I had almost zero time for WWDC this year, as I noted in my previous wishlist post, but I did stream the keynote and skim the list of sessions. Time to start catching up.
My wishlist was met with mixed success. Swift regexes are, for now, documented without any support on older OSes, so I won’t be using them yet. And the vertical macOS alert style appears to be with us for another version. But SwiftUI definitely got an impressive Mac-specific boost this year, including new support for individual windows, document actions, and menu bar items. And AppKit apparently got some love as well, including a new control class.
Aside from that, my eye was definitely caught by SwiftUI’s new layout support, including proper grids and custom layouts. Between that, the menu bar item support, and the new SMAppService APIs for self-registering login items, there’s a fair bit of 3MC code I look forward to reworking and simplifying. (Unlike TimeStory, I don’t mind dropping support for old macOS versions in 3MC.)
Various other random thoughts:
- I don’t think I’ll personally like Stage Manager. I like to arrange my own windows, and I don’t like the wasted screen space, and I use multiple desktops when I want distinct workspaces.
- Apple Maps’ 3D features are finally reaching Chicago, and the new multistop and integrated transit support seem compelling. I’ll definitely be checking this out and may finally be switching away from Google.
- Love the new MacBook Air design (just as I loved the redesigned MacBook Pro I’m working on now), but still disappointed that they don’t offer a whole slew of colors.
- The new emergency privacy features seem well-engineered and so very important.
- WeatherKit sounds great, and I’d love to add basic weather support to 3MC at some point.
- I’m excited about Passkeys too. It’s time for passwordless auth to become mainstream, and Apple can make it so.
There was a lot more, of course; these are just some highlights. I look forward to seeing what I missed.