Read the WWDC keynote before it happens—every announcement and all the AI
10 min read
The second-biggest day in Apple’s calendar is almost here. On Monday, thee annual WWDC event kicks off with a keynote presentation, where all the major changes to the company’s software platforms will be announced to watching app developers… and the world’s media. There could be a few hardware surprises too.
Most people will have to wait until Monday to find out what Apple has in store for us. But Macworld readers can get that information right now, thanks to sterling detective work from the people we pay to rifle through the trashcans at Apple Park. Once again, they’ve come up with a complete, albeit rather coffee-stained draft of the script for the event, which we’re pleased to publish here.
From iOS 18 and macOS 15 Golden Gate to the future of AI, we’ve got all the WWDC 2024 spoilers you could possibly want. In other words, if you want to be surprised, stop reading and watch the WWDC keynote live at 10 am on Monday, June 10.
(For the avoidance of doubt, and to hopefully minimize the number of angry emails, this is not real. The script below is a mixture of educated guesses based on leaks and past behavior, and silly jokes based on the mannerisms we’ve noticed at Apple events. Some of this will turn out to be accurate; some will be wrong. Please don’t take it too seriously.)
Introduction
09:57 am PT: The pre-stream starts. Struggling to name the musical accompaniment? It is, of course, the toe-tapping pop hit “Platitude Queen” by Mrs Boothroyd’s Holiday Dancer. (By the way, Apple has already released a WWDC 2024 playlist.)
10:00: Here we go. The video stream is starting! And the camera zooms through the sky before alighting in the grassy bit in the center of Apple Park where Tim Cook stands like an affable android.
10:01: Cook wishes us a good morning and promises a week of “innovation and courage in service of the user experience going forward.” He says Apple has a history of making great products and this is underpinned by great software. We’re going to be talking about the iPhone, the iPad, the Apple Watch, and the Mac. (Sad faces among the Apple TV fandom.)
10:03: “Synergy means innovation and security going forward,” says Cook, bafflingly, before adding that technology must be for humans, not merely for profit. Apple, he says, is aware of the pressure to deliver on the AI hype, but will only do so if it makes the world a better place.
iOS 18 and iPadOS 18
10:05: Cook tosses it over to Craig Federighi to talk about “The biggest leap in iOS. Ever.” Federighi is dressed up as the Terminator and rides onto the virtual set on a motorbike. It’s time to talk about iOS 18.
10:07: Federighi begins by making it clear that Apple has been a leader in AI for years already, and then says AI is going to take iOS to the next level. The buzzwords are: Personal, Private, Powerful.
10:08: “And it all starts with Siri.” Federighi reminds everyone how Apple was first with an AI assistant and launches into an example of how the all-new Siri was “built from the ground up” to be more powerful, personal, and private than ever before. Siri will be able to perform all sorts of common tasks or respond to requests for information, showcasing a much more natural conversational flow and human-sounding vocal style.
10:10: John Giannandrea is introduced to talk about all the work Apple does on AI. He describes the AI hardware in most Apple devices and the big cloud infrastructure they’re building to keep your data secure. He explains that many Siri requests are handled entirely on-device, but “for more complex requests” the company has special cloud servers with a process to keep everything secure and private, even from Apple itself. “It’s the most private and secure cloud processing in the world,” he says.
10:14: Apple announces a partnership with ChatGPT to bring “its most advanced model” natively to iOS, to augment Siri’s advanced privacy features.
10:15: AI is going to permeate Apple’s apps and services, and the first example is Messages. Apple reminds us that iMessage is the most secure and private way to message, and introduces new AI features: custom emoji based on what you type, and new auto-reply and auto-complete features that are based on your prior messages, so they sound more like you.
10:18: Next up is Photos, where Apple reminds us (or attempts to persuade us) that it has been a leader in AI for years. New generative AI features include the ability to remove background objects with just a tap or to take a photo and change its style–cartoon, painting, etc.
10:22: Apple says AI is only important if it can help you really get stuff done. An example is Notes, where you can now make voice recordings and they’ll be transcribed by AI. Another is Apple Music, where a new Smart DJ feature looks at your song playback history, location, time of day, and more to put together the perfect mix for you. It runs entirely on-device, too.
10:25: Safari gets its own breakout section, showing off new features to automatically summarize web pages, an AI-powered search assistant, and a “magic eraser” that can remove parts of web pages every time you visit them.
10:28: iOS 18 is going to be “the most personal iOS ever” as Apple demonstrates a more customizable home screen, Control Center, and lock screen. More ways to make your iPhone truly yours.
10:31: The “personal, private, powerful” message extends to the new CarPlay, which was already announced (and promised by the end of 2023) but isn’t yet in any shipping vehicles. Apple gives a better demo and name-drops several vehicles coming this fall with the new system. It is pitched not only as the best way to customize your driving experience but to keep all your data on your phone, secure and private.
10:35: Apple doesn’t have a lot of exclusive new features for iPadOS 18, but it points out some improvements to Stage Manager and uses iPad to showcase Pages, Numbers, and Keynote upgrades that will come to other platforms as well. AI can help you write, make charts, make slides, and more.
10:38: Apple uses iPad to show the new improvements in Mail, too. They include a slew of interface tweaks, AI to help you write emails, and even an AI-powered inbox that will help you prioritize and organize your email.
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watchOS 11
10:41: After a dazzling transition, Federighi is now dressed as the Tin Man from The Wizard of Oz. (Some sort of robot/artificial intelligence theme tonight, perhaps?) He is wearing an Apple Watch and a worried expression. “I don’t think the sophisticated health monitoring features in my Apple Watch Ultra 2 are working properly!” he wails. “Oh wait! I haven’t got a heart. Phew!” This seems to be the watchOS 11 section.
10:43: It’s a shame there’s no live audience, really, because Federighi is exactly the sort of speaker who would draw energy from a crowd.
10:44: We’re talking Apple Watch, and how much it has changed since the first model back in 2015. Federighi admits that Apple didn’t truly understand the device for the first few years and that watchOS had to evolve to accommodate what users needed. “And this year watchOS evolves into our greatest smartwatch operating system yet!” That seems… self-evident, but Federighi sells it with his usual enthusiasm.
10:47: AI will enable the Apple Watch to become your personal healthcare companion. (Wait, is that phrase from a movie?) watchOS 11 will learn your habits, the things you eat and drink, the way you exercise, your sleep patterns, and more, and use these data points to target ways for you to improve your health.
10:50: If you choose to enable the feature, the Apple Watch will speak helpful tips out loud, such as “Maybe don’t drink that,” “Have you considered going for a run?” and “Did you know that sleep is a thing people do?” Siri’s new human-sounding delivery is going to be vital in this not becoming madly annoying.
10:53: Your data will be secure and private, we are told. And all of watchOS 11’s AI processing will take place on-device. That’s reassuring, particularly for those in countries that depend on health insurance.
10:54: watchOS is also gaining a new app. Well, not exactly a new app… It’s Notes! As we pointed out back in March, having the ability to speak and store notes on the go would be extremely useful.
10:57: watchOS 11 is in developer beta right now, and will launch to the public “in the fall.”
macOS 15
10:58: Now Federighi is switching to the macOS 15 portion of the keynote. He doesn’t look fazed at all after going on and on for an hour about Siri and iOS 18 and watchOS 11 and his hair still looks thick and luxurious. (This is pre-recorded, not live, so he really ought to look good. Maybe his hair is generated by AI?) This is definitely the Craig Federighi show.
11:00: As if on cue, at exactly the hour mark, Federighi is hyping up the “legendary crack product marketing team” (which is what he’s called them for as long as we can remember) that “traveled far and wide” to find the proper California location that is befitting of a macOS name. Federighi’s build-up to the reveal talks about how the marketing team was lured by the aroma of Dungeness crab and sourdough bread as they traversed the hilly landscape on cars of both the cable and (ironically) self-driving variety through the fog to get to the destination that finds itself as the name of the next Mac operating system: macOS 15 Golden Gate.
(Side note: There’s an AI tie-in with the name! San Francisco is one of the top locations for AI companies, and according to the State of California, San Francisco, and San Jose account for “a quarter of all Al patents, conference papers, and companies globally.” Our interpretation: macOS 15 is a bridge from OSes of the past to AI-enhanced OSes of the future.)
11:03: A lot of what was featured for iOS 18 is also in macOS 15, and we’re now looking at a summary image of those features: Siri, Spotlight, Safari, Notes, Calendar and Reminders, on-device AI privacy, etc.
11:05: A new summary image appears that lists the new macOS 15 features. But there’s no time to write them all down because Federighi is now descending into “Apple’s secret underground lab.” He walks over to a Space Black 16-inch MacBook Pro that, unbeknownst to viewers, is using a pre-release M4 Max. (He’ll later reveal this little Easter egg in a November 2024 video interview with Marques Brownlee.) His hair is still impeccable.
11:07: Since most of these features were covered in the iOS 18 section, Federighi is quickly covering the same new features in macOS 15: AI-enhanced Siri, AI-enhanced Spotlight, AI-enhanced Messages and Mail, AI-enhanced Keynote, Numbers, and Pages, AI-enhanced Music playlists, AI-enhanced Photos tools, and he wraps up this cross-OS-features section with “and there’s a whole lot more” with a summary screen that lists other AI features.
11:11: But that’s not all! We’re now looking at a demo of the new Control Center and how new smart home controls are available.
11:13: A vociferous roar of approval comes from the audience as Federighi demonstrates the new Calculator! It looks like it can do all the maths!
11:16: Federighi is wrapping up the macOS 15 presentation. He says macOS 15 is the best version of macOS yet and the macOS 15 beta is available now with the official release “in the fall.” There’s a beat of a pause as we hope to hear Federighi introduce John Ternus to reveal Mac Studio and Mac Pro updates, but nope, not gonna happen. He wraps it up by saying, “And that’s macOS 15 Golden Gate.” No new Mac hardware. Instead, with his hair still lookin’ good, he’s switching to…
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One More Thing
11:18: Tim Cook! Tim Cook is back. Is this the wrap-up?
11:19: Possibly. Cook is summarizing the announcements we’ve heard tonight, and how Apple intends to bring the power of AI to its users “responsibly, carefully, thoughtfully, and with innovation and synergy going forward.” The iPhone, the iPad, the Apple Watch, and the Mac “are about to become even more powerful,” he says.
11:21: Is that everything? It seems not… Cook just used the magic phrase. One More Thing! Keynote-drinking game players around the world just downed their craft beers.
11:22: It’s a new HomePod! And this time it has a screen. A proper screen for displaying track info, that is, not the shiny light show from previous models.
11:24: Okay, it’s not actually a HomePod. It’s called the Apple Hub. Cook says it will be the center of your home, coordinating appliances and security devices, streaming music and TV, and connecting you to colleagues and loved ones by FaceTime.
11:26: Most of all, Apple Hub is a demonstration of the power of AI. It will grow to understand your preferences and needs, adjust lighting, play music, offer information and hints, and launch apps when it thinks you will benefit from them.
11:28: Cook says the Hub will launch “later this year,” and that more information will be forthcoming down the line. And with that…
11:29: The keynote is over! Developers will now file off to a week of workshops and networking events, but the rest of us can now turn off and think about what we’ve learned.
Jason Cross (iOS and iPadOS) and Roman Loyola (Macs and macOS) contributed extensively to this article.
