in DockKit).
   • DockKit supports three types of accessory events out of the box: shutter, flip, and zoom. These events can be used to capture photos or videos, switch between cameras, and zoom in or out, respectively (What’s new in DockKit).

2. SwiftUI:

   • SwiftUI now allows the creation of custom resizable controls, such as buttons and toggles, that can be placed in the control center or lock screen and activated by the action button. These controls are built using the new controls API and app intents (What’s new in SwiftUI).

3. watchOS 11:

   • The double tap gesture on Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 has been expanded to work in more places within apps, allowing users to perform common actions like answering the phone or pausing music with a double tap (What’s new in watchOS 11).

4. Game Design:

   • In game design, providing feedback when buttons are pressed is crucial. This can include visual effects like darkening or highlighting buttons, adding sound and haptics for responsiveness, and theming these effects to match the game's visual style (Design advanced games for Apple platforms).

5. System Controls:

   • Controls, including buttons and toggles, can now be added across the system to provide quick access to actions from your app. These controls use app intents to perform actions and can be customized with symbols, titles, and colors (Extend your app’s controls across the system).

Relevant Sessions

1. What’s new in DockKit
2. What’s new in SwiftUI
3. What’s new in watchOS 11
4. Design advanced games for Apple platforms
5. Extend your app’s controls across the system