Lance Ulanoff, who writes for Tech Radar, takes an in-depth look at the changes coming to iOS 16 this fall. Ulanoff also interviewed Apple’s vice president of engineering, Craig Federighi, and vice president of design for ‘Apple, Alan Dye, for his story with the two executives who offered a Backstage, look at the technology and think behind the many changes that will take place this fall.
As for the iOS 14 home screen widgets, Federighi told Tech Radar:
We knew it was a multi-act play and we knew our next place would be the lock screen.
We saw a real opportunity to get to this area that has really evolved slowly over time, but has never seen this kind of massive breakthrough, and to do something really big, but something very personal and Apple. So this year is an act of love, “he added.
The challenge for the Dye design team was to create a system to customize the lock screen that was simple but also looked good:
From the perspective of the design team, our goal was to create something that looked almost more editorial and give the user the ability to create a lock screen that really … ends up looking like a great magazine cover or movie poster, but doing it one way. We hope it is very easy to create, very fun and even very automated, “said Dye.
Dye and Federighi also revealed that the suggested styles for lock screen wallpapers vary by photo:
Dye told us that if the system doesn’t think the photo will look great, it won’t suggest it, a point of attention and attention that helps guide the user to the most visual lock screens.
“It achieves something much more compelling than just putting a filter on the photo,” Federighi added.
Tech Radar history also covers machine learning-based technology that allows iOS 16 to segment your photos so that parts can overlap with time, focus modes, and more. There’s a lot going on here and a lot of interesting Federighi and Dye ideas that are worth researching if you’re interested in design and how it’s implemented from an engineering standpoint.