Game Center finally met its demise this morning with the unveiling of iOS 10, which effectively kills Apple’s attempt at creating a gaming social network.
Starting with iOS 10, the Game Center app will no longer be found on iPhones and iPads, after having been preinstalled on devices for years. Apple isn’t just adding it to the list of stock iOS apps you can delete, though. It’s actually getting rid of the platform altogether in favor of GameKit.
Apple’s first preview of iOS 10 was jam-packed with new features and improvements, but there are plenty that we didn’t get to hear about during the WWDC keynote. Here’s a long list of new things you can look forward to using this fall.
Although WWDC is a developer event, Apple’s keynote today was chockablock with features for end-users. It came thick and fast, with updates for watches, TVs, phones and computers.
There’s lots to unpack. Some of it was ho-hum. Siri on the Mac? Meh. A new app called Breathe? To do what exactly — remind you to inhale?
But there was tons of great stuff. Here are the features big and small that we’re most excited about.
Didn’t have time to catch Apple’s huge keynote this morning? You could go back through Cult of Mac’s liveblog to relive all the action. Or if you’d prefer the real thing, Apple just posted a video of the two-hour event on its homepage.
The new video covers all of the changes that Apple unveiled today for iOS 10, macOS Sierra, watchOS 3, and some new Apple TV software too. Apple topped off the event with a video celebrating developers who took their first step into coding with Apple’s Swift programming language.
The days of having a junk folder full of Apple-made apps you don’t want is finally coming to an end.
It appears that Apple made its first steps toward allowing iPhone and iPad users to delete stock apps today by making them available to download via the App Store.
The company didn’t announce the changes during its WWDC keynote, but after installing the first beta build of iOS 10, developers have discovered that apps like Maps, Contacts, Stocks, and others can now be deleted.
Apple’s big iOS 10 update for iPhones and iPads won’t be available to the public until later this fall, but the company has already started hyping its launch with a new teaser video.
iOS 10 packs 10 big additions that change everything from the lock screen’s UI, Siri, and how you’ll interact with friends in Messages. We’re still diving into all the new features in the first developer beta. In the meantime, you can get your first glimpse of iOS 10 below:
Tim Cook called iOS 10 “the mother of all releases” during today’s keynote in San Francisco, but Apple doesn’t plan to share iOS 10’s greatness with all the devices that are currently running iOS 9.
Apple made iOS 9 supported on more devices than ever last year by pushing it to all iPhones and iPads running iOS 8. This year though it appears that some users will be left out of the update, including iPhone 4s owners.
Here’s which devices will be compatible with iOS 10:
Apple introduced a powerful new way to teach kids how to learn to code today with a new app called Swift Playgrounds that makes learning Swift as easy as ABC.
The iPad app helps students learn to code by presenting a number of simple lessons aimed at kids, though simpleton non-coder adults can learn a great deal from it as well.
Big changes are coming to Siri, Apple’s intelligent voice-activated assistant. For the first time, Siri will be available on the Mac and will be opened to third-party developers on iOS.
While Siri was one of the first voice-controlled AI assistants on the market, it’s fallen behind competitors like Amazon’s Alexa and Google Now, largely because it was a closed system that worked only in Apple’s apps. Opening it to developers makes it much more functional, and presents a more serious challenge to upstarts like Viv that promise to help with a wide range of services and tasks.
OS X is dead. The name, at least.
Apple’s desktop operating system will become macOS this fall with its next major update, which will bring a whole host of exciting new features and improvements — including Siri integration, automatic unlocking, and Apple Pay for the web.
The next big iOS update for iPhones and iPads was unveiled by Apple today at WWDC and it comes with some gigantic new features to go along with an even bigger Siri upgrade.
iOS 10 is the “mother of all releases” according to Tim Cook. It comes with 10 big new features that make Siri more powerful than ever, plus some much needed changes to the way you interact with the lock screen and homescreen thanks to interactive notifications, widgets, and deeper 3D Touch integration.
Apple is finally fixing the Apple Watch user experience. With watchOS 3, which will arrive as a free upgrade this fall, users can look forward to significantly faster apps with background updating, a Control Center and app dock, and lots, lots more!
Shopping online is getting a lot easier and quicker now that Apple Pay is coming to web.
The next generation of tvOS for Apple TV will be more powerful than ever thanks to some huge new updates Apple unveiled today at the company’s WWDC keynote.
Apple VP Eddy Cue showed off new features for Apple’s set-top box that make Siri more powerful than ever while also giving developers new tools to create better tvOS app experiences.
Apple’s WWDC keynote just kicked off this morning, but before Tim Cook dove into Apple’s exciting new software updates, the Apple CEO called for a moment of silence in respect for the victims of the Orlando tragedy.
Nerds rejoice. WWDC is finally here!
Apple’s annual developer conference is set to get underway in just a few hours. The company is expected to unveil the future of iOS, OS X, Apple Watch, Siri and much more in what is expected to be one of the most action-packed keynotes we’ve seen in years.
Cult of Mac will be liveblogging all the action of today’s events right here and we won’t stop until every last morsel of info has been dished out by Tim Cook and the rest of Apple’s team. If you’re not sure what to expect from today’s keynote, take a look at this quick refresher — “Everything to expect from Apple’s jam-packed WWDC 2016 keynote” — and then join us for our WWDC liveblog below. The keynote starts Monday at 10 a.m. Pacific.
We’re all stoked for our first previews of iOS 10 and macOS from WWDC, but according to sources familiar with Apple’s plans, it’s going to be Siri that steals the show.
The virtual assistant is expected to make the leap to the Mac for the first time, and could also open up to third-party apps and services — allowing users to check in for flights, book Uber rides, and do more using only their voice.
WWDC is set to kick off in less than 90 minutes and the lines (and hype) building around the event have reached an all-new level of insanity.
Showing up a few hours early to the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco was not enough to secure a front row seat to this year’s keynote, thanks to the lines that are so huge you’d think a new iPhone is launching.
Check out how long the line was at 6 a.m.:
With WWDC kicking off this week, Apple is embracing its fun, nerdier side with ID badges for the event written in the Swift coding language. (Apple debuted Swift in 2014 at the same developers’ event.)
Check out the Swift-ian goodness below.
tvOS devs may be driven away from developing for Apple TV, claims a new report citing poor audience retention rates.
Suggesting that users are “generally disinterested” in Apple TV, the report from mobile app analytics company adjust says they found that just 8.9 percent of users return to a tvOS app seven days after installing it. That’s roughly half the number seen on mobile devices, where the comparable numbers stand at nearly 20 percent on tablets and 18.5 percent on smartphones.
Apple’s keynote to kick off this year’s Worldwide Developers Conference is going to be huge. So huge, in fact, that Apple already revealed some stuff early because Tim Cook and his Cupertino cronies won’t have time to cover everything during the jam-packed, two-hour event.
While WWDC might seem like a bit of a snoozefest for Apple fans who don’t know anything about Xcode and Swift, the 2016 edition of the annual developer conference should bring lots of new stuff even normals can get hyped about. The WWDC keynote will give us a peek inside the ever-evolving Apple ecosystem — and thus our clearest picture of the future of all Apple products.
This year, all of Apple’s platforms are set to get major updates, as are some of the company’s most popular services, like Siri and Apple Music. Here’s what to watch for during Apple’s keynote, which will kick off WWDC 2016 next Monday morning in San Francisco.
‘Appy weekend everyone! If you’re anything like me, Sunday’s the perfect time for kicking back and catching up on everything you missed during the week — not least the top apps to have either arrived in the App Store, or been the recipient of major upgrades.
Fortunately we’ve done the hard work of sorting through them for you to pick out to pick out the cream of the crop. Check out our picks below.
This week, on The CultCast: it’s our WWDC 2016 predictions! We’ll tell you what hardware and software to expect. Plus: Apple makes huge changes to the prices you’ll pay for apps; this year’s Back to School specials are some of Apple’s best yet; and Steve Jobs… the opera? Don’t miss more weird and wild stories from the Cult of Mac.
Our thanks to Freshbooks for supporting this episode. FreshBooks is the easy-to-use invoicing software designed to help small business owners get organized, save time invoicing and get paid faster. Get started now with a 30-day free trial.
Get ready for next week’s Worldwide Developers Conference 2016! We give you a sneak peek of what to expect in Apple’s keynote on Monday in San Francisco. Plus, teenager earns scholarship to WWDC by creating his own news app.
Listen to former Apple ad man Ken Segall — who put the “i” in iMac — discuss what he learned in 12 years working with Steve Jobs on Cult of Mac’s brand-new podcast Kahney’s Korner.
All this, and much much more, in Cult of Mac Magazine, free for you right now.
Here are this week’s top stories.
Apple’s MacBook Pro redesign this fall will bring big changes to one of its most beloved notebooks. According to recent leaks, the machine will pack an OLED touchpad above its keyboard, and only USB-C connectivity.
Some fans aren’t happy about that. Many love the physical function keys already found on the MacBook Pro, while others don’t believe it will be a suitable “pro” machine without standard USB ports. But isn’t it time they moved on?
Join us in this week’s Friday Night Fight as we battle it out over the rumored changes to the MacBook Pro.