CUPERTINO, California — Apple is rolling out the red carpet for those lucky enough to attend its special day for developers at Apple Park on Monday. I am one of a handful of developers who will get to watch the WWDC22 keynote and Platforms State of the Union videos today “alongside Apple engineers and experts” here.
WWDC22 @ Apple Park: Live blog
A member of the Apple Developer Program, I was picked at random to attend this year’s Worldwide Developers Conference in person. Anyone can watch the live-streamed WWDC22 keynote. (Interested? Read: “How to watch Apple’s big WWDC22 keynote.”)
And any Apple fan ought to be interested. Apple will lay out its future plans for all its software platforms during Monday’s keynote. (If you don’t mind spoilers, read: “What to expect from iOS 16, macOS 13, iPadOS 16 and watchOS 9 at WWDC22.”)
Note: We initially published this on June 5. We will update it throughout the day.
That is all! Thank you for reading my live blog and for following Cult of Mac.
Developers are being politely, but firmly, asked to leave pic.twitter.com/EJmI5NQzR1
— D. Griffin Jones (@dgriffinj0nes) June 7, 2022
The Apple Design Awards, the last event of the day, is over. Attendees will mingle around for a bit for last minute photos and head out.
And that’s all! This is the last event of the day. pic.twitter.com/wXsd1ZcAx0
— D. Griffin Jones (@dgriffinj0nes) June 7, 2022
As winners are announced, the awards are handed off on stage and winners get photos with Dye and Dong.
Winners are presented with the award and invited on stage for pictures with Dye and Dong pic.twitter.com/lB08ZESj18
— D. Griffin Jones (@dgriffinj0nes) June 6, 2022
Laughs from the audience as a video plays with interviews from developers talking about philosophy and pitfalls in design.
The awards start with a video featuring developers speaking about design. pic.twitter.com/OBaw1pDj35
— D. Griffin Jones (@dgriffinj0nes) June 6, 2022
Alan Dye and Linda Dong are here to introduce the finalists.
Design Evangelist Linda Dong is here to introduce the finalists: pic.twitter.com/oJuQsqfpUk
— D. Griffin Jones (@dgriffinj0nes) June 6, 2022
The Apple Design Awards start in a few minutes.
Attendees are starting to fill in seats for the Apple Design Awards pic.twitter.com/fZAkkfYCYr
— D. Griffin Jones (@dgriffinj0nes) June 6, 2022
Until the Apple Design Awards begin later this afternoon, attendees can speak to engineers during Meet the Teams on the courtyard.
Engineers are grouped by their project to take questions.
Meet the Teams, inside the courtyard. pic.twitter.com/0xkqh2ED8k
— D. Griffin Jones (@dgriffinj0nes) June 6, 2022
Close-up of the walls in the stair well. The tiny holes absorb sound to reduce echo.
The walls in the stairwell have tiny holes in order to reduce echo. pic.twitter.com/oiWGAwU0qn
— D. Griffin Jones (@dgriffinj0nes) June 6, 2022
The iconic Rainbow Stage was not part of the original plan; it was constructed for a Lady Gaga concert.
Inside the courtyard from the third floor. There are two orchards with over 400 trees. The vegetation is all local to California and uses a recycled water irrigation system.
Inside the ring from the third floor pic.twitter.com/sfmRVmKTwZ
— D. Griffin Jones (@dgriffinj0nes) June 6, 2022
To curb damage from earthquakes, the entire building is constructed two feet into the ground on top of shock-absorbing base isolators which can allow the building to shake up to four feet in any direction.
Views from the third floor
View overlooking the cafe pic.twitter.com/aHgvHQklM8
— D. Griffin Jones (@dgriffinj0nes) June 6, 2022
The glass doors to the cafe are 90 feet wide and 50 feet tall. The motors can open the doors at a volume of under 40 decibels.
The Developer State of the Union is over.
The State of the Union is over. Next up are tours of the campus, followed by the Apple Design Awards. pic.twitter.com/sOzp6xzpD3
— D. Griffin Jones (@dgriffinj0nes) June 6, 2022
This is the coffee machine, powered by an iPad, in Apple Park. The coffee is served very hot.
This is how you make a coffee at Caffè Macs pic.twitter.com/AunMefzEGk
— D. Griffin Jones (@dgriffinj0nes) June 6, 2022
No reaction from the crowd, but I am personally ecstatic about MenuBarExtra in SwiftUI.
I am sitting next to an engineer who also enjoys sorting imports by length. He was the only one to clap for this demo of the lint plugin.
The Developer State of the Union has begun. I am watching from inside the building.
The Developer State of the Union is about to begin. pic.twitter.com/mgWAG641if
— D. Griffin Jones (@dgriffinj0nes) June 6, 2022
I briefly chatted to an engineer who worked on multi-window support on iPad. It is exclusive to M1 iPads due to the number of simultaneous apps Stage Manager supports.
While the grabber appears on one corner of the app at a time, you can resize from any corner.
When asked how long this has taken to implement, they said, “a while. A long while.”
The pizza, pictured here partially consumed, does not come in the patented Apple single-serving pizza box.
The pizza is nice with a crispy crust and a mildly sweet sauce. The cheese is nice and melty. pic.twitter.com/JmpYgLSiIT
— D. Griffin Jones (@dgriffinj0nes) June 6, 2022
Lunch is served. This is a salad and the Thai curry. The curry is marked as spicy, but I barely taste any heat. The soda is not a twistable cap, which I did not realize for an embarrassingly long time.
Lunch is served! pic.twitter.com/StfspaMKYz
— D. Griffin Jones (@dgriffinj0nes) June 6, 2022
That’s all! No Tim nor Craig at the end. Everyone migrates back inside.
And the crowd shuffles back inside pic.twitter.com/RWEcpq70eW
— D. Griffin Jones (@dgriffinj0nes) June 6, 2022
The subtitles at the bottom of the picture were a bit hard to read. People in the audience craned and leaned over to read.
These subtitles are hard to read pic.twitter.com/Eo1TFeijKX
— D. Griffin Jones (@dgriffinj0nes) June 6, 2022
Audience reaction to the MacBook Air:
#WWDC22 Audience reaction to the MacBook Air pic.twitter.com/TxhvM8VFWh
— D. Griffin Jones (@dgriffinj0nes) June 6, 2022
Biggest applause award now goes to next-generation CarPlay. I could hear the crowd inside the Caffè clapping, too.
The biggest cheer (second only to Tim and Craig) for editing, undoing, and unreading Messages.
No mixed live/prerecorded video yet. The video is playing as-is on the screen.
The Keynote is playing on the screen exactly as the live stream. pic.twitter.com/OZhrIFLik6
— D. Griffin Jones (@dgriffinj0nes) June 6, 2022
Craig spoke briefly before the live stream started.
We have Craig! pic.twitter.com/HA0n7mhZIk
— D. Griffin Jones (@dgriffinj0nes) June 6, 2022
Tim came on stage to speak and introduce Craig.
We have Tim! pic.twitter.com/L8y031vm0H
— D. Griffin Jones (@dgriffinj0nes) June 6, 2022
Drone getting in position.
I spot a drone by the stage. pic.twitter.com/IC8dxz3UbA
— D. Griffin Jones (@dgriffinj0nes) June 6, 2022
Announcement was made that the event will start in ten minutes. Something may be happening at 9:55 before the live stream.
The video screens have started playing. The live stream should start soon.
The screen is playing a looping animation of some abstract glowing colors. pic.twitter.com/4TLw9bmz6z
— D. Griffin Jones (@dgriffinj0nes) June 6, 2022
The screen outside has a stage and several cameras getting ready. The event will be at least partially live.
At least two cameras, one on each side of the crowd. pic.twitter.com/pIKlb0PnlT
— D. Griffin Jones (@dgriffinj0nes) June 6, 2022
It appears the Keynote will play on several video screens in and around the Caffè, not at the Rainbow stage as speculated.
The scene at Caffè Macs. Three big video screens in the area. pic.twitter.com/Dw0kD1mLF1
— D. Griffin Jones (@dgriffinj0nes) June 6, 2022
Breakfast is served!
The avocado toast was surprisingly not very good. The bread was chewy and the avocado was unseasoned.
The salmon and caviar bagel, avocado toast (on a circular cut piece of toast) and fresh fruit. The bagel is a little tough, but pleasant pic.twitter.com/CnPtpM93rb
— D. Griffin Jones (@dgriffinj0nes) June 6, 2022
Developers are now in; walking to Caffè Macs for breakfast pic.twitter.com/Yna3ZPTn8b
— D. Griffin Jones (@dgriffinj0nes) June 6, 2022
This is an interesting artifact from WWDC20, which went virtual due to COVID-19.
This is the WWDC20 jacket that was never distributed: pic.twitter.com/A79UQjEv2j
— D. Griffin Jones (@dgriffinj0nes) June 5, 2022
Meanwhile, unreleased Apple products are showing up on retailer websites. Could be a glitch — or we could get hardware at this WWDC.
When you go to the second floor of the Visitor’s Center, an employee will tell you exactly where to stand to find another Easter egg, a fun optical illusion caused by the design of the sun shade:
Another campus easter egg: When you take a panorama of the Ring from the Visitor’s Center, the sun shade and the fish-eye lens effect looks looks like an eye! pic.twitter.com/U9D1VjmDDk
— D. Griffin Jones (@dgriffinj0nes) June 5, 2022
Here is the swag WWDC22 attendees receive. No jackets, but there is still another day tomorrow! 🤞
The swag:
• A light canvas bag
• Apple Face Masks, one S/M and M/L
• A set of magnetic pins. There are at least three different sets of pins that I have seen so far.
• Baseball cap, pictured below, bedazzled with pins
• Water bottle
• Moisturizing sun screen pic.twitter.com/WniruW8NdB— D. Griffin Jones (@dgriffinj0nes) June 5, 2022
Today, developers can check-in to get a tour of Apple’s Developer Center from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Here is a Twitter thread with pictures and video of the tour. And yes, it starts with some truly excellent doughnuts.
You start by picking up some coffee and some donuts. I was told to wait around for a few minutes as people trick in for a Developer Center tour group of about ten people.
This is the lemon meringue: pic.twitter.com/X2dws8zQMT
— D. Griffin Jones (@dgriffinj0nes) June 5, 2022
Between the two streamed events in the afternoon and evening—Platforms State of the Union and Apple Design Awards, 2:30 – 4:30 PM, attendees can “get to know some of the engineers, designers, and experts behind Apple’s software and services” in a Meet the Teams event. Attendees can also pick from one of three half-hour tours of the campus: Apple Park Hills, Fitness Center Area and Caffè Macs.
The Apple Park Hills tour is already fully booked.
Between the Platforms State of the Union and the Apple Design Awards (2:30–4:30), developers can take part in a meet-and-greet and pick one of three campus tours. pic.twitter.com/PWmvTD9Wmh
— D. Griffin Jones (@dgriffinj0nes) May 25, 2022
Apple has sent invited developers the menu for the day, which includes “smoked salmon and caviar bagel,” “barbeque brisket,” “chicken tikki masala” and “carne asada burrito” among others.
This is the menu for Apple’s WWDC in-person event, breakfast and lunch: pic.twitter.com/4rm545wDPF
— D. Griffin Jones (@dgriffinj0nes) May 25, 2022
