This story is part of WWDC 2022, CNET’s full coverage of and about Apple’s annual developer conference.
What is happening
Apple’s annual developer conference, WWDC, is where the company shows off the upcoming versions of its operating systems and sometimes some notable new hardware to run them.
Why it matters
Knowing what’s to come for Apple’s popular product lines is essential when deciding whether to buy now or wait for the next model.
As usual, Apple’s WWDC 2022 was packed with everything from the latest version of Apple’s flagship operating system for iPhone, iOS 16, and its latest chip, the M2, to newer hardware that puts everything (or activated) in your hands – in this case, the MacBook Air and the MacBook Pro 13. New high-profile features include Safety Check, which is designed to help people at risk of violence domestic.
Want a detailed game-by-game summary? Check out our archived live blog. Keep reading to see the highlights and links to all of our stories.
Now playing: look at this: look at everything that’s being announced at Apple’s WWDC 2022 event
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The latest version of the iPhone operating system focuses on personalization. This includes an updated lock screen with selectable fonts and colors, Apple Watch-style widgets, and rotating photos. Notifications will also appear at the bottom of the screen to prevent them from obscuring your photo, and live activities such as music playback can be expanded to fill the lock screen.
Messages allow you to edit, undo, and mark unread messages. SharePlay has been improved to share more easily with FaceTime and Messages. Dictation is combined with text and touch on the fly so you can use any type of input at any time. Similarly, Live Text (Apple’s response to Google Lens) expands on the video, allowing you to pause any frame and interact or capture text from the video.
Apple says it will be able to intelligently extract images from a background and automatically paste them into applications such as Messaging.
Wallet changes include more partners for wireless keys, such as automakers, a touch to pay on the iPhone for contactless payments, and Apple Pay Later, which divides the cost of a purchase into four payments.
You’ll also see cycling, high-resolution Look Around images, and extended details for landmarks, and especially detailed coverage for specific cities. It will also show your traffic card balances.
Apple News is increasing sports coverage in the US, UK, Canada and Australia. TV Plus offers family sharing for up to five members, with parental controls for apps, movies, books, and music. Photos also improve sharing (new libraries shared via iCloud allow you to collaborate) and offer rules and sharing automatically based on proximity.
In terms of privacy, iOS 16 introduces a new feature called Safety Check, which can help you quickly revoke access to someone who threatens you, sign out of iCloud on all devices, and limit messages to one device in hand.
CarPlay has been redesigned to unify your car and iPhone screens, including powering your entire instrument cluster.
The Fitness app also comes to the iPhone from the Watch.
If you use Apple space audio, you can use the depth camera to customize it.
Now playing: look at this: Apple is updating privacy controls to iOS 16
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Now playing: look at this: Apple unveils a new MacBook Air powered by M2 chip
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MacBook Air and MacBook Pro 13
For the first time in many years, Apple has redesigned the Air and has the M2 chip in mind. It is still an aluminum body, but is now uniformly thin at 11mm and weighs 2.7 pounds. Plus, new colors! MagSafe returns, leaving your two Thunderbolt ports available and retains an audio jack. Finally, get an upgrade to a 13.6-inch Liquid Retina display, with a maximum brightness of 500 nights and a P3 range. A 1080p webcam puts it on par with its siblings, along with a four-speaker system (with spatial audio support) and an array of three microphones.
Thanks to the M2’s improved GPU and a wattage performance approach, Apple says the Air offers the same battery life and better performance. Finally, it supports fast charging and the new adapter has a second USB-C port.
The 13-inch MacBook Pro also gets the M2 chip, with better performance thanks to an active cooling system. It has not been redesigned, however.
The MacBook Air starts at $ 1,199 (£ 1,249, A $ 1,899). The MacBook Pro starts at $ 1,299 (£ 1,349, AU $ 1,999). They both start shipping next month and both offer a $ 100 discount for students and educators.
Apple also keeps the MacBook Air M1 around, offering a computer for less than $ 1,000 ($ 999, £ 999, AU $ 1,499), again with an educational discount of $ 100.
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Grouped window management is improved in Stage Manager, which also includes drag-and-drop multitasking. Spotlight’s best search includes sports and web image search, full-window search results, and more detailed information about music and movies. (On iOS, Spotlight moves to the home screen.)
Mail search adds instant suggestions and synonyms, also to mobile. Naturally, it receives the same updates as iOS for messages. Safari’s shared tab groups let you send your friends and family the latest shopping choices. Goodbye passwords and hello passwords: Touch ID and Face ID arrive in Safari to sign in to sites. Also on iPhone, iPad and Apple TV, of course.
Improvements to its Metal Graphics API include scaling up MetalFX for faster rendering of the game and the added API for faster loading of game assets. Resident Evil Village and No Man’s Sky are taking to the Mac for the first time; Resident Evil Village will arrive later this year.
Handoff comes to FaceTime so you can jump from one device to another, and the continuity camera finally lets you use your iPhone’s camera as a webcam. It will support a split view for direct and desktop views.
Now playing: look at this: Continuity Cam turns your iPhone into your Mac’s webcam
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New clock dials are being produced, including more diverse calendars, the ability to pin applications to the top of the dock, new banner notifications, and support for …