WWDC 2018

After months of testing, Apple finally release iOS 12 to the public this morning.

See all the cool new iOS 12 features in the video below.

You no longer need to be a developer to try Apple’s biggest software updates of 2018.

Public testers can now get their hands on the first public beta builds of iOS 12 and tvOS 12 that bring tons of UI changes and feature improvements to the iPhone, iPad and Apple TV.

Apple gave developers a hot new beta for iOS 12 this morning, adding a host of improvements to its huge update for iPhones and iPads that is coming out this fall.

iOS 12 beta 2 comes just two weeks after Apple revealed the update at WWDC 2018. The update contains a number of UI tweaks, new apps and performance improvements that are supposed to make the iPhone and iPad more stable than ever.

iOS app that misuse iPhone owners’ contact data for their own gain are about to get slammed with the ban hammer.

Apple revealed a number of new ways it’s trying to protect users’ privacy at WWDC 2018, but one major change that wasn’t mentioned on stage could have huge ramifications for companies that try to profit off your iPhone’s contact information.

iOS 12 and macOS Mojave are all the rage after WWDC 2018, but Apple’s not quite done working on iOS 11 and macOS High Sierra.

Developers received a fresh batch of beta updates this morning, including the second builds of iOS 11.4.1 and macOS 10.13.6, both of which bring a host of bug fixes and under-the-hood improvements.

Apple is giving the iPhone a more fluid UI with some tiny tweaks in iOS 12 designed to shave tenths of seconds off each interaction.

You may not even notice the changes once iOS 12 launches to the public, but in a session at WWDC last week, Apple revealed how you can now perform actions without waiting for UI animations to finish. It sounds like an insignificant update, but once you see it in action you’ll be swooning for iOS 12’s release.

Prepare to be wowed:

In this week’s Cult of Mac Magazine: Apple’s WWDC 2018 keynote lasted nearly 130 minutes and was jam-packed with new software goodies for developers and regular old Apple fanboys.

Apple is doubling down on its software game. And even though they didn’t have any new physical toys to show off, Tim Cook and company still managed to pull out some big surprises.

What’s new in iOS 12, macOS Mojave, watchOS 5, tvOS 12 and ARKit 2.0? You’ll find these stories and more in this issue. Get your free subscription to Cult of Mac Magazine from iTunes. Or read on for this week’s top stories.

Apple TV is about to get a lot more friendly when it comes to inputting passwords and PINs.

Entering passwords on Apple TV has been one of the biggest pain-points on its entire existence. But starting with tvOS 12, Apple is giving its box the ability to prompt all nearby iPhones to enter a password, even if you’ve never connected to that Apple TV.

Here’s how it works:

With so much to digest during Apple’s big WWDC keynote on Monday, it was easy to miss some of the finer details.

You might be aware of every new feature coming to iOS 12 this fall. You might have memorized the changes to macOS, too. But did you know that more than 20 million people are now building apps for Apple devices, or that 10 billion Siri requests are processed every month?

Here are some fascinating numbers you probably missed during WWDC.

iOS 12 tidbits and screenshots have been flooding the web all week after Apple dropped the first betas for iOS 12 and macOS Mojave. But there’s a small problem with all that.

It turns out that posting screenshots from Apple’s unreleased software is a total violation of the NDA developers agreed to before becoming iOS developers.

It may not have been action-packed, but this week’s WWDC was bursting with great stuff. Don’t miss our WWDC 2018 reactions on this week’s episode of The CultCast. Then stick around for our list of all the best new iOS 12, watchOS, and macOS features announced at the keynote.

Our thanks to Casper for supporting this episode. Learn why Casper makes the internet’s favorite mattress, and get $50 toward select mattresses at casper.com/cultcast.

Dynamic wallpapers are about to change the look of your Mac once Mojave launches to the public, but you don’t have to wait until this fall to get that new new right now.

Mojave includes 16 variations of the same majestic sand dune Apple showed off at WWDC 2018. If you can’t install Mojave on your Mac, you can download the Mojave dynamic wallpapers below.

Your Apple Watch will soon be able to track symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, thanks to a new API from Apple.

Details of Apple’s big software updates are still flowing out of the San Jose convention center as Apple dives into the details during sessions. During its session on advances in research and card frameworks Tuesday the company revealed it’s developed a new Movement Disorder API that could be groundbreaking for people with the disease.

In the battle of digital voice assistants, people often mock Siri for lagging behind competing products from Amazon and Google. During Monday’s WWDC 2018 keynote, Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of software engineering, glossed over those failings, calling Siri the “world’s most-used digital assistant.”

What he neglected to mention was the increasing frustration of Siri users expecting more from a voice assistant. From simple requests returning inaccurate results to the inability to performthat he compound actions, Siri was in desperate need of attention going into WWDC. But will the Siri upgrades in iOS 12 do the trick?

A big change Apple is making with macOS Mojave could make it more difficult for indie developers to build cross-platform games.

Apple is pushing game creators to drop OpenGL in favor of its own Metal API, which isn’t supported by third-party platforms. It may mean smaller game development teams are forced to choose between releasing on macOS or other operating systems.

You’re in a noisy bar or restaurant and can’t hear the person across the table from you. Good news: With a feature added in iOS 12, you can use your AirPods and iPhone as a low-cost hearing aid.

This feature is called Live Listen, and it’s been available for certain hearing aids for some time. But soon, anyone with a pair of Apple’s wireless headphones will be able to use it.

The very first beta version of watchOS 5 launched yesterday, but was pulled this evening after reports it was mucking up people’s devices.

It’s not clear yet exactly what the problem is, but Apple’s vague description seems to indicate that Watches were getting bricked. 

Apple believes strongly in protecting our privacy, and that even extends to helping us use strong passwords. Rather than letting us put in weak ones, iOS 12 extends password suggestions to third-party applications.

The next version of Apple’s phone and tablet operating system also makes two-factor authentication easier, and will warn users about weak passwords.

Apple put on a good show for its WWDC keynote, but realistically it was a lot of hype without much substance. Dark Mode for macOS Mojave and Memojis for iOS 12 was about as exciting as it got. And you know what, that’s a good thing.

Both these operating systems have serious problems, and it’s far more important for Apple to spend a few months fixing them than adding new bells and whistles.

Didn’t have a chance to catch Apple’s WWDC 2018 keynote yet? Well, you could read our summary, or if you want to watch the entire thing, Apple just uploaded it to YouTube.

Tim Cook and the gang busted out a bunch of new software during the keynote. iOS 12, macOS Mojave, tvOS 12 and watchOS 5 all got their moment to shine with new features, UI changes and plenty of surprises.

Watch all the action right here:

iOS 12 is shaping up to be one biggest software updates Apple’s ever released and it’s so stuffed with major and minor new additions there wasn’t time to go over a lot of them at the WWDC 2018 keynote.

We’ve been combing through the first iOS 12 beta looking for all the new goodies and have found some underrated new features that will totally change how you use your iPhone and iPad this fall.

These are the little iOS 12 features you need to know:

After a particularly rough patch for the tech industry, Apple used yesterday’s WWDC keynote to atone for some of Silicon Valley’s biggest sins. The company showcased key features in its upcoming operating systems that reinforce the fact that it thinks different about how technology should work.

Undoubtedly eager to position itself as one of the good guys, Apple directly responded to some of the biggest tech scandals of the past year.

Near the end of Monday’s WWDC 2018 keynote, Apple’s Senior Vice President of Software Engineering Craig Federighi addressed a question that’s been circulating in the tech press for a while: Are Mac and iOS merging?

His answer was direct and unequivocal: “No.”

Then he delivered a “sneak peek” of Apple’s long-rumored cross-platform project codenamed “Marzipan.” In line with the past six months of rumors, the idea of the framework is to allow UIKit-based iOS apps to run natively on Mac. While that probably sounds exciting to Mac owners, it could yield an unwelcome unintended consequence. It could trigger a “lost year” for Mac apps.

The just-released beta of iOS 12 can be set to partially deactivate the Lightning port after an iPhone hasn’t been used for an hour. This is a clear attempt to make useless the unlocking tools employed by law enforcement.

Police across the country are purchasing a tool called GrayKey. When hooked to an iPhone’s Lightning  port, this swiftly enters thousands of passcodes until the correct one is reached. Deactivating the Lightning port would block its use.

It is always exciting to capture the WWDC keynote in sketchnotes, and this year I filled up four pages of my notebook with drawings showcasing the biggest new features coming in iOS 12, macOS Mojave and watchOS 5.

As seen in my first sketchnote, above, iOS 12 makes performance on both old and new devices a priority. ARKit 2 brings more augmented reality goodness to Apple devices, including the ability for up to four people to share the same AR space at the same time.

For a quick and easy recap of the rest of the WWDC 2018 keynote highlights — plus a bonus sketchnote that proved kind of prescient — check out the rest below.