It’s time for the most impactful keynote Apple will deliver all year: WWDC, when the company unveils the new direction it will take its devices. Today Apple will unveil iOS 18 and iPadOS 18, macOS 15, and watchOS 11, along with possible updates to tvOS, AirPods, HomePod, and visionOS all coming this fall. It’s a big day.
So if you’re as excited as we are, you’re tracking all of the latest news and rumors before the keynote kicks off at 10 am PT. Well, look no further—we’ve got everything you need right here.
WWDC 2024: Live blog
12:55pm ET: Apple’s stream is live with a Siri-colored ray of light tracing the edges of various objects.
12:58pm: the YouTube stream (below) is also live.
1pm: The keynote is starting, revealing an image of a glowing Apple logo.
1pm: “It’s Showtime!” The opening skit involves Phil Schiller flying a plans with Craig Federighi and Apple execs jumping out of a plane!
1:02pm: Tim Cook is opening the show with a segment on top of Apple Park. “Today we’re going to have some incredible updates to our platforms.”
1:03pm: Apple TV+ is celebrating its 5th anniversary, “about to launch our most exciting lineup yet.” Severance is returning!
1:05pm: “We’ll start with our OS announcements and dive into intelligence,” First up visionOS.
1:08pm: visionOS 2 let’s you create spatial photos from existing 2D photos using machine learning.
1:10pm: New gestures and higher resolution for Mac Virtual Display. Train support.
1:10pm: TableTopKit lets devs create games that lock to a surface.
1:12pm: Canon is offering a new spatial video lens for Vision Pro. Available this fall
1:13pm: Apple Immersive Video available to creators. New immersive experiences on the way.
1:15pm: Vision Pro available in chine, Japan, and Singapore on June 28. UK on July 12!
1:15pm: It’s time for iOS 18!
1:16pm: Arrange apps anywhere you want on the screen. Dark-mode apps and customization sheet for tinting icons.
1:17pm: New controls in Control Center with groups. Controls gallery make it “more extensible than ever.” Third party controls too!
1:19pm: You can now change the lock screen icons.
1:20pm: Lock an app—won’t launch without Face ID, Touch ID, or passcode. Hide an app in locked hidden apps folder. Users can decide which contents and devices apps can see.
1:21pm: Messages brings “all new ways to express yourself and stay connected.” Any emoji can be used as a tapback. Scheduled messages, new effects. SMS ans iMessages via satellite will let you text when off the grid (iPhone 14 and later). End-to-end encrypted.
1:23pm: Mail categories. Primary, transactions, updates, promotions. Sort mail and summarize messages in a digest view. Users can recategorize messages and easily archive and delete.
1:25pm: Topographic Maps. Tap to Cash in Wallet. Apple Pay online and a new design for event tickets. Insights and Search for Journal.
1:26pm: Game Mode comes to iPhone for an immersive experience.
1:27pm: Biggest redesign ever to the Photos app. Unified into a single view with months and years at the bottom and library at the top. Easily filter out screenshots.
1:29pm: Collections let you browse by topic with unrelated screenshots and images filtered out. People and Pets include groups. Trips view organizes travel by year and place. All customizable.
1:30pm: iOS 18: Option for larger icons on the home screen. Reminders and calendar integration.
1:31pm: AirPods!
1:32pm: Shake your head yes or no to answer a call. Voice Isolation comes to AirPods Pro. Removes background noise while on a call.
1:33pm: Game mode with personalized spatial audio.
1:34pm: Apple TV: Insight. Swipe down on remote to see actors, characters, and songs in a movie or show. Enhanced dialog uses machine learning for better clarity. Subtitles automatically appear when muted or rewound. Snoopy screensaver!
1:36pm: watchOS 11: More new features to keep you active, healthy, and connected.
1:37pm: Training mode measure effort from “easy” to “all out” to adjust workouts.
1:38pm: Customize summary tab in Fitness app. Pause rings for a rest day, week, or more.
1:39pm: Vitals app: daily health status and important health metrics. Details on what’s changed and alerts when something may be concerning.
1:40pm: Cycle tracking can show gestational age during pregnancy and show heart rate.
1:40pm: Smart stacks automatically add new widgets when needed. Translation right on your wrist. Live activities coming to Apple Watch. Check In now on Apple Watch with support for late-night workouts. Redesigned Photos face.
1:43pm: iPadOS: Customizable home screen and control center like iOS. Floating tab bar morphs into side bar. Customizable. Easier to browse documents. Refined animations. All APIs for developers.
1:45pm: SharePlay: Tap and draw on screen, remote control iPad or iPhone. Freeform adds Scenes to focus on specific sections.
1:47pm: CALCULATOR FOR iPAD. Write equations with Apple Pencil in Math Notes. Dynamic problem solving in handwriting. Works in Notes.
1:49pm: Smart script in Notes improves appearance of handwriting as you write to make it “smoother, straighter, and more legible.” Spell check, tap and hold to add space, scribble to erase.
1:52pm: macOS Sequoia! iPhone mirroring lets you control your iPhone from another room, use aps, interact with keyboard and trackpad, notifications from iPhone can be interacted with on the Mac. Audio comes through on Mac. iPhone stays locked.
1:55pm: Drag and drop from Mac to iPhone with iPhone Mirroring.
1:56pm: Organize apps with Tiles. Video conferencing Presenter Preview, see what you’re about to share before you share it. Background Replacement brings customizable backgrounds to video calls.
1:57pm: Passwords app on iPhone, Mac, and Windows. Easily access credentials and store passwords.
1:58pm: Safari. Easier ways to discover content with Highlights. Detects relevant information and highlights it while you browse. Reader mode removes distraction and provide summary of articles. Viewer breaks out videos as you scroll.
2pm: Unified gaming platform. Game Porting Toolkit 2, advanced games, unify shaders across devices. More games!
2:02pm: Assassins Creed Shadows available same day as PC in November.
2:04pm: Developer betas available today, public betas available in July.
2:05pm: Tim is back and talking about artificial intelligence.
2:06pm: Apple intelligence is real!
2:07pm: Intelligence that understands you. Puts powerful generative models at the core of your iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Protects your privacy at every step.
2:09pm: Priority notifications, writing tools to rewrite, proofread, or edit writings. available automatically across Apple and third-party apps.
2:10pm: Generate images, make sketches, illustrations, and animated images automatically from contacts or prompts. New conversational actions that understand context.
2:12pm: Privacy at the core of Apple Intelligence. On-device processing. Large-language and diffusion models with Apple silicon.You are in control of your data–extends into the cloud. Private Cloud Compute.
2:15pm: A big leap forward for Siri! New icon, deeply integrated, new animation around border of the screen, understands context, can continue conversations. Type to Siri by double-tapping, switch between text and voice
2:19pm: Can answer thousands of questions about features on your iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Over the course of the next year, Apple will be rolling out new features such as on-screen awareness. App intents framework opens up new possibilities for understanding and taking action in third-party apps.
2:21pm: Awareness of personal context, messages, emails, links, Siri will find and understand things “it never could before.” All on device.
2:23pm: “Siri when is my mom’s flight landing?” Searches emails, texts and understands the context of what is being asked.
2:25pm: Rewrite gives suggestions on improving emails–language, tone, spelling, creative. Proofread: Check grammar, spelling, sentence structure. System wide anywhere you write including third-party apps.
2:26pm: Smart Replies in Mail.
2:27pm: Priority notifications, summaries, on Lock Screen. Reduced Interruptions Focus mode.
2:29pm: Genmoji, create any emoji with a text prompt in Apple’s emoji style.
2:30pm: Image Playground: Create images on the fly with a text prompt. Apple Intelligence will suggest images on the fly. Works across apps and can be shared.
2:33pm: Image Wand, transfer a rough sketch into a polished image. Circle a sketch and it will understand context to create an image.
2:34pm: Photo editing, Clean Up tool will locate and remove background objects. Find specific photos and videos with text prompts. Create a memory movie automatically with images, transitions, and music just by asking.
2:36pm: Apple Intelligence can record and transcribe audio in Notes and Phone apps.
2:37pm: Available for free part of iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS 15. External models integrated into the experience, starting with ChatGPT. Bult support into Siri when needed. Notifies users it is using ChatGPT and asks before using.
2:39pm: Tools available for developers with Image Playground and Siri.
2:41pm: Coding support in XCode.
2:42pm: Supports iPhone 15 Pro, all M1 and later devices.
2:42pm: “We are just getting started and we hope you are as excited as us for the road ahead.”
2:43pm: Tim is wrapping up the “game-changing” announcements.
2:44pm: And we’re done! Stay tuned to Macworld for full coverage of all of the announcements.
WWDC 2024: Watch the keynote
The WWDC keynote will kick off at 10am PT and will be live-streamed for all to see. You can watch it on Apple.com, in the TV app, or on YouTube below.
WWDC 2024: Latest news
Dark-mode icons: According to MacRumors, iOS 18 will bring Dark Mode to the icons on the Home Screen to give the iPhone a full-on dark appearance. It has also been rumored that Apple will let users change the color of app icons using AI, so this is likely an extension of that feature.
Locked apps: Another MacRumors report claims that Apple will let users lock apps behind Face ID similar to how Notes, Photos, and Safari lets users enable authentication for certain content and features. (Note that certain third-party apps such as WhatsApp let you do this already.)
Siri with AI: AppleInsider outlines all the new features Siri will be able to do thanks to AI, which will be dubbed Apple Intelligence. The report says Apple “wants to get its AI accustomed to natural language, speech patterns, sentence structures, and instruction types.”
AirPods hearing test: According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple will announce a new “hearing test” feature for AirPods that will presumably play a series of beeps to test your ability to detect certain frequencies.
Buggy betas: Over on X, Gurman claims that “many of the features in the first iOS 18 beta have come in really hot” and some Apple engineers are “surprised the first betas are going out” today.
watchOS 11 compatibility: According to a report by a private account on X, watchOS 11 will drop support for Apple Watch Series 4 (2018), Apple Watch Series 5 (2019), and 1st-gen Apple Watch SE (2020).
Apple Store UP: Apple traditionally takes its online store down ahead of events that will showcase new hardware but it hasn’t done that today, suggesting software will be the star of WWDC.
WWDC 2024: Keynote preview
We’ve taken our best shot at writing the WWDC keynote based on rumors, reports, and our own educated guesses, so give it a read before Tim Cook takes the stage.
